“I’m getting far too many stares... And what are you looking so surprised about?” she asked.
“Oh, I thought I had prepared myself, but, well...”
I saw Ai Fa’s mouth shift into a frown behind her iridescent veil. And when I saw her hair accessory sparkling like a rainbow in her blonde locks, I grew even more entranced.
Vina and Lala Ruu also exited the house and slipped into the crowd of the members of the Ruu clans, having been helping Ai Fa get changed. And just like all the other unmarried women in the plaza, they were dressed in banquet attire too. Toor Deen and Yun Sudra had also finished changing, so they were lined up beside me. Shortly thereafter, Donda Ruu ordered the ritual flame to be lit, and its light caused the veils, shawls, and accessories the women were wearing to sparkle all the more beautifully.
“Now then, allow me to offer my greetings before the banquet kicks off... As I said before, we’ve invited a great many guests here today. Twenty members of other clans, and fourteen people from outside of our settlement.” Donda Ruu then stated each of our names, starting with those under the leading clans, then the small clans, and finally the townsfolk. Once he had finished reciting them all, he gestured toward Lefreya and Sanjura. “As I mentioned the other day, we people of the forest’s edge have reconciled with the house of Turan. These two once committed serious crimes, but they have already been punished in accordance with the laws of Genos and deeply regret their actions. I ask that we all trust their word and attempt to form a proper bond with them from this point forward.”
Lefreya and Sanjura both bowed elegantly. Nobody in the crowd seemed to be looking at them with any scorn or anger, though. Just pure curiosity.
“Furthermore, now that our people have undergone the right of initiation under the western god, we have sworn to live properly as westerners. Many elements of what that means remain unclear to us, but at the same time, we must also continue to consider the forest of Morga to be our mother. I ask that as you all deepen your bonds with these guests that you also continue to search for the proper path forward for us.” Donda Ruu looked out over his silent relatives gathered before him, then accepted a container of fruit wine from Mia Lea Ruu. “Well then, let us share our joy as we share this space, and enjoy the same food together! Our thanks to the mother forest and our father, the western god!”
Nearly a hundred people of the forest’s edge chanted back, “Our thanks to the mother forest and our father, the western god!”
Our guests from the post town who were joining us for the first time looked outright astonished at the intensity of it all. But Kamyua Yoshu, Zasshuma, and Leito just let the excitement wash over them with smiles on their faces.
Then, with bottles in their hands, the members and relatives of the Ruu clan quickly started approaching their guests, which I noticed made Ben and the other guys go “Eep,” for a moment. Ai Fa and I moved away from the crowd along with the five other guest chefs.
“Okay then, let’s go finish up our preparations. Good luck, everyone.”
We might have been invited guests too, but we still had food that we had to serve. Everything but the shaska was already in place on top of a few of the simple stoves, so I left that to Toor Deen and the other chefs while Yun Sudra, Ai Fa, and I headed back to the kitchen.
As we circled around to the rear of Shin Ruu’s house, the hustle and bustle from the plaza became just a bit more distant. I breathed a small sigh of relief as I stepped into the kitchen, where two pots were awaiting me on two unlit stoves.
“Are we carrying these out? If so, you can leave one of them to me,” Ai Fa said.
“Huh? You don’t mind? Take care not to get any soot on your banquet attire, okay?”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ai Fa replied as she slid a grigee pole through the handles of the pot and easily lifted it. Then Yun Sudra and I lifted the other heavy metal pot together, and the three of us headed over to the simple stoves that had been assigned to us.
“Sorry for the wait. Is everything ready?” I asked.
“Yes. We can get started whenever,” one of the women said.
Two stoves had been prepared for us, and there was a table made of logs and planks beside them, with a large number of wooden plates, spoons, and trays.
“This is a special dish prepared by the six clans invited as guests! We only have a limited amount, so please keep it to one plate per person!” I shouted with my hands around my mouth. We instantly found ourselves swarmed by a huge crowd, and when I lifted the lid off of the pot and white steam wafted into the air, there was a loud cheer.
Using a big wooden spoon that had been dipped in water, I started scooping out the freshly cooked white shaska. This was the result of two days of experimentation. Hardly any of the shaska was burnt at all, and it was still piping hot.
With the washing and twice-boiling method I had used at the study session, I had been able to prepare the shaska in a nearly ideal form. The washing took quite a while, and when heating it, I now used nearly twice as much water as shaska. Then, while the core of the shaska was still hard, I removed the excess water and steamed it for a length of time that I had adjusted very carefully, which succeeded in noticeably reducing the natural stickiness of the shaska.
The grains of shaska were far more intact now than they had been two days prior. I stealthily tried a bit that had stuck to the spoon, and found that it had just enough stickiness and chewiness to leave me totally satisfied. At this point, it was definitely closer to everyday rice than it was to glutinous rice, and had the delicious taste of white rice that I had been accustomed to for as long as I could remember.
After looking into both pots for a moment, I placed a lid back on one of them. Then I grabbed a plate and started dishing up shaska while being careful not to smush it too much. That sensation was one I hadn’t gotten to experience in over a year now.
“Your turn,” I said as I handed the plate over to the Fou woman standing at the other stove, who accepted it with a smile. She was the one in charge of the giba curry.