Part of Rowan was nervous, but most of him was excited. SO VERY EXCITED. All of his nannies had talked about what a gifted banqueter Cailean was, and after a little bit of begging and pleading, he'd agreed to evaluate Rowan as a possible apprentice. Rowan could scarcely believe his good luck! As he happily trotted towards his appointment it felt like the sun was shining just for him, the birds were singing just for him, the flowers blooming just for him. From his earliest memories of foalhood he'd always been fascinated by food. Browsing on grass was all well and good, but there was a whole Vykeli full of options! Fruits and herbs and barks and roots and tubers ... All could be fashioned into delicious and delightful things! His tail swung happily as he remember the delicacies he'd sampled at the Flower Festival. And then swung even more when he imagined getting to create things like that every day! And being able to bring them to all of his friends! And the nannies! He positively beamed! And the only thing between him and this destiny was impressing Cailean!
Rowan might not know much, but he knew that in order to be a great banqueteer he had a lot of learning to do. Just shoving random petals into a water gourd did not great tea make. Covering things in honey made them sweet, but sometimes to the detriment of other flavours ... He just wanted to learn how to make the best things, things that would bring others joy and bring them together! In his whirlwind of thought he almost missed the grove he needed to turn off into. He caught himself just in time, and thanked Grandfather Tree.
The older banqueteer stood in the clearing, hovering over some plants. Rowan approached respectfully. "Lux Cailean? I hope I'm on time." He grinned broadly, quite sure that he was. "I'm Rowan." He ducked his head respectfully.
The adept turned around, and nodded. "Yes, yes. The time is fine. Now, I have a busy day ahead of me, so you'll need to work fast. I don't have time for an apprentice who can't keep up. I have a test order with some sort of salon that's about to open up, and they want delicacies. Sweet delicacies." Rowan's whole head shot up at this. While he was interested in all foods, he was especially interested in sweets. "If you are to be my apprentice, you'll need to prove your meddle. You'll need to bring me a good fruit to use, and honey to sweeten it. And you only have until the sun has just passed its peak." Cailean turned, back to carefully inspecting his plants.
Rowan didn't wait for a dismissal, he simply ran off. He couldn't believe his luck! While many noulicorns might stumble at trying to find or harvest honey, he knew right where an excellent hive was! His legs carried him as fast as they could, through the woods and back out into a meadow. It wasn't very far from Cailean's grove at all. ... Rowan didn't stop to ponder that, he just headed towards the hive.
Friendly buzzes drifted through the air. The hive was in the fork of a tree, conveniently close to the ground. The meadow itself was nearly bursting with flowers, and honey practically dripped out of the hive. Rowan was grateful he'd brought his satchel. It would give him an easy place to stash a little honey comb. He approach the hive, unafraid. If a bee managed to get past his coat the welt would heal in a few days anyhow ... Quickly he stuck his horn into the hive and gave it a twist. A chunk of the hive separated from the tree and fell to the ground. Bees gushed out, but Rowan darted back. They swarmed around the fallen hive chunk for several minutes, but Rowan knew to wait. As they buzzed he stood on his hind legs and pulled a large leaf from the tree. He didn't want to smear the inside of his satchel with honey.
Eventually the bees subsided, and he carefully approached the chunk of comb. He dropped the leaf onto it, and then picked them both up carefully with his teeth and shoved it all into his satchel. He flicked his tail proudly. Not a single sting! And that was the hard part completed! Now he just needed a fruit ... His mind wandered through the options ...
As his mind wandered so did his eyes. Out in the meadow his eyes fell upon a familiar leaf. Strawberry! Delicious on their own, but even better with honey! He excitedly trotted to the patch and got to work, snipping berries from the vine with his teeth and gently depositing them into his bag. He worked as quickly as he could, occasionally pausing to glance at the sun. He wanted to arrive with time to spare! When he judged his bag was sufficiently stuff he took off back to Cailean.
Rowan arrived, puffing, He'd run hard. His heavy breathing had alerted the more experienced noulicorn to his presence. "Well, you're back in time. But what did you bring?" Cailean had a long slab of stone in his grove, obviously used for food preparation. Rowan approached it, and pulled his bag off, using his teeth to tip the contents onto the table. "Lux Cailean, do you think this is good enough? I'd be so excited to learn from you. I really do want to be a banqueteer ..."
Cailean's brow shot up a little at the sight of the honeycomb and the berries. "Huh. Wasn't sure you had it in you. But I think we can make something out of these. A few herbs, a few preserved flowers ... Yes, this will do. Now, grab me some of that lavender ..."
Rowan could hardly believe his ears! It seemed that his apprenticeship was to begin right now! He happily rushed to collect the herb, ready to learn all he could.
