Chapter 5 #3
"Isn't it shearing season?" He believed they cut the wool in the spring.
She nodded. "You're right." Then she shook herself. "They haven't sent word yet, but it doesn't mean they don't have any wool." She reached over and put her hand on his. "Thank you, Eli. I'll see if Lisa-Mae and I can row over and talk to them."
He shrugged, a little uncomfortable. "We're in the same situation."
She nodded. "But you could've kept your mouth shut."
"We're in this together." They were, but it was crazy they hadn't come farther.
It had been generations since the others pushed the humans back, but as Fala had said, it wasn't them holding them back.
The others restricted the area humans were allowed to cultivate, but they didn't hinder them otherwise.
They didn't object to paper products, didn't object to education or culture. It was all the human leaders' doing.
The moment Rosie stepped out of the shop, Thano and most-likely-Tuur entered. "Sorry." Eli focused on him. "I don't know your name."
"Tuur Moonlight." He had a gruff voice and a grumpy expression. Judging by his size, Eli would guess he turned into a huge animal, but he didn't know if it was rude to ask. "You were on the board too."
Tuur shot Thano a glare. Shit. Eli took a step to the side to increase the distance between them. "Are you looking for something specific or only having a look around?" He gestured at the shop.
"I want to see the basket with the shinys, and maybe if you have something Romeo can plant in his garden like the things Thano will get."
"The shinys?" Eli was a big man, but he was small compared to Tuur.
"Fala found her thing in the basket of...shinys."
Oh, the measuring cups. Eli grabbed the basket and put it on the counter. "It's mostly kitchen utensils."
Tuur held up an egg slicer in stainless steel. "What's this."
"Eh...an egg slicer."
Tuur studied his face as if he believed Eli was joking. "Can't humans slice their eggs with a knife?"
A chuckle escaped without Eli's permission. "They can, but this will give them even slices. Or you can slice strawberries if you're gonna use them for decoration--" He gestured at Thano. "--on cupcakes for example."
Thano moved faster than Eli could perceive and plucked the slicer from Tuur's grasp. "I'll buy it."
"Hey, I saw it first."
Thano flashed teeth, and Eli took a stumbling step back, only to bump into the shelf he had behind the counter. The empty containers he had there for people to borrow wobbled. Quickly, he whirled around to steady the shelf before anything fell off.
"You're not on the cupcake team. We might need this."
Eli gaped. The cupcake team? In his mind, Thano was a dangerous, sharply dressed man.
Calm, controlled, with an air of dominance.
You only had to catch a glimpse of his impassive face to know he was deadly.
Never had he believed he'd fight someone over an egg slicer and argue about needing it because he was on the cupcake team.
Tuur growled, a rumbling sound deep in his chest, and if they hadn't been blocking Eli's way out of the shop, he might have tried to run.
Tuur grabbed another thing from the basket. "What's this then?"
Scrunching his nose, Eli looked at Thano to see if he would answer. He was cradling a handful of Jerusalem artichokes in one hand and holding the egg slicer in the other but was back to wearing his blank face, so Eli's guess would be no.
"It's a thing you use to hold an onion in place when you cut it. The pointy spikes go through it, and you chop away without risking cutting your fingers off."
Tuur hummed but put the onion holder back in the basket. Eli didn't blame him. It wasn't the most useful tool in the universe.
"This?"
Eli looked at the five rings tied together and almost reached for them. "Canning rings."
Tuur shook his head in incomprehension.
"If you're canning food, you put a thin metal lid on the jar, then this on top while you boil it, then you remove them, and the metal lid will have sealed on the jar. It keeps the food from spoiling."
Tuur put them back, but Eli reached inside the basket and grabbed them. He'd buy them. He didn't have any lids, but maybe he could order some from New Town or Grave Ville at some point.
"This?" Tuur ran his fingers over the metal mesh of a skimmer.
"Skimmer. To either remove things on the surface if you make jam or something or to lift things in and out of boiling water."
Tuur turned it around in his hand, curled his fingers around the handle, and waved it a little. "I'll take it. I also want something Romeo can plant. Something like the knobbly things Thano got."
"Oh." Eli looked around. "I'm not sure, not all plants produce seeds in the first year."
Tuur narrowed his eyes and reached behind Thano to the island in the middle of the shop and grabbed an onion. "What about this?"
"If you plant it, the onion won't grow, but I believe there will be a flower that will produce seeds."
"Good." He grabbed four more, and Eli nodded. As long as he was happy.
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