Chapter 20: Third Time's the Charm
“With all these lights on, you’d think light pollution would be more of an issue,” remarked Polly to her band of merry travelers. “Especially if this is a daily sort of thing.”
They were back in The Capital now, and the many lamps lining the streets were on and glowing a bright and welcoming white. Yet despite the abundance of artificial light, the stars were still very much visible.
Polly and the kiwis had no idea where they wanted to visit first for The Capital couldn’t have been more different from the bakery and supply store haven near the port or the sad looking street Croix’s restaurant was on. Here there were restaurants that actually looked safe to enter, stores that sold more than just baking products, and even vendors wheeling around carts with their goods in it. Despite the darkness shrouding the sky, the streets had a mix of Sea-Island 6 natives and foreigners like herself and the birds chattering and milling about.
“The vendors with the carts that have a pizza painted on them are the ones with the latest imports,” informed Fethar.
“Cool, but that’s probably something we can check out later. I haven’t had a bite in a bit, so if you guys don’t mind, let’s go hunting for something to eat.”
“Sounds good to me,” Wiki replied. “While we’re at it we can also figure out what other restaurants have going on that Mr. Croix’s doesn’t.”
“Smart, smart,” nodded Polly who had not thought of that at all.
The scent of bread was heavy in the air, so unfortunately for the three, picking a spot based on how good the food smelled was not an option. However, the restaurant owners of Sea-Island 6 had evidently taken this issue into consideration when setting up shop, for nearly all of the restaurants had a menu hanging on their door and some even had staff at their entrances.
“Anything in particular y’all feel like eating? As long as there are no mushrooms or anything that looks like a mushroom, I’m good with it.”
“As long as it’s good we’re good with it,” stated SAT, which Wiki confirmed with a bob of her head.
“Well at least that means we’ve got options. Suggestions?” Polly asked once more, this time directing the question to Fethar.
“Though I may have the gift of speech, that does not mean I can do everything speaking creatures are able to, and eating, let alone tasting, food is one of the very many activities I am regrettably unable to partake in.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that was the case,” sighed Polly.
Taking charge of the situation, Wiki raised a wing while bouncing and exclaimed, “I have an idea!”
“Oho?”
“Okay, okay. So what if one of you guys spin me around and we go to whichever restaurant my beak points at?”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“I don’t know if I’ll spin as well as a bottle, but I’ll do my best.”
Wiki plopped herself down on her side, and channeling the energy she used to spin tops with, Polly gave the bird who lacked a sharp point at the bottom, a defining feature of tops, a good whirl. The bird spun as if she had been gripped by the vicious winds of a category three hurricane and even managed to generate winds strong enough to blow back a few strands of Polly’s hair. About ten and a half minutes later she slowed to a brown blur, and some minutes after that she had somewhat regained the form of a bird.
“Looks like we’ve got a winner,” Polly announced. “Now let’s just hope we can afford it.”
The three trooped toward the place Wiki had picked out for them, a building with stained glass windows and it’s name, High Quality Food, precisely painted in flourished letters. It practically screamed fine dining.
“You know if there’s a dress code or anything, Fethar?”
“I suspect this establishment to be fairly new for I have no knowledge of it.”
“Alright, I guess we’re just going to have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst like we always do.”
At the restaurant’s entrance was a gent with slicked back hair dressed in a uniform featuring a white button up shirt, a contrasting black vest, and slacks. Though he sported a smile, it was stiff. Polly highly suspected she and her party were being judged.
“Hi, do you have a reservation?”
“Err no.”
“You’ll have to wait at least an hour before you can be seated. Is that alright?”
Polly shot a glance at the kiwis. They shook their heads.
“Sorry for the bother, but maybe next time,” smiled Polly.
“No problem, hope to see you around.”
“Wow if that wasn’t the most dry conversation I’ve ever had,” Polly muttered to the kiwis as soon as she was sure they were out of the staff’s hearing range. “Could’ve used it to start a fire or mop a floor.”
“Fancy business and their reservations, hmph,” huffed Wiki. “There’s nothing like that on Sea Island 4. First come first served is the way to do it. Also with the way he was looking at us, I don’t think I’d want to eat there anyways.”
“One hundred percent agree with that. That rude dude could have at least pretended we were dressed nicely. Why if this were Sea Island 7 I’d have ripped him a new one. But anyways, I guess we need to pick somewhere new to eat.”
“Second’s the best am I right, or am I right?” said SAT, already on their way to the restaurant next door.
