Chapter 2 #3
“Unbelievable. I suppose we’ll be giving away free food and drink too?” Griffin said. “What makes you think we won’t attract a bunch of vagrants?”
“There aren’t really vagrants on this trail… even if there were, everyone needs a little help now and then,” Cassian said with a shrug.
This time, I forced myself to look away from him. I couldn’t get distracted by this beautiful, kind man. My job was to help him solve this curse mystery, and then I’d be back to Ladiall.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Olive said meekly. “If it were me, I’d donate what I could to someone kind enough to host me for free.”
“Thank you, Olive. That’s a good attitude; optimism and the belief that good people exist. I don’t just believe they exist, I know it’s true because you’re all here with me right now,” Cassian said.
Griffin rolled his eyes, but Olive’s smile grew. I smiled too, but I refused to look at Cassian, even though I could feel his eyes on me.
“All right, here’s the plan. Griffin and I will go solicit passing travelers, and Jasmine, Olive, and Sterling will stay here to welcome guests,” Cassian said.
“Why me?!” Griffin demanded.
“It’ll be fun! Let’s go!” Cassian said with a grin.
Griffin trudged out of the inn and into the snowy morning, and Cassian fluttered behind him, waving goodbye to the rest of us with a dark cloak draped around his shoulders. The room seemed dimmer in his absence.
“We don’t even have a donation box,” Jasmine said, scratching her head as she watched the doorway. “He gets ahead of himself sometimes.” Jasmine disappeared into the office to search for something to use, leaving me alone with Olive.
Olive smiled at me, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Crazy morning! I hope your plan works, Officer.”
“You can call me Sterling,” I said.
“You seem mighty young to be in the Force, Sterling. How old are you? Twenty?” she asked, looking me over.
I chuckled. “I’m twenty-six, ma’am.”
“Don’t tell me you’re twenty-six and then call me ma’am!” she said, but she laughed too.
“Sorry,” I said with an apologetic smile. “So, how’ve you been doing with all the new changes around here?”
Olive swept a few loose strands of dark hair out of her face, the kind smile dropping a bit. “It’s been hard. I know Cassian is doing all he can, but… Griffin and I were very close with Boris. It was hard to lose him.”
“Boris? Is that Cassian’s grandfather?” I asked.
“Cassian hasn’t talked about him?” Olive asked, her smile completely gone.
“Cassian doesn’t call him Boris.”
“Oh, right.” Olive smacked her forehead with a self-deprecating chuckle.
“Yeah, Boris was a good man. He really knew how to breathe life into this place, and it just hasn’t been the same without him.
Not to mention Griffin and I have had to carry on our duties while grieving our dearest friend, who has been replaced by someone so young and inexperienced. ”
“I’m so sorry. It must be hard.”
Olive sighed. “I know Cassian’s struggling too. They were close. He’s been visiting this place since he was a little boy, and now that he’s grown, I see so much of Boris in him. Sometimes I can’t even look at him.”
“You’ve known Cassian his whole life?” I asked.
“Not quite. I started working here about fifteen years ago, when I was in my early twenties. Cassian was nine or ten. I used to always rotate glazed pumpkin muffins onto the menu when I knew he was visiting because he loved them so much.” She gave a light chuckle. “He still does.”
I smiled. It was sweet to see her speak so fondly about Cassian after hearing Cassian’s belief that she and Griffin didn’t like him. “How long has Griffin been here?”
“Oh, longer than me,” she said, nodding. “Must be about twenty years now.”
“Wow. He must be taking Boris’s passing pretty hard too.”
Olive glanced at the inn’s front door. “That’s got to be why he’s been so hard on Cassian. He wants Cassian to be Boris, but Cassian is Cassian. They got along until Cassian took his place.”
“Why did they stop getting along?” I asked.
Olive shrugged. “Griffin just suddenly wanted nothing to do with Cassian as soon as he came back from Ladiall. I’ve tried to ask him, but he won’t talk to me about it.”
“Cassian lived in Ladiall?” I asked. Why wouldn’t Cassian admit that? It was a harmless piece of information. Seemingly.
“Yes, for a few years,” Olive said, smiling wistfully. “Didn’t see much of him while he was out on his own.”
“What was he doing there?” I asked.
Her smile fell away like she realized she shouldn’t be talking about this. “He had an apprenticeship, if I recall.”
“Doing what?”
“Hm… I’m not sure,” Olive said, tugging on a lock of hair and examining the nearby sofa.
Before I could ask any more follow-up questions, the inn door opened. A windblown woman walked inside, dusted with snowflakes and piled high with luggage.
Olive clasped her hands together. “Welcome to Fibbersnap Inn! We’re so happy to have you here!”
The woman crawled out from beneath her heavy pack and slumped it to the ground. “I heard you have free rooms here?”
Jasmine re-entered the lobby with a lidded wooden box in hand, grinning at the customer. “Good morning! I can help you over here!” she called out.
Olive and I watched the woman approach the counter, where Jasmine explained the situation, patting the box’s lid at the end of her speech.
The woman lifted her eyebrows as she examined the box, and then she nodded, reaching into her pocket to pull out three gold coins and dropping them inside. Jasmine beamed at her, and then at me.
The plan was working.