#ed field

There are moments when something just clicks, two bits of information suddenly come together in the mind in an instant, often catching a person off guard by the sudden conclusion their mind had reached.

Rebecca had just experienced one such moment while mucking out a stall, the pitchfork stopping mid lift as something occurred to Rebecca.

“I thought Ydris was just being silly,” Rebecca muttered and resumed her work. Chores first, investigations second.

It didn’t take long before Rebecca was sitting on Midnightwarrior outside Wolf Hall Inn, staring at Ed Field as he paced in anticipation of a customer.

Rebecca remembered that Ydris and the druids had wanted Ed Field’s sauces, and Ydris said they were magical. At first she had thought Ydris was nuts, talking his usual riddles. Ed Field couldn’t really be magic, surely he would know if he was making potions?

But the idea that had struck Rebecca earlier was slightly different and yet made perfect sense to her. Ed Field wasn’t making potions, he hadn’t accidentally acquired some witch’s recipe book. He didn’t realize he was magic at all. He just thought he was a culinary genius, making breakthrough recipes of strange flavor mixes. Flavor mixes that never made sense, or that Rebecca couldn’t even taste.

But Ed Field could. And Ydris and the druids used Ed Field’s food.

Ed Field couldn’t cast magic, he could taste it.

“Rebecca?” he asked, wondering why she was standing there staring at him.

“Hungry?” he grinned, hoping to get some feedback on his latest creation.

“Do you use five leaf clovers? In your cooking I mean,” Rebecca wasn’t going to explain the details to him, but she was curious and wanted to conduct an experiment. Five leaf clovers contained powerful magic, but when it is given as a gift the magic amplifies. Would that change the taste?

“They are terribly bitter! Often overwhelming!” Rebecca didn’t think she’d ever see a look of disgust on Ed Field’s face when discussing food, yet here he was grimacing.

“But they are useful in some dishes, and an excellent special edition to some sweet sauces! I am working on perfecting a marsh mud, daisy, cat drop-”

Rebecca cut him off with a smile and a quick, “don’t give your whole recipe away! Anyway, I was just curious. I know you like experimenting with local wildlife in your cooking and I’ve been seeing a lot of five leaf clovers,” she said before she excused herself. So if five leaf clovers were bitter when found, what would they taste like as a gift?

The next day Rebecca found out after she brought him a basket full of them and offered them to him. Five leaf clovers were bitter, so amplified five leaf clovers should be extremely bitter, right?

Rebecca feared she had made a terrible mistake, maybe the extreme bitterness was too much for Ed Field, as a tear rolled down his cheek, his face frozen in shock at the taste of the clover he had just popped into his mouth.

“Is it that bitter?” Rebecca asked to break the silence, more tears falling from Ed Field’s eyes.

“It’s wonderful…” he whimpered, savoring the lingering taste on his tongue.

“I’ve never tasted such mature sweetness! That strong punch and lingering kiss of crisp syrup on my tongue… such robust flavors in such a tiny thing! The overtones of bitter citrus beautifully complement that loving passion! The aftertaste is like a kiss at the turn of the year, a final delicious send off from one year on to the next!”

Rebecca had no idea what he was talking about. And the worst part was he kept going, detailing in words that meant nothing to her how it tasted.

“So it’s good?” Rebecca asked, feeling a bit bad for interrupting but afraid he would continue if she didn’t stop him.  

“It’s perfect! Where did you get these? I must collect more!” he insisted and she realized a problem.

“Ah, oh, you know, around. I’ll bring you some whenever you need more?” she offered and he happily agreed, taking the basket she had already given him inside as he exclaimed his mastery of food and flavor.

“Wonder what’ll happen if I give him stuff from Dino,” Rebecca mumbled to herself, and wondered if she could gain any sort of magic from eating whatever creation he came up with. The clovers were a gift from her, so would it count as her eating the clovers she had picked or would they count as a gift from him now that he had made them into something? She was tempted to ask Ydris, but wasn’t sure she wanted to make two men cry at the taste of magic clovers in the same day.

On her way to Epona Midnightwarrior stopped, feeling Rebecca go stiff.

“Holy shit what if Jamie can’t taste how bad her food is because it’s made with love and she tastes emotions!”

Midnightwarrior snorted.