3. Smile #2
But her mother was in too foul a mood to notice and actually answered her with another piping, shattered laugh, “He killed our parents, you know? Slaughtered them. All our friends. Almost all of them. Anyone who had been loyal to my dear father.”
“But he let you live,” Haera murmured. Again, it was a question she had never dared to ask, but that slipped out so easily now.
“Yes!” Her mother slammed both hands curled into fists against the table. The spellbooks jumped like frightened kittens. Her red eyes blazed. “Yes! He made me seem like a traitor! But I was loyal! Loyal!”
“Then why didn’t he kill you, too?” Haera met her mother’s gaze.
Those red eyes shimmered with tears. Angry tears.
Vengeful tears. Selfish tears. “Because Lysanthir asked him to. That’s what he claimed.
Lysanthir! Soul bound and silent! Unable to speak!
But Vex claimed…” She swallowed convulsively.
“He did it so that he could look upon me and remember how he slaughtered our parents and let Last Light fall!”
There was so much that Haera wanted to ask her mother.
So many more questions that she had, but they stuck in her throat.
She knew better than to ask more. For her mother was focused on her now in that predatory way that she knew all too well.
Her mother stood up behind her desk while Haera took a step back before she stopped herself.
“Rhalyf is a traitor now, Haera. He has chosen Vex. No longer does he deserve our protection or our mercy,” her mother said.
Haera blinked rapidly. Protection and mercy were the last things that her mother had ever offered Rhalyf. But if she were changing what cruel treatment she already sent his way for something worse then…
“What do you intend to do, Mother?” she asked, licking dry lips.
Her mother smiled. “It is what I intend for you to do, Haera, that is important.”
The smell of something delicious broke Haera from her grim thoughts.
It was a rich, nutty aroma, but somehow sweet, too.
It was wafting out of a ramshackle building that had the name “Cara’s Place” written above the door, if she was reading her English correctly.
She’d spelled herself to learn the languages here more quickly.
Someone came out of the place and more of that nutty and toasted smell filled her nostrils.
She found herself walking inside as if bewitched.
The place was crowded with people. Humans, Aravae, dwarves, halflings and even a fairy or two whizzing about the steaming pots of whatever liquid was emitting that mesmerizing scent.
The interior was cozy despite–or maybe because of–the mismatched tables with their floral, polka-dotted or striped tablecloths.
There were random images on the walls, some in ink, others in paint while others in media she could not define.
They appeared to be of various cities–maybe human cities–that were now likely being reclaimed by the Aravae’s magic.
She found herself queuing to get up to a counter where the steaming liquid was being poured into mugs for the customers. It was called coffee. Cream, steamed milk, vanilla and/or sugar was liberally added to the concoction making that sweetness grow. Haera’s mouth began to water.
When she got to the front of the line, she was greeted by a young human woman with curling red hair, ginger eyebrows and sky blue eyes with a smattering of freckles across a pert, upturned nose.
She wasn’t beautiful, but Haera found herself appreciating her fresh-faced appearance, but then she smiled and Haera’s heart skipped a beat.
“What would you like?” the young woman asked, putting a hand on an ample hip.
“Ah, ah, that.” She pointed to the pot of coffee. “Please.”
“Black? Cream? Sugar? Or maybe some frothed milk?” the young woman asked patiently even as the line began to stir angrily behind her.
“I’m… I’m not sure. What’s best?” Haera asked, feeling strangely diffident.
Normally when there was someone she was interested in, she simply crooked a finger.
But there she was a Vex. Here? Well, she was a Neres, she supposed.
But it wasn’t at all the same. It was both invigorating and unnerving all at the same time.
“Know what you’re getting before you get to the front of the line!” A dwarf growled.
“Newbies are so tiresome!” a halfling moaned.
In Nhamashel, she would have blasted those two fools for their impudence.
And the old ways had her half spinning towards them, mouth opening, but the young woman spoke first which reminded Haera that she was to keep a low profile here.
But still the blood pulsed in her ears and her heart hammered as the Void rose to her fingertips.
“How about if I make it how I like it?” the young woman suggested.
