I looked around the group surrounding me with as much confusion in their eyes as worry in my voice.

Caim looks at the others eyes in a kind of confirmation and speaks up first.

"What do you...? Do you mean... you don't need to eat, Arc?" He asks me in what sounds like more to reaffirm what he heard than an answer to my question.

I ponder the thought for a second and answer back with clarification.

"Well, no. I don't."

Soot gives me a look with what passes as a raised eyebrow for him while Caim takes what he hears in. I glance to my side and actually find Day listening with an intense curiosity.

"I mean," I continue with a more subdued attitude than I had with Day just a moment ago. With all eyes focused on myself and my body, I can understand Day's embarrassment now. "I do eat, you know. I crave food and even need to drink small amounts of liquid to moisture and keep my body in well formed. Otherwise I dry up more and my skin gets cracked and flakey, not pretty at all."

I shake my head in disgust at the mere thought of forgoing my bodily upkeep. "Not that being like that would be too uncomfortable after awhile, but most Almaej just don't like looking like some chipping and low-quality paint."

"So you could just ignore eating forever then? And all you'd have to do is put up with some ugly skin but otherwise be healthy?" Caim responds quickly with an increasing curiosity I see growing along with the others. Soot and Day both seem to have more of a sheer curiosity whereas Caim appears to be more academic.

"Well, something like that I guess." I agree hesitantly before gesturing suddenly to Soot. "But how would you like if your flames just flickered randomly in annoying patterns?"

Soot shrugs without much care to the thought.

"Eh. To be frank, if that was all I had to go through to also not need to eat then I can think of a few Elementals that'd wish we could be like that."

Also not need to? Wish they could?

"Hold on a minute, Soot. Do Elementals need to eat then? Don't you just...exist? Like a fire or something?"

Soot give a brief nod to my questions.

"Yeah, we do. Flamekin like me need fuel to live. We're not as picky as other mortals so that's kinda what we thought you might be like. I just need something to burn and air to keep it going in this and most planes. Back home I can just eat raw primal flames to keep me going for weeks or even months but that gets boring."

Hmm, so he doesn't eat clay flesh and moisturize like me but does need to do it unlike an Almaej.

"And does your stomach 'growl' like Day's did just now." I hold my hands up apologetically and turn to Day. "Sorry about the whole outburst about you just now. The thought that your body would make a noise to alarm you is still jarring to me personally but I understand now at least."

"Oh! Well, don't worry about it, Arc." Day's speaks with a bright and warm voice now that she seems to have gotten over her bout of uneasiness. "I'm relatively young if I'm honest with you, but yeah. I think lots of the 'mortal' races have stomach growls and things like that that can happen."

"Technically I'm not part of the mortal races and I'm not a divine being either... yet." Soot smirks and wiggles his eyebrows with a look at Caim. He gives an exasperated sigh and rolls his eyes back before Soot continues speaking. "I'm actually an immortal. Like demons or a few of the other sentient races you may encounter so I don't really age like most others."

"Ok, so that's kinda what Almaej are like too then. We can change what age we look but don't really change much internally after we turn twenty or so."

"Really?"

Caim leans forward onto his elbow with interest gleaming in his gaze.

"Sorry if we pry too much Arc, but Maja has never met a live Almaej to question in person."

Raw, unliving clayflesh coats the ground in a thick and viscous layer around us as we charge this hydrophilic monstrosity with my hands gripped around the spear given to me for this expedition. I don't even make it within striking distance before it swirls faster than I can react and whips its tail around, flinging me away and nearly knocking me unconscious. I grit my teeth and look to my sides for reinforcement but find none looking back at m-

Glasses clinking in the tavern manage to bring my thoughts back to the conversation. "Don't... ahem." I clear my throat and my mind to speak up again, focusing on the curiosity of this world and these people firstly. "Don't worry about it, Caim. Yeah, we don't much age much in Alma. Most beasts live only around few hundred years in captivity but Almaej can live forever from what I've heard."

I shrug my shoulders dispassionately at this.

"Not that I've ever met anyone over six or seven hundred years old."

Clinking and footsteps quietly interrupt our conversation as we all look towards the source of the noise.

"Drinks, everyone! Food as well!"

Ellie arrives with a tray in each hand and one balanced on an outstretched elbow as well. Her elbow and one hand both hold plates of what I assume is our food, delicious smells I wafting my way that I can't wait to try. She bends her knees and bring the tray to level with the edge of the table but still away from the actual surface. We all just look and give her patient smile as she prepares to lay our food out. I do start to get somewhat curious why she doesn't set anything down on the table however before a translucent edge extends from the table where she sets the food down. Ugh, another mysterious device I can't explain!

"For the young golden doe we have..." She looks at the plates and picks up one filled with a vibrant green salad and brilliant red chunks of tomato. She also places down odd bottle of dressings divided with four containers and a rotating spout on top. "Aha! Here you go, ma'am, ya' leafy green salad with a four count dressing. All those should go great on ya' meal and they ain't bad together if ya' feeling risky."

