“So I understand you have no last name but the papers need one.” Thunder said.

  “Use mine,” Mayhem said, she produced her own papers and handed them over. Shaynen looked at her. “Adopted. We’re not related by blood.”

  “That works.” Thunder said, taking the papers and copying the relevant information down. “I’ll copy other information that’d support the sibling story.”

  “Sounds good,” Mayhem said.

  “I don’t understand.” Shaynen said, “How do I come from the monastery but also adopted?”

  “You were adopted from the monastery, you numbnuts.” Mayhem said, lightly punching his shoulder.

  “Ah, okay, I’m caught up now.” Shaynen nodded.

  “Right, approximate height and weight?” Thunder asked, handing Mayhem’s papers back.

  “About six feet even and a hundred and sixteen pounds.” Shaynen said. “At least, that was accurate at my last check up.”

  “When was that?” Thunder asked.

  “No more than a month ago.” Shaynen said.

  “Perfect, I’ll get this information written down and we’ll have our papers ready first thing in the morning.” Thunder said and she retreated into the tent.

  “I think I’m going to investigate those delightful looking wraps,” Kilek said. Pointing at a vendor calling up and down the line.

  “I need a good drink,” Jiit said as he made his way toward a stall selling wines and ales. Shaynen and Mayhem were left and she was looking around for dinner herself.

  “Mayhem, why’d you volunteer like that?” Shaynen asked.

  “Huh?” Mayhem said, catching a smell that had her standing on her tiptoes. “You smell that? That smells amazing! What is it?”

  “Uh,” Shaynen looked around for a second. “There, I think it’s that stall.”

  “The pasta one? Heck yeah,” She started for the stall. Shaynen stuttered and stumbled to follow her.

  “Mayhem, I’m serious.” Shaynen said.

  “About what? These noodles? Me too.” Mayhem said, getting into the line.

  “No, about you giving that information for me.” Shaynen said, “You didn’t have to, why did you?”

  “You needed it,” Mayhem said simply. She turned to look at him. “You’re like me when I set foot on my first ship. Had nothing, was nothing, knew nothing. But I had a guy who stepped up for me. So consider it karma that I’m stepping up for you.”

  “Oh,” Shaynen said. The pair got to the front of the line before Shaynen was finished processing.

  “I want an order of the carbonara and an ale with one of those hand meat pies. What do you want.” Mayhem elbowed Shaynen. He looked up in alarm before stammering at the menu.

  “Yeah, I’ll have that too.” He said, looking around in a panic.

  “Cool,” Mayhem said and brought out her coin purse. She pulled out some coins and placed them on the counter before Shaynen could even find his.

  H-hey, wait.” He said, Mayhem didn’t wait and paid for the meals and took a few steps away to wait for their food to be served. “You didn’t have to do that!”

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  “I know but you are really hung up on me doing stuff for you so, I’m going to do it as much as possible.” Mayhem said with a giant grin. “You’re just gonna have to get used to it.”

  “Oh, okay?” Shaynen said, “What about Thunder? Think we should ask her what she wants?”

  “Depends on how long it takes.” Mayhem said with a shrug. A pair of flimsily made bowls in tin were placed up on the counter and gestured for Mayhem to step forward. “That’s us! Let’s grab and dig in.” The pair grabbed their food and they returned to their campsite. Kilek and Jiit were already there and waiting. Jiit had a mug and was actively avoiding looking at the tent where Thunder was working. Kilek was happily munching on a strange looking food. Salad and meats with sauce wrapped together in a thin bread. Kilek had one in each hand and was munching on them both congruently.

  “What’d you find?” He called as Mayhem and Shaynen came near.

  “Some pasta and meat pies!” Mayhem called, “What’d you find?”

  “These salads in bread! They called them tortilla wraps!” Kilek said holding up his dinner. “Best part of an event like this is all the people coming together and sharing all they have. Culture and craft alike!”

  “I can’t argue with that.” Mayhem laughed. She sat around their camp and Shaynen sat close to the tent.

  “Thunder, do you want us to bring you something?” He asked.

  “No, I’ll find something for myself in a bit.” She said through the canvas. Shaynen sat fully and looked over his food. The noodles with bits of crispy bacon and smothered in a sauce that stuck fast to the noodles and the crispy meat pie with a flaky buttery crust. Both steaming and hot, fresh from their cooktops. The smell hit Shaynen like a truck and his mouth flooded.

  “Can’t decide what to try first?” Kilek asked.

  “Yeah, they both look so good.” Shaynen said, he held his fork but couldn’t figure out which to dig into first.

  “Try the pasta,” Mayhem said with her mouth already full. “The pie is still really hot and you might burn your tongue.”

  “Okay.” Shaynen said and shoveled up a heaping bite of the noodles into his mouth. The taste was explosive. Lemony and garlicky with pepper and savory bacon crisps. More flavor than he’d ever tasted at the monastery and it felt like every taste bud on his tongue was popping in glee.

  “Is it that good?” Kilek asked. “Perhaps I’ll visit that stall too!” Shaynen laughed with Kilek and took another slow bite to savor every minute.

  “Gods you eat slow,” Mayhem said, she scraped the last of the meat pie from its takeaway bowl.

  “I want to really enjoy it, it’s a temporary experience.” Shaynen said. Taking another bite and really tasting it.

  “This is why you’re so skinny.” Kilek said. “You trying to savor every bite makes less of it tasted.”

  “What do you mean?” Shaynen asked. Kilek swallowed the last of his wraps and readjusted.

  “When you eat slow, you get full faster which means you get less. But if you eat fast, you don’t realize you’re full until you’re fit to burst.” Kilek said.

  “Bull to that.” Mayhem said. “When you live on a ship with limited resources you gotta eat what’s on offer and if you want to get enough to eat, you eat fast.”

  “There was always enough to eat in the monastery, but never this good.” Shaynen said. “This has savory and sour and pepper and creamy. It’s so many different things altogether!”

  “What?” Jiit asked, “What did the monastery feed you? Watered down cabbage soup?”

  “Some days. Depended on how good our harvest was.” Shaynen said, looking as his empty plate and debating licking it clean.

  “That’s so sad.” Mayhem said. “Even we had spices on our ship. Sure, we ate almost exclusively fish based dishes but man, we at least had some rosemary and citrus.”

  “You had to have citrus, otherwise you’d get scurvy.” Jiit said, shaking his head and finishing off his ale. He sighed and looked into the empty mug. “I need another one but they are overcharging for this swill.”

  “I don’t imagine that’s going to get any better.” Kilek said. “You might as well suck it up and just get another ale.”

  “Why are they overcharging in the first place? And why wouldn’t it get any better?” Shaynen asked as he decided against licking the plate and picked up the meat pie instead.

  “Never mind it.” Jiit shook his head. “I don’t have the energy to explain economics today.”

  “The basic fact is, if a person can make more money, then they will.” Kilek said. Shaynen nodded slowly, considering this though not understanding. He broke the crust of the pie and a fresh cloud of steam rose up from inside. The smell of roasted sweet pork came with it and Shaynen felt hungry all over again. He scooped a forkful of sweet pulled pork and fluffy rice with a robust gravy. He made sure he got a bite of the crust with it before putting it in his mouth and he was not disappointed. A perfect mix of sweet and spicy with a smoke taste with it.

  “I’m getting another drink.” Jiit said and he got up and went back to the stall.

  “If you’re getting another you should try another stall!” Kilek called after him. Jiit waved him off.