"Oh, yes, of course- he paid for the whole meal plus some wine that'll come out soon," the waitress replies as she begins heading back towards the kitchen, "there'll be salads up in a few minutes so you better get started on your soup."
"How strange for him to invite us, well you, and then not show up..." Shayliss remarks with some disappointment.
"Yes, I don't know what to make of that. Ultimately I guess I'm not bothered, lets just enjoy this!" Replied Axel before trying the soup. In a whisper to Shayliss he added, "I don't know about you but seven courses sounds a bit daunting, I hope they're small."
"I'm sure everything is just fine," Ellen says as she begins eating. She was clearly relieved that he would not be attending and would do her best not to let paranoia get to her.
"Between today's lunch and yesterday's dinner, I'm going to need a trolly to move myself around town..."
Shayliss frowns and quietly says, "I told my sister and her friend we were having lunch with a nobleman... she didn't believe me and now she's right... I'm never going to hear the end of this."
The parade of food continues with a vinegary salad of mixed greens and sweet julienned apple, followed by a beautiful ratatouille and then a savory seafood paella that comes with a nice bottle of white wine. Each of these dishes is served family style (in one large serving dish from which each person can take as much or as little as they like). At some point during these first four courses Bethana quietly leaves the dining room unnoticed.
There is a brief respite when a plate of chilled lemon wedges is brought out to cleanse the palette, but then the banquet continues with grilled chicken and asparagus, and then a prime rib roasted medium rare and served with Yorkshire pudding and a good bottle of red wine. There's one more break when a simple cheese plate is left for a few minutes before the feast concludes with a peach cobbler topped with sweet whipped cream.
"Oh my tummy! I don't think I could eat another thing." declared Axel. He gave Shayliss a wry smile, "I'm sorry Lord Foxglove didn't turn up, but even your friends will have to admit it's not every day somebody buys you a seven course banquet! Besides the chef has excelled himself, this was amazing."
Axel glances around at the others and asked, "What now though? I feel like we ought to do something to burn all this off, or they're going to have to roll us home."
Probably mistaking Axel's 'something to burn all this off', Kejak quickly presents an excuse. "Yeah, well, I've got a shift in a small while, so..."
He tries to think about something that gives Ellen an excuse and an honorable way out of the middle, but he's so stuffed with all the food they had that he can only think about whether he will do his round walking or in a trolley.
Between last night's dinner and today's lunch Ellen feels heavier than she ever has in her life. It is all she can do to not fall out of her chair. She cannot help but utter a small groan at Axel's suggestion. When Kejak bows out she tries to find an opportunity to do the same.
"Um, the professor wanted me for something after this. Sorry." That was not true, of course, but she had to say something and there weren't exactly any other possible commitments she could have. Thinking about it, he may want to run some more tests given the fact that It happened again. Usually these tests happen unannounced and on the professor's time table, which is not too much of a problem given Ellen's lack of literally anything else to do.
Shayliss seems to enjoy her meal, though her mood never fully recovers after finding out that the nobleman would not be coming. When Axel offers to burn off the meal and both of his friends excuse themselves she perks up a bit. "You did promise to show me where you live..." She answers with a grin, "perhaps you can show me after your friends leave, and then we'll figure out some way work off this meal."
'Eh what just happened there?' Wondered Axel when both Kejak and Ellen suddenly had to leave, all he'd been thinking about was a nice walk down the river and back.
Of course when Shayliss spoke things slotted into place. "Well there's an offer..." grinned Axel, all this was getting hard to resist... Sobering slightly, "To be honest it'll be kinda noisy there this time of day, lots of folks about their business. Hardly romantic. Perhaps it's a nice day, perhaps a leisurely stroll down the river and once things have quietened down, we'll see where we end up?"