[Citadel] The Forest at Night (closed)

The Forest at Night was by no means a well-known establishment. Nestled like a wedge between two otherwise busy thoroughfares in the heart of a healthy business district, it suffered for its location in that a passer by typically noticed it from above, and would have to double-back from the elevated walkway just to find the entrance. Despite this, it eventually found a market during the mid-day hours and the late evenings, thought it was at best a highly competitive market for the former in order for the owner to justify indulging in the latter.

The interior was compact, an array of stoves and grills arranged semi-symmetrically behind an almost completely circular counter top sat at the center of the circular main room that was just big enough that two people could walk aside around it without discomfort. At even points around the room a small array of stairs would lead to the elevated ring that circled the lower room, lined with booths consisting of low tables and cushions on the floor, from which the patron could look out over the central section or across the way. To Temria, the rough wood furniture gave it an oddly rustic look, as though they had tried to build a tea house in the wilderness with materials at hand. Except for a wide berth above the cooking equipment, the ceiling was host to an array of different leafing vines, engineered to sprout in different colours not unlike those found on Thessia, and there was an ambient sound of running water and sounding birds.

The place was typically quiet tonight, though on the opposite spoke of the outer wheel Temria could see, and occasionally hear a rowdy group of older asari celebrating something. Behind the center ring two maidens, if they were even that, were attending to the stoves with an almost mechanical precision, while the third, elder head cook attended to the wine.

Temria, for her part, was lounging patiently on the upper wheel. For now, the asari was content to enjoy the ambiance afforded by the familiar setting and the mingling smell of frying fish and steeping hot wine, and trying her best not to be distracted by the continuous news feed that had replaced the ambient sounds of nature. Sur`Kesh had not fared any better since she`d left work for the night, and she could only dread what they others would say at work following the latest developments.

Arina had heard about the 'Forest' but had never found her way there. Which had been a mistake as she noticed upon entering the location pretty late. The embassy had been abuzz without ends about the latest developments on Sur'Kesh. The deployment of a biological weapon issued alarms not triggered since the Reaper war. She could not get through to her clan but the last information had been that everyone on Sur'Kesh was on a different continent and safe. Her next chance for a diplomatic priority burst was tomorrow noon, so she had just left eventually. She could need company and distraction now, food, some drink and another topic eventually. She flinched at the holoscreens showing the news. At least the volume wasn't obnoxiously loud.

She looked around, realizing that she had no idea how Temria looked like. There was a couple of asari celebrating something and then she discovered a single one, looking down. Lighting was in such a way that she couldn't make out any details from her position. Arina herself wasn't easy to mistake, still in her formal office dress. She ascended the stairs and approached the booth with the single asari.

"Temria?" she asked, extending her hands.

If Arina had taken a lengthy time to arrive, Temria hadn't noticed, each new development coming out of Sur'Kesh immediately preceded another five or six messages for her to juggle. Somehow it had gotten into her co-workers' heads that she would be coordinating collection of the relief fund, and each message had its own flavor of indignation, desperation and coercion as they tried to argue the merits of taking out shifty loans in order to contribute that much more to the total...

As such, Temria hadn't noticed the other asari approach her. Lounging in her seat in front of an untouched ceramic pitcher of wine; still steaming with two ornate cups sitting upside-down beside it, the doctor looked almost comical for doing so in a pristine white medical uniform. Her skintone was a rich shade of purple, darkening a bit around the edges of her crest, and her figure, endowed as it was that no one could question her matronhood, was none the less fit and maintained. She was utterly engrossed in her omni-tool's frustrating messaging interface until Arina spoke up.

"Hmm? Oh!" With a start, Temria sat up straight, dousing the orange light of her omni-tool and standing to take her hands in response, "Yes, and you're Arina, I presume?"

Arina smiled and pressed the doctor's hands.
"Yes, good to see you! I am very sorry if I kept you waiting. Getting away from my office took longer than expected." With a sigh she sat down across Tamira, cross-legged. She arranged some folds of her dress so it was comfortable. She let out a heavy sigh, there had been a lot of tension building in her, she needed distraction.

