Okinwarry - A Road To Academy of Wizardry

6 Meals A Day?!

Monday, 28th March 1453

When we entered the dining hall, it was decorated with colourful streamers, and some drawings were being done by the children at the kindergarten back in Gracehaven City. There were colourful rainbows and other pictures of people working in the fields, cooking and even pictures of children studying. There were pictures of swimming and games and we were wondering if the pictures drawn by the children were taken from live events happening in Gracehaven City or not.

The bare dining hall was transformed to be a very welcoming area which dispels all the dread and worries away in an instant. "Children, these drawings were done by the students in the kindergarten and they presented these drawings to you to brighten this place. It represented joy and happiness and they all wished that you would feel the joy and happiness that they felt too." Her Majesty waved her hands and she showed the whole interior that had all these paintings done and all were of joy and happiness that the children over there felt. I too could feel the warmth of the children when they made the drawings for us.

The dining tables were bare before, but now it had a white coloured table cloth draped over it. There were some red and black slanted lines on it. I later learnt that it was the colour of Gracehaven City, whatever that means. That was the least important part right now since my eyes were fixated to the steaming large 3 serving bowls in that were set on the table along with the number of bowls and spoons set aside on the tables.

This is the first time I had seen such as set up for us as we normally have to collect our bowls and then queue up to collect the gruel that would be scooped from the cauldron and then that's it. There was once a boy that dared to ask for a second serving and then got flogged so hard that he fainted there and then. The following day, I heard that he was sent away. I think his name was Oliver or something like that.

"Children, please take your seats. You may sit anywhere, even I and the Chief could sit with all of you and have our meals together." Her Majesty was speaking to us as though we were the royal subjects and everyone could mingle with one another as we wish. "Mind if I sit next to you?" I was surprised when someone whispered close to my ear until I could feel his warm breath and it smelled like peppermint. Really…! It smelled like peppermint, I tell you…!

"S…S…Sure, no problem, as you wish, Clay," I replied and I sat among the children while they gave some space for me and Clay to be squeezed in between them. There were 36 children and we have 3 dining tables altogether. It was a tight squeeze but it was better than nothing since every child on the table were licking our lips and were looking at the hot steaming serving bowls before us and wondering should we wait to be served or we serve ourselves. It was until Clayton stood up and served the food and asked for the bowls to be passed along.

I looked at the way Clayton served the food and it seems that he had been accustomed to it and he worked fast in serving the hot food into our bowls. I saw Her Majesty was helping to serve the rest of the children on one of the tables while Grandpa Jack and Grandma Kayla were busying themselves serving the other one.

"It is customary not to eat while we are having food in front of us so we would continue with the tradition, alright?" I heard His Majesty announced to us as we nodded our heads but can't help but to swallow hard on our saliva as the aroma of the food that we have never smelled before began to attack our nostril and taste buds, that resulted in us to salivate uncontrollably.

"Children, please proceed. Be careful, the pottage is still hot…! Eat slowly, then." I heard Grandma Kayla announced to us as she looked at us tenderly with her bright shimmering eyes. Later I learnt that both Grandpa Jack and Grandma Kayla do not have any children of their own and regarded the children there as their very own…!

When I took a spoonful of the pottage, a sudden burst of flavours burst within the mouth that brought tears to my eyes and frankly all the other children were crying and adding their tears to the pottage…! It tasted a little bit saltish and this accentuates the taste…!!! This pottage is the best that we have ever tasted. There were lots of bite-sized meat pieces, lots of vegetables in them and of course thick rice porridge with garlic and fried shallots that were added to it.

When the children had finished a bowl, they all looked up after literally licking the bowl clean. Clayton who sat beside me also licked his bowl clean before he looked at the others and gestured them for their bowls and filled up another serving for them. No one said a word during the meal and the only sounds were sobbing, sniffling and slobbering as we children slowly ate the second round which followed by another and then another.

After the children and the rest of the seniors had their umpteenth bowl of pottage, it was time for the next debrief.

"Attention children, as you all know by now, your Big Sis Kristobel would be going to an Academy close to here and would be able to make weekly visits or 2 days once over here in this Orphanage. She would be learning some skills over there at the Academy with Priestess Windtalker here and she would be studying like any other children to learn how to read and write as well. You all would be learning how to read and write here as well and ...." His Majesty went on to explain the order of things to come in the next few days and the children began to feel sad once again when they realise that would be going.

However, Grandpa Jack and Grandma Kayla spoke gently to the children and they understood that they are now in the safe hands of the Residents-in-charge and there would be no harm coming over them ever. After Her Majesty handed the meeting over to Priestess Isabela, she explained about the medical treatment that those disabled children would be getting soon. After explaining that the process of the medical treatment would be done without a single blade or any needles, the children were reassured.

After Priestess Isabela called out the names of the disabled children, they were ushered to the beds that had been assigned to them and had fresh covers for the beds as well. There were some clothes for them to change and it was freshly laundered even though it was all hand-me-downs from the children in Gracehaven City. Not only that, but the children also received some soft toys to keep them company whilst under medical treatment.

Since the other children were healthy, they helped to clear the tables and some even asked me what is 5 meals per day. I only know lunch and dinner when Clayton, overhead and answered for the children.

"Back in Gracehaven City and also the Academy, we have breakfast in the morning, followed by mid-morning tea. Then we have lunch, followed by mid-afternoon tea. Lastly, we would have dinner and if we have leftovers, we would be having supper as well. That would actually be 6 meals a day and not 5."

"Each day the meal would be different and if we finish breakfast, someone would be cooking for lunch and so forth. There is nothing to worry about our meals. They are being sponsored by our crops back in Gracehaven City where we have about 250,000 to 300,000 pounds of wheat and about 50,000 to 80,000 pounds of vegetables per harvest."

"Besides, we have monthly harvest even in autumn and winter, and we have hundreds of farmers working the fields every day to plant the crops and rest in between before harvesting them. Out of the 250,000 to 300,000 pounds of wheat, we would supply to other poverty-stricken areas in case the townsfolks does not want to move to Gracehaven City itself."

It may seem a longwinded explanation coming from Clayton but I loved to watch the way he speaks as it was full of trustworthy words. I wondered how he became deaf and mute before and then right now he could speak fluently without tumbling with his own words at all…!

��Big Sis Kristobel, we would be having enough to eat and proper clean clothes to wear. There are some bottles on our beds and when I take a look at it, it smells very nice and one smelled like peppermint too…! There's a weird looking brush as well and I think it is for scrubbing something. I don't know…Go ask Brother Clayton, Big Sis Kristobel." One of the children whispered to me but the words could be heard audibly when they went to their beds and found those glass and porcelain bottles of stuff in them.

"Oh, that are bottles of shampoo for your hair and body wash as well. The one that smelled like peppermint that looked like some kind of paste is toothpaste and the brush is the one that we used to brush our teeth with. Later on, the Residents-in-Charge will teach you on how to brush your teeth using the toothpaste and brush alright? I would be off, for now, I need to inform those departing parties that we need to order daily bread for 50 people here."

With that Clayton waved his hand and the children all waved back. One of the children then posed a question to me and asked, "Big Sis Kristobel, he looked kinda cute, am I right? If you are not pursuing him, can you allow me to chase after him instead?" one of the children joked and then ran off laughing while I gave chase…!