"I am appropriately relieved."

"And he probably would have a hard time getting those weird Thiyecine herbs, around here, too. I don't think I liked them."

"Hopefully he has learned to adjust."

"They taste normal to us because we are from Welce, Aleko. Ekador, what do you think of Welchin food so far?"

"Not that strange, for the most part. I've had a few surprises, but mostly not unpleasant ones."

"We went to Malinqua on a spice boat, there are probably normal Welchin spices all over the place in Malinqua."

"Maybe there are Malinquan spices in Welce too, I have no idea where spices come from, I just know that leaf there was in that breakfast Loel made us when we were at his Thiyec place tasted like soap."

"Curious."

"I told you it didn't taste the same to me or Loel, I'm not sure why it tasted like that to you."

"Even more curious," says Ekador.

"Maybe he just actually got soap in my breakfast?" shrugs Aleko. "Anyhow, I'm glad we don't put soap or soapy herbs or whatever in our food around here."

"I don't think he got soap in your breakfast. I don't know how to explain it."

"Did you identify which herb was at fault?"

"The only thing I didn't recognize was a leaf that Loel thought of as 'cilantro'."

Ekador considers, then says, "I haven't heard of it, at least not by that name."

"Or," says Aleko, "there was soap on my plate, that would also explain it. Why would cilantro taste nice to you and him and not to me?"

"If it was the herb and not accidental soap, it's interesting that it did," says Ekador.

"Do you have a theory?" inquires Kiri.

"Not yet."

"I don't see why it's worth theorizing about."

"If we discover an explanation, perhaps it will help you avoid other things that mysteriously taste like soap to you and not other people," Ekador suggests.