Chapter 18
Lian
The rainy weather had eased up for the day of the festival as if it knew today was an important day.
Or Eva and Max had made sure the day was going to be lovely and sunny.
Not really sunny like some of the places we lived before, but it was there behind the clouds.
It wasn't sunny but there was no rain. Even with only being at Purple Oak for a short time, I'd come to realise that no rain and brightness meant sunny, even if that didn't really make sense.
The same field where the bonfire had been held was being used for the festival, and it was even more packed than it had been.
There were far more people living at Purple Oak than I initially thought.
Judging from Max's expressionless face, he had come to the same conclusion.
Even though it was a tea witch festival, it seemed to have attracted everyone in the village.
There were familiars running around, as well as the band that I now knew was run by a sound mage to fill the air with the same joyful music as for the bonfire.
I wondered if any of the songs were specific to the festival, but I put the thought away for now.
If I remembered, I could ask Pepper later, but even if I forgot, it was probably something I'd come to learn over the next few years as my life in Purple Oak grew.
Stands were positioned all around the field and selling beer, tea, and food.
It was rare to see tea being shared with everyone when it was so valuable.
Most places I'd lived had been more precious about it, with tea witches keeping control of the supply and rarely selling it to anyone who wasn't also a tea witch.
It might be a Purple Oak thing that they would sell anyone a cup, or maybe it was something that was more prevalent in this country than in any of the others I'd lived in.
I didn't suppose that mattered very much.
It was a thing here, and I liked it. For some reason, the fact that they didn't seem to stop anyone from drinking tea made me feel more comfortable with being a tea witch.
I liked tea, and I liked the way it made me feel when I drank it.
I just didn't like the way it felt to heal anyone.
We reached the stand with Pepper and some of our attendants behind it who were helping organise the trays of mooncakes that the two of us had made.
There were rows and rows of them, almost as if we were a small bakery.
I hadn't realised we made this many of them, but the sight of them made me proud.
We'd done it through teamwork, and were getting to share a part of me with the rest of the village, even if no one really knew.
Pepper's face lit up when she saw me, and she came towards me, briefly touching my arm. "Merry Moon Tea Day!"
My stomach fluttered in response. "Merry Moon Tea Day to you."
"You look really beautiful. I like what you've done with your hair," she said, reaching up to stroke the side of my face.
I could feel myself blush and reach up to touch my hairpin. "Thank you, Eva did it for me. You look lovely too."
There was giggling behind us and I was not surprised that it came from Eva.
She was looking at us with glee and making hand gestures that I hoped nobody else understood.
Even Max was smiling, making me certain that my cousins were happy for me, even if they were apparently going to tease me about this.
Pepper didn't look bothered at all and even chanced kissing my cheek. "Let's hand out mooncakes, shall we?"
"Good idea," I said, hoping that they would be popular with the Purple Oak residents because if they weren't, we were going to be eating moon cakes for the next month. And even if I liked them, that might be a little too intense.
Max hesitated. "Are you sure it's all right for Eva and me to be handing them out too? We didn't help make them."
"Of course," I assured him. "We made them in the Ju Feng name."
"Already including Pepper as part of our family, huh?" Eva said, looking like she was having the best time.
"That's not what I meant," I said, my face getting even hotter. I was glad that my cousins were supportive of my new relationship, but it was going to take a while to get used to their good-natured teasing.
Eva chuckled and turned back to Max. "Don't worry. Our parents hand out mooncakes every year and they didn't make them themselves either. We're not doing anything wrong, just spreading a bit of joy from our homeland."
I shouldn't be surprised that Eva had already grasped what made Purple Oak so special.
Maybe she'd always known and had chosen the assignment here for that reason.
That felt like a very Eva-thing to do because she was always looking out for us.
I'd just been too busy bowing under the pressure of what our parents tasked me with to notice that she was also acting in a certain way because of what they'd told her.
But she was always looking out for me and Max, and always wanting what was best for all of us.
Hopefully, she'd also be able to realise that she didn't have to always do that.
Even though we hadn't said anything yet, there was already a small crowd of onlookers around our stall, with faces from all different regions among them.
No doubt it was partly influenced by the proximity of the port to Purple Oak, but it was probably also because of the welcoming nature that the village was like this.
Full of people from everywhere and anywhere, keeping their own traditions alive and exploring those of them around them.