"It's nice to finally get to know the person behind the screen name." pointing towards the wine in the middle of the table she added: "I see you didn't waste any time! I am so happy we can do this, since… You probably can imagine that currently everything revolves around that topic.”
The command lines were using the words ‘civil war’ and ‘coup d’etat’, the danger of the situation beyond an isolated event had been noted very fast by the secret services.

Her mind was trailing off a again, and she shook her head.
“Who am I telling this? You are in that wheel yourself, aren’t you?” You couldn’t just ignore it and not talk about it, so better to just get it over with. “How are you dealing with it?”
She definitely needed something warm and comforting and intoxicating now.

The doctor nodded in ascent, "It has certainly been a trying day..." she admitted with a sympathetic sigh, not feeling quite ready to add that it carried with it the promise of more trials to come.

As the other asari took her seat, Temria followed suit, sitting straight with legs folded under her to help with her reach as she flipped the two cups right-side-up. "Sorry if it seemed rather forward of me to order the wine first, but she insisted it was a good balance and I didn't want to risk those others buying it up and having to wait for them to cook more..."

She nodded solemnly as Arina spoke, lifting the pitcher delicately by the neck as she braced the bottom of it with the back of her other hand. "It certainly came as a shock..." she admitted, tipping the pitcher gingerly over each cup to fill each just below the brim. "A number of our people were very upset with the initial announcement and the time it took for any updates to come out of the situation..." she trailed off for a moment to set the pitcher back down, "I don't suppose I can blame them for it, though. The stuff that eventually did come after didn't help at all."

With both hands, she slid one of the cups towards Arina, taking the remaining one for herself only after she'd take it. That bit of overt formality over with, she leaned into the cushions again and allowed herself to relax. The wine itself was a rich red with hints of orange particulates floating on the surface. Deceptively sweet smelling it in fact had a notable spice to it accompanied by a tart initial flavor that would give way eventually to a sweet aftertaste.

"Today was its own beast, of course. Elevated security, additional procedures, we needed to call in all the salarian staff back and still had to pull overtime besides." She nodded to one of the cooks when she noticed she had their attention then raised the cup to her lips. "But there I go, on and on about me... Are your family still alright? How are you faring with all this?"

Arina’s face became very soft as she observed the proceedings with the wine. Tamira had a certain sense of grace in her movements, that specific way to make the small gestures count in a ceremony.

Why oh why had she not discovered this place herself before? It was… like home, like one of the taverns you could find in Ulee or in the outskirts of Nartin maybe. And it was only three blocks away from her apartment.

“Not at all,” Arina replied to the concern about the wine. “I rely on your judgment.” The smell of the fluid pouring into the very old style cups was mesmerizing. Like a swell flower opening her blossom, exuding a strong and sweet scent.

Arina took her cup with both hands. The ceramic was comfortably warm, it calmed her nerves.
“We get one priority burst a day, so I will know more tomorrow. But I rely on aunty, to take care of things. Nobody was near the place, all on otter continents or off world, so there is no immediate concern.” ‘Aunty’ was of course a relative term, since there had been a lot of generations in between her father and the current clutch but it was a name that stuck. She also had always just been aunt Arina.

Several members of the clan worked for government organizations though, so she expected some involvement sooner or later. The clan was rather unimportant though, so they weren’t exposed at least.

The group of asari on the other side of the wheel where laughing at a joke.
Arina raised the cup and offered the back of her hand to a traditional asari toast.
“What can we drink to on a night like this? The end of death and destruction?”

The wine was spreading its full aroma in her mouth and she had to smile about a good choice by Tamira, who obviously knew a thing or two about these things.

“How can it be that this place was hiding so well? I am living here for almost a year now and have merely heard of it. How long have you been living on the Citadel? Were you here during… the end of the war?”

Temria nodded intently as Arina lifted her cup, gripping her own firmly in one hand as she matches the gesture herself. "And a long lasting peace for which we can be grateful." It was a naive sentiment, to be sure, but one the doctor felt the need to reaffirm given the circumstances that were on everybody's lips tonight.

