Rin watches as Saber leans on the railing around a well manicured flower bed, her eyes fixed on the bright pink and white blooms. For all the fun that Rin’s been having on this heavily protested date, determining if Shirou and Saber are enjoying themselves as much is a tricky thing to tell. They’re both too serious, too insistent on looking after each other, acting as if showing any sign of enjoyment is some sort of weird self-betrayal. Hardly the way anyone should behave, person or Heroic Spirit.
“Saber?” Rin asks, coming to stand besides Saber.
“Yes?” Saber replies, turning her head towards Rin. “Is Shirou back from the restrooms yet?”
A quick head shake no serves as an answer, causing Saber to frown. “Truly, I wasn’t under the impression that Shirou took that long in such a place.”
“There’s probably a line,” Rin says with a shrug. “Are you having fun today, Saber?”
“Yes, of course,” is the response, delivered crisply and with no hint of emotion Saber pauses, realizing her tone implies the opposite, then clarifies, “It’s been some time since I had a day like this with other people. Why do you ask?”
“Well, you just looked as if you were trying to stay out of the way, when I really want to include you on this date too.”
“Ah,” Saber says softly, her eyes drifting to the ground for a moment. “I apologise that my enjoyment hasn’t been more obvious, Rin.”
Rin flaps a dismissive hand, just in time for Saber to pick her head up and see the gesture. “Well, how about we do something you enjoy next?”
Saber blinks, tilting her head slightly. “Did you not have this entire day planned out already?”
“Kind of,” Rin says. “I made sure we could be flexible in order of events. And if you don’t have any specific ideas of what you want to do, then answer me this: what have you enjoyed most about today so far?”
A pause comes from Saber, and Rin watches as the Heroic Spirit puts a finger to her chin and taps it, clearly considering Rin’s question. Finally, Saber says, “I’ve enjoyed the food the most. It’s very different from back home, in a good way.”
Food. Rin wonders why she’s surprised. Saber’s devoured everything put in front of her, both at Shirou’s and while they’ve been out. “Different how?”
“Well,” Saber says. “Besides the timing of meals being very different, and eating large portions of meat in the middle of the day rather than at night, the nature of the food itself is entirely in contrast.”
“Really?”
“Mmm,” Saber nods, continuing. “For example, many people ate foods in order to balance their humours and keep their body healthy.”
Rink blinks. The four humours came up every so often in her father’s books, but never in regards to food. “What kind of spices did you have?”
“Not many. It was long after my time that England began to have things like cloves and ginger and mace and allspice, never mind what you would need in order to make curry. But,” Saber says, a small smile flickering across her face. “Our chefs were very creative. For feasts, they’d make the most incredible things.”
“How could they do that without a lot of spices?” Rin asks, folding her arms across her chest. “It seems like that’d be hard.”
“Oh, well!” Saber says, her voice becoming just a bit more excited. “Some chefs would create mythical beasts for us to eat, like the cockentrice! The real things aren’t edible, of course, but a skilled chef could sew the behind of a pig and the front of a chicken or a swan or other fowl together and present the final piece as the centerpiece of a feast! My own chef did it a few times, to great acclaim. But more often, he would roast a small pig and a chicken, so it looked as if the chicken was riding the pig in a jousting match!”
“The chicken was positioned to joust?” Rin repeats, incredulous. “<I>How?</i>”
Saber gives a little shrug. “I was never privy to the chef’s secrets. But when he would make this roast, the chicken would be dressed as an honourable knight, given a lance, a shield, a cape, and a helmet. We always made him carve the thing too, because none of us could bring ourselves to destroy such a fine work.”
“Jeez,” Rin says with a laugh. “No wonder our food seems so different to you! You weren’t just eating, you were having a show. Although,” she pauses. “Kaiseki is similar in terms of presentation and theatrical nature.”
“Is it?” Saber asks, leaning in. “I’d like to try it, if there’s time.”
“Maybe,” Rin agrees, mentally calculating the potential cost. Three people for such a meal would be an awful lot of yen, but Saber’s excitement might justify the expense. But before her thoughts can go further, Shirou returns, greeting them both.
“Sorry about that,” he says apologetically. “Long line.” Shirou pauses, looking from Saber’s grinning face to Rin’s thoughtful one. “Did I miss something?”
Rin’s face shifts into something all too dangerous. The face that’s up to nothing but mischief. “Saber was telling me all about the food she used to eat,” Rin says. “And how her chef used to make some truly remarkable dishes. Saber, why don’t you tell Shirou about them while we find the best place for a snack?”
In a moment, Saber’s launching into her explanations again, this time with greater enthusiasm than before. Shirou listens, and Rin can only smile as it becomes clear that she’s really going to have to take Saber out for a kaiseki meal in order to make sure that Saber’s happy before the Holy Grail War ends.
Hopefully, Rin thinks, there’ll be enough time for it.
–
Notes:
Happy holidays, gaeblogs! I really wanted to deliver on your request for Rin and Saber, while addressing the fact that Saber/food is perhaps equally as important.
The food information here is all real. The cockentrice was indeed two different animals sewn together, and the chicken knight riding a pig is know as “helmeted cock”. You can see photos of them both here: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/perhaps-the-strangest-photo-youll-ever-see-and-how-its-related-to-turduckens/281852/ (Note: this article talks about these dishes in early modern Europe, but they indeed are medieval in origin.) In addition, eating to balance the four humours was absolutely real, and England didn’t get a lot of spices etc. until the Crusades, when returning Crusaders brought back spices from the Holy Land.
To learn more about medieval food, I highly recommend checking out this documentary: http://www.hulu.com/watch/430672
