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Chapter 94- Bhai Giya
🕑 Added 2023-09-10 00:20:04 +0000 UTCArthur woke up to the smell of Alyssia cooking something. The Alverin woman had somehow managed to start a fire, and she was currently using a metal spoon to stir the contents of the wrought iron pot she had roasting over it. At least that's what Arthur thought the items were made of. Knowing Alyssia, it could have been anything.
Sitting up, Arthur looked into the cooking pot to see that it contained a strange-looking red soup. It surprisingly smelt appetising, if a little on the spicy side, Arthur's nose was already smarting from a single whiff.
“Oh, you're finally awake. I was wondering when you’d come out of Vishura's realm. They must have been some nice dreams.” She smirked at him. “You kept moaning ‘stop it,’ but it didn't sound like you wanted things to stop.”
Artur ignored Alyssia's teasing. He was gradually getting used to the alien's annoying sense of humour, even if he ended up being the but of every one of her jokes.
“What is it you're cooking?” He instead asked. “Don't tell me that red colour is all from chillies.” Arthur was quickly becoming certain that it was indeed the case here, his nose was actually hurting now.
“Oh, this,” Alyssia said with a wide smile on her face. “It's my little brother's favourite dish, so I thought you’d enjoy it too being the child you are. I did of course adjust the amount of chillies I normally use so your inferior taste buds could handle it, The tasteless slop you humans eat,” she mumbled loud enough for Arthur to hear.
“And the travesty you call cheese. You’d rather drink milk straight out of a cow's tits. Is that why you're so white? Too much rotten milk?”
Arthur once again ignored Alyssia's insulting comments on the human species. He’d gotten used to it in the short time he’d spent with her. Every third sentence she said seemed to be a barbed comment against humanity, and Arthur wasn’t sure anymore if she actually meant what she said or not. Arthur shivered when he felt a cold wind blow against his skin. It turned out that The Locus of power regulated temperature in the same way Earth's atmosphere did, and currently, the chill of the night had set in. Even with his absurd 698 points of constitution, the cold was not at all pleasant to endure, even if it’d probably take the minus hundreds before it started to affect him.
“Oh yeah, the illusions not affecting me anymore by the way. It stopped about an hour ago, so it should probably be the same for you, even though you are half my level. Your attribute totals are probably already higher than mine.” Alyssia complained loudly, pulling out two bowls from her storage bag.
Arthur hadn’t really checked to see how the grasslands of crystal water looked under cover of night, but now that Alyssia had mentioned the failure of the illusion, he glanced around to see if the landscapes had changed. It took his breath away. His perception stat meant that the little amount of light given out by the false moon in the sky was more than enough for Arthur to see everything in perfect clarity.
It was beautiful.
The lakes of water that had given their layer of the locus its name were glowing with luminescence as if they contained some ethereal magic, They probably did, and Arthur put bringing some out of this place with him onto his to-do list. He’d probably find some use for it when he finally started learning proper alchemy from Mira. The hilly land looked the same as it had during the day. That was to say that it still looked picturesque and amazing. It was only upon clear inspection, that Arthur saw the effects of the illusions of the uplifting.
The original magic's subtlety meant that he almost didn’t notice that it was gone, which was frightening, to say the least. Just how long would it have taken him to realise it, if Alyssia hadn’t pointed it out to him?
“You can see the horse shit now, can’t you.” Alyssa's blunt words cut through his inner reverie like a hot knife through butter, and the magic of the moment swiftly departed like it was never there to begin with. Arthur sighed in resignation, turning around to accept the hot bowl of soup Alyssia offered him. He wouldn’t be experiencing any magical moments with this battle maniac around, of that he was certain.
“Gee, who would’ve guessed a horse shat that much,” he replied sarcastically.
The food bowl in his hands was steaming with heat, so he decided to wait for it to cool a little before eating it. Maybe the fact his eyes were already watering from being in close proximity to the soup played a factor in his decision-making too. He wasn’t quite prepared to check whether or not you could lose health from eating absurdly spicy food.
“Stop being a little girl and just eat it,” Alyssia said with a spoon in her mouth. She’d somehow already managed to finish half her bowl. “The lack of spice surprisingly doesn’t detract from the flavour, to be honest, I might actually prefer it like this,” she said with her eyes closed, an expression of rapture on her face as she savoured her cooking.
