"It's one of those things you will just know" Larek explained, or at least, he tried to explain. "I wouldn't know what the feeling is like, you see. It's a female sort of thing, a secret that males can't really get. If you want to talk to your mother, we can always go for a visit to her place later." The gate stones really were convenient.

"Looks like a lot of seafood" commented Veax. He suppressed the urge to let his mouth water, but the food smelled so good that he found it hard to do so. Dracon cooking was known for more than just more salt than humans were typically used to: it also included a lot of meat and fragrant spices. Prosperous dracons often liked to cook fancy, fragrant dishes as a way of showing off their wealth and to impress guests. The same applied to dracon restaurants, a kind of business that was rare outside of the big cities.

Orna nodded. "There's some meat and vegetable dishes too. I think I'll have the salmon with the rice. The rice comes with saffron cooked in." Fortunately for her and the others, they had all brought plenty of cash for this place and could easily afford whatever was on the menu. 

They could smell the spray of the ocean from the platform, which was pretty much just an artificial extension of a natural cliff, raised up and made smooth by the construction skills of Naugoa's architects. In a few minutes, the waitress returned with a bronze pitcher filled with water and some glasses. "May I take your orders?" she asked.