Day's face examines her plate as it's set down in front of her with a hungry curiosity. She picks up a fork set down with the meal and begins to stir the food, taking in all the sight and smells of it.

Personally, I don't think I'd like her meal much. I can't smell much of it myself from here, but it feels like it'd be too light of a lunch to replenish the clayflesh I'd like to right now.

"For the two of you now," Ellie brings forth two identical plates filled to the brim with a thick cut steak, seared with hashed lines from the grill top, and a small hill of large fries. "We have the duo of steak and fries, piled up high, courtesy of Unkah."

Caim nods in appreciation and I do as well. Ellie is kind and I'm very thankful for her recommendation. The food isn't that much different than what I'd eat at home other than a severe addition of color present here. In Alma, most Almaej food all come in various shades of white to grey to black. The few colored foods being highly nutritious or poisonous, the likes of which our color vision gave us the advantage for.

"I gotta give my compliments to you and the chef here, Ellie." I tell her before serving the last dish. "This is my first Maja meal and your suggestion is just what I feel like I needed."

I catch her eyes and give a sincere smile in thanks. This food gives a much stronger smell that's got my gut 'growling' you could say.

"Aww, well thanks, Arc. My Unkah actually is a worshipper of Kyoru so he'll know you like it and hopes you do too." She smiles and goes to give the next meal but I can't help but blurt out my next question.

"Who's Kyoru? What does being a worshipper of his mean?"

"Oh. Umm..." Ellie looks confusedly at the other members while trying to answer but Soot speaks up before she can.

"Ah, sorry, Ellie. They're new here like we said so he actually doesn't know much about the Gods, their Boons, or their Worshippers."

"Oh!" Ellie's face brightens up in understanding as I look back to her after Soot's explanation. "No problem, Arc. I can at least explain my Unkah, sister's, and my own gods and boons quickly. Emmie!"

She shouts over her shoulder towards her darker haired sister dropping a few drinks off to a table. Ellie looks over at her sister and gives her a dismissing wave before she places the last drink down. She gives a deep sigh before shouting back.

"I'll be right there, Ellie! One sec!"

As she turns back and continues speaking to her current customers Ellie carries on speaking.

"Well, I'll let her show her things when she comes by." Ellie places the last meal for Soot being a rare steak, potato skins oily with some kind of cooking grease, and... a cup with a piece of chocolate and cinnamon mixed in? The drinks are all placed in front of us and I finally receive my glass of amber lager.

"My Unkah worships Kyoru the calm ya' see? Gives ya' 'the tongue and ears o' the divine' they say. Essentially let's him hear and speak better than most normally can, kinda like a magical musician. Makes for a mighty fine bard on the weekends when he closes the kitchen too. As well as that he actually gets an extra sense for emotions not unlike we sense sound called Empathy. Handy to know who likes what as a business too."

I hear a shocked gasp from my right and see Day is just as surprised as I feel. Empathy? And 'magical musician'? I'm not one hundred percent sure how I feel about the emotion reading off the bat but I suppose there's not much to be done if most people in this realm can have these incredible Boons. I might get to choose one soon as well!

"Kind of like a deer or animal then, right?" Day pops her first question during this whole conversation. She speaks so excitedly, I actually forgot this welcome course was for her to begin with. She could be even newer to life in Maja than me. "He can sense when someone is afraid or threatening?"

Ellie tips her head to the side and thinks for a moment. Soot and Caim both stay quiet and seem to have decided to let her take some of their teaching responsibilities for the moment.

"Yeeeaah... I guess that's right?" She gives a few small chuckles to herself quickly before going on. "I've never actually thought of it like that but yeah. Like a wild animal, just a lot stronger to be fair."

Day nods and seems to have grasped the idea. I get it a bit more now as well. I suppose as long as it's not a type of mind reading then it's not too intrusive.

Day and I both take a bite of our food as Ellie continues talking. I'm not sure how she seems to be liking hers, other than a few intrigued hmms and contemplated munches, but I... am a bit underwhelmed if I'm honest. It's a very good steak, cooked and tastes how I expected it to. Highly nutritious and full of meat I can taste and know I can use. However, I'm not really tasting the... BANG that I thought I'd be getting.

"I actually worship Aeros." Here she gives a small shrug of her shoulders and continues. "His Boon is pretty simple actually. I can fly and control the winds."

Ellie turns around at this point and gestures with her hands towards the kitchen counter where a few meals sit on trays. The curtains over the doorway and windows flutter and a slight draft starts to build up through the diner. A stern look of concentration builds on her face as the sound of rushing air seems to be building over the area. I stare in awe as a plate of drinks start to hover just barely. If she can use that to levitate the plates around the place then that must be super handy everda-

Craash

…

For the second time during my first dinner in Maja the entire tavern turns quiet and begins to stare at our group. At least it isn't me or Day this time.