"Oh, well... Sorry about that then, y'all." Ellie gives a brief bow in apology after having cleaned and mopped the shattered glasses of drinks. Thankfully she broke it all far enough away from me that I didn't get splashed much, I didn't really feel like getting melted partway through during lunch. "My Boon is still fairly weak but I thought I had the handle on carrying things with it now."

"Just not yet, I guess. Try to practice a bit more, Ellie." Emmie looks through dark bangs back at Ellie after having helped clean the mess. "You just got you're Boon last year, so try not to push it too much. I've had much more time to hone my own relationship with May."

A quiet series of popping and sizzling occurs across the table as she speaks and I turn my head to the sounds. Looking in front of me I find Soot... eating his food? I guess? I stare at him a bit in the quiet between conversation and he takes the moment to speak up as well.

"Har hargh! Yeah, lots of elementals are quiet unique with 'eating' compared to most races." He reaches down over his plate to place a hand on top of the plate of potato skins. They begin to sizzle and pop as the fat burns from his food. I lean forward slightly to take in the smell of burnt potatoes but curiously don't find any of the excessive lingering smell I'd have expected.

"Don't mind my eating, Arc. My 'chewing' will be a heck of a lot quieter than this one's." Soot explains, jerking a thumb at Caim's direction.

"Even if I was a loud chewer, least I can keep a train of thought going." Caim cuts into the steak on his plate, the slight scent of cooked meat wafting out as he does so. It seems to have a slightly more... pungent scent than a clayflesh steak I'd order back home but he seems to be eating it in large bites with gusto. "Emmie, you were saying about your Boon?"

"No problem, Caim." Emmie, by contrast to her lighter haired sister, seems to smile in a much gentler and subtler way as she looks back at Caim. "You could say I'm somewhat of the gimmick, or maybe the charm, of the Hallowed Ground. Y'see, I've been worshipping May for at last six years now. She's the Goddess of Fertility and Gambling. May the Breadwinner is her full title, if you didn't exactly know it."

"And mine is Aeros the Skyhold!" Ellie interjects excitedly from nearby as she's continued bussing tables.

"Mmhmm, and my Unkah's, Kyoru the Calm, covers peace and music. I've always had a habit of helping out with the family's garden for our stores, but they were just normal gardens. Produce barely worth more than their weight in coppers." She gestures to the salad that Day has managed to shovel half of in her mouth.

"... mmh fink..." She holds up a finger and pauses for a second to chew her food well. After swallowing what she had she starts to put her fork back down into the plate before remembering to continue. " Ah, sorry. Umm... I think it's a real crisp and fresh meal."

"Ah, well thank you. My Unkah dresses and seasons that real good, but my veggies get their chance to shine now and then with that one. But eventually y'see, I decided I liked the garden, much more than my family and they let me claim our little farms and gardens for myself under May."

Emmie stops and goes to hover her hand over the bottle of dressings that Day has half finished already. A pale green light emanates from her pale skin along with the scent of freshly cut leaves. The bottle begins to fill itself slowly over the course of a few moments with an increasing glow and smell until it fills up once more and her effects stop with it.

The sight of that reminds me of something that I can't seem to name for a moment before it comes to mind. Hal's canteen! This must be what the canteen that Hal had used to produce water earlier!

"Soot!" I shout excitedly "Is this what Hal uses to pour water from his canteen?"

"Canteen?" Soot stop midway from bringing a cut of his red steak to his mouth. After a moment of holding it there, along with his open waiting mouth, he gives brief chuckle to himself and eats it. "Mmm mmm."

Quick pops occur when he eats his food this way before it simmers down to a subtle sizzle.

"Nah, that's just a magic canteen. Pretty basic gear that just let's that specific canteen hold that specific liquid in much larger amount than normally possible. Hargh! Emmie here can do a lot more than just refill bottles."

Emmie giggle suddenly and covers her face with the serving tray she's holding. After a brief moment to gather herself she speaks up with embarrassment clear on her face at this unexpected burst of emotion.

"Ah, well. Yeah, that was just an example but I can do much more than refills, heh. May the Gardening is what people in her worship call it but most just commonly sat Garden Magic. My gardens and plots I claim are reservoirs of magical power that enhance flavor and yield, but can also be sacrificed daily to produce almost any sort of effect. By drawing on this gathering of magic, Worshippers of May are some of the most varied and feared combatants around."

Emmie gives a cold smile that warrants no challenge to this statement and I'm reluctant to even bring one up at her stare.

"Y'know, if only it didn't take so long to grow our crops and divine relationship, there'd be a lot more of us."

Hmm, so it's kinda like a long term investment for an almost guaranteed greater power. Makes sense, plus she gets magic! That must be how the sign glowed in hovering letters and how the table extended earlier as well.

"So you must be the one who made the sign and this here, huh?" I ask her, tapping the translucent extended edge.

"Hmm?" She pauses a second and looks at the edge then glances outside before chuckling a bit and continuing speaking. "Oh, no. Those enchantments aren't mine. I'm not great at that type and like quicker instant spells or summoning things instead. My Unkah hired another type of mage from around here to get that done."

Another?

"Another?!" I exclaim surprised. "How many types of magic are there here? Can some people just use it then?" I ask excitedly.

