While Beth didn't work every day, the café was generally open from sun up to sun down. Some days, they just operated with a limited menu, and others, they only served drinks. Today, however, the White Moon Café was closed. Every once in a while, Beth would lock the doors and give the staff a day to do whatever they wanted. But this day was different, as Beth had something on her mind. She called a meeting, requesting that everyone meet her in the dining room just before lunch.
"Thanks for coming, everyone," Beth said, clutching her amulet tightly.
"Wait," Pax snorted, "was this mandatory?"
"Aye! You have somewhere else to be?" Arvid snapped back.
"Well, yeah, I do, actually. Palico City's having their annual Gorgefest, and I'd like to get something to eat before I compete," Pax snarled.
"Who pre-game's an eating competition by eating?" Justice was disgusted at the thought of Pax stuffing himself with food.
"A real pig of a man, that's who," Arvid threw the stale roll he was munching on at his hoggish co-worker. It hit him square in the snout, then rolled underneath the table.
Meat made a noise that resembled laughing from the corner.
"Aren't you a bundle of joy today?" Harper leered at Arvid.
"You know me, sweet as vinegar," Arvid sneered back.
Beth cleared her throat, "Right. Well, something is definitely in the air today. Remind me to have the repair guy check for a gas leak—"
"I'm the repair guy," Arvid responded.
"Yes. Arvid, after this meeting, please check for a gas leak," Beth jested. "Listen. I know you guys don't get too many days off, especially at the same time, and I really hate to gather you all here, but as you know—"
"Here we go," Pax murmured to Justice.
"—I do plan to retire soon. And when that day comes, I need to know—"
"—you need to know that we'll be okay. That we'll be able to continue with the legacy you built. That the White Moon Café will be around for generations to come—blah, blah, and some shit," Arvid finished her sentence. "Aye, lass, I'm old and probably senile, but I still remember your retirement speech."
"Really?" Beth looked surprised.
"Yeah. Let's be honest," Pax strained himself, reaching under the table and trying to grab the roll that was thrown at him, "Every time the café is closed for the day, you give us the retirement talk."
"No, I don't," Beth scoffed, "Do I?"
Justice silently brushed her shaggy hair out of her eyes, looking rather vexed.
"So, then, you all know what I expect?" Beth asked.
"Yeah," Pax snorted, "You expect Harper to run the show after you hang up the apron."
Beth looked at Harper like she had been caught in the act of something scandalous. "Do I really—?"
"Sweetie, we have your back. The café is safe with us. Trust me, I won't let you down," Harper winked and gave her the little pistol fingers.
"I know you won't," Beth put her arm around Harper's waist and gave her a half hug.
"Great, so can we go now?" Arvid hopped down from his stool.
"Not quite," Beth fired back, "I have one more exercise I wanted to do with you all. I know nobody wants to do work-related stuff on their day off, but without the café, the family that we have, this bond we share, wouldn't exist. Sure, we don't always see eye to eye on things, but we always persevere."
"If she breaks out into a song, I'm leaving," Justice whispered to Harper.
"I just want to get this out there right now, but if you're going to suggest we go around the room and hug each other, I'm not touching the pig man, but I'm okay with hugging Harper twice," Arvid said.
Harper's eyes widened, "How about nobody hugs Harper, like—at all! How's that sound?"
"Nobody is hugging anybody unless it's on your personal time and you both want to be hugged by each other." Sometimes, Beth couldn't believe the stuff she had to say to her staff.
"I'm up for any hugs, really—" Pax looked around the room, hoping for a taker. "Meat? How 'bout it, buddy? Got a hug for your ole' buddy, Pax?"
The shrouded one looked at the pig-man, then at Beth. He then looked at everyone in the room, who were also looking back at him.
"Holy shit, I think he considered it," Pax was wholesomely surprised.
"Like I said, hug on your own time. What I was getting at before, was I wanted to share the first moment I met each of you. Just to show how much you all truly mean to me and the White Moon Café. I might not show it often, but I love and cherish you guys, even if you sometimes make me want to headbutt blunt objects."
"Aw, she loves us," Pax squealed with delight.
"Alright, Loverboy, let's start with you," Beth said.
"Gladly," he snorts, "It was a long time ago when I first met the great horned one, Beth. I had just gotten kicked out of my parent's house because I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps and take over the family printing press. I never really got along with my old man, so he was basically looking for any little reason to tell me to get out. With nowhere to go, I started drifting from town to town, doing odd jobs for food and shelter. Long story short, I ended up on the doorstep of this cozy little cabin. I knocked on the door, and a little old lady answered. I pitched my services to her, but she didn't seem interested. I noticed a gold chalice on the mantle behind her before she closed the door, which convinced me to make the worst decision of my life. Tired of busting my balls for table scraps and nightly barn stays, I returned to the cabin after nightfall and planned to snatch the chalice. I didn't know what I was going to do with it or where I would take it, but I knew someone would pay handsomely for it. Needless to say, I never got the chalice, but I did get something even rarer."
"What's that?" Justice asked.
"I got turned into a pig! She cursed me, sticking me with this porky physique for all eternity. Yeah, real shitty hand I got dealt, but that was years ago. I've come to terms with my actions since then."
"What about Beth?" Justice asked, "When did she show up?"
"The old lady was a witch, and the curse turned me into a pig, but that wasn't all it did. It also bound me to the property. For years, I was a slave to that dastardly old hag. Rothol was her name. Sure, I deserved some sort of punishment for attempting to steal her chalice, but what she put me through far paid what I owed."
"Like what?" Harper asked.
"You name it," Pax grunted, "Tend her garden, feed her familiars, cook, clean, repair this, build that. Initially, the curse rendered me sleepless, which meant I was awake for years on end with nothing to do but her bidding. Finally, some travelers came by, and Rothol tried to haggle them out of their belongings. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for me, Beth was just down the trail, and I watched it happen. I watched from the window, smiling ear to ear, not moving an inch or shedding a tear while our fearless leader here tore out that witch's heart and handed it to her."
"Killing the witch didn't break the curse?" Justice asked.
"Not completely. It turns out Rothol was a mighty witch; she was just at the end of her years. The curse was strong, and when she died, I was freed of everything except the pig form."
"What a storybook ending," Arvid slowly clapped. "What about you kid? There's gotta be more to your story than being lost and found."
Witches have been around for a long time, but just how long, no one was quite sure. The facts state that their presence is thanks in part to a series of meteorites that rained down from the Heavens long before the recording of time. The various legends spoken by the elders claim that witches and warlocks thrived for many centuries until eventually being surpassed in population by humankind. Afraid of their magic and pagan nature, it soon became a common occurrence for towns to promote witch hunts to eradicate these mystical beings. It took generations for this heinous act to finally subside, and by the time people stopped hunting them, their numbers had dwindled so low that some folks don't even think they exist at all anymore. The truth, however, is that they're still out there, keeping their identities concealed and their magical powers and abilities hidden.
Justice looked around the room at everyone staring at her, waiting for her to tell her story about how she met Beth. "There's really not much to tell," she said softly. "It was a rainy night, and I was freezing. I remember hearing some strange noises, like a bear or something. I closed my eyes and prayed whatever it was wouldn't eat me. When I looked up, Beth was there."
"That's it?" Pax scoffed, "No witches? No heart-ripping finale? I'm sorry, I like ya kid, but your backstory needs some work."
"Why were you in the woods in the first place?" Harper asked.
"Because I didn't want to be in the orphanage anymore. Bad things happen there."
"Bad things?" Arvid reared back, "Like what?"
"Just bad things, okay. You wanted to know how I met Beth, and that's it. I ran away from the orphanage and got myself lost in the woods. Beth found me and brought me here. End of story, can we please move on to someone else?"
"Of course, sweetheart, we didn't mean to pry," Harper stretched across the table with her abnormally long reach and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Don't sweat it, okay?"
And that was her story in a nutshell. Beth understood why she didn't want to share it in front of everyone, as it wasn't the most flattering tale ever told. Not to mention, Pax and Arvid were known to cast some pretty harsh judgment, which is something the young orphan wanted to avoid as much as possible. While the others broke off into separate small conversations, Beth closed her eyes and recalled the time she met Justice.