Slime Evolution

Chapter 487 - Flavors of Another World

The Porsche landed in front of a building that Lohan, at first, couldn’t identify as a restaurant.

It was a low, circular structure, made of a white, milky stone that seemed to soak up the sunlight and give it back as a soft glow, surrounded by a garden of tall, thin plants that swayed with no wind at all, as if responding to a song only they could hear.

Above the entrance, in discreet, curved letters that looked like little clouds, it read "Sky of Orvyn."

"Orvyn?" Lohan repeated, unbuckling his seatbelt carefully. "I’ve never heard of it."

"I figured," Isabella replied, with a satisfied smile, waiting for him to walk around and open her door, which he did with an exaggerated bow that made her roll her eyes, laughing. "Orvyn-13 is a planet of floating islands, locked in orbit around a gas giant, about forty light years from here. Almost no one on Earth knows it, because their food is very hard to export. Half the ingredients lose their flavor when they leave the atmosphere."

"Half?"

"The best half," she finished, with a wink, and the two of them went inside.

Lohan felt a slight shiver as soon as he crossed the door.

The air inside the restaurant was lighter, almost cold, with a subtle scent of flowers he couldn’t name, and the lighting came from small translucent orbs floating on the ceiling, slowly changing color, from light blue to gold and back, like an eternal sky in slow motion.

A hostess in a silver uniform bowed before them with a discreet smile, and upon hearing Isabella’s name, her smile changed, becoming more professional and more respectful.

"The private room is ready, Miss Vance," she said. "This way, please."

They walked down a curved hallway, its walls covered in glowing plants, and Lohan noticed, for the first time since arriving, that the restaurant seemed completely silent, even though it was full.

The conversations at the distant tables reached him as muffled murmurs compared to ordinary places, almost as if the environment itself absorbed sound, and he realized that was a luxury only the most expensive places could offer.

The private room was a small circle of light wood, with an enormous panoramic window that opened onto a hanging garden, where small islands of grass floated a few centimeters off the ground, slowly spinning.

At the center, a low, dark wood table was surrounded by two large embroidered cushions, placed side by side, rather than facing each other.

"It’s the traditional Orvyn way," Isabella explained, smoothing her dress and sitting down with an elegance showing she had done this many times before. "They believe that people who share a meal should look in the same direction."

Lohan sat beside her, a few centimeters away, and realized, with a sudden awareness, but not at all an uncomfortable one, that his shoulder nearly touched hers.

She seemed to realize it at the same time, because she gave a small cough and busied herself smoothing the napkin on her lap, with a concentration out of proportion for such a trivial task.

The door closed behind the hostess with a soft click, and the silence of the room grew even deeper.

"So," Isabella said, after a moment, looking at the garden. "How was your morning?"

"Interesting," Lohan replied, and couldn’t help smiling. "I broke a bed, a glass, and dented the immersion capsule a little before ten in the morning."

Isabella turned her head so fast that the pearl clip trembled in her hair.

"You what?"

He told her everything, the transition to the real world, the glass that came apart in his hand, the exercises he had invented to adapt, the egg, the water, the gelatin fingers.

When the part got to the floating pens, she was laughing so hard she had to rest her hand on the table, and when he mentioned the idea of the needles, she let out a sound that was half guffaw and half choke.

"You’re going to buy acupuncture needles," she repeated, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "To train like a movie assassin."

"I need a reliable source of needles."

"I know a store," she said, still laughing. "Official supplier of acupuncture needles for our hospitals in three star systems. I’ll place the order for you."

"Thank you."

She shook her head, and the laughter slowly faded, until it became a satisfied sigh, and she looked at him sideways, with a tenderness that made his throat go dry.

"I’m really happy for you," she said. "Truly."

Before he could answer, the door slid open again, and a waitress came in with a silver tray, moving gracefully.

She set on the table a wide, shallow platter, where small translucent spheres, the size of a grape, rested on a bed of silvery leaves, each one containing a tiny cloud slowly swirling inside.

"To start, the Cloud Drops," the waitress explained, in a soft voice. "They should be eaten whole, all at once. Enjoy."

She withdrew, and the door closed again.

Lohan looked at the spheres, and then at Isabella, and she raised an eyebrow, amused.

"Are you afraid of food, Halon?"

"Even though I’ve digested living beings in the other world, I’m afraid of food that’s alive here."

"It’s not alive," she said, picking up a sphere with two fingers and showing it to him, the cloud inside it swirling at a calm pace. "It’s just... sleeping. Try it."