Magic wasn't really as much of a thing back home, just simple party tricks in all honesty. We did, however, have tales of powerful wizards in ancient times that were able to carve the landscape like, well, clay. We even had a story of one called Pump, who was so powerful with his magical abilities he defied the Almaej weakness of water and was said to be able to swim like fish in an actual ocean.

"Can I get another drink?" Someone shouts from a nearby table.

"Of course! One second!" Emmie cries out over her shoulder. "Sorry, Arc was it? I gotta bus these tables, but do call if you need more help."

"Don't worry, Emmie." Soot waves her away. "We got it from here. It's our job for the orientation anyways."

Emmie nods and smiles before thanking us then goes to help the other tables nearby. I hadn't actually been paying attention here and feel bad as I notice there actually seem to be a few patrons who were probably waiting for her to finish with us.

"There's a few races who have some 'magical' abilities, like my fire for example, but outside of divine races there aren't any who have the variety of magical skills that a Boon can grant. Several gods do give magical abilities in different ways though. The little pamphlet you got goes into detail and we'll explain later in detail if you want."

"I hang around the place we had our meeting earlier so you can feel free to find me whenever you have questions or need advice too." Caim juts in. "But first, your food, Arc! Don't wanna let it get cold, go on and try it."

I notice Caim's pale skin seems to have reddened around his cheeks and face. Looking at his food, he has an empty mug and another one seems to have been given when I wasn't looking at some point.

He taps the second, full glass with a slight clink.

"I'm saving this fresh, cold one for you, Arc. We'll cheers your first beer together!"

"I thought it was a lager?" I ask confused for a second.

"Meh" He waves his hand in a slightly more exaggerated way than usual. Hmm, is that what the drink does? Make him dozy, like some kind of medicine? "Tomato, tomato. Same difference, just give it a shot if you feel like it."

Soot laughs at Caim's antics but gives me wave to go ahead if I feel like it. Oh well. If all those other young men and Soot nearby are fine with this drink then I'll at least try it a bit.

Cutting into my steak I bring a square of it up with my fork and look at it for a moment. Tinged with the slightest pink but seared a dark brown with a slight smell of charcoal on it, it definitely gets my appetite going. I look at the fries still on the plate and they honestly don't seem to have as much of a difference to Almaej fried other than the golden colors.

I put the piece in my mouth and chew it, savory juices slowly leaking with much stronger flavor than I'd expected.

"Hmmm!" I give out a surprised hum at the rich taste without realizing it. Caim just smiles as I try my food while Soot laughs heartedly. Day to my right continues eating her salad, focused on her new meal as well. She looks at me as I try mine then gives a thumbs up my way and smiles wide with her mouth closed and full of food. I return the gesture after filling up on the fries and smile with cheeks near to bursting back.

Pfaw!

She quickly covers her mouth before almost spitting her food at the sight of my cheeks. Like some kinda squirrel, my cheeks seem to be able to stretch a bit more than any of theirs so I shock her quite a bit. I swallow my food and laugh warm-heartedly with the others.

Feeling like the moment is right, I grab my glass of lager, or beer too I guess, and lift it to Caim.

"Ah!" He grabs his quickly after wiping his hands clean and stands to speak up, slightly louder than I'd anticiated. "To an Almaej's first beer in Maja! Cheers!!!"

He brings his mug to mine as I follow suit and clink our glasses together in a resounding sound that echoes nearby.

"CHEERS!!!"

I see the group of young men all have their glasses raised and gestured to us as we drink ours. They laugh in a hectic uproar but I hear a jovial companionship in it that makes me feel just a bit more at home. Caim brings his glass to his lips to drink deep of his lager and I do so as well.

The rest of the meal doesn't cover much more of an orientation and goes by in a bit of blur. We enjoy our meal as Caim and I down our beers. It doesn't effect me as much as it seems him but the nutty drink gladly isn't fully water. It's apparently made with alcohol instead, and doesn't dissolve me like normal so I can drink it with more comfort than usual. The fresh, somewhat nutty and sweet drink warms my body up and begins to cloud my head after the fifth drink, by which point Caim is barely on his third. At some point I end up in a competition with the young men, adventurers I find out, and beat all but one, the rest collapsing on the floor as Emmie and Ellie shake their heads at them.

Overall the 'orientation' ends up finishing early and Caim barely manages to rouse himself to pay for the meals as Soot leads him by the shoulder back home. Day and I walk side by side behind them and speak lightly of the night.

"Sorry, if I was loud tonight. It looked like you might've wanted a quieter meal." I apologize to her through my foggy mind as she pauses before responding back to me.

"... not really, no." She tells me after a moment.

"No?" I'm surprised by what she says. He didn't drink any bit and only stayed nearby as the events unfolded. Although I suppose she could've gone to the quieter half of the tavern.

"No. I actually really liked the rowdiness." She nods to herself and looks at me as I walk beside her. Her verdant hair sways slightly in the late evening breeze as she shines with her everlasting golden glow. The metallic veins along her arms shine with a pink color like Caim's before returning to their normal steel-like appearance. "I don't think anyone mentioned it, but I'm... kind of young. By some standards. I was only born a week or two ago."

"A week? How are you so... big then? I guess?" This strange age surprises me but either between the drinks or all the strange people I've seen so far, I take it in with surprising grace I'd say.

"I'm a Chord. Doe Ray, child of the two notes Doe and Ray. Grandchild of Kyoru the Calm, God of Peace and Music."