Ishkhandar - Part 3

The banquet hall was lined from end to end with long tables laden with food. The tables were covered with embroidered white cloth and crowded with platters large and small. There were platters overflowing with grapes, figs, and watermelon. Rectangular plates upon which balanced skewers of spiced lamb. A large oval platter of palov - a dish made with basmati rice, carrots, raisins, and diced meat. Plates of manti - cloud-like dumplings filled with cilantro, dill, and ground beef, all topped with drizzles of yogurt sauce. Heaping plates of laghman - thick hand-pulled noodles tossed with bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and meat in a light broth. Small plates piled with triangular samsa - savory pastries filled with ground meat and dusted with a smattering of sesame seeds.

Finely dressed nobles and plainly dressed common folk mingled between the tables with plates in hand, grabbing food as they sauntered down the tables. Guards stood stiffly along the walls, casting a stern eye on anyone who tried to take too much food at once.

Leiyu felt like he had fallen asleep and awakened in culinary heaven. So many choices. He plucked a few muscat grapes as he wandered by the fruit table and popped one in his mouth. It was sweet and fragrant, like citrus and honey rolled into a plump orb. He stashed the rest in his sleeve, intending to eat them later when he was craving something sweet late at night in the guest quarters. He grabbed a clean plate from the pile stacked at the end of a table. As he walked around, he passed by a large platter with an entire roasted mutton. There was an attendant carving up the meat. He held out his plate, and the attendant placed a juicy slice of meat on it.

Do I eat this with my hands? Leiyu wondered. He was quite accustomed to doing so, but he wondered if it would be appropriate given the setting. He looked around at the others to see what they were doing. Most of them were eating with their hands, while a small number who looked more like nobles were using spoons and knives to cut up the meat into smaller pieces before consuming. He walked back to where he had picked up the plate and found a pile of similar utensils.

The knives look like little spears, he thought amusedly. He picked one up and poked the slice of mutton with it. When he brought it up to his mouth and partook of it, his eyes lit up. The mutton was tender, and the taste was not too gamey.

Leiyu found Chen Yun and the others gathered in the corner, huddled over an empty table. He walked over to them.

”These noodles are interesting,” Chen Yun remarked as he tried to dig into his plate of laghman with a spoon. “They’re kind of like the ones we have at home, but the seasonings are completely different.” He brought the laghman to his mouth, but it slipped back to his plate. “Ah, I wish I brought chopsticks. That would make it so much easier to eat.”

Liang Fusheng was downing a golden goblet. “Ah, good wine, good wine! Never had anything that tasted like this.”

Wang Yihui scooped palov into his mouth with a spoon. “This is such a tasty fried rice.”

”Looks like we arrived at just the right time,” Chen Yun remarked. “They said the festival lasts for a week. I wonder if there will be food like this every night. We could totally get used to this.”

Leiyu finally finished his slice of mutton and headed back to the tables for more food. He grabbed a few skewers of cumin lamb, a handful of figs, and some feta cheese. He spotted the samsa at the corner of a table and grabbed one out of curiosity. It resembled the meat pies that were sold on the streets back in Yunshan, so he wanted to know what it tasted like. He thought about heading back to the corner with the merchants, but decided that he didn’t need to be around them all the time, since they had already spent weeks together. It would also be easier to grab more food if he did not need to keep walking back and forth from the corner of the room. He found an empty spot at one of the tables and set his plate down.

The cumin lamb had a strong but pleasant flavor, and he was a bit bummed out when he finished the last skewer. He would definitely go back for more. The figs were an interesting experience. They were not as juicy as other fruits, and had a mealy texture to them. The feta cheese was crumbly. Cheese was not common in the Eastern Region, and he had only started eating it when he started traveling, so he made sure to sample it whenever he could. At last, there was the samsa. He bit into the thick flaky crust. The outer surface was flaky but the inside was soft and doughy. The juices of the spiced ground beef inside coated his tongue.

Pretty good, he thought. A bit like a bao.

As he was about to take another bite, his eyes wandered to the other corner of the room. A lone figure with long auburn hair and a lilac cape sat alone, drinking from a thin golden goblet. Two guards stood against the wall nearby.

The princess? he thought. He bit into the samsa slowly, as if he was afraid of acting too unrefined in her presence.

She sipped the goblet slowly, her expression glum. A small plate of grapes sat on the table before her, but she did not partake of them.

I guess noble ladies don’t really eat much, he thought, before reminiscing about his days in Yunshan, when he and his fellow disciples went to visit the town. It was the only time they had ever encountered ladies, since there weren’t any at their sect. He tried to remember if he had ever seen any of them eating. Sipping tea, they did, and maybe sampling tiny snacks from the food vendors. Maybe they just did most of their eating behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of the public. Or maybe he just wasn’t paying attention. His shixiong used to joke that he was often lost in his own world and oblivious to the things in front of him.

The princess turned her head and glanced in his direction. Leiyu nearly choked on his samsa. He averted his eyes and stared down at the table. After a moment had passed, he lifted his head and looked in her direction. She had returned to sipping from the goblet.

How strange that the first princess I encounter is in a foreign land, he thought. Never in ten thousand years would I even get to see a princess back home. How odd, though, that she is alone. Don’t princesses usually have ladies-in-waiting that follow them everywhere? At least that’s what the storytellers used to say.

The princess finally placed the goblet on the table. She took a single grape from the plate and ate it gingerly. Then she stood up and started to walk toward the exit. Two guards followed close behind her.

Leiyu ate the rest of the samsa. He wondered if he would see the princess again.