Half an Hour Was Enough to Eat, Not Enough to Assign Seats

The following evening, a long table appeared in the back courtyard.

It had been acquired from the old eatery next door. The wood was sturdy, its edges worn smooth, but its back right leg was half an inch too short.

Metagross supported one corner of the table with an arm while Pancham lay on the ground, stuffing wood chips underneath. After inserting one chip, it climbed up and shook the tabletop; when it found it was still uneven, it lay back down and added another.

When it stood up for the third time, a streak of dust clung to the tip of its nose.

Zorua immediately used an illusion to turn that dust streak into a pair of mustaches.

Pancham was still diligently shaking the table, completely unaware.

Xia Che sat on the threshold and watched for a while. "Put one under the left side too. Make it look even."

Indeedee handed him a ruler.

"I can tell just by looking."

The ruler moved another inch toward him.

Xia Che had no choice but to get up.

When Bibi Dong arrived with Absol, the table had just been set firmly in place. Metagross withdrew its arm, its red eyes sweeping over the four table legs one after another. Pancham placed a fruit pit on the tabletop and watched it slowly roll half a circle before coming to a stop.

It nodded in satisfaction.

Bibi Dong looked at the fruit pit. "Testing the table again today?"

"Eating." Xia Che said.

"I only have half an hour."

Indeedee promptly brought over an hourglass and placed it beside her seat.

Bibi Dong glanced at it and raised no objection.

Eight chairs stood along both sides of the long table, while cushions of various sizes and food bowls lay on the ground. Indeedee had originally assigned seats according to height, but once everyone sat down, half the arrangement immediately fell apart.

Eevee wanted to sit beside Hu Liena, but it also wanted to be near Absol. In the end, it dragged its little cushion between the two of them.

Magby thought the spot by the wall was too cold and carried its bowl over beside the brazier. Yan worried it was too close to the fire, but the moment he pulled its cushion outward, it pushed it right back.

Pawniard's place was the easiest to arrange. Once Xie Yue sat down, it stood beside his chair without even touching the cushion.

"Sit while you eat," Xie Yue said.

Pawniard lowered its head and looked at its legs.

"Fine, stand."

Zorua had already occupied three places. There was one Zorua on the left, one on the right, and a black tail swaying beneath the table.

Indeedee came out carrying soup. With just one glance, all three Zorua sat up straight.

She took away the empty bowls held by two of them.

The illusion dispersed, and the real Zorua crawled out from under the table and obediently returned to its own cushion.

Yue Guan sighed from the side. "It's getting better and better at managing everyone."

Indeedee placed the seventh special cup of tea in front of him.

"I only just arrived today."

Bills from the previous few days were pinned beneath the cup.

Yue Guan silently lifted his tea.

Only Bibi Dong and Absol's places remained. Indeedee had originally placed Bibi Dong's chair at the head of the long table, where there was plenty of space and where it best suited the Pope's status.

But Absol walked over to the side near the back door and lay down. There, it could catch the breeze and keep an eye on the front hall.

Bibi Dong picked up her chair and set it beside Absol.

Yue Guan looked at the vacant seat at the head of the table and was about to sit there.

Ghost placed his tea there first.

"Do you sit in chairs?" Yue Guan asked.

The shadow beneath the wall did not answer.

That chair remained empty in the end, save for a cup of tea that occasionally vanished on its own.

Metagross did not sit at the table. Its body was too wide; squeezing in would only take up half the table. Indeedee had already laid out a thick square cushion beneath the corridor, with the largest metal dinner tray beside it.

Xia Che looked at his own bowl, then at that tray. "Its dinner is bigger than mine?"

Rotom flew down from the doorframe. "Today's table moving, leveling, and arrangement of eight sets of tableware—Metagross completed seventy-one percent, Rotom."

Pancham immediately raised both paws, indicating that it had also crawled under the table three times.

"You can have the rest," Xia Che said.

Indeedee had already placed a round bowl in front of Pancham, and its portion was just as generous. It touched the dust on the tip of its nose and finally discovered the mustache Zorua had created.

Zorua turned and ran.

Pancham chased it halfway around the yard, but when it saw Indeedee starting to ladle soup, it immediately returned to sit by the door and resumed its duty of guarding the entrance. As long as no one looked at its eyes constantly drifting toward the dining table, its dedication seemed quite convincing.

Indeedee took out a stack of little wooden tags and had everyone choose a mark for their own cups and bowls.

Magby chose a flame, Eevee chose a round fruit, and Pawniard picked a tiny silver square. Absol did not choose one. It placed a paw over a crescent-shaped wooden tag and gently held it down.

"That clashes with Xie Yue's name," Yan said.

Xie Yue looked at his blank cup. "I didn't choose one."

"Then choose a blade."

"Why would I carve a blade onto a cup for eating?"

Yan thought about it, pulled the flame tag closer to himself, and decided to stop offering advice for others.

Bibi Dong picked up the crescent tag and placed it beside Absol's shallow bowl. Her own cup remained blank, and Indeedee did not press her about it.

