CHAPTER THREE #3
‘This used to be a quill shop, didn’t it?
Adina’s shop?’ Nyssa could faintly recall a middle-aged woman in a dark, corseted dress and the thick scent of ink.
After that first visit, she’d returned whenever her grandma had taken her to the town square.
Not to buy anything. Simply to see the building.
To press her hand against its ancient walls.
She fought the urge to do so now as she asked, ‘What happened to it?’
A shadow passed over Liora’s usually bright expression. ‘Adina passed about half a decade ago now from a pretty bad illness. Lisabeth treated her as best she could, but …’ Liora trailed off.
Something tightened in Nyssa’s chest. ‘And the shop’s been vacant ever since?’ It seemed like such a waste to let it sit there empty.
‘Yeah, I guess no one has really known what to do with it, and some even say Adina’s spirit still haunts the place.
Although I’m not sure haunts is the right word …
I think maybe she just doesn’t want to go anywhere else, you know?
It’s her home.’ Liora let out a wistful sigh.
‘Hopefully one day someone will give it the love it deserves again.’
The tightness in Nyssa’s chest burst into a fluttering sensation that reminded her of how she’d once felt on the cusp of discovering a new and exciting spell. She was trying to come up with an appropriate response when a voice called out to them from next door.
‘Liora, there you are!’
A young woman with a spill of curled red hair and dark skin appeared in the doorway of the tea shop. Liora’s smile returned at the sight of her, and she hurried towards her, her hands waving excitedly at her sides. ‘Gwen! You have to meet someone – Nyssa, come here!’
Nyssa begrudgingly turned away from the vacant shop before fixing a smile to her face as she greeted Gwen.
She wore a large smile on her freckled face, and an apron patterned with various tea ingredients and small, ceramic cups.
As Nyssa approached, she was enveloped in the smell of spices and honey.
It reminded her of how her grandma’s magic had smelled, and Nyssa couldn’t help but instantly warm to the woman as Liora introduced her. ‘Nyssa, this is Gwen Aderen, owner of Just One More Cup! Gwen, this is Nyssa, Lisabeth’s granddaughter!’
Gwen’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, it’s so lovely to meet you! I respected your grandmother very much; she was the inspiration behind my shop, and she’d come in every week to try out my new recipes and give me tips!’
The tea shop hadn’t been there when Nyssa had last been in Nighthaven, but Nyssa wasn’t surprised it had become one of her grandma’s favourites.
Lisabeth had never wanted to own a shop of her own (she used to say she was too free-spirited for the commitment), but she’d always found joy in creating new tea blends.
‘I’m sure she loved it here,’ Nyssa said, her heart aching. Through the bay window, Nyssa could see a shelf filled with bags of different tea leaves, each with a handwritten label attached. ‘Do you make all of these yourself?’
Gwen beamed. ‘I do. Lisabeth taught me. Would you like a tour?’
‘I would.’ She might not have felt comfortable buying spell ingredients yet, but tea was another matter.
By the time Gwen had finished showing her around the small but cosy store, which was lined with shelves filled with more tea blends than Nyssa had ever seen, she found herself carrying two filled bags of various tea leaves, a new teaspoon and a small, cosy kettle-cover that looked uncannily like Nyx.
‘We best get going,’ Liora said as they paid up, a bag of her own clutched to her chest, ‘I’ve got rehearsals in twenty minutes.’
Nyssa hadn’t realized how much time had passed.
It was late afternoon now, and outside, the sky was starting to turn the soft orange of an approaching sunset.
After bidding goodbye to Gwen, Nyssa walked alongside Liora back to the now much quieter town square, where fairy lights woven around window ledges and plant pots were just starting to flicker to life.
‘Do you know your way back from here?’ Liora asked, looking up at the clock tower that stood to the north of the town square. ‘I’d walk you, but I’ll be late to rehearsals at the tavern …’
Nyssa waved her off. ‘I know the way. Have a good rehearsal, and … thank you. For today.’
‘You’re so welcome,’ Liora grinned, kissing her cheek. ‘I’ll swing by the cottage again soon! Bye!’
And then she was gone, bouncing towards the local tavern, The Pixie’s Grove, with a whistle on her lips and leaving Nyssa alone to make her way back along the long, cobblestone road to her grandmother’s cottage.
Nyssa simply spent the rest of the day existing.
She made a pot of tea, curled up beside the fire, and, for the first time in a long time, picked up a book to read just for fun.
She lost herself in the latest installment in the Enchanted Thorns series until the sun set, and when she finally crawled into bed that night, her belly full of Madame Jeanne’s cinnamon bun and warm with one of Gwen’s tea blends, she dreamed of an unknown place that smelled like magic and felt strangely like home.