An hour passed, and the sizzling of meat, as well as the smell of condiments, made the freshly bathed leave their tents.
Blanc could not help but chuckle seeing his wives approach.
"What's wrong?" he asked with a wide grin on his face. "Does it smell good?"
"No," Myianna shook her head, but one would not just lick their lips to something they clearly don't like the smell of.
"Is that so?" Blanc asked, "What about you, my love?"
"It does smell appetizing, and now that I see it only as a piece of meat, it does not look bad at all," Celine replied to him.
"It smells wonderful, Brother," Lune added, perhaps hungry after bathing.
"Will it be done soon?" Kael asked.
"Just two or three more minutes will be enough," Blanc said, checking the meat, "But I planned on frying something on the side, and that might take another ten minutes."
"We will wait for everything to be over," Celine nodded, turning and heading back towards the tent.
"Wait," Blanc said to the four, "Stay with me while I cook."
A grin appeared on Celine's face as she looked at Miyanna as if she knew that Blanc would mutter those words, "Gladly."
With that, Lune and Kael took a seat on two of the logs Blanc placed around the fire, but Celine and Miyanna took their logs and placed them on Blanc's sides before taking a place next to him.
"Perfect," Blanc said, stabbing a piece of meat with his knife, "Celine, my love, behind you, there should be a flat piece of wood. Could you give it to me?"
Celine grabbed it before Blanc managed to finish his sentence.
"Here you go," she said.
"Thank you," Blanc offered her a smile, but turned to Miyanna, "There is a bowl behind you, my love, could you grab it?"
When Miyanna turned, a large wooden bowl had inside it something that looked like potatoes sliced thinly.
"What is this?" Miyanna asked as she grabbed the bowl full of water.
"That, my love, is manioc. I read about it a while back and found some when foraging. It's sweet, but fried, it tastes just like a potato."
"So, this is the side you mentioned?" Celine asked.
"It is, yes," Blanc nodded.
"But what are you frying it in?" she wondered. "The remaining fat?"
"Exactly, it won't even need salt or anything added, it will absorb the fat full of condiments as it fries," Blanc explained as she grabbed a handful of the cut manioc and placed it inside the fat.
The sizzling grew louder as the temperature of the fat vaporized the water and began frying the manioc.
The smell that touched their noses was hard to explain, but if one pretended to hate the smell before, now that person could barely hold on.
"Hungry, my love?" Blanc grinned, watching Miyanna's foot move restlessly.
"No, what makes you ask that?" Miyanna asked, acting confused.
Blanc wiped his knife on a clean cloth before taking the flat wood on which stood the caiman meat.
He grabbed one of the caiman steaks and began cutting it into exactly five bite-sized pieces.
He stabbed one of the smaller ones, smelled it, then, as all watched him with wide eyes, unable to blink or keep their mouths from watering, took the piece of meat off the knife and began chewing.
The flavor was indescribable.
The condiments elevate this beast's meat to a level that he, himself, did not know possible.
"H-how is it?" Miyanna stuttered.
"Why don't you give it a try?" Blanc asked, offering one of the larger pieces to her.
Miyanna's hand rose slowly, half afraid and half curious about the taste.
She was still skeptical, even though she had never smelled something so wonderful before.
However, she kept silent about it, acting in front of Blanc as if it was the most disgusting thing, but now, as her hand approached the piece of meat that basically stared at her as it was impaled on Blanc's knife, it became too difficult to keep delaying.
So, slowly, she grabbed the still-hot piece of meat with two of her fingers, setting it free, before, just as slowly, she took it towards her mouth.
She blew on it for a bit, for it to get colder, before, as she stared into Blanc's gray eyes, she placed the piece of meat slowly on her tongue and began chewing.
The piece of meat was like nothing she had ever tasted, and all knew she liked it.
Her bronze eyes were wide with surprise, each chew she took raising her eyelids ever so slightly.
The taste was closer to that of a chicken than fish, but it was present, yet not awful.
The spices added just enough variety to the bite that it felt unique.
The ginger that crept into her tongue with each bite felt refreshing while also combining everything on the meat into an equilibrium of cuisine.
…
Or that's how Blanc would have described it.
For Miyanna, only thought the following.
"Fuck, why is this so delicious? And look at his eyes, he knows I like it. Damn that grin… I want another bite," she thought.
"Haha," Blanc laughed as he watched his second wife move her hand closer to another piece of meat, "So, is it good?"
Miyanna sighed, but only nodded with a small "Mhm," as a response, as she stretched her hand to grab another.
"Nope, you will have more when the manioc is done. The rest of the bites are for the others," Blanc explained, before turning towards Celine, offering her a larger piece of the steak.
"Go ahead, my love," Blanc said, still grinning.
Celine moved swiftly after seeing Miyanna's reaction, in less than a moment freeing the piece of meat from Blanc's knife and straight into her mouth.
"Mmm," Celine sounded surprised as she chewed, but waited until she swallowed to speak, "I remember it now, but somehow it's more wonderful than I remember."
"Hehe, well, thank you for the compliment," Blanc said before, this time, stabbing two pieces of meat. "Let's let the final judges tell us their opinion."
And the judges did just that.
Kael took a piece of Blanc's knife and offered it to Lune before taking it for his own and starting to chew on it.
The verdict that followed in unison was just what was expected.
"Extraordinary," they said.
"Better than the cooks?" Blanc asked, his nose proudly pointed towards the sky.
"Way better, Brother," Lune said, clapping.
Blanc got on his feet at Lune's clapping and bowed playfully, "Thank you, thank you."
And slowly, as he was bowing, the others joined in on the clapping, making Blanc bow over and over until the manioc was done frying and they started eating their dinner properly.