Zorua quietly returned and shoved a fox tag toward Xia Che.

"This is yours," Xia Che said.

Zorua shook its head and pushed it again.

"I don't have a tail either."

Zorua used an illusion to give him a fluffy black tail.

Everyone around the table looked over.

Xia Che accepted the fox tag. "Eat first."

Only then did the tail disappear.

Indeedee served dinner. Stewed meat sat in the center, alongside roasted Berries, boiled vegetables, and round bread A-Li had delivered that afternoon. She had prepared suitable portions for every Pokémon, and even Pawniard's fruit pieces had been cut especially neatly.

Xia Che picked up a piece of bread and tore off half, placing it in his bowl.

Pancham tapped the table with its paw.

"I'll help you taste it."

Pancham continued tapping.

Xia Che returned the other half to the bread basket.

Only then did dinner officially begin.

Magby loved the roasted Berries most. Before eating each one, it would first warm it in its palm. If it felt the aroma was not strong enough, it would even breathe a tiny puff of fire onto the peel.

Yan watched it closely. "Only one puff."

After Magby finished blowing, it held the Berry up for him to inspect.

The peel was golden, its edges intact.

Yan turned to Xie Yue. "Did you see that?"

"I saw."

"It can control it now."

"I said I'd keep watch."

Satisfied, Yan took one for himself as well. Magby hurriedly pressed down his hand, signaling that humans did not need to blow fire on theirs first.

On the other side, Pawniard used the outer edge of its arm to hold a fruit piece steady, then lightly sliced with its blade. The four pieces were almost exactly the same size. After watching, Xie Yue pushed his own portion over as well.

Pawniard looked up.

"I can't cut them that evenly."

It accepted the fruit pieces.

Hu Liena had wanted to feed Eevee a bite of stewed meat. Eevee sniffed it first, then turned and chose the sweet fruit puree beside it.

"You were eating meat the day before yesterday," Hu Liena said.

Eevee licked the fruit puree clean, then lowered its head to sniff the meat on her chopsticks.

Hu Liena smiled and placed the meat onto its small plate. "You want both?"

Eevee's tail wagged furiously.

Bibi Dong did not join in the bustle at the table. She ate quickly and quietly, but Absol beside her had yet to touch its food.

It first sniffed the scent of every dish before finally looking only at a plate of purplish sour fruit.

Indeedee picked up a small piece and placed it on Absol's plate.

After Absol tasted it, its expression remained calm, but its tail lightly touched the edge of the plate.

A second piece quickly followed.

After it ate that one, its tail touched the plate again.

Yue Guan noticed the pattern and pushed the whole plate of sour fruit toward it.

Absol immediately withdrew its tail and looked up at the courtyard wall, as though the previous two times had merely been accidents.

"It really likes them," Hu Liena said.

Bibi Dong picked up a piece of sour fruit and placed it on Absol's plate. "If you want to eat, then eat."

Absol lowered its head and ate it.

After a while, it used a paw to push the plate half an inch toward her.

Bibi Dong tried one. Her brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

They were extremely sour.

Yue Guan asked, "How do they taste?"

"You can try one."

The moment Yue Guan put one in his mouth, his whole face scrunched up. Zorua found it amusing and immediately created a full plate of purple sour fruit in front of him with an illusion.

Ghost's voice came from beside the head seat. "They suit you."

"How do they suit me?"

"Quiet."

A few laughs rose from around the table. As Bibi Dong set down her chopsticks, the fine sand in the hourglass reached the bottom.

Indeedee prepared to take away her bowl.

Two pieces of sour fruit remained on Absol's plate. It ate slowly, carefully biting open each piece, completely unaffected by the hourglass.

Bibi Dong watched it for a while, then turned the hourglass over.

"Another half hour?" Yue Guan asked.

"Let it finish eating."

Xia Che leaned back in his chair. "Yesterday, you said you decide when work ends."

"The same applies today."

After Absol ate the last piece, licked its plate clean, and rose to stand beside her, Bibi Dong stood as well. "Let's go."

But Indeedee blocked the doorway and handed over a packed food box. Inside were sour fruit for tomorrow morning and a serving of light meat, along with a small note specifying which to eat first.

Bibi Dong accepted it. "For all seven days?"

"It's easy to forget during the first few days," Xia Che said.

"I won't forget."

Absol looked at her.

"And I won't give it less."

Only then did it step outside.

Yue Guan and Ghost were the last to remain. Yue Guan looked at the two vacant cushions, then at the companions of Hu Liena and the others.

"Even Her Holiness has a fixed place now," he said.

"You have one too." Xia Che pointed at the tea cup pinning down the bills.

"I mean a place for a companion."

Ghost took his cup from beside the head seat. "Come tomorrow morning."

Yue Guan turned to him. "You're applying too?"

"I wrote mine a day before you."

Xia Che's eyes, which had just closed, opened again.

The table had only been fixed on its first day. Tomorrow, they would probably have to add more seats.