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Mystic Mystery Basket
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“Where should we eat? Someplace fancy?” Kol asks.
“Sure, why not?” Gabe shrugs, and points a finger, opening a gate. “Why don’t we hit up that place that catered for Miki and Raithe’s wedding? Been dying to try their food again.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Casey offers her arm to Clio, who accepts and is pulled close. “After today I could use some good food and the company of friends.”
"Way ahead of you, which is why Ipropose picking up some more friends..."
A couple of gates later, and the assembled party arrives at ”the Hole in the Cliff” which, despite its name, turns out to be a rather upscale establishment: having been carved into the stone in the early days of the city. The smiling maître de waves the Guardians inside and finds them a comfortable corner for the entire dining party. Table wine is brought around and bread is broken as plates are passed.
There’s no menu, only course after course of small, elegant dishes brought by an efficient rotation of waiters. Starting with salad to whet the appetite, they move on to a cup of gumbo, stewed from fresh caught seafood, to roasted skewers of meat, cooked in a clay oven and served over pasta: each flavor blending with the next to form an epicurean journey.
The whole restaurant is abuzz with the murmurs of fellow diners, having witnessed the march of the undead and the birth of the new world-tree. No shortage of glances are cast over at the three mice and their companions, as curiosity electrifies the air.
But for Gabe, Casey and Kol, the whole world slips away, leaving only each other and the company of their close friends. Chatter and stories work their way around the table, with the three mice occasionally sharing glances at one another: silently recalling their trip to the astral plane.
“-Raithe and I didn’t know what was happening, we just looked outside and there was this big tree!”
“-can’t say much, because of Guardians business. But, I think we have to go to the Moon.”
“-just and endless wave of them. You said the bargast had an army of fifty thousand?”
“That’s what Opinel said. Could be more.”
“I’m glad I didn’t have to fight them. I just had to hold the gate open…”
“For a whole hour? Spite me, I just got supercharged with mana and I think I could do ten minutes, maybe fifteen.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘go to the moon’?!”
As the candles burn low and the plates are cleared, Kol raises a glass and calls for a toast.
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