“You humans might actually be into something with your bland food.”
The look of bliss on the Alverin woman's face finally persuaded Arthur to have a taste. Tentatively, he raised the wooden spoon to his lips, blowing briefly on the soup before quickly gulping it down. His eyes widened in surprise. What the hell did she put in this? It made the most expensive restaurants he'd eaten at look like garbage in comparison. Alyssia looked appreciatively at him whilst he rapidly wolfed down the rest of the stew, like a starved animal that hadn’t eaten in weeks. Before he’d even finished, Alyssia was ready with a ladle to refill his bowl. It was only when he finished his fourth, that he felt sufficiently satisfied. He couldn’t eat more no matter how much he might want to, his stomach stuffed to full capacity.
Nothing he’d ever eaten before could even come close to resembling the taste of Alyssia’s cooking, not even his favourite dish from childhood. It was like everything he’d tasted before was fake or his tastebuds hadn’t been working properly his entire life. Alyssia, of course, had a very self-satisfied expression on her face, almost smug, but Arthur couldn’t really say anything.
She had every right to act any way she wanted after serving up her godly cooking. Just when Arthur thought nothing else could surprise him, he received a notification from the system. It was the first one he’d received in a while and Arthur couldn’t keep the shock off his face when he read it. This is a joke, right? There’s no way. The system must be fucking with me. Her food's really that good?
You have consumed fresh Firefox stew (uncommon) Health, Ether and Stamina regeneration will be enhanced by 5% for the next twenty minutes.
“You finally received the notification.” Alyssia’s voice was literally dripping with self-satisfaction. “Apparently the system says I’ve got a rank Rare general skill for cooking at level 11.” Alyssia nodded her head sadly and then ruined it by saying, “I wonder what my grandma would register as. I don’t think the system would even be able to grade it. Her food actually makes you stronger the first time you eat it.”
Arthur was gobsmacked. You could get a skill for cooking! How the hell did you even use ether whilst preparing food though? In all honesty, Arthur shouldn’t have been so surprised, and yet the concept of magic cooking, and more importantly, Alyssia being the chef, seemed too outlandish to be true. He was so shocked in fact, that he ignored the existence of stat-giving food and classified it as something of secondary importance, which of course it was when compared to the fact that the annoying idiot Alyssia was a God of the culinary field.
It took him a few minutes to calm down from the experience of consuming, to date, the best cuisine of his entire life. After five minutes of silence had passed, Arthur finally addressed the most important issue. “Can you teach me how to cook,” He hadn’t even finished phasing his question, when Alyssia interrupted him with a firm, “No, I won't, can’t teach you how to cook?” She spoke without any hesitation, immediately telling Arthur that the secrets to the Firefox stew would remain, just that, secrets.
Alyssia hadn’t been so adamant in her refusal even when Arthur had asked her more personal questions regarding her family, which meant that cooking was a no-go area for some reason.
"There are traditions of the Alverin that have existed since the dawn of my species' creation that even I must honour. This cooking was taught to me by my mother, who was taught by her mother and so on. It's something that has passed through hundreds of generations, skills and techniques unique to every family.” She smiled weakly at him. “No matter how much I may want to teach you, I won’t abandon the traditions of thousands of years just because I’m in another dimension. I really am sorry but-”
Arthur interrupted her with a raised hand. “It’s okay, really, it is.” He said, “You're under no obligation to teach me anything, never mind something with so much sentimental value. You're doing enough for me as it is.”
“Are you sure?” Alyssia looked genuinely surprised. “I thought you would invoke ‘Tasha’ and demand I teach you as payment for your favours upon me.”
Arthur shook his head. “I’m not even going to pretend I understood that,” he began, “But human culture is very different to Alverin. I don’t know what this so-called Tasha law is, but you don’t owe me anything Alyssia. Really, you don't .”
Alyssia looked like she was about to protest his claim, but Arthur powered on and continued speaking.
“You've told me about my shortcomings a lot in the past few days. Thank you for that, but I think it's time for me to return the favour a little. I don’t know how many times I’ll have to tell you this, but you really don't owe me anything. I already received compensation from the government for my healing services, and I already feel like I’m taking advantage of you. We'll never be able to cultivate a healthy relationship if this imagined favour is always hanging over your head.” Arthur sighed before continuing.
