"Come, come," said Abu Thaleb. He patted the crown of her head.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was only trying to help … Why does it always have to be me…?"
Doctor Volospion at last placed a hand on her arm. "Perhaps I had best escort you home?" He was magnanimous. "You should rest."
"Oh!" She moved to him, as if to be comforted, and then withdrew. "Oh, you're right! You're right! I'm fat. I'm stupid. I'm ugly." She pulled away from him.
"No, no…" murmured Abu Thaleb. "I think that you are immensely attractive…"
She raised a trembling chin. "It's all right." She swallowed. "I'm fine now."
Abu Thaleb gave a sigh of relief. The other two, however, continued to watch her.
She sniffed. "I just didn't want to see anyone having a bad time, hurting one another. Yes, you're right, Doctor Volospion. I shouldn't have come. I'll go home."
Doctor Volospion replaced his hand to steady her. His voice was low and calming. "Good. I will take you in my air car."
"No. You stay and enjoy yourself. It's my fault. I'm very sorry."
"You are too distraught."
"Perhaps I should take her," said Li Pao. "After all, she is right. I introduced the original argument."
"We all relieve our boredom in one way or another," said Doctor Volospion quietly. "I should not have responded as I did."
"Nonsense. You had every reason…"
"Boo-hoo," said Miss Ming. She had broken down again.
Abu Thaleb said coaxingly: "Would you like one of my little flying elephants, my dear, for your very own? You could take it with you."
"Oh-ah-ha-ha…"
"Poor thing," said Abu Thaleb. "I think she would have been better off in a menagerie, Doctor Volospion. Some of them feel much safer there, you know. Our world is too difficult for them to grasp. Now, if I were you…"
Doctor Volospion tightened his grip.
"Oh!"
"You are too sensitive, Miss Ming," said Li Pao. "You must not take us seriously."
Doctor Volospion laughed. "Is that so, Li Pao?"
"I meant…"
"Ah, look!" Doctor Volospion slowly raised a hand to point. "Here's your friend, Miss Ming."
"Friend?" Red eyes were raised. Another sniff.
"Your friend, the cook."
It was Argonheart Po, in smock and cap of dark brown and scarlet, so corpulent as to make Miss Ming look slim. He advanced towards them with monumental dignity, pushing small elephants from his path. With a brief bow he acknowledged the company and then addressed Abu Thaleb.
"I have come to apologize, epicurean commissar, for the lateness of my contribution."
"No, no…" Abu Thaleb seemed weary of what appeared to be a welter of regrets.
"There is an integral fault in my recipe," explained the Master Chef, "which I am loath to disguise by any artifice…"
The Commissar of Bengal waved a white-gloved hand. "You are too modest, Kaiser of Kitchens. You are too much a perfectionist. I am certain that none of us would detect any discrepancy…"
Argonheart Po acknowledged the compliment with a smile. "Possibly. But I would know." He confided to the others: "The cry of the artist, I fear, down the Ages. I hope, Abu Thaleb, that things will right themselves before long. If not, I shall bring you those confections which have been successful, but I will abandon the rest."
"Drastic…" Abu Thaleb lowered his eyes and shook his head. "Can we not help in some way?"
"The very reason I came. I hoped to gain an opinion. If there is someone who could find it within themselves to leave the party for a short while, to return with me and sample my creations, not so much for their flavour as for their consistency. It would not require much time, nor would it require a particularly sophisticated palate, but…"
"Miss Ming!" said Doctor Volospion.
"Me," she said.
"Here is your chance to be of service."
"Well," she began, "as everyone knows, I'm no gourmet. Not that I don't enjoy my chow, and of course Argonheart's is always excellent, but I'd like to help out, if I can." She was twice the woman.
"It is not a gourmet's opinion I seek," Argonheart Po told her. "You will do excellently, Miss Ming, if you can spare a little time."
"You would be delighted, wouldn't you, Miss Ming?" said Abu Thaleb sympathetically.
"Delighted," she confirmed. She cast a wary glance at Doctor Volospion. "You wouldn't mind?"
"Certainly not!" He was almost effusive.
"A splendid idea," said Li Pao, blatantly relieved.
"Well, then, I shall be your taster, Argonheart." She linked her arm in the cook's. "And I really am sorry for that silly fuss, everybody."
They shook their heads. They waved their fingers.
She smiled. "It did clear the air, anyway, didn't it? You're all friends again now."
"Absolutely," said Li Pao.
"Well, that's fine."
"And you won't be wanting the little elephant?" Abu Thaleb asked. "I can always create another."
"I'd love one, Abu. Another time, perhaps when I have a menagerie of my own. And power rings of my own and everything. I've nowhere to keep it while I stay with Doctor Volospion."
"Ah, well." Abu Thaleb also seemed relieved.
"I think," said Argonheart Po, "that we should go as quickly as possible."
"Of course," she said, "You really must take me in hand, Argonheart, and tell me exactly what you expect me to do."
"An opinion, I assure you, is all I seek."
They made their adieux.
"Well," she confided to Argonheart as they left, "I must say you turned up at just the right moment. Honestly, I've never seen such a display of temper! You're so calm, Argonheart. So unshakeably dignified, you know? I did my best, of course, to calm everyone down, but they were just determined to have a row! Of course, I do blame Li Pao. Doctor Volospion had a perfectly understandable point of view, but would Li Pao listen to him? Not a bit of it. I suspect that Li Pao never listens to anyone but himself. He can be so thoughtless sometimes, don't you find that?"
The Master Chef smacked his lips.
4. In which Mavis Ming is once again disappointed in her Ambitions
Argonheart Po dipped his fingers into his rainbow plesiosaurus (sixty distinct flavours of gelatine) and withdrew it as the beast turned its long neck round to investigate, mildly, the source of the irritation.
The great cook put a hand to mouth, sucked, and sighed.
"What a shame! Such an excellent taste."
Argonheart Po's creature, lumbering on massive legs that were still somewhat wobbly, having failed to set at the same time as the rest of its bulk, moved to rejoin the herd grazing some distance away on the especially prepared trees of pastry and angelica that Argonheart Po had designed to occupy them until it was time to drive them to the party which was only a mile or two off (the gargantua were plainly visible on the horizon).
"You agree, then, Miss Ming? The legs lack coherence." He licked a disappointed mouth.
"Isn't there something you could add?" she suggested. "Those flippers were really meant for the sea, you know…"
"Mm?"
"It's not your fault, not strictly speaking. The design of the creature itself is wrong. You must be able to do something, Argonheart, dear."
"Oh, indeed. A twist of a power ring and all would be well, but I should continue to be haunted by the mystery. Was the temperature too high, for instance? You see, I allow for all the possibilities. My researches show that the animal could move on land. I wonder if the weight of the beast alters the atomic structure of the gelatine. If so, I should have prepared for it in my original recipe. There is no time to begin again."