Chapter 4
After our conversation, we found ourselves in the restaurant, sitting down as I looked over a kikai menu with absolutely no idea what was being described.
"Do you have a recommendation?" I said, hesitating to expose just how new I was to the cuisine. As a young baron, I probably should have been exposed to a decent variety.
"Have you had kikai food before?" Brick asked.
I shook my head.
"Noki," everyone at the table, save for Lily, said simultaneously.
"Noki?" I repeated, looking for it on the menu.
"Noki grubs, to be exact," Tiri clarified as if it were very important. "Though because the actual plant has fallen out of favor, the grubs we now eat instead have taken up the shortened name."
"Well, if it's a must-have, then I'll have that," I said with a smile.
"Yes, if you haven't had Noki, you must try it. Though I will take you someplace better for some proper Noki one of these days." Tiri turned her nose up at the place.
"This place doesn't seem too bad," Violet murmured, which caused Tiri’s ears to twitch and clear her throat.
"Of course it's not that bad." It almost appeared to pain Tiri to say that. "But when it comes to Noki grubs, quality is very important."
"So it's a grub, like a larva?" I frowned.
"Do you want to?" Melgara asked the two kikai as if everyone at the table knew the story but me.
"Oh, yes." Tiri smirked. "It's practically a rite of passage for someone dining on Noki with a kikai to hear the full story."
I folded my hands politely in front of me, smiling. "I'm all ears."
"Right." Tiri cleared her throat. "Noki is a plant, one that is incredibly favored amongst the kikai. Its root has a full, rich flavor, and I dare say it was added to nearly every recipe known to our people for years."
I chuckled and nodded along as Tiri’s voice filled out like she was about to spin a grand tale.
"And then our people discovered it was causing dementia.
" She huffed, her tail puffing out as if it was a personal offense to her.
"You have to imagine, while it was one of, if not the most favored food amongst our people, the fact that it became known for causing illness created significant problems. People were downright rioting in the streets over regulations placed on Noki root.
However…" Tiri held a finger up into the air, pausing for dramatic effect.
"It is sometimes in our darkest hours that heroes are born. "
I chuckled, leaning back and deciding it was worth listening patiently.
"You see, the root of the Noki is the best part.
So with it becoming known as toxic, there was significant concern.
People stopped eating it. An industry that had been foundational for our people was suddenly falling through the floor.
But someone had a brilliant idea. Rather than allow this to happen, they began looking at everything around the Noki plant to find something that could compare to the root.
And that's when it was found." She held up a finger.
"A grub that had been the bane of the industry for years was found to not only consume but neutralize the toxin causing the dementia, while also retaining the rich flavor of the Noki root.
The grub, however, had nearly been wiped out with commercial farming techniques.
So the government started holding celebrations on how to prepare the grub.
Thus it became a kikai tradition to prepare the Noki grubs in a dozen different forms, all with the purpose of getting as much of that rich Noki flavor to come through the grub.
And I must say, when my people really put their minds to something, they can perfect it like none other. "
I chuckled, and the server took that moment to walk by.
I lifted a hand to get their attention. "I think we'll all be doing the Noki grub appetizer," I said, getting a few looks from the others at the table.
"If I'm going to have it for the first time, I'd like you all to join me.
" My words were met with very little resistance, not that I expected any.
"Can you add some washi stew?" Tiri glanced around the table. "If you serve it in a big bowl, we'll take that with a couple of cups to dole it out." The server seemed about to decline before shrugging. "Coming up. Anything else I can do for you?"
"No. Thank you," Tiri said politely, and the server moved away.
I couldn't help but notice that the server wasn't a kikai, even though this was kikai space.
Even in the backwaters, I had expected the staff to be kikai, and I found myself mildly surprised.
In fact, many of the people moving around were from various races, many of whom I didn't recognize.
Plenty of kikai were present, of course, but there was also a lizard race that seemed fairly prominent, as well as a variety of insectoids.
I wasn't sure if they were all the same race or a collection of different ones.
They did seem to walk around in mismatched groups.
"Sometimes I find it amazing how sheltered you were," Melgara said, watching me.
"Yeah, just my curiosity rearing its head." I grinned at her, then turned to Lily, who was watching everyone around us with heightened vigilance. "Really, I think you can calm down. It's just a restaurant."
"I will not remain calm as long as you are in danger," she said, vehemently opposed to the idea of relaxing. “We’ve attracted a decent amount of attention, and you should be cautious.”
"Well, now that we're here, we should talk about next steps." I grinned over at Brick; Lily was being overly protective. "First off, we probably need to get some repairs scheduled, because that's going to tell us how long we're going to be here."
None of them had an issue with that suggestion; everyone's heads bobbed in agreement. "And to compound that"—I glanced over at Tiri—"we need to understand what jobs you might be able to offer us so we can plan out costs."
"That makes sense." Tiri nodded along.
"So," I continued, "because it sounds like you've done business with some of these suppliers in the past, I'd appreciate it if you went with Brick and helped him double-check the finances as well as use any connections you may have to knock down the price."
Tiri stuck her chin up in acknowledgment.
"Next, we have some more basic supplies that we need to gather." I turned to Violet. "I'm assuming that even though it's been a decade, you might know some people around here." I saw Tiri wince as I said those words.
