Page 21 of Azriel

“I don’t need it, but thanks.”

Vali sat at the foot of the bed. “You know, if you’ll end up needing food and water later, maybe you should practice and try a few things so you know what you like. I mean, do you want to have hunger pains and not even know what’s good to eat?”

Azriel stared at him for a second. “You get pain from hunger?”

“Yeah-"

“Before every meal?!”

Vali shook his head. “No, not exactly. I feel kind of empty in my stomach unless I wait too long. The pain isn’t that bad either unless you go all day or a few days without food. It’s just a body’s way of saying it needs food.”

Azriel squinted. “I guess I’ll try some tea. Does it taste like raspberries?”

“Er, no. It’s black tea leaves.”

Vali went downstairs with Azriel following.

“You have to be careful because the best time to add the tea leaves is just before the water boils," Vali told him after he'd heated two cups of water. "You don’t want the tea to taste burnt. We used to have a special pot for tea, but I dropped it and cracked it. We keep forgetting to replace it."

Azriel watched him scoop enough leaves for two into the pot once the water was hot. “How do you know how much to use?”

“One scoop for each person. Mother got the perfect size one for us, but you can use more or less depending on how strong you want. You never had tea before?”

“I have, but it was from a vendor during an eclipse and already in a cup. I never bought loose stuff or cared to make it.”

Vali used the slightly hooked end of the poker to pull out the iron rod that the pot was hanging from. “You take the tea off the fire so it doesn’t start boiling, and you stir it. It's almost ready."

Azriel didn’t like the tea.

Vali was used to drinking his black. Azriel appeared as if someone had pissed in his cup, and he was trying to hide his dislike.

“You hate it, don't you?”

“It’s okay.” Azriel avoided his eyes and pushed his cup toward Vali. “You can have it.”

Vali chuckled. “How about some sugar in it? It’ll make it sweet, and I bet you’ll like it then.”

Azriel didn’t look convinced, but Vali got the jar of sugar from the cupboard and added a couple of spoonfuls to the angel’s tea. Azriel seemed to like it much better after that since he could barely put down the cup.

Vali almost couldn’t believe he was at home with an angel across from him at the table. And the angel only liked tea because it had sugar. Oh, and he had golden horns.

“I guess sweet stuff is going to be your go-to,” said Vali. “You’ll still have to learn to eat other foods like vegetables and grains and meat.”

“Why?”

“Because it has stuff we need.”

“Like what?”

“Uhhh…” Vali shrugged. “I don’t know. Our bodies need different things. It’s like when herbs are used for sickness. It’s something in the plant that helps.”

“Oh.” Azriel looked pretty miserable about that.

“There are lots of different stuff and ways to cook it, so I’m sure you’ll find plenty of tasty dishes that you’ll love,” continued Vali. “I heard someone say hunger is the best seasoning, so when you do need to eat, you’ll want the food. Do you want to try something else?”

“No, I think tea is enough because now I’ll have to pee later.”

Vali suppressed a chuckle. “So…why is everyone gay in your realm? That doesn’t make sense.”

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