Choosing to be daring tonight, Temria drew the cup to her lips and risked an early sip, just enough to know it was still a tad too hot for her but not enough that she'd recoil at the shock of it. She bristled visibly, but brought herself down as she blew steam off the surface of the simmering wine. Her expression was contemplative, thoughtful, though broken by mild surprise as Arina asked her question.

"Oh? The Citadel? No, I... I've only been here about half a year now. Before that I'd only ever been here on layover or in some official capacity." She hesitated for a moment, giving the cup another sip, this one longer, less strained, "I was serving aboard a frigate when... that happened."

"Oh, you served with the fleet? That is admirable." Arina mused a bit, holding the cup with both hands, gently blowing the steam away.
"I thought, the safest place must have been with a good fast ship. I was on Niacal, it felt like a trap and when the relays died I thought this was the end." she chuckled softly. "But of course it wasn't, right?"

She was measuring the Doctor. A Matron, very good looking and a very likable nature with obvious taste. And still - if Arina remembered correctly she had said she was single. She wondered if there was a dramatic story behind this fact, as Temria seemed like a perfect family woman. But what did she really know? Not much and asking about this would have been rude so she kept it to herself.

"We connected everyone and found back a more or less normal way of life. Everyone found things to do." She sighed and smiled.
"So, how did you like the pictures from Sanves? I never knew there was a statue they disassembled." Homes, new ones and lost ones seemed like an appropriate topic in this cozy atmosphere.

A faint smile played across Temria's lips at the mention of safety aboard a frigate, "Well, I can tell you it wasn't safe where we took her, but I don't envy you for Niacal... I imagine it must have been quite trying..."

She hesitated, realizing she may have overstepped, and subtly trying to find a way to steer the conversation back into safe territory, noted that one of the asari behind the counter had vanished. She'd almost turned to look when Arina offered her an out.

"The pictures? Yes, they're all very nice. Did you take them all yourself? They're very well composed. The statue was this gaudy thing, white stone, meant to look like some Athame revival piece, it just ended up looking like some giant matriarch glowering down at the city." Temria paused, the corner of her mouth twitching a bit as she fought down a laugh with another hearty sip of wine, "Still, I'd grown accustomed to it, I grew up thinking it was personally upset with me, every time I got myself into trouble... I found out some time after leaving that they'd finally torn it down..."

Trailing off, Temria turned as a new figure approached the booth, one of the shorter asari that was working the stove, "Sorry to interrupt..." she bowed her head low, placing two holographic frames, the menus, evidently, on the table.

“Yes, mostly my own, thank you! Some were also done by friends. I was looking through them so you probably got the best ones, I am no professional holographer.” She chuckled. “I didn’t send you the derp faces and waving random asari, there are maybe more of those than not. But yes, one of the postings I enjoyed very much, Sanves is one of those worlds where you feel at home in an instant when you come from Thessia. I admit, I tried to look up that statue on the extranet and didn’t even find more than one crude picture. It seemed like nobody wanted to document it and I now can imagine why,” she laughed. There the waitress interrupted them, putting two datapads on their table

“Thank you! … anyway, I would not want to be loomed over by the mad Goddess constantly. Maybe just nobody wanted to upset the artist with getting rid of it earlier.”

I only now occurred to her, talking about it, that Temria must have left that long ago and never returned to Sanves since. There were many possible reasons for that, some better not mentioned. But what could possibly be bad about the Doctor?

Arina took a menu and studied the collection of classic thessian dishes, some rare ones even that rarely found their way on menus in these days of all cross-cooking and style mixing.
“Oh, that is interesting. Anything you recommend?”
Lamu’una tripe ragout… Arina thought she last had that as a child. The price was matching its rarity outside Thessia but it had some appeal to her suddenly. She took a sip of her wine, the warm alcohol making her the slightest bit lightheaded, which was not unwelcome on such a day.

“How do you like the Citadel life then? This place is very much to my liking at least, thank you for suggesting it. Do you come here often?”

