Chapter 2 #2
Yerina walked with him to the door. “Come by again. It was…” She swallowed, urging the silly blob of emotion clogging her throat to settle down. “It was good to see you. I hope we can do it again.”
“I will,” Dexter said. He paused outside the door, eyes intent upon her face. “I’m glad you’re back, Yeri.”
He strode off, which was probably for the best, since his gruff admission left her misty-eyed.
Yerina forced herself to exhale, lightly slapping her cheeks. With a smile, she waved to the children as they came galloping up.
“Hello girls. Do you think you can help me with a big job today?”
They rushed past her into the shop, and though Yerina wasn’t entirely sure if their cheers were agreement or just exuberance, she laughed all the same. Not even Bioon’s pinched expression could dampen her mood.
“I hate this place,” Bioon announced. She stomped into the teashop, leaving a trail of raindrops from her cloak’s hem in her wake.
Yerina refilled the kettle and put it onto the warmer to heat before getting the children situated to “help” with unpacking and storing tea and other unbreakables in the back.
She picked a blend that had been imbued to enhance its calming effect, but when she placed the mug in front of Bioon, the younger woman’s nose wrinkled.
“Why don’t you start a roastery or a café instead? Coffeeshops are so popular in Central,” Bioon said, taking a sip before letting the mug thump onto the counter, right on top of Yerina’s floorplan. “This place needs too much work. You’ll never make this thing profitable by midsummer.”
“Of course we can, Bee, and the Leaf will be ours! I’ve told Haze it’s a joint venture. Look,” Yerina said, sliding her rough map from beneath Bioon’s mug. “We can open up this part of the floor for guests.”
Bioon looked at the paper, then to the represented area in the shop. “You can’t be serious. Do you intend to serve only two people at a time?’
Yerina brushed off her sister’s dramatics. “It’s a start. Once we get the area by the courtyard windows cleared up, we can have a quiet space too. Oh! We could have designated calm hours, maybe around opening time. We could offer tea services in the Radiant Isles traditions for those who—”
“If you want to be slaving away here at dawn, you’re doing it alone,” Bioon said. “This whole endeavor is yours, Yerina. It’s going to take forever to get this place decent, and frankly, I don’t have the energy or the inclination.”
Yerina urged her sister to take another sip of tea, giving her as subtle an appraisal as she could manage.
Bioon looked beautiful, as always. Slender, with a flawless light brown complexion that seemed to glow.
Yerina was of similar height, but one would never call her lithe.
Soft and with some squish, a few dark spots from sunlight peppering her skin.
Instead of shiny dark tresses, her hair loved the Valley’s damp a little too much. Body, one might call it.
Bioon had a commanding presence not even the Valley’s wet weather could douse. But there was a sallow tinge present too, an undercurrent of discomfort that weighed on her otherwise cold perfection.
A gust of wind caused rain to patter against the windows. Bioon glared at the glass. “I hate this place,” she said again. “And it hates me.”
“It just… The Valley just needs to get to know you better,” Yerina said, injecting her tone with cheer.
Whether the people of Sylvan’s reservations toward newcomers was a result of the town’s remoteness, or stemmed from the region’s penchant for claiming those it liked and spurning those it didn’t, was difficult to say.
The locals believed a touch of the Child remained in the land, enough that the deity could make their impression of a person known while within the Valley’s borders.
Yerina had felt the Valley’s claim five years ago.
More than that, for she’d been at the Mighty Leaf for a few months before she’d gotten the courage to enroll at Sylveren University.
She’d fallen in love with the Valley’s greenery and its rain from the moment her ship had crossed the border.
Renstown was lovely, but the quieter atmosphere of Sylvan…
It had felt like home. It was a sense of belonging, a sense of knowing she felt in her bones but didn’t know how to describe for her sister.
Perhaps that was for the best. Bioon’s drawn appearance suggested that the Valley felt less than neutral so far as she was concerned. As it made its chosen feel innately welcome, those it rejected felt the opposite. An intangible rejection, but still there.
“Well, I’ve made up my mind. You lied to me,” Bioon said, arms crossing over her chest. “You made it sound like the teashop was already running.”
“I didn’t know—”
“There was nothing about it being such shit. Or that we’d have to kill ourselves trying to fix it.”
“It’ll work out. You’ll see.”
Yerina’s eyes swept across the same space.
She saw the courtyard-facing area with the knee wall forming a natural barrier along one side.
The perfect frame for some curtains with soundproofing enchantments.
Enough to shelter the area from the noise when the front was filled, but not so much that the magic would feel oppressive.
Booths could be added to the back wall, and more tables in front, especially once the pond pit was fixed.
Space could be carved out by the counter to display teas, pre-bagged for sale.
Just enough to be convenient, but stocked low enough that none would sit out long enough to go stale.
Fixing the stove in the back room could lead to offering their own snacks that complemented the tea.
In addition to partnering with the bakery across the street, they could hire a local to make even fancier treats, or different regional specialties.
How could Bioon look at the Leaf and not see the potential in every corner?
“Yerina.” Bioon massaged her temples. “No. Do you hear yourself? Where are you going to find the time? The money?”
She went on, listing more ways that Yerina’s intentions for the shop could never work.
The negativity bounced off of Yerina as she continued to look around the shop, envisioning each change.
It couldn’t all happen at once, but the possibilities had her bouncing on her toes, eager to get back to work.
Bored with sorting, Eunny and Anadae wandered into the front room. Jumping down into the shallow pit that was the failed pond, they chased each other around, giggling and screeching until Bioon finally snapped at them for quiet.
