Challenge #04407-L023: Celebration to Share

in fiction •  2 months ago

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    It's the Festival of Food. Everyone is invited to this world to try recipes from around the known universe. Needless to say, the Gyiik are the hosts. -- Anon Guest

    Space, as a wise philosopher once said, is big. Really, really big. In a shared society like the Galactic Alliance, it spans dimensions that would boggle an ordinary mind. The number of civilisations and polities within it are also in numbers so high that they also boggle the mind.

    Therefore it's no shock that the Alliance-wide Festival of Food has its centre on an entire Havenworld planet. One that is otherwise uninhabited by complex life. Each continent is dedicated to different levels of food, from Level 3 Havenworlders[1] to Level 5 Deathworlders. Each continent full of eateries offering every possible variety of food.

    As well as the mandatory places to rest and enjoy live entertainment. It was a festival after all.

    And at every kitchen, families of Gyiiks, all devotees to their goddess of plenty. Each one flying through food preparation in a co-ordinated whirlwind that resembled dancing.

    There was music, the ring of cooking implements against pots and pans, the dancing grace of people made for a higher gravity than the Galactic Standard. Each Gyiik's four arms seemingly juggling ingredients and tools between fellows of the cookware.

    More than enough for all comers, because the Gyiiks here believed in plenty for any who hunger.

    And each kitchen careful to be sure that anyone who comes can eat. If a kitchen advertises a lack of certain allergens, it is kept excruciatingly clean of such ingredients. People who attempt to make a scene by ordering forbidden food are simply escorted to where they can get it.

    Sometimes by force[2].

    It was a festival. People are meant to enjoy such things. Those making enjoyment difficult will be placed somewhere far more enjoyable for all.

    And sometimes, that means placing a complainant into the nearest spaceport with a firm farewell.

    [1] The higher the level, the more extreme the advantages or disadvantages of the classification. Havenworlders are notoriously delicate. Level 4 is extremely rare in the Alliance, and can't leave their livesuits. Level 5 can't leave their home planet.

    [2] Gyiiks are deceptively plump, and rarely employ their true strength. This significantly shocks your average knomira.

    [Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash]

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