04 - Mulled Cider and Wine; Eel and Root Vegetable Hand Pies; Creamy Cod Chowder

[tisfinished]

1: The Milk Run, docked at Flotsam

Senshi seems unusually focused and far less chatty than usual as he serves up hearty winter fare; in addition to the headline items from this post's title, he has hot tea, coffee and cocoa available as well as pork pies and (as a vegetarian option) mushroom pies and an array of pickled vegetables.

He tries to be friendly as ever, but it's clear something weighs heavily on his mind.

2: The Vault's Practice Halls

Senshi is in need of a sparring partner. He's practicing with axe and shield - curiously, practicing with a cage strapped to his chest - and the poor wooden practice dummies he's been whaling on have been taking a serious beating.

"Think maybe I need an actual opponent," he says, his voice unusually clipped.

3: Solstice Gift-Giving

Beware: if you've done any kindnesses to the weird dwarf that loves to cook with monster meat (even more so than most Flotsam pirates, at any rate) then you're liable to find a box outside your home or apartment door wrapped in a ribbon.

While there is no name identifying who could have left them, the fact that they are exquisite, frosted gingerbread monsters narrows down the possible culprits significantly.

Comments

[tisfinished]

"The only reason I didn't starve was because the others insisted on feeding me first," he says. "I was the youngest."

He cuts a wedge of nut bread for Link, and one for himself.

"To eating," he toasts. "The privilege and duty of the living."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link's no stranger to hunger. In those early days on the Great Plateau, he hadn't yet remembered how to hunt. How to forage. What foods were good to eat, and what weren't. He'd had to relearn that, so there were definitely a few times where he'd ended up hungry.

But there was something truly terrible about that hunger being inflicted on someone else. Not just the result of poor circumstances by change, but of deliberate neglect.

He makes a soft noise of agreement, as he raises his own cup in response to Senshi's toast. Then falls silent for a moment.

Zelda would know what to say. How to use her words to emphasise with Senshi, to speak about the wrongs that were done to him. Link's not Zelda. He never knows what to say; he only knows what he wants to do.

"...I always have food," he says. An offering; Senshi could always come to Link, if he was hungry. Link would be happy to share.