Arian guided me through the maze of streets to a particularly wide one. Most of the lodges didn’t have porches but they were larger and featured windows looking into their rooms. Tables and chairs were the main decor among the buildings, and people sat around eating and chatting to their hearts’ content. The street was busy with rolling carts and pedestrians who moved to and fro delivering ingredients and appetites to the buildings. I glimpsed cabbages, kegs of beer, and more in the backs of those carts, and many a child bounced up and down as they pointed at their favorite establishment.

  “Are these restaurants?” I guessed as we stopped where our street joined the larger thoroughfare.

  Arian was all smiles as her shining eyes swept over the place. “Yes. Every family prides themselves on their own brine so many opened restaurants to show what they could make with their recipe.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “You mean not just dried fish?”

  “Dried fish. Basted chicken. Roast pig. Hard-cracked egg. All that your heart and stomach could desire.”

  I rubbed my hands together and licked my lips. “So where do we start?”

  She used a hand to gesture to the restaurant in the very center of the street. “We might try my family’s restaurant first.”

  “I suppose that’s a good place to start,” I teased as we joined the throngs of lunch travelers. We wove our way through crowds and vehicles, and I was nearly stepped on several times. I scooted closer to my guide and practically trod on her heels. “These places must be pretty busy during the festival.”

  “They are the busiest area in the city except the market,” she confirmed as we reached the open door to the restaurant.

  A steady stream of people flowed in and out, and a burly young man of twenty guarded the door with his arms crossed over his broad chest. His attentive eyes caught sight of us immediately and his face lit up.

  “Lady Arian! Welcome back!”

  Arian smiled at the hefty lad. “It is good to see you, Hudian How is the business?”

  He bobbed his head. “As steady as ever. Would you like the house seat?”

  I peeked around our burly companion and beheld a packed house. “Are there any seats available?”

  He puffed out his chest. “There’s always room for the family.” His sharp eyes studied me with open curiosity. “And you must be Lady Roberts, right? I’ve never seen hair color like yours, not even from the heaven gods that come down to the festival. Makes you easy to find in a crowd, I could spot you a mile off.”

  I glanced pointedly at Arian whose smile became a little shakier. “Yes, well, we will take the house seat but you need not lead us.”

  Hudian nodded and leaned his back against the frame again. “Suit yourself, Lady Arian. A pleasure to meet you, Lady Roberts.”

  We slipped past the guard and into the packed room. The backs of the chairs were so close that the barmaids could hardly squeeze their pert bottoms between them. We kept to the wall and managed to slip around to the far corner of the room where an empty table stood aloof from the other patrons.

  I dropped into one of the cushioned seats with a heavy sigh and Arian took up a chair beside me. “Moving through this place works up an appetite.”

  “I am glad,” Arian replied with a smile as she hailed one of the nearby waitresses.

  A girl of sixteen bounced over to us with a tray propped up in her hand. Her bear-clawed hand. “Yes, Lady Arian?”

  “Two of the specials and one of the older vintages of grape wine in the cellar,” Arian instructed her.

  The girl bowed her head. “As you wish, Lady Arian.” She cast a curious look at me and my hair before she hurried off.

  I grasped my hair in my hands and tucked the sylvan strands behind my head. “If Grandmother can’t change me then I’ll have to at least dye my hair.”

  “I am sure she can do more than that,” Arian assured me even as she bit her lower lip.

  “There is the cloak,” I reminded her.

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  Her face fell a little and she bowed her head. “Yes, but I had hoped to enjoy the festival with you and not only your voice.”

  I snorted. “I can’t blame you. Besides, imagine how many people would bump into me. I’d cause a domino effect of chaos and panic.”

  She cocked her head to one side. “Domino?”

  I waved a hand at her question. “It’s a game in my world that involves tipping over a bunch of wooden blocks lined up in a row.”

