Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist Page B

everyone knew of his relationship with Lela. He had slept in her bed almost every night for the better part of the last year. Close to sixteen years of age, a man by the standards of his people, he would have been wed and a father by now had his village survived.
    Lela returned his gesture with a smile.
    â€œTo what do I owe this pleasure?” asked Leo. “Is the washing done?’’
    â€œYes,” she said pertly. “Meggie and Martha are folding the last of the dyed bedding, and I came to see what needed to be done here.’’
    â€œOf course you did,” said the cook with a chuckle. He moved Talon gently aside, dipped a spoon into the sauce the young man was preparing, and tasted it. He stared off into space reflectively for a long moment, then said, “Simple, yet . . . bland.” His fingers danced across the small jars of spices before him, picking up a pinch of this, a dash of that, which he added to the sauce. “This is for chicken, lad, slowly roasted chicken. It is a bland meat, not full of flavor like those lovely partridges and turkeys you bring home from the hunt. Those require a simple sauce to bring out the bird’s taste. This sauce needs to give the bird flavor. Here!” He poked the spoon at Talon’s lips. “Taste!’’
    Talon did so and nodded. It was exactly the sauce he had been trying to make. “So I should have used more spices, Leo?’’
    â€œBy twice, my boy, by twice.” The cook put down the spoon and wiped his hands on his apron. “Now, be a good lad and go and help Lela wash vegetables.”
    Talon nodded and went over to the large wooden sink attached to the rear wall of the kitchen. It had a drain thatcleverly went out through the wall and emptied into a small culvert that ran along the base of the building, then into a pipe under the ground and eventually into the cess pit Kendrick had dug beyond the outer wall of the courtyard. He hefted a bucket of cold water and stood there, pouring slowly while Lela washed the freshly dug vegetables. It was the first of the spring crop, and the thought of fresh carrots, radishes, and turnips made Talon’s mouth water.
    â€œWhy the sauce?” asked Lela. “We don’t have any guests tonight.’’
    â€œThat’s why,” said Talon. “Leo decided that since we had no one to complain about the sauce, he’d let me try another one.’’
    â€œYou must be making progress,” Lela observed. “He didn’t throw this one across the kitchen.’’
    â€œTrue,” said Talon. “You people can be strange at times.’’
    â€œ We’re strange?” She flicked water from her fingers at him as he put down the bucket. “From what you’ve said about your people, you’re the strange one.’’
    Talon’s features darkened. “It hardly matters. I’m the only one left.’’
    She tried not to look amused. “Ah, I’ve hurt your feelings.” Playfully, she kissed his cheek. “I’ll have to make it up to you.’’
    Instantly his mood lightened. “How?’’
    She spun away from him. “Clean up the sink for me, and if you come to my room tonight, I’ll show you.’’
    Lars entered the kitchen carrying a large quarter of beef. “This is the last of the winter’s storage,” he announced. “Cold room is empty.” The cold room was an underground storage area Kendrick had built. It was frozen solid like everything else during the winter, and any provisions put in it were also frozen quickly. But in thespring it was slow to thaw, keeping anything inside frozen until spring was past and into summer and keeping things very cold from then to the next snowfall.
    Leo said, “We’ll have to plan a trip to Latagore. We need to buy cattle as well as provisions.”
    Talon said to Leo, “May I go?’’
    Leo