I took a deep breath, feeling a sense of contentment settling inside me. This wasn't just a place for me to come into my own, this was a place where all three of us could blossom and grow. Individually but also together.
The more time I spent here, the more I was convinced that Purple Oak was exactly where us younger Ju Fengs should have been.
Eva and Max joined me behind the stand, while our attendants went out to herd the crowd towards us.
It was a little daunting to be explaining our mooncakes and seeing people try them but it also felt good.
If today went well, then this could be what next year's Moon Tea Festival looked like.
And the one after, and the one in ten years, or twenty.
Even the concept of that kind of stability made me feel at peace.
This was what I'd been searching for my entire life.
Flustered stammering came from the left, and I turned in time to see Max trying to explain mooncakes to Hugo Inker, who was leaning in quite close to him.
"Should we help?" I asked Eva.
She looked over and laughed. "Help with what? Explaining mooncakes? Or telling Hugo Inker that Max gets flustered every time that he so much as looks at him?"
"I don't know," I admitted.
"He'll be fine," Eva assured me. "But maybe I should start being worried about being the only Ju Feng not courting someone, because clearly that's where that's going."
"You never know what might be in store."
She gave me a strange look. "Who is this new and laid-back Lian?" she joked. "Maybe I should have encouraged you to court someone ages ago. Or maybe it's the fact that you keep waking up in someone else's bed."
"What? How do you..."
She grinned. "I went looking for you one evening to ask your opinion on something. I was surprised to find you weren't in your room. But also glad. You deserve happiness, Lian. You're the best cousin anyone could ask for."
Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes at her words, but they weren't unpleasant ones, they were just a reminder of how much love there was in my family, even if there was also pressure.
I didn't have a chance to respond before the next people in the queue arrived, and I recognised Jasmine Brewster. We'd mostly been dealing with Chamomile while staying in the Town Hall, but I'd met Jasmine enough times to recognise her.
"These look delicious," she said brightly. "Thank you for bringing them to the festival," she said to Eva.
"Oh, it was all Lian and Pepper," my cousin responded immediately. "It's Lian's recipe, she's been making them for years. And Pepper has been working tirelessly to help her."
"Then thank you, Lian," Jasmine corrected herself, giving me a genuine smile. "I don't know if you've met my partner? This is Ryburn, he's the representative of Grower's Cove here in Purple Oak. And this is Ford, he's the supervisor of the dryads in the tea garden."
Eva's gaze immediately slipped to the second man, with an expression on her face I didn't think I'd ever seen from her before. "We've met," she said.
"Of course, you've been working closely with the tea garden," Jasmine said.
I watched my cousin for a moment, surprised by how off-centre the man's arrival seemed to have made her. I cleared my throat and picked up one of the mooncakes to hand it to Ryburn, before doing the same for Ford. "Thank you for your warm welcome in Purple Oak," I said.
"Are there any apples in it?" Ford asked, examining all sides of the pastry I gave him.
I had no idea how to answer that question.
Eva blinked a couple of times. "No."
"That's a shame."
Ryburn groaned. "You can't say that, mate."
Ford looked up at Eva and raised his mooncake. "Thank you."
She cleared her throat, seeming not to have expected the interaction. "You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow to talk about the tea garden," she said in a strange voice.
Ford nodded curtly before turning away and leaving. Jasmine and Ryburn said their goodbyes and followed him.
"I am never going to understand that man," Eva said, looking off in the same direction.
"Do you want to?" I asked.
She shrugged and put a smile on her face, but I could tell that something about him had rattled her, even if I didn't know why. "No need. So long as we can work together, it doesn't matter if I know him."
Something about the way she said it didn't make it feel true, but I couldn't explain why that was. I dismissed the thought. I supposed it didn't matter.
More people came, and we handed them mooncakes with a smile and an explanation. Everyone seemed intrigued, and I could see smiles on their faces as they bit into them and tried the pastries. That was Purple Oak, it seemed. Openness and acceptance, even when something was new.
My gaze slipped to Pepper, already finding her looking at me with a big smile. A warm, hopeful feeling rose up in my chest and spread through me. I had no idea what the future was going to bring, but for the first time, I was looking forward to discovering exactly what it had in store for me.
Thank you so much for reading The Tea Witch's Purpose, we hope you enjoyed coming back to Purple Oak Oasis and seeing it through the eyes of Lian.