A family meal with a hint of politics

To say Dustin was nervous as he double and triple checked the ingredients and recipe would be an understatement. When he’d originally planned to cook he’d thought it would be a small meal, maybe just for close family of his new comms officer. He hadn’t expected to suddenly be cooking for an Empress. For the fifth time since he’d returned to the ship he peered at a preview of the holo recording he’d set up to capture every step of preparing the meal; he wanted to give a good visual guide as well as just a simple list of what to add and when as he did this. After some deliberation with Meli and Rye once the two women had returned and he’d explained the situation, he’d opted to do the cooking in the smaller kitchen attached to the ambassadorial suite. Having the food prepared just outside his ready room would make it easy to bring through while still hot, and the ready room table was easily large enough to fit the full val Motea clan, the empress and her partners and of course Dustin and his own ladies while not being a largely empty space like the main galley.

He had been a little worried about the Feliax peering in and seeing the wall to wall bedding covering the floor at first; Rye had laughed when he’d raised that point and shown him a cunningly hidden switch he’d not seen before. One button press and soft carpeted flooring slid from the walls and covered the majority of the room, while the mattress in the parts uncovered rose up to form a series of low couches. “There’s a few options like this on these sorts of suites” the bunny girl had commented, adding “sometimes people like to have something to rest on besides their arms or back when they’re spending time together, y’kno?” Her expression had made it clear to Dustin that she hadn’t meant just sleeping or reading.

Sighing to himself after checking the utensils one last time, Dustin cracked his knuckles, rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands and began to slice up the various ingredients. The whole process was almost meditative, and he found himself slipping into a half reverie as he cooked - there wasn’t anything particularly hard about it, just slice, add to the large slow stew=pot, add spices, stir in broth, heat and wait, add more spices, heat and wait and stir and heat and wait and… some time later he became aware of chatter outside as he sipped on a teaspoon full of the mix to test the flavour. It was good, and the meat nearly fell apart when prodded with a clean spoon. The stew was ready, and from the sounds of things Meli and Rye had already welcomed the guests aboard.

Returning to the ready room carrying the large pot with both hands, Dustin smiled to himself as he saw the table full of people. Across from where he entered the room sat Cecel and Eriff which surprised him - he’d have expected the two patriarchs to be sat close to their respective matriarchs. As he set the pot down carefully after stepping up to the table via a gap created by two of Emely’s sisters scooting back on their chairs, he noted another surprising thing. While one end of the table had his seat empty, flanked by Rye and Meli, the far end was not what he’d expected. The Empress sat on one side of the commanding position while another older Feliax, her red hair streaked with grey sat opposite her. And at the head of the table, looking highly embarrassed by the whole situation sat Emely.

Cecel and Eriff both stood as Dustin picked up the large ladle he’d previously prepared to serve the food. “Allow us to distribute the bowls, Captain” the patriarch of the val Motea said, moving his chair out of the way as he did so. Dustin was glad of the help - by handing bowls to the two men, he was spared the difficulties of Feliax etiquette in determining who should get served first. The order of the first three was more or less as he’d expected - Empress, val Motea matriarch and then Emely - but after that he would have failed to get it right. Meli went next, then the Empress’s second, then the val Motea second Meora, then Rye - and then the remainder in no order Dustin could figure out before finally the three men picked up the last bowls that Dustin had filled while the others had been distributing to the last two women without a portion. Seating himself at the head of the table, Dustin gestured to the bowl in front of him. “Please, don’t let it get cold, eat up.”

The next few minutes were filled with the loud silence of a group of people eating food that is too good to linger over by making idle chatter. Once their bowls were almost empty however conversation began to flow once more. Idle chatter between siblings, soft words between the Empress and her sister-in-law - the entire thing felt like one big family dinner, which left Dustin smiling to himself as he looked down at his bowl. After a moment, he was dragged away from his contemplation of the remains of the meal by a soft hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that Emely had risen and walked around the table to him. She looked at him with a curious expression for a moment, then smiled. “Thank you, patriarch. I should… before we leave I should explain… I mean, that is…” The fox girl was blushing somewhat, her bubbly personality from before seemingly hidden, and Dustin wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it before the Empress’s warm tones cut across the table. “What I believe my niece is trying to express to you is that she is a perverted deviant who thinks prides should make decisions as a whole, with rank being determined by what is most appropriate at the time rather than the matriarch holding all the power. I suspect there are probably other things as well knowing her and her family as well as I do, however I will not embarrass her in front of the entire clan by going over anything beyond the political out loud.”

Emely’s blush was so strong it looked like her red fur was covering her face. She stammered a few nonsensical sounds and threw a worried look at Meli, who gave the woman a firm stare for a moment before her ears flickered into mirth as she began chuckling. “Oh, I see. I suppose Rye and I did forget to go over things with you in all the excitement of cooking this meal. You’re not the only one that’s weird for your species here Emely. Honestly, I think our dear captain is probably the closest to normal of all of us, and he’s got a human view on the world which is fascinatingly weird. It would be utterly foolish to not take advantage of our mutual skills in decision making. Feel free to be as deviant or traditional as you want around me” she said, before flickering her eyes between Emely and Rye and adding in a pleasant but firm tone almost as an after-thought “just as long as you recognize that I am matriarch here. Dustin was mine first.”

Her possessive tone was rather flattering, although Dustin was worried it would have upset the other two, and reached out instinctively to squeeze Emely and Rye’s hands - but he needn’t have worried. Emely’s tails were softly wagging as she dropped into a half-curtsy and inclined her head to Meli in acknowledgment, and Rye stuck out her tongue at his fiancé before adding in her usual sarcastic tone “sure nerd, I’ll let you boss us around cos you’re cute when you act like you’re in charge.” From somewhere in the line of Feliax down the table there came a couple of giggles - Emely’s sisters, Dustin was pretty sure - before the Feliax’s mother’s voice addressed him directly. “Dustin, you have probably realized by now that we’re not exactly traditionalists - our clan has always been part of the more radical side of society, and as a result has always been small even though we have over-sized influence now thanks to my brother and our Empress, what with them being about as radical as the imperial family can be without causing an uprising. Because of that, I was nervous at first when the Empress contacted me to suggest that my daughter would be on the list of potential candidates for your ship; what if you expected a traditionalist Feliax woman? And unlike most radicals we’ve always stayed on the home world and tried to be a voice of change so we don’t have any history of explorers for you to compare us to. But seeing you all together - and that your immediate reaction to your matriarch being assertive was to try and reassure both Emely and your second - puts me at ease that your pride is the right one for my eldest.”