Chapter 120: Lessons on failure.
Sienna frowned, saying nothing. But her silence only made the queen more anxious.
"What?...What is it?" Serenya asked, waving her hand desperately to make the cooks stop whatever they were doing.
Ala replied in a small voice, "Honey Thunder must be hungry. She didn’t drink afternoon flower tea." The little one looked at her remaining half bitten honey cake and sighed. Then, she held it out to the bee.
But the bee ignored her, continuing to buzz, wings vibrating like alarm bells. Sienna looked at the liver and she gasped.
She pressed her hand to the liver and then rushed to the meat which had not yet been cooked. She observed it and inspected it. The texture was strange, and it was starting to show green spots as well.
As her bee spy had told her, one of her bees had seen an eagle beast man in the forest before her uncles went out hunting for the buffalo. The eagle beast man had fed an entire herd of buffaloes with poisonous grass. So, the animal that had been brought back was sick!
It was one thing to feed it to the beast lords, but if the meat reached the royals and endangered the life of the king in any way...!! The lions would see it as an attempt to poison the king. The summit would end in blood shed.
She spun to the chefs. "Stop the stew! Throw out everything with buffalo meat--now!"
The fox head chef blinked. "But Lady Sienna, we prepared a traditional dish from the ancient recipes of the lion tribe. It is tradition to...."
Sienna slapped the ladle from his hand. "Forget tradition. The meat is poisoned. Do you want the king to die on your watch? Or worse...do you want him vomiting all over the beach. Not just him but all of our guests."
The chef paled, as did the rest of the cooks and the queen. Guards pulled weapons as if the poison could be shot or sliced. Liman and two others pushed buckets forward to collect all the poisoned meat and dispose of it.
"This...this....they will claw us alive." The chef whispered.
Eli tugged Sienna’s sleeve. "Mama, what do we do? We have two hours and some minutes left. Without the traditional dish, what will we feed the guests?"
Ali piped up. "I know. We can feed them chicken nuggets."
Sienna’s eyes lit up. "Chicken nuggets? No. But deep fried chicken...meatballs...yes!"
She clapped her hands. "Listen everyone. We are changing the menu. We already have rice, shrimp, butter rolls and corn bread. The vegetarian dishes are also safe. Thank the heavens for that. We will fry chicken, roll meatballs and serve them with what we already have. Move."
The kitchen erupted into chaos. Chefs scrambled, knives flashed, oil hissed. Sienna wrote down the recipe for her deep fried chicken and waited impatiently for her uncles to deliver the chicken.
As soon as the first bird arrived, she plucked feathers from its neck and grabbed a cleaver. With the precision of a warrior, she chopped off its head.
Eli gasped,
In the state of emergency, even the queen was roped into helping. She was in charge of breadcrumbs while her guards handled spices. Their king was not going to be poisoned on their watch.
Ali and grandma Byra were in the flour section. The girl was tossing it into the air. "It’s snowing, great grandma. It’s snowing in the kitchen!"
Sienna barked orders like a battlefield commander. "You--roll the meatballs tighter! You--heat the oil faster. And you--stop crying over the death of the chicken, it’s food, not your friend."
Elias appeared in the doorway, two tails out, bristling. "Sienna, what is this I hear about poisoned meat?"
She slapped the counter. "It’s the eagles again. They found out that we were preparing buffalo stew was our traditional dish for lunch today. So, one of them sneaked into the hunting ground and fed all the buffaloes poisoned grass. By the time my uncles went hunting, the trap had already been set. If I didn’t have plans to cook the liver separately, I would not have noticed."
"Genius really." The queen smiled.
Elias recoiled, eyes narrowing. "I am going to break their wings." His voice dripped with fury. "Poisoning the king! Do they know what a serious crime it is? It is one thing to want to keep their title as the hosts of best summit and another to poison the king. I am going to take that meat and stuff it into their mouths."
Sienna smirked. "Already on it." She gestured to the only potion of stew that had not been poured out. Liman was keeping careful watch over it. It would be served to the eagles.
Elias left, and the kitchen transformed into a battlefield of sizzling oil and rolling dough. Sienna dipped chicken pieces into batter, tossing them into the pan. The aroma of golden fried chicken filled the air, masking the aroma of poisoned stew.
Even the bees helped, sprinkling sesame seeds over the meatballs.
"Can they do that?" The queen asked.
Sienna nodded. "They have watched me do it at home. I guess they learned. I didn’t expect them to help out, however."
Ali snatched a meatball, tasting it for her mother. "Mama, this is good. Finger licking good. Uncle chefs and mama, good job."
Sienna chuckled.
The chefs, inspired by the little girls praise, worked harder. Platters of fried chicken piled high, meatballs rolled out like soldiers ready for parade. The rice was piled into wooden plates, shaped like boats. It was steamed, fluffy, yellow in color and perfect. It had been cooked with some vegetables that color to it.
When it was time, servants carried out the food. The eagle delegation watched from their position, smug smiles on their lips. They expected chaos, gagging and outrage.
Sienna personally carried in the first platter of fried chicken, while Elias introduced it as their choice for a traditional dish.
"Crispy, savory, and irresistible." He said.
The aroma wafted upward. The king raised an eyebrow. "This is not buffalo stew."
Sienna bowed. "The buffalo was unworthy. I prepared something newer for you to try. It is better. I hope that you don’t dismiss it casually because it was tailored for you. Please, taste."
The lions exchanged glances. Queen Serenya speared a piece of chicken quickly, biting into it. "Delicious," she declared.
The king tasted a meatball. "Hmm. Unexpected...but excellent."
The lions began to eat, their roars turning into satisfied murmurs. The rest of the lords followed, and the air was filled with the sound of crunching chicken and clinking bowls.
Only the eagles didn’t dare to touch their plates. Instead, they looked at Sienna with fury. "How did she know?" The eagle lord asked his strategist.
Sienna walked by his table, and leaned down as if she was checking on him. "At this rate, I am going to start charging you for lessons in failure."
The eagle lord bristled.
Elias joined them, leaning down like his wife. His arm possessively rested on Sienna’s back as he said with a smug look, "better luck next time, birdbrain."