Yerina ushered them out to the rear courtyard to play, her mind turning over the obstacle of the pond. It couldn’t stay, not in its current form, because it took up too much space. But the idea of a water feature appealed.
As she went back inside, she found Bioon talking to a pair of men.
Graelynders—from Central District, judging by the cut of their royal blue cloaks, the asymmetrical hems and narrow width more akin to decorative capes than utilitarian garments.
Both the color and the style were in vogue in Central, but not very useful for the Valley’s climate.
“Yerina, these gentlemen are from back home,” Bioon said, with more enthusiasm than she’d expressed, ever, during their entire stay thus far in the Valley. “They have an interesting business proposition for us.”
Yerina greeted the men warmly, offering to prepare them tea. They declined in unison, introducing themselves as the Thomases, a father and son duo.
“We heard that Haze left you in charge here,” Thomas Sr. said. “We’ve been discussing how our businesses could help each other.”
“Oh?” Yerina said. “I’m afraid they didn’t mention anything about that to me.”
“We represent the Xavienne family.”
Bioon made a sound of recognition, her eyes intent on Thomas Sr.’s face.
He bowed his head, though his smile leaned more toward smug than humble.
“We’re honored to represent their interests in expanding up north.
But it’s been difficult to talk to most folks up here,” he said with a booming laugh.
“When we heard there was a Graelynd-owned establishment here, of course we had to get in touch.”
Xavienne was one of the oldest aristocratic families in Central District.
Very wealthy, very fashionable, and very much of the business over sentiment mindset.
All qualities that were useful, perhaps even necessary, to have significant success in the heart of Graelynd. But to Yerina, there was no appeal.
“I think Haze inherited the Leaf from a cousin—”
“We also heard you’re facing some financial… difficulties.” Thomas Jr. smoothly overrode her. He gave the teashop’s work-in-progress interior a pointed look. “Our partnership proposal would take care of that.”
“We’d be happy to review—”
Yerina raised her hand to stop her sister.
“Thank you for your concern, gentlemen. We’re very appreciative of your support.
” She gave them an apologetic smile. “But I’m afraid I can’t discuss business of that level.
Haze owns the Leaf, so you’ll have to continue negotiations with them.
” She picked up her used tea tray. “If you’ll excuse us, we have more cleaning to do, but I hope you’ll come by when we reopen. ”
The Thomases stood. Thomas Sr. offered a polite, if forced, smile. “When do you expect that to be?”
“We’re hoping to offer a limited service in the front this week, don’t you agree, Bioon?” Yerina said.
Bioon’s smile mirrored that of Thomas Sr. “We’ll see.”
Bioon showed the men out, pausing at the door for a few final words, her tone too low for Yerina to hear.
The door had barely closed before Bioon rounded on her. “What is wrong with you?”
“What? Bee, we’re here to fix the Leaf up, not sell it.” Yerina carried her tray into the back and set it in the washtub. “And I really can’t make business decisions in Haze’s place.”
“Of course you can,” Bioon said, stopping in the doorway, hands on her hips. “Haze is trying to foist this wreck off on you. But if we partner with Xavienne—”
“We don’t want to partner with them. They’re all wrong for the Leaf. You’ll see, the front is ready to open, and we’ll get—”
“I don’t want any of this!” Bioon exclaimed, one hand slashing the air. “I thought this place just needed a dusting. I only indulged you because my actual job had overlap up here. Do you have any idea what a deal with Xavienne could do for my career?”
Bioon assisted a junior facilitator for Graelynd’s Coalition of Trade, helping to govern commerce in the country.
The work had always struck Yerina as cutthroat and cold, using coin and favors and standing as markers of successful business.
Her sister loved it. Being important. She was already ascending the ranks at an unprecedented level.
Yerina didn’t doubt her sister’s ability, but applying tactics that worked in Graelynd to the Valley? To Sylvan?
“We don’t need them,” Yerina said, coming to take Bioon’s hands in her own. “The Leaf will provide for itself, I know it. We have so many ideas for—”
“There is no ‘we’ in this, Yerina.” Bioon’s expression went stony. “You believe in this dump so much? Save it yourself. I have better things to do.”
Bioon spun on her heel and stalked out, brushing past Terryl as she came in with Eunny and Anadae.
“Hello, Bioo—oh, and goodbye.” Terryl looked to Yerina, eyes widening. “Everything ok here?”
Ignoring the ache left by her sister’s anger, Yerina shook her head.
“Being in the Valley’s an adjustment, that’s all.
” She smiled for the children, conveying to Terryl with a subtle head tilt that they’d discuss more later.
“Why don’t we go out for lunch?” she added, laughing when the kids cheered.
“Let me just wash up and I’ll be ready.”
As Terryl and the children clattered out, Yerina heated water for rinsing, her mind drifting back over the morning’s events.
Bioon would come around, she told herself.
Perhaps Yerina had oversold the Mighty Leaf, for all that she hadn’t known it needed such extensive repairs.
But she truly believed in the shop. If she needed to do the work herself, well, it just meant even more time in the place of her heart.
The small piece of rubble she’d designated as her tea pet was the last item on the tray. She held it between her fingers, smiling as she remembered Dex’s gruff comment: “Rocks, eh? You need a better pet.”
She dried the pebble, then set it on the counter, right next to her yellow mug. She kept them in the back instead of taking either out to the rack designated for shop use. Just in case he joined her again, as he’d said he would.
The Dexter she’d known had always been a man of his word.