At the Wanderer's Library, while reading your (unstained) books, you will encounter a Tea and Refreshments station, where you (carefully, of course) can drink a simple tea and eat some refreshments while reading your desired, thematically-appropriate book. As Professional Connouisseur (is that how you spell it?) Of the Library, I have made it my life's goal to test out each Tea and Refreshments Station.
Where Forbidden Knowledge is stored and hopefully never read
One of the first stations that I visited when I embarked on my quest was the Tea and Refreshments station on the Forbidden Knowledge section. Although the books there have not been read and never will be, the floor is dusty and speaks of long lost knowledge deserves to be lost, and when you sit down on the halls the howling wind tempts you to open up one of the books to unlock the secrets of knowledge long since locked behind the shelves, the tea here is simply to die for, and the refreshments offered here, although there are no people that would (sensibly) go to this section, are always of the spicy variety — I would encourage anyone who is also attempting this quest of mine to start their pilgrimage here, although be careful not to open one of the books here.
A peculiar type of tea; it sparkles in the moonlight.
When I arrived at this location, the current tea was this peculiar, shining transparent tea — tasteless, yet refreshing. The glass it came from made a clinking sound when struck lightly with a spoon, and in your mouth, the tea sits there calmly until you swallow it, at which point you experience a whisper of a long lost voice, telling you their secrets.
A salad made of candy and paper — despite its looks it is quite delicious
The refreshment, meanwhile, is this red and green salad that contrasts well with each other, giving the whole dish a poppy, bright color, inviting you to consume their contents. Mixing the green paper and the red candy gives the whole dish a cheesy taste, with each pop of the candy coating your mouth with words that were not meant to be opened, and the paper inking down the forbidden words, only to be swallowed and turned into knowledge. I don't know whether or not I should know these thoughts, however I now know that at some point various people thought that bees cannot fly.
Overall, it's a great start for my journey — I am excited to see what comes next for this journey
The Bourgeois Technology section — where newly-born dreams die and are reborn in rapid speed.
Sorry for not updating my readers on my journey — the drinks and food I've been tasting have been of the wondrous kind, and I seem to not have the time to jot down the foods that I have seen, Nevertheless, I am writing to you from the Bourgeois Technology section, a section filled with the countless dreams of various great people of history — their dreams of a better tomorrow, their plans for the improvement of their society, their failed works and attempts to enrich themselves over the wishes of the people they were meant to served; it's a tale as old as time, and the Tea and Refreshments station here tells the same story.
A tea in a copper mug, with a peculiar spice to it.
The tea here is served in a copper mug, with an orange slice topping off the layer of salt coated on the rim of its cup. Placing it on your beak, you will feel the sensation of the tea pop and crackle, while the salt masks the bitterness it has. Be careful when drinking this tea, though — a few cups and you become dizzy. Despite the bitterness, each swallow of the tea leaves a hint of lime and sweetness behind, and the coldness of the copper compliments the coldness of the tea.
Clouds of flavor, encased in a bag of thin paper with its concentrated flavour on the top.
The refreshment, contrary to its looks, is a menagerie of flavours — a cloud of flavours where all you have to do is stick your tongue out, and various flavours never known settle down on your taste buds. I advise anyone trying this refreshment out to have a spare change of clothes; it was hard to scrub out the sickly sweet smell of the refreshment out of my clothes. However, be prepared to consume a lot more than you think — after a few rounds of refreshments and tea, it felt like as if I have eaten nothing, and I had to move to the other Tea and Refreshments station to feel filled.
Overall, this section was a good midpoint for my journey — a sample of this kind of tea never hurts.
Home.
This journey of mine brings a lot of surprises and secrets, and I may have found one of them. I am currently sitting on a bed of fur as I write this, yet I can't believe it — I am back home. I am sure the more learned members of my audience would exclaim that this is all a play on the mind, and yet to me it also is not — in this area I can see my old bed, the place where I would act out my dreams of exploration; in this area, I can see the place where Mother would sit and tell me stories when I was in bed sick; in this area I feel at home. I asked one of my close friends on what they thought of this corner, and xe says that this corner is where xe comes to when xe is feeling homesick, and I am inclined to agree — I see myself visiting this place multiple times.
Uncle's special tea.
The tea here is as I remember it — after hunting with Father and Mother, we would come home to Uncle preparing a comfortable blend of grass tea, the sweetness just right to tingle your tongue, while your feathers warm up from the warmth the tea gives, as Uncle asks us how did the hunt go — and we always respond with "it's fine, it's fine"; we drink some more tea as we talk about where I should go after this training, and I excuse myself as they start talking about more… "adult" topics, even though I really want to stay, and my flippers quietly sneak back in to listen to their talks as I continue drinking the tea Uncle gave me; it gives me a sense of warmth that I have seldom felt in the Library.
Father's stew.
The refreshment, meanwhile, is situated on the place that it always is on — the middle of the floor, with the fire burning under it, hanging on the ceiling inside the big iron pot as the iron leeches in the meat, giving all of the stew a quite metal taste, but we don't mind. We, or I guess me in this case, sit down on the floor, filling our bowls with heaping bowls of stew, the meat hunted by me and the herbs for the sauce gathered by Mother as I talk about my hunt, my education, and what I wish to do when I come of age; Father would serve us Uncle's tea, while Mother and Uncle would talk about the most recent catch they have done under the sea. I finish my bowl, and the lingering bitter taste that Father always insists makes the dish better is gradually replaced by a game-y and savoury flavour coating my tongue and beak, with my flippers flapping up and down in excitement. I am inclined to agree with xe's statement — although I do wish that xe were here to experience this with me; the dish is not the same without Father, Mother, and Uncle.
Overall… I don't know what to say. It's really like home.
Unfortunately for you, this is the end of my logs — for now, at least. I still have a lot of Tea and Refreshments stations to visit, and it warms my feathers to see your fan letters — I eagerly await your responses.
