The Tiger Within 157 Curious Indeed

The Prince fell silent and began to eat. He was a tad bit baffled by the tastes that crossed his tongue. Spices that he never thought he had before, and warm nutty flavors of the meats that were prepared in a way he was unaccustomed. Smokey hints and fruity tangs that the palace never really served caught his attention. He quickly came to recognize the foods that he enjoyed and partook in them with a sense of elation. When a guess went right his eyes would light up, but if a guess went sour he ate the piece a bit dejectedly and went to unting the next guess.

After paying attention to his likes, Kyera ate the dishes she did not expect him to enjoy. She knew all these dishes and liked most of them quite well. A few she didn't have a particular taste for, but she ate them anyway. He seemed to have quite a similar pallet to her own. Once they finished she smiled and drank her dew.

"This is very good food. What is most of it made of?" He asked curiously noticing she was finished eating.

"Oh most of it is wild game to be honest. Hare, Dove, i think that one was deer." Kyera replied and he was a bit unimpressed. Most of those meats he had had before, multiple times. He almost called her a liar.

"Then why does it taste so different than the palace versions?" He asked curiously, he was honestly perplexed. Kyera just smiled at him and waved over the waitress. She handed her several coins and Clovis frowned. "No, I asked you to dinner My dear. I will pay." He stopped her paying for the meal himself. The Waitress raised an eyebrow and looked to Kyera uncertainty.

"It is fine, Mavi. Thank you for the meal." Kyera replied and the girl walked away putting the money in the days earnings. "As for why the food tastes so different, My Prince, I am afraid the preparation is the answer. We often dry our meets in a smokehouse before we store them away. After a while we rehydrate and recook to order. Just depends on what we have in store that day. I hope you don't mind, I know your Palace only cooks fresh but i figured you could enjoy the difference between our Peasant food and your Palace Fare." Kyera explained with a soft chuckle. "Some of the spices might be foreign to you as well." she added as a bit of a afterthought. He smiled.

"What does the smokehouse do?" He asked curiously as the stood to walk toward the gate.

"It is just a hot warm house where meat is hung to dry. It allows us to have good food prepared long into the winter without it being just rice and grains." Kyera explained "Its very similar to drying fruits and leaves in the summer to enjoy come winter."

"Ahh, so this can be done for any meat?" He asked seeing potential in this thought "I have always found meats dried to be tasteless."

"That's because they were treated in order to preserve, not to infuse flavor. We often eat meats as they were dried, without cooking them so we tend to use smoke and spices on the meat before we cure them." Kyera continued as they headed back to their horses. He nodded and chuckled at her, his eyes appraising her in the moonlight.

The horses were brought round and he turned to her "Let me help you into the saddle." He offered but didn't wait for a response. He picked her up and set her on the horse. At first Kyera expected to fall, he didn't look strong enough to lift her and yet in the next session she was comfortable inplace. A warm blush tinted her cheeks as she looked away covering her mouth instinctively. Clovis smiled warmly at her. "Thank you." She whispered and he nodded, swinging himself into his own saddle.

"You are a curious thing, Lady Kyera. A curious thing indeed." Clovis told her with a fleeting glance before urging his horse down the path home. Kyera kept close on his trail, her eyes searching the trees for signs of trouble, after all this was her territory and not necessarily safe for the prince at night.