CITY OF THE GODS: FORGOTTEN by M.Scott Verne, Wynn Wynn Mercere Page A

to at the moment,” he said in an even, much-rehearsed tone.
    Aavi arose from the fountain ledge and followed Nianzu out of the Oracle’s chamber. She was confused by the Oracle’s last words, but felt sure that she had to get back to D’Molay. She vowed to travel back across the water as soon as possible to ask him to take her to Earth. “I want to go back to the City now,” she said firmly. Nianzu turned and shook his head.
    “You cannot. Mazu and her boat are gone. I will raise the signal for her return, but she may not see it for many hours.” Nianzu stopped before a gate that led to another part of the retreat. He reached behind his ear and withdrew a thin, long key that had been hidden by his straight hair. He used it to open a lock and swung the gate free. Just inside it sat a table and benches, where the boy who had met her earlier was pouring water into a very small cup. Aavi watched in fascination as some sort of mist rose from the top of the liquid.
    “Shan will serve you and Xiu will take you to your room for the night.” Nianzu retreated back the way they had come, leaving the courtyard gate open behind him. Aavi walked over to the boy who had finished pouring the strange liquid and was now pulling lids from several shallow pots.
    “What is that water doing?” Aavi asked, intrigued by the steam rising off the hot dark mug.
    Shan, accustomed to philosophical questioning by his teachers, answered easily. “It is being hot. We call it tea.”
    Aavi somehow understood what hot was, just as she had intuitively remembered its opposite, cold. She sat down on the bench next to the table and wrapped her hands around the small cup, feeling its warmth. She raised the cup to her lips and sipped. It had a sweet smell and a pleasant, biting flavor. Shan pushed a plate toward her. The plate held things she had never seen before. Aavi busied herself drinking several cups of tea to avoid the embarrassment of admitting to Shan that she had no idea what she was supposed to do with what he had set before her.
    “Aren’t you going to eat your food?” Shan pestered.
    “Do you know what food is?” Xiu challenged. She elbowed Shan again. “We could show you how to eat,” she offered sneakily.
    “Please,” Aavi responded. “I want to learn.”   She had an unusual feeling in her middle that felt like it still needed something, but she wasn’t sure what.   Nor did she really understand what one did with all the items on the plate.    
    Catching on to the unexpected opportunity to gorge on the nuts and honeyed fruit reserved only for guests, Shan was the first to demonstrate. “You see this nut?” he said, racing to sit down and grabbing a fat lychee from Aavi’s plate. “You peel it, like this, and throw this part away.” Shan nimbly divested the soft flesh of the lychee of its peel and pit and popped it into his mouth.
    “And these are cherries in honey syrup,” Xiu said, grabbing for her favorites. “You can eat them just as they are.”
    Aavi managed to slowly peel and eat one lychee by imitating Shan. Then she reached for one of the cherries that Xiu was eating. It was slippery and sticky at the same time, and she dropped it twice before managing to get it into her mouth. By the time she did, the children had eaten most of what had been on her plate. Still, Aavi felt a great sense of accomplishment, having learned several new things from them. Pulling the plate closer to herself, she finished what was left. The wonder of eating and the tastes it provided had made her forget for a moment the ominous words of the Oracle. But after the meal, her thoughts turned back to D’Molay and the anxious feeling that she needed to get back to him.
    Shan started collecting the plates and cups as Xiu pushed away from the table. “Wait here,” she said, wiping her hands on her trousers. “I will bring you a sleeping robe and then I’ll show you your room for the night.”
    Deep in her worrying, Aavi paid little