Temria gave a cursory glance to the menu, but already had a dish in mind, "They don't advertise it, but they'll be replacing the seafish tomorrow morning. So anything with kanish, dragonfish, or eel should be a bit cheaper tonight... Better veer away from the raw stuff though."

Setting the menu down gingerly, she took up her wine cup once again, "They have these fried kanish skin strips as apetizers. They're a little black around the edges but quite good."

Looking thoughtful, the doctor leaned into her cushions with a sigh, "I can't complain about the citadel in general, I suppose... Life's been rough for everyone lately, and it certainly has that sense of grandeur you always hear about but... I dunno, there's definitely a tension here, knowing what happened so recently here probably unsettles people, you know? As for this place, I found it almost by accident. My co-workers like to go drinking in groups, but they tend to gravitate towards louder places. Sometimes you want to be alone with your thoughts though, I find it's good for that."

Taking another hearty sip, Temria almost looked disappointed, setting the empty glass down on the table. "O-of course, it's great for a private chat too, right?" she stammered, smiling awkwardly.

“Talk to me about tension. My workplace will look like a fortress soon enough. A lot of the diplomats that usually meet outside for lunch weren’t leaving offices today, security all over and I think the restrictions will tighten.” She mused.
“There’s a place we all like to go… every diplomat. It’s a small food shop, not much more than a booth, called ‘Embassy of Food’… the guy operating it is a salarian. If nobody is going out to have a bite anymore, he will have a hard time. I should check with him tomorrow, I hope he’s alright.” She remembered the time when she had med other CDN members there, she had a hot-dog with Taleeze and Skylar.

She listened to what Temria said about life on the Citadel. She understood exactly what she meant. It was constantly crowdy, sometimes you just needed to get away.
“Yes, I know, you won’t believe how many party events diplomats have to visit on the job. It’s more than you think. While I feel the need to act out now and then privately…” The Authority and the BlueShift came to her mind – where would Sulla now be? “…I appreciate time alone from time to time.” She leaned back and waved, to calm Temria. “It is perfect for such evenings, Doctor! I am happy you suggested it and it's good to have your company this evening.”

With a smile she was studying the menu again, taking a sip. The Doctor had a point with fish specials, a good occasion to have some.
“But now what to do? I’d like to try the kanish as appetizer and then… okay, seafood. I haven’t had dragonfish in a while, I’ll go with it. What about you?” With a smile she put the menu back and looked for the maiden that was serving them.

"The eel, I think." she replied after a moment of pondering. "The grilled eel, I think. I'm not too hungry, myself. Perhaps I can go with that and we can split the appetizer?"

Temria leaned forward, lifting the pitcher gingerly in hand to fill her cup once more, maintaining the form, though notably less ceremonial. She'd done her part to appear the cool sophisticate thus far, but Arina had proven personable, even if the doctor had to pretend she didn't notice her appraising expression now and again, Temria could not help but feel at ease.

It had occurred to her that Arina could be more than she was letting on. Of course, someone like her, charming and in possession of both a youthful energy and mature sophistication would be exactly suited for embassy work. But one did not grow up with those traits without realizing just how far they could take you...

Well... to hell with it.

Fake or genuine, Arina's gift had been a welcome kindness, if Temria was fated to fall for it, she resolved to do so.

"Of course, we'll put it on my tab." she smiled, setting the pitcher back down and running her fingers over the rim of her cup without noticing as the waitress returned, "Between Niacal and Sanves... I imagine you must be well traveled in the core systems."

In fact, Arina had thought about sharing a bowl of appetizers, just as she had done with Daia back then. But it had not seemed appropriate to offer with the Matron.
“Oh, that’s convenient; I’d like to share them, of course. I have no idea how large the plates in this place are – unfortunately I have to dine in too many restaurants where you get just minuscule arrangements on gigantic plates. A tradition that has been coming up with humanity, I have no idea why they do that but it must have to do with their unfamiliarity with a biotics apetite.” She laughed and put the menus back. As soon as she did so, the attentive server came and took their orders. It was nice to see that for a change as many restaurants these days only had automated ordering kiosk interfaces at the table.