She put the sphere in her mouth with a look of mischievous anticipation, and her eyes closed for a moment, and Lohan watched her face transform, her eyebrows rising, her lips curving into an involuntary smile, and a low, satisfied sound escaped her throat, which made something strange happen in his stomach.

"This is..." she murmured. "Even though I’ve had this a few times already, this is incredible."

He picked up a sphere, still a little wary, and put it in his mouth.

The sphere burst as soon as it touched his tongue, and a cold, fragrant explosion spread through his mouth, a mix of citrus fruits and something more, something he couldn’t name, a sensation of altitude, of thin, clear air, as if he had swallowed a piece of open sky.

He felt the flavor unfold in layers, sweet, then sour, then an almost mineral touch, and his Digestion, even in his human body, translated every component with astonishing clarity, identifying a hundred different molecules dancing on his tongue.

It was, without exaggeration, the tastiest thing he had ever tried.

"Wow," he whispered, and opened his eyes, and saw Isabella looking at him with a huge smile.

"I told you," she said, victorious.

He laughed, and picked up another sphere, and then another, and soon the platter was empty, and they looked at the table with a disproportionate sadness.

The second dish arrived soon after, a thick, twisted root, slow roasted and served over a bed of mushrooms that glowed with a faint bluish light, like little stars stuck to the plate.

Its smell was deep and earthy, with a sweet undertone, and the waitress explained that it was a Wind Root, grown on the highest slopes of the islands, where the winds were too strong for any other plant to survive.

The dish was a single one, for the two of them, and when Lohan reached out to take a piece, his fingers touched Isabella’s, who had made the same movement at the same time.

The two pulled their hands back as if they had touched a hot plate.

"Go ahead," she said, quickly.

"No, you take it."

"I insist."

"So do I."

The two kept looking at each other, hands frozen in midair, and then began to laugh at the same time, a loose, slightly embarrassed laugh, and Isabella picked up a piece of root with a fork, and held it out toward him, with a mischievous look.

"Open," she said.

"Isabella..."

"Open your mouth, Halon."

He opened it, not understanding how he had ended up in that situation, and she placed the piece of root in his mouth with a deliberate gentleness, and when her fingers lightly brushed the corner of his lips, time seemed to slow down.

The root was firm and soft at the same time, full of a deep, almost nutty flavor, that melted slowly and left a warm trail down his throat, but he barely felt it.

His attention was all on her face, so close, her golden eyes fixed on him and her cheeks covered in a flush that wasn’t makeup.

"Good?" she asked, in a low voice.

"Very good," he answered, and he wasn’t sure he was talking about the food.

She looked away first, and picked up another piece for herself, and ate in silence, but he noticed she was smiling at the plate, and that something on top of her head moved slightly, almost imperceptibly, beneath her golden hair.

Two small white fox ears were emerging, shy, among the strands.

Lohan felt his heart skip, and opened his mouth to say something, and shut it, and opened it again.

"Isabella," he said, as carefully as he could. "Your ears."

She froze, with the fork halfway to her mouth, and raised both hands to her head, slowly patting, and when she found the soft, furry tips, her face turned red all the way down to her neck.

"Oh no," she murmured. "I relaxed too much."

"I think they’re..." he began, and hesitated, choosing each word with the delicacy of someone crossing a minefield. "They suit you."

Isabella stared at him, her hands still over her ears, and her expression slowly changed, from panic to disbelief, and from disbelief to something softer, warmer, that made Lohan forget the plate completely.

"You said the same thing last time," she said, softly.

"Because it’s still true."

She lowered her hands, slowly, leaving her ears in view, swaying lightly above her red hair, and looked at him with a trembling smile, with no desire to hide.

They were so close that Lohan could feel the warmth of her skin through the little air separating their shoulders, and hear her breathing, slightly faster than normal, and the soft scent of jasmine coming from her hair.

He realized that there was no reason to pull away, and that neither of them was pulling away.

Outside, the little grass islands spun slowly, bathed in golden light, and inside the room, the silence had a new texture, full of things neither of them dared to say.

"Halon," she murmured.

"Yes?"

She opened her mouth, and closed it, and a hesitant glint passed through her golden eyes, like someone at the edge of a cliff deciding whether or not to jump.

"Dessert," she said, finally, with a trembling voice and a nervous smile. "I forgot to tell you that the dessert here is the best part."

Lohan smiled, and realized she had chosen the exit, and that he had let her.

But neither of them pulled away.