Making it to the end of the hedge bordered path Coron and Marco are greeted by a butler by the name of Oren who welcomes them to the Manor of the House of Ivory.

  “Welcome Traveler to your new home,” Oren bows slightly at the waist. “Please come in and enjoy the midday meal with us.” He opens the large bleached wood doors and holds them for the Ranger and guest.

  He leads Marco through beautiful halls decorated with framed photos of a large elven family, pictures of what must be the young days of Woodholme, showing short spires of wood and stone being raised by elves and humans.

  The lovely decorated halls give way to an expansive dining room featuring a large wooden table carved with scenes of dinner parties, state events, and large reception halls filled with people. Oren gestures at the large table, indicating for them to take a seat.

  “You have a beautiful home Coron, this dining room is gorgeous.” Marco gestures with excitement at beautiful dining room. “I was a chef before I got pulled to Omnia.”

  “You were a chef? That is an impressive career. I hope our kitchen staff does not disappoint your palate.” Coron says sitting down and unfolding his napkin before placing it on his lap.

  Marco chuckles lightly while shaking his head, “No meal made with care is ever a disappointment.” Marco copies Coron’s actions, placing his napkin on his lap, straightening out his fork and knife a little bit and takes a sip of water.

  A couple of slightly past middle-aged women exit the kitchen area with trays of food floating behind them, visible currents of air holding the trays aloft. As the women walk past Marco, the scents hit him like a wall, bloomed spices, fragrant oil, and fresh produce mix together in the air to make a tantalizing experience.

  “Greetings Traveler, welcome to our dining room and be welcome to our table.” The pair of women intone almost ritualistically, matching their pitches and cadence perfectly. They both bow to Coron before the trays start unloading themselves on currents of wind, covering their side of the expansive table in delicious looking food.

  At first glance Marco sees delicious bowls full of bountiful produce glazed in shiny sauces and topped with herbs and pickled vegetables. He sees a couple of curries, a soup appearing to be made of something like a butternut squash based off of the appearance, and a large platter of roasted vegetables garnished with chopped herbs, fresh citrus and bright flowers.

  “Thank you for your hard work as usual, Ethil and Doris.” Coron calls to the pair of ladies that are quickly exiting the dining room. “Please come join us shortly!”

  “Thank you so much for the meal.” Marco also calls to the cooks.

  The former executive chef looks to Coron as if asking permission to start eating. As the smells continue to waft around Marco, no doubt aided by the [Air Magic] of the pair of talented cooks, he realizes that it has been many hours since he appeared in the Deadwoods and he is damn near ravenous.

  Coron nods his head at Marco and he too begins to pull plates toward himself, taking a small amount from the piles of food in front of him, expertly arranging the small portions on his plate. Marco does something similar, starting with the dishes most unfamiliar, not commenting on the lack of protein and just looking forward to trying new foods.

  He starts with a plate full of the various curries, amazed at the depth of flavor and variety that they have created with the various vegetables of this world. As he is shoveling curry into his mouth as politely as he could while inhaling food, he notices Oren and the pair of cooks joining the table and starting to take small serving of food for themselves as well.

  Marco smiles between bites, reminded of many days sharing family meal with his friends and coworkers in kitchens throughout his career. He moves on to some of the roasted vegetables and sampling each of them before piling his favorites on to a small piece of flatbread he found on a different plate.

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  “This is one of the most delicious meals I have ever had to pleasure to try.” Marco makes a small bow toward the pair of cooks, while sitting and trying more food. “Can you please tell me more about the produce that you used and the processes you used to cook everything?” Marco is leaning forward toward the pair, intrigued by new flavors and cooking techniques.

  The pair look at each other, smiling slightly but also looking scared of his extreme interest. They take turns describing produce and cooking processes. “The curries are vindaloo, tikka, and chat,” starts Ethil. Marco flinches, confused at the familiar words, but sees that the words and the mouth movements don’t match up.

  *Ping*

  [Traveler Perk: Universal Translation]

  A small system prompt appears for Marco, he nods to himself and returns to listening intently to Ethil and Doris. “The roasted vegetables consist of zucchini, summer squash, baby eggplant, cherry tomatoes of a couple of varieties, and assorted peppers. Seasoned with non-conjured salt, and spices from the neighboring Kingdom of Spirespear to the east, including smoked paprika, fermented garlic powder, and za’atar.” Doris lectures sweetly before Ethil takes over.

  “The dish is finished with chopped parsley, chives, and cilantro. Drizzled with citrus infused oil and pickled leeks.” Ethil finishes with a big smile, appreciating the compliments of another cook.

  “The blending of flavors that you both achieved is incredible,” Marco exclaims, still sampling dishes using the flatbread infused with garlic and herbs as a spoon.

  “Thank you, young man for not only your compliments but also your fervent enjoyment of our food. It is so rare to feed a fellow professional.” Ethil and Doris blend their voices once again.

  Unknown to Marco during his food fueled rampage, Oren had joined the midday meal and has polished off his plate during the questions

  “If we are done eating for now, I can show the young traveler his accommodations for his stay here at the Ivory Manor.” Oren says in his semi monotone voice while holding a hand out to the side door, leading back to the picture filled hallway.

  Retracing their steps through the house, back toward the foyer they head up the staircase that Marco seems to have missed the first time. They head up the large grandiose staircase and make it to the landing which stretches out into a comfortable space filled with comfortable chairs and bookcases stuffed full.

  “This place just gets better and better,” Marco smiles to himself at the thought of flopping down into one of those chairs and wasting the day away with a good book. They quickly move quickly toward another wing of the manor, this time filled with closed doors.

  “The third door to the right is yours young man.” Oren says handing Marco a small key and pointing him toward the correct room.

  Marco unlocks his door and gazes upon a room bigger than his old apartment back on Earth. A huge bed takes up a large amount of space on the left wall, covered with cream-colored sheets with fluffy pillows that look to be spilling out of their cases. He notices two doors on the right side of the room, presumably a bathroom and closet.

  His Berkenstocks are kicked off at the door, he places them nicely to the left of the door, next to an empty coat rack where he strips off his dust and blood-stained Chef coat and places it nicely on the topmost hook.

  He feels too guilty to get in bed with his travel-stained clothes and checks out the doors that he guesses to be a bathroom and closet. He picks a door at random and is rewarded with a spacious bathroom complete with a tub, shower and normal looking toilet. He quickly strips off the rest of his old clothing and tries to figure out the shower controls which appears to just be a small silver circle below a shower nozzle. He presses his hand against it and feels the mental tingle that he has some to associate with the System.

  *Ping* Activate Tidecaller Inscription?

  “Yes,” he says out loud, quickly becoming embarrassed when nothing happens. He thinks with intention toward the system message and feels a tingle run through his body as mana leaves his body through his hand and a rainlike shower begins to fall from the nozzle.

  Steam quickly envelopes the room and hot water falls like heavy rain. He checks the water temperature before quickly getting in and taking one of the best showers of his life.

  Scrubbing all the bone dust, sweat and blood off of his body, he touches the Inscription again stopping the water. Water drips down his lanky frame as he locates a towel hanging on the wall next to the shower stall. Quickly he dries off, finding a set of ivory colored bed clothes, he is astonished to find that they fit nearly perfectly and are very soft.

  Stepping out of the steam filled bathroom Marco flings himself onto the bed, quickly becoming drowsy from the wonderful shower and delicious food.

  A small sound goes unnoticed by Marco as he drifts off to sleep.

  *Ping* Congratulations Traveler on completing your first day on Omnia.