Abyssal (ManxMan)

Culinary Lesson

Culinary Lesson

Kai couldn't believe his eyes. Or his nose. He sat at the dinner table, blatantly staring, a little slack-jawed. His mother sat opposite him, a dazed smile on her lovely face. She was busy butchering lettuce to make what was supposed to be caesar salad, too oblivious to notice Kai's shocked silence.

Marius the Conqueror was cooking right in his mother's kitchen.

He had a high fever and was hallucinating. That had to be it. Kai wasn't actually seeing what he was seeing. And he wasn't actually smelling onions and garlic being sauteed. And his mouth wasn't actually salivating...

Kai scowled. This was not how he'd expected his short visit to go down.

Marius should have turned down his mother's misguided request to assist in preparing dinner. Instead, he'd sat her down, buttered her up with a few calculated compliments, and had assumed reign of the kitchen as if it were his kingdom.

And he really was cooking! King Marius knew how to cook of all things.

Well, Kai supposed the merman could have hobbies, but this was a total surprise. Watching him move about the small kitchen, all six foot four of pure muscle and magical strength, was equally intimidating and enlightening. It seemed that the Nostrazian King had much hidden under his sleeves. He was a foe to be wary of indeed. Kai was willing to be that of all the enemies hunting him, King Marius was the one to fear the most. After all, he was the one who discovered his location and took him captive before any of the rest could lift a finger, presumably.

"Kai, why are you just sitting there? Help Marius!"

Reluctantly, Kai got up and went to Marius's side.

"You don't have to-"

"You can boil the water for the pasta."

"You... know what pasta is?"

Marius flashed him a look that said 'What do you take me for?'

"I thought you hated all things human." Kai said by way of explanation as he went to grab the pot from the cabinet. With their backs to each other, Kai at the sink and Marius slicing some vegetables at super speed on the island, he said, "How do you know how to cook human cuisines?" Marius had given him the impression that he hadn't so much as ventured to the surface except to grab him.

"I do," Marius said casually without an ounce of hesitation, and in answer to his question, he added, "One of the cooks in the Palace's kitchen is a human chef. He was rescued from a sinking cruise ship where he was working as the head chef."

"And he taught you?"

"I watched him."

"You learned from just watching?" Incredible. It was difficult not to admire him.

"The food he made was... colorful and quite aromatic. I found it... agreeable."

Kai moved to the stove with the water-filled pot in his hands. He placed it on the electric burner and set the heat to maximum to get it boiling quicker. He reached for the olive oil bottle and splashed some into the water, then dumped a fistful of salt.

He felt eyes on the sides of his face. He looked up to see Marius's gaze fixed on him, even though it should have been firmly fixed on the sharp knife in his hand expertly chopping away.

"What?" Why was he staring?

Marius looked away wordlessly.

"What are you making?" Kai asked, defeated by his curiosity.