The name of the neighboring restaurant was Pretty Decent Food, so Polly was somewhat sure there wouldn’t be any of that reservation funny business. After all, if the restaurant was true to its name, the food would be enjoyable but not good enough for people to phone in ahead of time to claim a seat.
At the restaurant’s entrance was a lady with hair pulled into a casual ponytail wearing a white collared shirt and a sharp black skirt covered with an apron. She gave them a warm smile as they approached.
“Hi, party of three!”
“I’m so sorry but we’re full at the moment. The current estimated wait time is between fifteen to twenty minutes.”
“Oh, um, thank you,” replied Polly before turning away with a small wave.
“Third time’s the charm,” said SAT, albeit with much less confidence than before.
And so the trio moved one restaurant down to the building with a hanging sign that read 'Not Half Bad Food'. If where she was eating was decided based on appearance alone, 'Not Half Bad Food' definitely would not have stood a chance against the previous two restaurants, but thanks to the other factors at play it was probably where they were going to end up eating.
There was no one at the restaurant’s entrance, so Polly took it as an invitation to stroll right on in.
'Not Half Bad Food' was not half bad looking, especially in regard to its interior. The dark hardwood floors were polished and the welcoming white walls were painted with vibrant flowers and leaves, which was quite the change from all the bread related imagery Polly had found herself growing accustomed to. Scattered about in an organized mess were circular wood tables accompanied by wooden stools.
“Have a seat anywhere you’d like,” chirped a person standing behind a counter.
Excited that at long last they were finally going to be able to eat, the three picked the table closest to them.
“Let me know when you’re ready to order and I’ll be right with you!” smiled the staff member as they set down three glasses of water and a menu before returning to their station at the counter.
“I figured they only sold bread related food on Sea-Island 6, but I guess not,” remarked Polly as she scanned the food items before her.
The menu was a heavy sheet of white paper covered top to bottom with the names of all sorts of noodles ranging from noodle soups to pastas in large and bold print.
“Noodles. Oodles of noodles. Noodle oodles,” mused Polly.
“Huh?” huh-ed SAT.
“Oh, nothing, sorry. Didn’t mean for you to catch that.”
“I think her hunger’s getting to her. Poor fledge,” whispered SAT to Wiki with a sad shake of their head.
“Stay strong Polly,” said Wiki turning to her comrade with watery eyes. “It’s not time for you to go just yet.”
“You over-dramatic ovals need to chill. Actually, I’m ready to order. You guys?”
“Sir, yes sir.”
The kiwis’ salute drew the table some stares from the few other customers.
“Maybe not so loud guys. Don’t wanna bother the other lads enjoying their food.”
Polly waved to the server who jolted their order down on the back of an old receipt. With a charming smile they informed the party that their order would be out shortly.
“I wonder how Ed and Mr. Croix are doing right now,” said Polly as she took a sip from one of the cups.
“I don’t know if it’s Ed who I feel bad for or Mr. Croix,” Wiki answered. “On one hand Mr. Croix has to deal with Ed who’s not what I’d call a good teacher, but on the other hand Ed has to deal with Mr. Croix who can’t be a fun student to have if we’re judging by his cooking.”
“I’m gonna have to side with Mr. Croix on this one,” SAT cawed tipping back their cup of water. “It’ll be a wonder if that fledge still wants to cook after Ed’s done with ‘im.”
“Is Ed really that bad?”
“Fledge, you probably think Ed talks all flowery and is a gentle soul, and you’re not wrong. Ed’s an absolute sweetheart when she’s not in the kitchen. We don’t talk about Ed in the kitchen. That’s not Ed. That’s a demon straight from the deepest pit of hell in the body of our bird bud, but we’ve learned to deal with it.”
“Wait, I thought you said her lectures were boring and could put you guys to sleep?”
“We like falling asleep to loud noises.”
“Oh.”
The table was silent for a moment as Polly stared at the kiwis and they stared back. She was starting to feel a bit worried for the well-being of the sandwich maker. Polly wasn’t sure how to pick the conversation up from the grasp of death that was starting to take hold of it, so she turned her gaze toward her glass of water.
“Wow the server was right. That was fast.”
Polly’s head snapped up so fast she heard a suspicious cracking noise coming from her neck. Speeding toward them, the server was balancing a tray holding a plate of pesto spaghetti, a bowl of beef noodle soup, and a piping hot bowl of ramen on their head.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone