The shop went silent.
"'Ratu Adil', or Queen of Justice…" Arum whispered… "'Herucokro'… The one who seeketh not wealth…"
She looked at the staff, tracing its surface with a trembling hand, then back at me.
"For five thousand years, I have carried this wood, feeling its weight but never knowing its true name."
"Gardener," she said. "Thou hast given a voice to the silence to me. Thou art no human. Thou art a Herald."
I let out a breath and rub the back of my neck. "That's… a theatrical way to put it. However, Herald or not, I'm still a barista."
She looked at the cup, then back at me, a small smile touching her lips. She took another sip.
"It clears. Like a morning mist burning off the river. It is… awakening."
"That's the caffeine," I said. "It's the 'spirit' of the bean, if you want to call it. It wakes up the mind of whoever drinks it."
"'Caffeine'…huh…" She tested the word. "A strange name for such a clear spirit."
She set the cup down and looked relaxed for the first time since she entered.
I looked at her and thought about something to eat besides her coffee. "How about a cake to go with that coffee?"
"A 'cake'?" She repeated with her eyes brightening. "Aella hath spoken of this delight."
She glanced at Aella, who nodded eagerly.
"I confess," Arum said, a playful smile, 'I brought an appetite for that as well. I shall try it…"
"Sure…What about the sweetness? When Aella came here, she couldn't eat something sweet, so I brought her a cake that was not sweet, and with the coffee, it neutralised the flavour. Do you share the same preference as your High Priestess, or would you like to try something different?"
"Aella treadeth carefully," She said, glancing at Aella. "However, I do not fear the sweetness of the fruit."
"Fruit, you say, huh? How about a cake with a fruit which you have never tasted before?"
"A fruit unbeknownst to me?" She asked, her mismatched eyes widening with genuine intrigue. "Thou dost speak boldly, Gardener. I know the taste of every berry that drinketh from the soil. But… I am listening."
"It's called a Strawberry," I said, moving to the inventory system. "And the reason you might not know it is because it grows on the ground, not a bush or a tree."
"A ground fruit…A berry that resteth upon the soil itself…" She mused.
I pulled out the Strawberry Shortcake. I placed a slice on a plate. The bright red fruit glistened like a jewel in front of her eyes. I set it down in front of her with a fork.
"Here," I said. "It's light, it's sweet…"
I glanced toward Aella and pulled the cheesecake. I placed a slice on a plate and set it down in front of her with a fork. As the two had cake in front of them…
Arum picked up the fork, handling it with delicate grace. She cut a small piece while ensuring she got the fruit, the cream and the cake. Placed it in her mouth. She chewed it slowly, and her eyes snapped open.
"Oh…"
A soft hum of pure pleasure escaped from her lips. For a moment, the scent of the shop changed with the intense aroma of wild berries and the warmth of summer wind.
"This sweetness…" Arum whispered. "It is not heavy like honey, nor cloying like nectar. It is… bright. It tasteth of the first light of dawn breaking through."
The way she speaks is always so poetic and full of imagery, making even the simplest things sound magical.
She looked at me with a dazzled, terrified smile spreading across her face. "Thou art right. I have never known this taste."
I glanced towards Orla, who didn't eat any cake. Her face seemed to hold an undisguised hunger directed entirely at the sweets. It was like she wanted to eat the cake.
I asked her, "Do you want a cake too, Orla?"
She didn't seem to answer, but her body showed she really wanted the cake.
"I'll get you a slice," I said. "And a drink. You look like you could use something comforting…"
"Actually," she interrupted, her voice quiet but firm. She looked at me, "Could I… could I have that orange drink again? The 'juice'?"
I blinked, surprised. "Orange juice it is," I said.
I went to the inventory and pulled out a fresh box, poured a tall glass over ice. The bright orange liquid seemed to glow. I placed it in front of her, along with a slice of the strawberry shortcake.
"Here you go," I said.
