The King released me and at once everyone had taken the dishes off their plates of food. The smells that filled the room were delicious. My mouth watered as I took in zest, sour, sweet, and briny. Everyone else seemed to start to eat like this was a normal thing.
A little pang went through my chest. Here they all had enough to eat when back home a little girl had been arrested for trying to feed her family.
I felt like fists clenched and smoothed them back down.
I looked at the strange bits of curved metal that had been set down to the sides of my plate. Hesitantly, I picked one up and then dropped it with a surprised clatter. It had been very sharp.
I tried to watch what everyone else was doing and realized I was supposed to hold it in the middle.
I dug into my food taking only a tiny bite.