Inquest by Emily Thompson

Author:Emily Thompson [Thompson, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

The foxes had set out a collection of small, low tables in a grassy clearing near the center of the village. Each table bore a few little plates filled with artfully arranged bits of food, and a small bowl heaped with moist white rice. Many of the kitsunes were already seated in groups on the soft grass, chatting together as they ate. Twist and his companions were invited to take a few of the empty spaces to one side.

Twist sat on the grass at one of the tables and looked over the offered breakfast. A narrow, rolled omelet sat on one plate in a pool of sticky dark sauce, while a grilled fillet of a white fish sat on another plate. There was an array of brightly colored vegetables as well, and a few tiny dishes filled with sauces and thin, curling slices of a translucent white food Twist couldn’t begin to identify. A few kitsunes arrived to fill the newcomers’ handleless teacups with a fragrant green tea. Twist took the lid off of a covered bowl on his table to find a murky-looking soup inside it.

Twist realized quickly that there were no utensils with which to eat. There was only a pair of smooth, tapered sticks lying on the edge of his table, their points on a porcelain rest. He turned to comment on this to Jonas but paused when he saw his friend picking up a glistening brown mushroom from his plate between the points of his own two sticks. Jonas easily popped the morsel of food into his mouth and searched for another with his sticks.

“What the devil are you doing?” Twist asked him.

Jonas eyed him, somewhat startled. “Eating breakfast. What the devil are you doing?” Skye, sitting at her own table nearby, was digging out a lump of rice with the ends of her own two sticks as she glanced up to him.

“These are for eating?” Twist asked, reexamining his twin sticks as he held them up, one in each hand. Jonas laughed and leaned closer to him while Skye sniggered and ate her rice.

“Here,” Jonas said, taking the sticks from Twist, “let me help you.” Jonas took Twist’s right hand and fit the sticks into his fingers, shaping Twist’s grip around them. Twist watched this with a frown but did nothing to stop him. “There,” Jonas said, apparently finished, as he picked up his own sticks again. “Now, you move the top one like this.”

Twist tried to copy his friend’s motion, though his fingers didn’t respond as smoothly as Jonas’s did. Beside him, Myra plucked an unused pair of sticks from a nearby table and tried to copy Jonas’s example as well. Vane—who had been sipping his soup from the side of the bowl—put down his own food and propped his chin on his hand as he watched Jonas and Twist with great interest.

“Now, look,” Jonas said, moving slowly to pluck a slice of carrot from his plate. “It takes a little practice, but it’s not so hard,” he added, popping the carrot slice into his mouth.

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