"I respect that your culture attaches so much weight to these things. It's a good trait, great even, but I'm sure even you've realised by now that it'll poison this friendship of ours. It's always at the back of your mind, tinging every interaction you have with me."
"So I guess this is a fresh step forward. If it's truly a big deal, then I formally revoke any rights I may have over you and I won't hold it against you if you want nothing to do with me after this locus. What do you say, then? Forget the past and let's move on without it hanging over us."
Saying these things was incredibly difficult for Arthur. It was quite possibly one of the cringiest conversations he'd ever had but he felt that it had to be done. Alyssia was oddly formal with certain things and if he had to reciprocate that formality for her to take him seriously, it was the least he could do.
Alyssia looked at him with a serious expression on her face, and there was a glint in her eye that he’d never seen before. She seemed to be having an internal debate on an issue, and Arthur noticed the moment she came to a decision when the lines of tension on her forehead faded away. "Maybe the system isn’t the only good thing that came out of coming to this dimension," she eventually said. “I can’t say much about your species, Arthur, but I’m glad humans are not as hot-blooded as Alverins. I’m glad you don’t want to claim ‘Tasha’. It isn’t always a pleasant affair.” Alyssia shuddered involuntarily.
Arthur wasn’t sure what this ‘Tasha’ thing was about, but he inferred that it meant something along the lines of indentured servitude, and Arthur could think up a number of ways such a contract could be abused off the top of his head.
“But I can’t just let this debt of mine hang between us, no matter what you might say about it,” Alyssia said in a tone that brooked no argument. She took a deep breath. “That’s why I’ve decided I want us to become Bhai Giya,” Alyssia said the last words like they carried the weight of the world, and she looked at him expectantly as if he was supposed to react in a specific way.
When Arthur just looked at her in confusion, Alyssia coughed in embarrassment.
“Oh right, I forgot, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, do you,” she scratched her head, a nervous habit of hers, Arthur had come to realise, and continued speaking, “A loose translation for it would be bosom friends, or maybe brothers in arms, or sisters.”
“Anyway to put it into simple terms, it’s basically another ancient tradition of the Alverin race. A way to form friendships where before, there existed none.”
“And you're saying… that you want to what… form this Bhai Giya bond with me?” Arthur said slowly. “Is it a contract or anything similar,” Arthur was obviously wary of anything binding that he didn’t know the exact nature of, especially if it involved ether of any kind. But it didn’t look like Alyssia had any ulterior motives here, and she didn’t seem like the type to scheme and plot.
Unless of course, everything till now was just an act to get him to lower his guard. His inner musings were stopped when Alyssia began to speak, “No, it's nothing like that.” Alyssia quickly said, “To be honest, it’s actually something usually formed in childhood between friends. Only one can be maintained at a time.” She paused for a moment, and looked down in embarrassment, and if Arthur wasn’t mistaken, was she… blushing!
“And I, you know,” she paused to take a deep breath. “I didn’t really have any friends back home,” she finally blurted out.
Arthur couldn’t help but laugh at that. The shy front Alyssia was currently showing was completely on the other side of the spectrum in comparison to her usual domineering personality.
“What, it’s not funny,” she snapped. “I’m doing you a favour here you know. It’s not like you have any friends either.” Arthur's laughter only intensified after hearing that.
“Fine, if you think it's hilarious, we don’t have to do it. It's not like it'll help you control your ether better or anything, right? Or help you regulate your aura. That's going swimmingly for you, isn’t it? No need for a Bhai Giya bond to stop you from leaking like an old pot all over the place. I don’t even know why I offered.”
Arthur tried to calm himself down, wiping a tear from his eye.
“No, no, I’m sorry. Really, I am.” He hastily apologised, “You just reminded me of my past right now. Darker days when I had the EQ of an autistic child with ADHD, not that you’d know what any of that is.”
“So, what is this Bhai Giya thing anyway? It sounds like it doesn't have to be permanent, with the way you said only one could be maintained at a time.”
"I'm guessing you can get new ones and overwrite the old, right? As long as I have a way out, I'm up for anything really. Especially if it'll be as useful as you say."