Arina noted a relaxation in her counterpart. What she had mistaken for just formalism had been some actual tension obviously. If it only had been due to workload stress or the general uncertain situation or something else she did not know. Tides, she herself had been tense and had relaxed considerably, and not only due to the wine, which was a tad more potent than it seemed due to the temperature. With a chuckle out of nowhere she took a good sip. It had perfect temperature now. She watched the particles float in her cup for a bit before answering.

“Yes, I did. I don’t know if you know how this usually works but we normally start out touring the Republics on duty before we get posts abroad. So I have been posted literally everywhere, even Lymetis. Which actually is a nice place with a special kind of people.” She remembered their ‘homebrew’ and the drinking contests. “It’s often seen as a backwater posting and it is not much liked but I did. Now, as Nimbus gets reconnected, I can see a bright future for the little bugger. I have heard it is mostly intact.” Thinking about Nimbus brought another posting to her mind.

“Then there was Trategos. You may hate the planet but you just have to like the people. Have you ever had a trategosian hot pot? It is a certified way to eat grease.” She laughed. “But you can definitely use all the calories you can get out there.”
She leaned back again and continued with a slightly absent gaze as if browsing through a stack of memories.
“Yes… I have been around.” Her eyes travelled back to Temria. A very amicable person and someone who made her open up easily. With a chuckle she had to think how doctors tended to do that.

Then the maiden arrived with their appetizers and put the bowl with kanish skin strips between the two. Arina took one and nibbled it with an appreciative nod and a raised eyebrow. They were on the spicy side, which worked out even better with her sensitive mouth after the warm wine. It had been a good choice.

“What about you, doctor? Where did your travels take you?” It was a carefree question, given the fact the she only knew the doctor had left Sanves early and had served with the fleet.

"Oh, don't get me started on humans and the wierd little places their influence crops up." Temria couldn't help but smile, Arina's laughter proving to be infectious.

She listened intently to the other asari's story, refraining from interrupting though talk of Trategos got her smiling again for some reason. The knowing look in her eye suggesting perhaps that she'd either been, or perhaps had a familiar sense of the sort of people the harsh cold world tended to produce. Regardless, it stoked her interest, enough that she set her glass down and folded her hands while she listened.

"I must say I'm impressed, you're so well traveled." And so young, but she hadn't had quite enough to say that part out loud just yet. None the less, it made her curious what Arina had planned for the future.

She almost thought to ask when the appetizers arrived and couldn't help but belay that while she sampled one. Scaleless and skinned with just a little extra flesh behind, the skins were marinated in spices before cooked fast and hot, they were black, delicate things and to Temria's repeated delight, always the perfect blend of heat and the subtle flavor kanish was known for.

"Oh, me?" She shrugged, as though it had not even occurred to her where life had taken her thus far. "Let's see... I moved to Cyone initially. Learned to work for a living." She smirked, gesturing to the pitcher, "Learned Tea, mainly."

Twisting a bit, she leaned into the soft cushions with a long, contemplative sigh before continuing. "Signed up with the Cyone Interest Group part time, ended up an 'asset assurance officer' a glorified bookkeeper really, this was obviously well before that particular nastiness with... well, before your time, anyway."

"I kept bouncing between working for CIG and earning my baseline medical certifications, then moved to Hyetiana to earn specializations in cybernetics and xenosurgery. Turian, elcor and quarian, if you're curious." She smiled at the last one, "Sorry, I'm showing my age again. This was before they became so much less popular..."

She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "Of course... when that... incident happened I thought the quarians had gone and unleashed the end of civilization. So I ended up running back to Cyone and signed up for military service. The universe didn't end and I ended up doing the full thirty years conditioning instead. Then I was stationed on..." she trailed off, looking sidelong at Arina with an almost surprised expression.

"I... uhm... I'm sorry, none of that was what you asked, was it?"

