Or so she thought.

"Rebmot," Aldrec murmured, pointing towards the plumage high above. In response, one of the fruits dislodged itself from the rest of its companions, and fell neatly into his waiting hand.

Aldrec drew a small knife from his hip satchel and cut the fruit in half. Its pulp, which glistened with juice, was red and pink, with tiny black seeds grouped together at the center. He used the knife to cut out the seeds, and carefully placed them on the ground. He repeated the process with the other half of the fruit and then gave it to Mericlou.

"It's good to eat," he assured her, and then made a self-deprecating chuckle, "not that you'd be in any danger of being poisoned, though."

Mericlou took a large bite into the fruit, skin and all.

It was sour … more so than anything she had ever eaten. Her face tightening, she spat out the piece of fruit, and then gagging when she finally could, with an utterly stricken expression.

Aldrec, she realized, was laughing.

"No, no, no!" He finally said, trying to save face after he had managed to halfway compose himself. "I'm sorry; I forgot to tell you. Just eat the meat on the inside," he indicated the fruit's pink interior with his knife. "The skin is sour enough to rust a car."

"Ugh!" Mericlou said, still tasting its repulsive tartness in her mouth. "Now you tell me!" Again, but more hesitantly this time, Mericlou took a bite out of the fruit, careful this time, to avoid the tart skin.

It was … Delicious! As a matter of fact, it was the most delectable, most exquisite thing she had ever eaten. It was so delicious in fact, that it took partially biting into the horribly sour skin to realize that she had devoured all of her piece. She stared wistfully at the now empty skin, devoid of the delectable meat, realizing that though she was full, she wanted more. No … by the maker, she wanted it all!

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"What kind of fruit was that?" She asked in astonishment, managing to bring herself back to her senses. She saw that Aldrec had taken much more time with his half than she had done with hers, being less than halfway finished with it.

"Royal Klidna," He replied around a piece that was still in his mouth.

"Not the Royal Klidna?" Mericlou said. "The legendary Royal Klidna? The god-fruit? The fruit whose taste caused the Kingdom Wars?"




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