Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 8)

Oh, so she’d been close.

And that was repulsive. Was it even cooked? Gods. She was going to have to eat that come the first holiday. And she’d do it cheerfully. Pretend like she wanted to and that she liked it. But she didn't want to. And she wouldn't like it.

“No.” Ky shook her head, keeping her expression carefully neutral. “It’s a lot warmer down there so you can just grow enough food, unless Makata…” she sighed softly. “Was being Makata… but people mostly have enough food, or share.”

"It's not that bad," Sera told her. "Emery has a delicate palate."
"Not my fault," he interjected.
"It's sort of earthy and just a little sweet," she went on. "Doesn't taste of blood at all."

Ky nodded, but wasn’t convinced. “Is it… cooked?”

"Of course," Sara snorted. "We wouldn't eat raw blood, dear. We're not that far gone."

“Sorry… I… sorry.” Ky blushed. “I just… wouldn’t that make it congeal?”

"Well, that's the point. It's more of a sausage than a pudding, really."
"It's delicious," Tristan said plainly.

Ky nodded, now trying to imagine how you’d collect the blood without getting all sorts of debris in it from the animal's hide. Did they bathe them before killing them? Or just pretend like it was okay? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. So she made an active effort to stop thinking about it. She was going to shut up and eat it and needed to not get up in her head about it beforehand. All that would do was activate her gag reflex, and she most definitely did not need that.

"I'd stick with the cream and cinnamon pudding if I were you," Emery said with a grin. "You and I are accustomed to more energetic flavors."

Ky smiled at him. Perhaps she would try to subtly simply not take any. But if anyone questioned it verbally or seemed to be questioning it silently, she’d definitely try the black pudding. And pretend to like it. She’d been fed worse by Aleth’s hosts and always had to take whatever it was unflinchingly.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had either kind of pudding,” Ky said thoughtfully. “Or, well, maybe a bite or two of the sweet kind but I don’t know what was in it or if it’s the same recipe. We didn’t really have that growing up.”

(Reminds me of an internship I had in undergrad where we would have donors bring in meals for the interns and we weren’t allowed to turn down any of the food so I ended up having to eat this horrific jello-cream-fruit concoction. Was not easy to keep a smile with that one haha)

(I think I've had that before. It's repulsive)

"That's to be expected. We in the South and the East have different flavors, different traditions. I tried to give Captain Bay one of the spicy dishes from the East." Emery chuckled. "That was fun."

(The texture just killed me haha)

Ky laughed at that, trying to imagine Captain Bay having an emotion. “Oh I frequently thought I was going to die from dishes in the East. Your food shouldn’t assault you.”

(Yeah textureeis a big deal with food, very important)

"We have mild foods as well!" he protested. "And the spices are..." He made a kissing noise. "Just perfection. No offense, Sara, but food up here is so bland!'
"We get that a lot." Sara smiled.

(For sure! I’m a stickler for textures. People are horrified that I haven’t tried macarons yet but it’s fully because my mouth can’t predict what texture they’re gonna be and I’m scared to just jump in unprepared haha)

Ky smiled at how passionate Emery was about defending his home. It was endearing. And made sense. She was sure she’d also protest if anyone attacked something from Austraka. Well. She supposed she had already yelled at Ada for insulting Papa’s cooking skills. “There were quite good dishes,” she agreed. “I liked the ones where they cooked the meat and the vegetables all together in one big pan with some sort of oil and herbs.”!

(They're a smooth waxy sort of wanna be soft crunchy sorta texture. I'm not sure how to describe it)

"Yesss, we have that back East as well!" He smiled wistfully. "I miss the food."

(Haha seems as chaotic as they seem… one of my friends sells them and said she’s gonna bring some in for us eventually so I’ll try them once she does… but dunno how imma feel about it haha)

Ky nodded. “The food definitely is very different between there and here, no doubt. Are you able to import any?”