“Well traveled, yes, but that’s the job. Connecting all the dots.” She took a sip of her wine and casually nibbled skin after skin – realizing her appetite – as the doctor talked. When she mentioned ceremonial tea, or mulled wine in this case, she commented: “Oh, and well learned that is.” It was interesting how many species had tea ceremonies or an equivalent. Of course, the elcor were the most impressive, but to give the humans credit, in all their diversity, also had a nice one. She made a mental note to invite Temria to a Cha Do on another occasion. A human diplomat she knew was performing them at her home. Temria might be someone to admire it.

When Temria mentioned Cyone, Arina browsed her mind and had to think about Taleeze who had told her she had fought among the reactors. Arina raised an eyebrow on the mysterious unfinished sentence. What did she mean with ‘particular nastiness’? Something seemed to escape her…

But she was distracted again as the doctor continued. She leaned a bit forward, cup in both hands. This sure was no story to hide, the doctor qualified as well traveled herself, Arina thought. She chuckled, when Temria mentioned quarians but didn’t interrupt her immediately.

But when the matron had finished she said:
”It was exactly what I asked for, Temria. You are well traveled yourself, no false humility please!” She said this with a laugh.

“And I am well old enough to know what the quarians look like under the suits.” She smiled but became a bit more serious. “I remember the Morning War very well. I was in my finals at the academy, I had affiliations to Thessian diplomats already, internships and all that. It’s the first step before becoming an assistant. Yeah, so I had a first hand view on things.” Now she made a pause.

“When the quarians called their pilgrims home for the Rannoch offensive, those that had seen the calling home of all quarians when the Morning War broke out, knew what was coming.”

After another pause she added.
“I actually remember the day I saw my last quarian without a suit. He was picking up papers for his travel home in an office at the academy. The happenings disturbed me and I was questioning my idea about the profession I wanted to pusue.“ She looked Temria in the eyes. Dark as the place was, there were bright reflections of spots of light. She had not talked about this with anyone for ages and then, who else then a Matron aged asari could understand her there?
“I took… a break to find myself again, toured a bit as a traveling maiden, doing this and that but I realized that what happened to the quarians was not a good example of how I wanted the galaxy to be organized. It actually drove me back into diplomacy.” Just to live though the political fuck-up that was the Reaper Crisis and War.

“We will live to see the day when they will be free and many again.” Was she getting old as well? A Matriarch once said that you can’t become a Matriarch without seeing the rise and fall of at least one empire. She has seen the fall of the quarians already and now would even witness their rise.

When she bit off another kanish she couldn’t help that she had forgotten something that Temria had briefly mentioned about herself at one point. But then, you just couldn’t remember every detail about all the extranet folk. She could look up the dossier at the embassy if she wanted to.

"Not just the quarians... but perhaps the batarians, or even the krogan too... perhaps."

Temria leaned forward, managing the most reassuring smile she could given the gravity of what she was saying, but her eyes betrayed the earnestness of it as she placed her hand on Arina's. Steadying the other asari's grip on the cup as she lifted the pitcher to top her off. "You've seen a lot, Arina. We both have, I didn't mean to insinuate you didn't understand..." she squeezed her hand for emphasis, she didn't say that she hoped earnestly that the salarians would not suffer the same indignity, it didn't need to be spoken aloud, and to lend voice to the possibility alone was insulting.

Releasing her at last, the doctor gripped her own cup, filling it to the top as well before setting the half-empty pitcher down. Holding it gingerly in hand, she regarded Arina with a smile. "What shall we toast this time?"

“No, I didn’t take offense. In fact.. you just made me think about stuff, remembering.” She thought she knew so much but still not enough, never enough… The Matron had it completely right.

Arina enjoyed the touch. It was a feeling she did not have a lot of lately, feeling cared for. The thought of going home alone into her dark apartment was suddenly not appealing. She enjoyed her free time, her time alone, hadn’t she said so before? But sometimes you could just need someone to cling to when everything got too much, just like now. Not in any erotic way just like a Maiden was looking towards a Matron for protection. She was just left out in the field. Don’t let go of my hand, doctor.

