[So much for censorship. Paul does reach out this time, heedless of the powdery residue on his hand, and clasps the back of Falco's neck in a reassuring squeeze. He can make up for this, he's fairly sure - and he'll pick his next stories more wisely.]

Don't worry. It's one of the good stories, where everyone who got hurt was all right in the end. They put the ingredient back where it belonged.

[The next story, and the answer to Falco's question, is a better one, so long as he leaves out the first half.]

We were disfavored for a while after that, or so the stories go, until one of Tantalus' descendants, Orestes, was told by the god of the sun how to lift the stain on their House. He was sent to retrieve a statue of the sun god's sister, a great huntress, that had fallen from the heavens.

He traveled a great distance to arrive at the city where the statue had fallen, and was being worshiped by the people there, but once he arrived, he was captured - [Paul tosses in a grabbing gesture at the air, as if snatching up the hapless man] - and bound to be sacrificed, as was their custom with strangers. But do you know what happened? It turned out that his own lost sister was one of the priestesses, and she helped him to escape with the statue, winning back the gods' favor.

Or so they say. [He smiles at the smaller boy, setting down the last of his thoroughly mixed bowls.] All of that was a very long time ago.