Nevin stared at Ezra for thirty seconds, his eyes wide, before he began chuckling loudly. This dissolved into him leaning on the counter as he laughed, and it took him almost a minute before he had calmed down enough to actually think straight and breathe deep enough to speak. He had taste tested all of his candies so he had never thought of how sweet they were - and as far as he knew, he was the only adult that had tried one. Well at least until now.
"Ezra, they're meant as treats for children. If anything, the village kids would like me to make them sweeter. The one you had was strawberry, I would suggest going for one of the yellow or purple wrapped ones next time, they are honey or grape, in order. And no, the numbing agent is to entertain the kids by making their mouth feel strange. Ahem." He pointed at the two baskets that sat on the counter.
"The basket Ezra and I just took candies from do not contain the numbing agent that affected you, Fenn. The other basket does contain it. Ezra, I didn't notice a difference between the two in terms of flavor, but I also don't think of the candies as overly sweet in either case, so my judgment in that regard may be skewed." With that he stepped back and let the two speak as he considered Ezra from behind.
The Homunculus could taste. Could actually taste, and wasn't just mimicking what they saw people do. If that had been the case, they wouldn't have thought of the candies as anything other than palatable - because he hadn't acted any other way, and neither had the children the construct would have seen eating one of the candies. That was astounding, regular Homunculi could not do that, they merely acted as they saw others do or as they were instructed to. It must be a result of the other school of magic involved in Ezra's creation - it seemed to have made her more real, more alive, than should have been possible.
The mysteries about his apprentice just deepened with the more he watched her.