A shiver went through her when Temria eventually did but her well trained face didn’t flinch. A burst of laughter from the other end of the restaurant, the murmur of the news announcer, not comprehendible, rustling of leaves, a bird… She remembered a song she had heard an old commando sing, it dated back to the krogan rebellions. There also been a version in the charts two centuries ago…
…on the day the storm has just begun I will still hope there are better days to come….

“To better days to come, doctor.” Her voice was steady, as she raised her cup and fixated Temria’s eyes.

"Yes... I can drink to that." Temria nodded, and gave Arina a soft smile, lifting her cup in salute to the notion and leaning her head back to take a heavy draught.

Clearing her throat politely as she arrived, the elder asari that had been tending to the bar arrived with two steaming dishes balanced precariously on the fingertips of each hand. "Pardon me, ladies." she would say pleasantly as she set first down in front of Arina. "I understand you ordered the dragonfish... and you'll be having the eel tonight, doctor?"

Temria nodded, and exchanged brief platitudes, thanking the other matron for taking the time to see to them herself, but they were quickly interrupted by the sound of a sudden flash of flame and the surprised exaltation of one of the maidens, followed shortly by a cheer from the rowdy party on the other end of the rim. Excusing herself, the server departed to the lower section, and Temria could see the two maidens awaiting a scolding with twin expressions of dread.

Both dishes were of a heavy looking white ceramic, shallow on one end and deeper on the other with a higher lip. In the shallows, Arina's dragonfish cuts were arranged in thick cuts accounting for both flanks of the moderately sized sea fish. Cut into aesthetic triangular forms and pan seared to bring out the almost fluorescent yellow tinge of the meat, they sat arranged with long thin peppers on a bed of boiled noodles that lined the bottom of the dish into the depths of a foggy soup sitting in the deeper end of the dish.

Temria's was arranged similarly, thick strips of rosy eel meet arranged in the shallows atop steaming noodles, slowly but surely acquiring their flavor. Each dish had a few small mushrooms peeking above the surface of the soup, their caps lined with rings that glow with an eerie blue shimmer.

"Well then..." the doctor exclaims with an amused smile, lifting a pronged skewer delicately. "Shall we?"

Arina returned the cheer and drank her cup empty, the now mildly warm fluid giving her an incredible soothing.

The arriving meals interrupted the conversation. So Temira was already a well known guest and sure got a bit of a special treatment.

The fish looked delicious and all the arrangement was fantastic. Being delivered by the chef herself it reached a level of special attention. You can’t beat home grown cooking often, Arina thought. It had been an excellent choice by looks and smell, the mix of spices filling their compartment instantly.

Arina took a moment to admire what has been put in front of her and was comparing to her companion’s plate, noting similarities and differences. It would be necessary to eat through their menu over time. Now, if taste and texture was holding up to presentation….

Oops, mishap in the kitchen area. She looked down; it did not seem to be a big issue, just a small disturbance. When the Matron hurried away, Arina asked: “Are they a family business?” the two maidens could easily be the older one’s daughters.

“We shall, Temria” Arina replied and carefully decided to fish one of the thessian shwa’mal mushrooms in her soup. Mostly used for decoration these days – other species only noticed them for their “awww look at blue ringy-thingies” appeal – it was often used in various roles in classic thessian cuisine as it came in many variants and forms. The naturally bound eezo trace was useless to everyone but asari after all. Arina was reminded of home, seeing them getting actual use in a dish.

The taste was rich with spices and a little bit hot, just to tickle the tongue. The texture was like very tender meat, she could crush it easily with her tongue alone, perfect.
“Mmmmh… I only get those in raw state when I eat the buffet deco at the human embassies.” She joked.

The fish was something else as well. It was hearty and strong, like something a good mum would serve her kid. And yet it had a subtle elegance that can only be reached when done with the slightest twist of a hand, casually. Arina smiled and chewed. She had to think of her late mum and doing so while eating was good. Watch me mummy, your daughter is eating healthy.