  My companion thought about the picture in her mind before her eyes lit up. “Oh, I see!” She laughed. “Yes, that would be quite amusing, would it not? Perhaps you might create that game for the children here to play.”

  The mention of children reminded me of my time in the heaven realm. I put my elbows on the table and tucked my chin into my upturned palms. “I wonder what Kean and Lia are up to. It feels like forever since I saw them.” My heart twinged as I recalled times even before then. “I wonder if the kids at the orphanage worry about me. I hope not. . .”

  Arian set a hand on my shoulder and offered me a smile. “Perhaps you may see them again and tell them you are well.”

  I snorted and stretched my arms onto the table. “Only if you guys have a magical fruit that undoes this godhood.”

  She stared down and furrowed her brow. “I cannot think of any tales, but Grandmother is one of the oldest people I know. Perhaps she may recall a story of such a fruit.”

  I smiled and shrugged. “Would could it hurt to ask?”

  Our waitress returned with a dark green unlabeled wine bottle and two glasses. She poured out the glasses for us. “The dishes are being made right now but did you want anything to eat before then?”

  I folded my arms and furrowed my brow. “Didn’t you mention something about a hard-cracked egg?”

  “You take an uncooked egg and crack the shell before putting it in brine water,” Arian explained.

  “I’d like to try that.”

  The waitress nodded and hurried off. I picked up my glass and sniffed the contents. A sweet and tangy aroma tickled my nose. “This is made out of grapes?” I asked my local guide.

  “Among other things,” Arian teased as she took a sip. She wrinkled her nose and coughed.

  My eyebrows shot up. “That bad?”

  Arian set her glass down and shook her head. “On the contrary, it is that good, but I am several years out of practice.”

  I eyed my glass with suspicion before I shrugged. “You only live once.”

  I took a sip and immediately understood why she had choked. The tangy scent masked the surprising strength of the alcohol. The liquid slid down my throat like a fresh flow of lava. I slammed my cup on the table and grasped my throat with both hands.

  “Water!” I gasped as I tried not to breathe while also trying to give in to the demands of my pumping lungs.

  Arian leaped to her feet and rushed over to a nearby table. “Excuse me,” she pleaded as she swiped a pitcher and glass from them, and rushed back. The people would have protested but they were too busy pointing and laughing at my horrible demise.

  Arian poured out a glass and I snatched it before she’d even finished. I downed the entire contents and was relieved when some of the fires were extinguished.

  I slumped over the table, panting like the last dinosaur and wishing I would go extinct. Arian rubbed my back but I could see her failed effort to tamp down a smile.

  “You are evil,” I hissed through tinging lips.

  She shook her head. “I truly had no idea you would not be able to manage the alcohol of my clan.”

  I stabbed a finger at my cup. “What’s in this stuff?”

  She shrugged. “Merely the grapes from our vines and a little dusting of some spices.”

  I cast a suspicious look at her. “What kind of spices?”

  “You shall see when our meal is brought out,” she assured me as she looked to the kitchen. “I believe these are our meals.”

  Our waitress navigated through the tables with two heavy plates in her hands. She set one of them down in front of each of us and stepped back with a smile. “I hope you enjoy.” Her worried eyes fell on my red face. “Did you need anything else?”

  “More water, and a pitcher for that table,” Arian told her. The waitress appeared puzzled but hurried to obey.

  I eyed my plate with all the faith of a mouse eying a friendly cat. I caught Arian’s attention and pointed at the food. “This has the same spice as the wine?”

  She sighed and nodded. “I am afraid so.”

  “Does all your food have the same spice?”

  “Not all.”

  “But a lot of it?”

  “I am afraid so.”

  My shoulders slumped and my stomach grumbled. I clutched my stomach in one hand and pursed my lips. “It’s alright, we’ll get through this somehow.”

  Arian picked up her fork, stabbed some of the delicious brine-soaked meat, and raised the piece to me. “Cheers?”

  My face drooped but I did the same. “Cheers.”