"I've got to watch this show some time if you gush so much."

"You haven't watched Avatar?? What about Legend of Korra?"

"Nope. Just memes and clips."

"I'm gonna correct that some day. It's a great show."

Sable nods sagely. "'Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true pleasures.'"

"What was that about martial arts having to do with this show?"

"So the idea is that some people can bend the classical elements - manipulate them like witches can, I guess. One each. Except for the Avatar, who can do all four. But to do it they have to move their bodies and focus, and the styles are based on traditional martial arts..."

Lenora happily infodumps about Avatar: The Last Airbender and chats about martial arts, munching on salad, until the food comes out, delivered by Mama Grendel, about ten minutes later.

A plate of exquisitely baked salmon is set before Sable, drizzled with a savory sauce, and topped with roasted onion and mushrooms, and a fresh-baked rye bun. On the side is a little dish of home-churned herb butter and a small bowl of rich-smelling ink.

Sable's jaw drops.

"This looks and smells delicious. The ink looks just lovely, too." She smiles gratefully at Mama Grendel. "Thank you!"

"Of course! I didn't know how to best serve you, though. For this I apologize. You should come back some time so I can fix that."

"That's so kind of you! I'd be glad to. That'll help me, too, 'cause I don't have the first clue how to start adapting my recipes to include ink either. No idea what kinds of ink go with what dishes at all." She gets out a pen and a scrap of paper to write down her email address. "Send me an email when you wanna try things?"

"Very well, very well. What about you two, what do you think?"

"Chicken noodle soup tastes like home. It's great, light but savory."

Mama Grendel practically glows.

Bys closes her eyes to focus. She's destroying this meal.

She takes a bite of the steak, chews and swallows.

"-Yes. It's delicious. I didn't know how much I needed something tough to chew on until right now."

She samples the ham and straightens up. "Mmm!"

Sable's taking her time, savoring everything. "Mmmmmmm~"

She tries a bite dipped in the ink and sighs happily, some bit of tension in her shoulders unclenching. "Oh this is good. This hits the spot. You did a good job with this ink. Dunno if it's the right pairing for salmon, we're gonna have to science that sometime, but it's seriously solid start. And the salmon is so lovely."

She takes another bite and makes a positively indecent sound.

Abyssia is eating like a barbarian, fork spearing the meat and gnawing chunks off it directly.

"What even is this sauce? It's sort of like mustard but definitely not mustard."

"Family recipe! It's always so nice to serve good food. Fill you up and make you whole. Can I get you three anything else? Oh, and how are you finding Arcadia so far?"

"I'm good, thank you," Sable says between bites. "And it's only been a couple days, but I like it so far."

"Arcadia is nice, but not everything has been. It's bittersweet, and been a long few days. You seem like someone who'd get that. You mentioned a war..."

(Bys nods along to this)

"Ahhhh. Yes." Mama Grendel shakes her head slightly. "...All I can say to you is, that was long ago and far away, and I'm happy now. I was young and angry and lost, and a great many things happened. It will never not have happened. But I'm happy now."

"Yeah. We all had a rough road getting here, but there are things we can enjoy going forward. Just have to grab hold of those opportunities as best we can."

"Yes, well, go on and eat! I've spent enough time blathering on and bothering you, enjoy you three and leave me to my old lady ramblings!" She laughs - a proper witch cackle, before turning away to another table where the patrons seem about done.

And Sable digs in, snuggling close to Lenora while she eats, stroking her back with her tails to further top off her mana (as well as just enjoy the closeness), and at one point offering a bite of her fish.

Lenora leans into the contact. Her tail winds around Sable's leg lightly as she sips at soup and relaxes.

Cute.

...Too bad she's not a mimi. No, none of that. ...Well, maybe. It'd be embarrassing, but Lenora's lucky and has a relaxing time of it. It's cutesy, saccharine even, but-

She's kind of staring at them with a slight, considering frown. She shakes her head and sighs slightly and continues munching on veggies (the steak is half gone, she's saving the rest for the last part of the meal).

"We'll get used to this place in time," she says, mostly to herself.

"Mmmmhm! Just as soon as you get used to the idea that you could have this too."

"Hmph." She crosses her arms defensively and levels a glare. It's a light glare, as glares go, though. "It's not that... Straightforward."