Chapter 10
Ten
Mira stared down at the primroses, neatly lined up on her front porch.
They were fine, all things considered. The faint pink tinge in the petals of the white ones notwithstanding – and the fact that they had doubled in size over night.
If only she had checked the back of the recipe book beforehand.
Getting the dose right, as it turned out, was just as important as getting the recipe right.
“That’s some healthy-looking primroses.”
Mira looked up at the voice from the road. Yoni.
“What did you feed them?”
“About five times as much fertiliser as I was supposed to.” Mira sighed. “Can I help you with something?”
To her surprise, Yoni nodded at the flowers. “That, actually. Whatever you poured onto those. I assume you’re using your… uncle’s recipes?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I used to buy from him. It’s just not the same with the boxed stuff Harper sells.” Uninvited, Yoni stepped onto the stone path and came over to climb the stairs. “Can I place an order?”
For that?! Mira just about bit her tongue and kept that to herself.
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” she replied. “This batch… had some imperfections. It works fine,” she added hastily, “it’s just… the pastel pink ones weren’t pastel pink when I bought them from Eren.”
Yoni’s brows drew together sharply. “You… coloured your primroses?”
“Not on purpose! There was a reaction, and the potion changed colour, but it smelled fine so I decided I’d try it and see if it worked anyway, and…”
She fell silent, heat creeping into her cheeks, and gestured at the flowers. Yoni climbed the stairs and bent over the row of pots, studying them so intensely Mira was almost sure Yoni was mocking her. Abruptly, Yoni straightened again.
“Could you walk me through the steps? I think I know what happened, but I can’t be sure from just looking at the flowers.”
Mira blinked owlishly. Whatever she had expected, it hadn’t been that. “What?”
“The steps,” Yoni repeated impatiently, “that you took when you brewed this. Can you tell me?”
“Ah.” Mira gulped in some air, embarrassment fighting with her confusion. “I’d need to check the book, I haven’t memorised it yet.”
Yoni inhaled sharply, but nodded. “Show me.”
It was exceedingly awkward, leading Yoni through the empty shop with its embarrassingly dusty shelves and nothing on them. The brewing kitchen looked slightly better, if only because after wiping up roughly a dozen accidents, Mira had stuck a rag or a brush into every corner of the room.
While Yoni took a quick look around, Mira discreetly shut the door to the storage room, which was still waiting for a deep clean, and hoped Yoni didn’t notice.
“So, the book is over here.”
Mira had to squeeze past Yoni in the small space to get to the counter where she kept the recipes, and the little stack of notes that she kept meaning to add to a notebook, or at least tape into the recipe book on the corresponding pages.
She hadn’t quite expected that. Yoni was tall, but she was also…
oddly muscular. It was surprising, considering her line of work. It was also momentarily distracting.
“…yes?”
Right! The recipe! Mira fumbled the pages twice before she managed to find the right one.
“Here. It’s not overly complicated, and the fertiliser does work, so I’m not sure where the problem is…”
“So let’s go through it, then,” Yoni said with the tone of a school teacher at the end of a particularly long week. Mira nodded quickly.
“All right. So, I started with the mint leaves in the water…”
They went through the recipe line by line, twice. Neither Mira nor Yoni came up with an answer. At least, not until Yoni, on the third attempt, thought to ask a question.
“What’s in the magnesium powder you’re using?”
Mira looked up from the page. “What?”
“Are you using pure magnesium, or is there something mixed in?”
“Oh.” Good question. She should probably know that. “I think there’s something else in it, let me check.”
Mira hurried to get the container from the cabinet – this time without dropping anything. She turned it to check the label.
“Glykis powder, to bolster the nourishing effect on the plants.”
She returned to Yoni looking faintly amused, which might as well translate to hearty laughter.
“Then that’s your problem.” She pointed at a line near the bottom of the page. “The lavender essence will react with the glykis. That’s what changed the colour. If you’d rather keep it neutral, get pure magnesium powder next time.”
“Oh!” Relief flooded Mira. “So it won’t hurt the potion?”
“Not that I know of,” Yoni said. Mira beamed at her.
“You have no idea how reassuring that is!”