Haera found herself nodding agreeably and swallowed the spells that would have incinerated the dwarf and halfling and likely half of Hope.
Or maybe all of Hope. Thinking about her mother had done this.
Made her tense and irritable and… and dangerous.
She didn’t want to hurt these people. Not even the rude ones and certainly not this smiling woman.
The young woman moved with grace as she grabbed a mug that had the written saying, “Blood of My Enemies (Or It’s Coffee)” emblazoned on the side.
She poured the dark brown liquid into the mug until it was filled halfway, dropped a single sugar cube into it, then she frothed some milk and poured that on top, forming a heart with the froth.
With another of those large smiles, she handed it over to Haera.
“How much?” Haera asked as she dug in her right front pocket for the money she’d borrowed from her brother. Only it wasn’t there. She panicked as she searched for a single coin, but there was nothing. Her mouth opened in horror. She could create money given some time, but there was no time.
“Drink of the gods!” A fairy murmured as she flew in lazy circles above the steaming coffee pots. “Drink of the gods!”
She suddenly dive bombed the pot. Without breaking eye contact with Haera, the young woman snatched the fairy and caught her by her delicate feet just inches above the dark brown liquid.
“Leaf Evergreen, what have I said about coffee baths?” the young woman asked.
“Not until the evening, Cara?” the seemingly inebriated fairy said.
“Exactly. And is it evening now?” The young woman–evidently Cara–said.
“No,” Leaf muttered.
“No, it is not. I think you’ve lost cafe privileges for the day,” Cara told her.
“Noooooooo!” Leaf wailed. “I’ll be good, Cara! Really, I will!”
“Yes, you will be. Outside. Now go on, Leaf. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cara said firmly, but kindly.
She released the fairy’s feet who, with slumped shoulders, whizzed out of the door after batting against the wall and two people. Haera blinked.
“Is this… this a narcotic?” She asked Cara about the coffee. Even as she saw the fairy drunkenly whizzing about outside, she was also thinking of her father.
“What? No, no, the caffeine makes the fairies even more nuts,” Cara laughed. “They love it. But the crash is rather brutal. It’s perfectly safe. Now, it costs–”
“Ah, yes, I… I don’t… uhm, my money…” Haera found herself flushing hotly. “I’m so sorry I had funds, but they–”
“She didn’t even bring money? Good gods, these Aravae,” someone muttered.
Haera’s face flushed.
“It’s your first time here, yes?” Cara asked.
“Yes, I–I–”
“Then the cup is on the house,” Cara said kindly.
Haera blinked at her. She was quite used to people giving her things in Nhamashel. Or rather she simply took things in Nhamashel. But this was different.
“Oh, I couldn’t–”
“Of course, you can. It looks like a table has opened up right behind you,” Cara said and gestured with her chin towards a clearing table.
“I will pay you back for this,” Haera promised.
“How about if you share a story with me?” Cara asked. “I’m about to take a break.”
Haera lifted an eyebrow. This woman wanted information. Clever. She might be kind, but she also saw an opportunity. Haera could understand this. She gave a brief nod.
“I would like that,” Haera said and headed to the table.
Soon, Cara joined her with a mug with a strange animal’s face on it. Her drink mirrored Haera’s own. Haera took a sip. Creamy, nutty, sweet with a hint of bitterness.
Delicious.
She drank down half of it and felt her veins sizzle. She let out a delighted laugh. This must be the effect of caffeine that Cara had mentioned. She met the young woman’s blue-eyed gaze over the two-top table.
“You like it?” Cara asked.
“Like it? Oh, yes, most definitely,” Haera answered. “I can see why that fairy wanted to bathe in it. I might want to as well!”
Cara grinned. “I let her hang out in the pot while we’re washing up.”
Haera snorted. “A customer for life.”
“She’s already bequeathed to me all her worldly possessions so I’m not quite sure what that’s worth,” Cara chuckled.
Haera suddenly connected the name of the cafe with the young woman before her. “You are the Cara of Cara’s Place?”
A proud nod. “That I am.”
“Well, I am honored to have been served by the proprietress.” Haera bowed her head. Her long braid fell across her shoulder. It was so strange seeing it as a dark brown now rather than silvery white.