"Honestly, I barely recognize the place, but I can try." Violet nodded.
"Good. Melgara will go with you so she can pick out some of the things she needs with more technical eyes," I said.
Melgara raised an eyebrow at me.
"I have no idea what's in your special serum since you won't share it with me, but I assume that any other medical supplies we've used will need to be replaced." I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Ah, yes," she said, as if the idea had only just occurred to her.
"Once we have a good idea of how much money we need, I'll task Tiri with helping us sell some of our loot," I said.
"Of course. As a merchant, I can accomplish that much," she said, as if offended.
"Never doubted you for a second, Tiri. Finally, Lily and I will go on a trip scoping out the nearby area." My words caused frowns on several faces.
"If I didn't know any better, that almost sounds like the two of you are going on a date," Tiri said with a chuckle.
"No, I think that's actually a perfect idea. It might be best for Lily to walk around and slowly expose herself to a new society rather than asking her to jump right in," Brick said, then cast a wink in my direction.
It took me a moment to realize he was trying to play wingman, but his first assumption was actually closer to my real goals.
While I was hoping to have some time alone with Lily to talk, I was far more concerned with someone insulting her and us having to run away after she murdered a lot of people.
If something happened with Lily here, I was genuinely concerned about how dangerous it could become, not just because she was a helivore, but because of how clearly afraid the world seemed to be of her species.
"Okay, reasonable," Violet conceded, crossing her arms and staring at Lily with what I was fairly certain was an unhealthy dose of jealousy.
"Next," I said, clearing my throat, "we should probably focus on getting some odd jobs.
So if you're out and about, feel free to mention that we have a ship and are willing to take on perfectly legal opportunities.
" I wasn't sure if Tiri's mercantile business was going to come through.
In fact, everything pointed to her being captured by pirates as no accident.
I was concerned that whoever was after her business wasn't going to let her back in so easily.
That would be a problem to deal with when we came to it. For now, we would just march forward.
“We might not have the ship for a week,” Brick reminded me. “We’ll need a full workup, and I’d be surprised if they don’t insist on winding down the neutron core to give it a full inspection after the battle we’ve been in.”
I grimaced; a week or more without our ship made me uncomfortable. Even if I’d only had it for a short time, it had become my home.
“Fine, Lily and I will scope out lodging.” I had a bad feeling about that, though; this place while mercantile was also lawless in the sort of way that it would be hard to trust a lodging.
"Your food." The server returned with platters for each of us before I could dwell on it any further.
I stared at the thinly sliced gray meat placed atop small black grains in a way that made me squint. The idea that this was a grub returned to my mind, and I hesitated.
"Just try it. It looks delicious," Violet said quickly.
"Passable," Tiri said, smacking her lips like she was a food judge and couldn’t be pleased.
If it was passable to the picky kikai, then perhaps it was actually going to be quite good. I picked up one of the morsels and took a careful bite, unsure exactly what to expect.
First, what hit my tongue were the black grains.
They had an earthy sweetness that was fairly pleasant on its own, though not very strong.
Then came what I could only assume was the grub, and it landed on my tongue in an utter explosion of flavor.
I wasn't sure what I had expected a grub to taste like, but beyond a mild, meaty texture, it was as if it had been soaked in some sort of flavorful broth that made it all feel like it was melting in my mouth.
There was a faint heat on my breath, paired with a perfectly balanced depth of flavor that made me run my tongue over my cheeks and teeth, chasing a second, third, and increasingly many tastes.
Each one made me doubt my prior descriptions as a deeper new note emerged.
"Oh, this is good," I mumbled, torn between grabbing more and trying to make the most of the piece I was currently eating. "You know, we should program this into the food printers."
Apparently, that was a taboo statement.
Tiri's tail shot up, the fine hairs practically exploding in every direction. "No," she said, as if I had just proposed slaughtering her favorite pet.
"Or not," I said after a moment. "Though I'm certain it would be incredibly popular if there were any recipes available. I'm sure someone has tried."
"As far as I'm aware, there are no kikai recipes available on the printers," Brick said, picking out a few pieces from his plate.
"Why not? This is delicious," I said, reaching for my second piece.
"And that's exactly why." Tiri crossed her arms. "People like you would print it and miss the flavor by miles. That, and there's multiple chemicals in Noki that wouldn't come in a normal cartridge."
"I'm certain people would happily install something new just to get this anywhere in the universe," I pointed out, and quickly, my pointing turned into taking another piece.
Both kikai seemed put out by the conversation, and I decided it wasn't my best idea to continue it. "Anyway," I hedged, dropping the topic, "I'm glad we'll be able to enjoy this while we're out in this sector."
"It is a blessing and a curse." Tiri took a bite, humming to herself. "Even if this is cheap Noki, it's still Noki, and it tastes like home."
I chuckled, only to earn a sharp glare, and I wisely closed my mouth before I said something to upset the two kikai any further.
But in the back of my mind, I was very curious whether I couldn't recreate something like this in our food printers.
It seemed like that might be nice for the two kikai.
They could have a taste of home while we were traveling.
"Anyway, let's enjoy the food before the captain gets any other funny ideas in his head," Melgara said, winking at me.
I could only shake my head. "Silly me. I just wanted to be able to eat this every day." I smacked my lips and found both kikai nodding along. At least in that, they understood the value of what we were eating.