Yoni suddenly seemed guarded. “I suppose. So… Is that all?”
“Yes. No other weirdness going on.” Mira paused as she put down the container with the powder. “Out of curiosity, why did you help me with this?”
Yoni looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Mira shrugged and decided that she probably couldn’t make things worse. “You just seemed… Like maybe you didn’t want to be bothered.”
For a moment, Yoni seemed off-balance, though she quickly caught herself again. “Think of it as self-preservation,” she eventually said. “Your uncle’s fertiliser was the best I’ve ever used. I would like that back. It’s good for business.”
“Oh.” Mira couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by this prosaic explanation. She forced a smile anyway. Maybe some more time would soften up this curmudgeonly neighbour of hers. “Thanks anyway. That has really helped.”
“Mhm.” Yoni took a decisive step back. “If that was all, I need to get going. I was just wondering about the order.”
“Right! Actually, since you spent your time helping me with the least pressing problem possible, do you want to take the rest of the batch? For free, of course. If the pink doesn’t hurt the plants, the rest of it works just fine.” She chuckled sheepishly. “Just ask my primroses.”
“I…” Yoni fell silent for a moment. “Yes. Sure. Then I’ll know at least if I can use it.”
Ouch. That stung. Mira went to grab the remaining bottles off the shelf regardless. Yoni distributed them throughout her enviably large pockets.
“Thank you. I’ll let you know if I need more.”
She turned and left the shop, with Mira hurrying after her. At the foot of the stairs, Yoni stopped for a moment.
“Good luck. With the shop, I mean.”
Stunned by this unexpected expression of positivity, Mira took a moment to answer.
“Thank you!” she called after Yoni, who did not react and simply crossed the street to her own house.
Mira watched as she disappeared inside, feeling oddly buoyed by the last half hour.
Now she knew what the problem was. She knew that her potion was good enough for someone else to use.
And she had another person to add to the precious few who seemingly wanted her to succeed, too.
Among everything she’d struggled with since she got here, she had to admit: that felt pretty good.
“That is a lot of bottles.” Harper looked up from the order form. “I take it you’re finally opening the shop?”
“Yep.” Mira tried to sound more sure of herself than the question made her feel. “I have a solid basis, I think. Time to take the plunge.”
If she were to be truthful, no, she absolutely did not feel like she was ready to take the plunge.
But she couldn’t keep stalling any longer.
Her money was rapidly running out, and the cheque from her last story was the only thing allowing her to be here right now and order another crate of bottles to actually put things in for selling.
She couldn’t deny that it was time – she needed to get a move on, or else admit defeat, move back to Willow Harbour, and hear about this episode until the end of her days.
And she was not prepared for that at all.
“Good. I’ll let people know once you’re ready. About time we got a proper potion shop again. I keep having to order stock from Heartfield and Greengrass whenever someone has a mild cold. It’s a sodding hassle, is what it is.”
“Oh, I…”
Mira cut herself off. She wasn’t quite there yet.
Medicinal potions were decidedly a step up from what she was comfortable with right now, and she definitely planned on reading up the subject before she dove into it.
Nothing in the recipe book required apothecary training, but even a simple honey-based cough syrup seemed a bit too far out of her comfort zone for now.
“It would be lovely if you got the word out,” she said instead. “I’ll tell you when I’m opening.”
Besides, she still had months until cold season started. She’d get there in time, she was almost sure.
“Right, that’s noted, I’ll have them for you some time next week.” Harper put down the pen and took off her glasses to clean them on her shirt. “Did you need anything else? Cassia brought in a crate of cherries this morning.”
“I saw.” Mira rummaged through her pockets for her grocery list. “I don’t think I have anything else that needs ordering…”
She was still looking when the wind chime activated, announcing another person entering the store.
The heels clacking on the floor made Mira assume it was Penelope Fox, Harper’s life partner and local fashion icon – probably the only person in Emberglen who was not several seasons behind what was being sold in Willow Harbour.
But when Mira glanced up, she saw that Harper’s expression had turned sour. Not Penelope, then.
“Mrs. Moore! Good morning! It’s such a beautiful day, isn’t it?”