She stared at the glass. She picked it up, as her hands still trembling slightly. She took a desperate sip, closed her eyes as the cold sweetness hit her tongue.
"It is… life," she whispered.
I took a glance at Arum and Aella, and their face showed some curiosity about the drink.
Arum leaned forward as her mismatched eyes fixed on the bright orange water in Orla's glass.
"And what is this water sun that the Commander drinketh with such reverence?" she asked as her voice filled with gentle curiosity. "It beareth the color of the evening sky, yet it smelleth of sharp citrus."
"It's called Orange Juice," I explained. "As it comes from a fruit called an 'Orange'."
"'Orange'…" Aella repeated the word softly…
Arum turned her gaze to me. "Another fruit of the ground, Gardener? Like this 'Strawberry'?"
"Actually, no," I said. "This one grows on trees.
Arum's eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. "A tree fruit?" She looked from me to the glass as a flicker of disbelief crossed her face. "I know every root that drinketh water, and every branch that reacheth for the light. Yet I know not of a tree that beareth fruit of water gold."
I took an orange fruit from the inventory and showed it to them. "This is called orange…". I placed it on the table in front of them.
Arum leaned in as her mismatched eyes scanned the fruit as if she were reading a sacred text or ancient artefact in front of her. She didn't touch it at first; she simply hovered her hand over it.
"…It is encased in a skin like leather," she whispered with her wonder voice. "And the scent… even through the skin, it singeth of a sun that burneth brighter than ours."
She looked up at me with her expression of delighted defeat. "To think there are trees whose children I have never held, gardener. Thy garden is truly a realm of mysteries."
"Would you like to try it?" I asked. "It's different from the coffee. It's sweet, tart and very refreshing."
"I would," She nodded with her eyes sparkled. "If the Commander findeth life in, then it must possess a potent spirit."
I poured two smaller glasses of the cold juice and placed them before Arum and Aella.
Arum lifted the glass, admiring the way light caught the pulp swirling within the gold water, indeed. She took a sip.
"Hooo…" she breathed. "It is… sharp. Like a playful bite."
She took another sip and savoured it. "It does not taste of the earth, like the strawberry from the cake. It tasteth of the sun itself. It is bright. Radiant. It chaseth away the shadows of the mind."
"I'm glad you like it…"
…
..
.
I was so curious about Noella, why she didn't come here with Arum?
I asked them, "Where is Noella?" I asked, looking between Arum and Aella. "I thought she would come with you."
Aella set her glass of juice down gently. "She abideth in the Human realm," Aella continued, her voice calm. "Observing. With the Saintess coming hither, the balance in their capital shifteth. Noella is there to ensure… stability. And to watch for any moe 'battalions' that might resolve to march this way."
She glanced pointedly at Orla.
Orla set her fork down. "There are no such plans. The Lord of the Realm is just curious, not hostile."
"Trust is a slow-growing tree, Commander," Arum interjected. "It cannot be forced. Noella acteth as the eyes of the Forest where my own roots do not reach deep. Just as thou art the eyes of thy Lord here." Suddenly, her eyes went to my pocket where the ring was in there. "… Yet, I sense a peculiar seed in thy pocket, Gardener."
"It's… a gift," I said. "From the previous customer."
"A gift from my sister's child," Arum corrected as she knew the previous customer was Lilith. "I smell the ozone and ancient dust upon it. And… something else. A heartbeat that is not a heartbeat."
She leaned forward. "That seed is not dormant, gardener, it is caged."
Well I know that…
"It's not just a ring," I admitted. "It's a…vessel. For one of Lilith's other subordinates…Chistera…"
"Wherefore did Lilith grant thee the ring that holdeth Chistera?" Aella asked.
"Lilith saw Orla as eyes and ears from the human's realm in this place, so Lilith wanted to plant it too, her eyes and ears in this place with Chistera in here…"
"A counterbalance…" Arum whispered, her voice low and thoughtful. "Fire to match Stone. Chaos to match Order."