The Ardelay twins loiter in the palace for a few days, then fall back to the Chialto house, in plenty of time to receive any prompt reply to the correspondence Kiri sent out when they arrived in the city.
"I told you it didn't taste the same to me or Loel, I'm not sure why it tasted like that to you."
"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."
"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 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.
"So before you encountered this 'cilantro', you would have said that nothing tastes like soap except soap. Who's to say there isn't another thing like it somewhere?"
"This conversation is starting to make it sound like I eat soap every changeday or something. Come to think of it I have no idea why I know what soap tastes like."
Where Sarelle and Loel are animatedly discussing the differences between Thiyecine and Welchin cooking. Well, animatedly on Loel's part.