Eren came down to the farm kitchen before sunrise and walked straight into a negotiation.
Emily was at the long table with both hands wrapped around a cup of the blue herb tea and Selena was standing over her with a wooden spoon. From the doorway it looked less like breakfast and more like a hostage situation.
"Tell her," Emily said the second she saw him. "Tell her I need the Emberfeast meat. Your child is demanding it, not me."
Eren knew the dish. Emberfeast was an old village recipe, spiced meat cooked slow over coals, and it carried the name of some elven festival from so long ago that nobody in the village could even remember what the festival celebrated anymore. The recipe survived, the festival didn't. And the rule of the dish never changed in all those centuries. The meat had to come from a fresh hunt, a real forest beast with strong monster blood in it. Ranch meat was an insult to the pot.
