Page 1 of Must Love Moss and Moonshine
CHAPTER1
TANSY
Music poured through the lattice-paned windows of the Jolly Porcupine, where patrons sang a raucous round ofHis Bonnie Rune Elf Lass.The scents of harvest ale, roasting meat, and freshly baked herbed bread wafted from the place.Warm, golden light shone from the door as other patrons entered.Despite the warmth coming from inside, a cool autumn breeze whipped down the street outside, making me shiver.
“Gods, I’m starving,” I complained.
“You’re always hungry,” Bromir replied.“I, on the other hand, am as thirsty as a desert cat.”
“Then you must always be thirsty, because you never miss a tavern.Ever,” I said, poking the dwarf playfully in the ribs.“Not even when we’re in a hurry,” I added, giving him a knowing look.
“We’re not in a hurry.You’rein a hurry, partner,” Bromir replied.“Wendy, talk some sense into Tansy.She’s been chewing my ear off all day about leaving for Moonshine Hollow tomorrow morning.”
Wendy, her hair coiled high on her head in the fashionable gnomish style, beautifully adorned for the autumn season with ruby-red leaves, acorns, and golden berries, looked back at us.
“Get into the middle of an argument between you two?Oh, no.I ken better than that,” she said with a laugh.
“But Bromir—” I began, about to launch into what felt like my hundredth case as to why we shouldn’t linger in the little hamlet of Silverpine but set off for Moonshine Hollow and its profitable market in the morning.While Bromir’s metal smithing was the perfect companion to my enchanted jewelry making, my business partner and I were sometimes at odds with the importance of coin.Bromir loved the journey.He adored life on the road.I had my own motivations, and right now, my primary driver was making as much coin as possible.
Our argument was interrupted, however, when Cooper, the tanner, joined us.“Look, Tansy,” he said, pointing through the open tavern door.“They have apple handpies.See them on the counter?Let’s go,” he said, looping his arm in mine and pulling me inside.
The moment we entered the tavern, a wave of warmth and light washed over me.I smiled, seeing all the merry patrons.
“Misty!”Cooper called to the seer who traveled with us.She was already settled in with some others from our caravan at the back of the tavern.The lanky human then led me away from the dwarf—and our argument.
I looked over my shoulder at Bromir.“You put him up to this,” I called.
“Did not, but I’ll get you a drink.”
“And an apple handpie!”I called back.
At that, Bromir laughed then nodded.
The members of our caravan crowded into the small locale.Jonsie, the bard who rode with us, had taken his flute and joined an accordion player and a mandolin player.The three of them had everyone singing along or laughing at their bawdy tune.
Cooper and I squeezed in alongside Misty and several of the others from our party.Silverpine Village was the last stop on our journey before we got to Moonshine Hollow.Past seasons on the road told me that my caravan loved Silverpine.Many of them would drink the week away here.They’d set off for Moonshine Hollow’s massive autumn market at the end of the week, but because they loved to linger, they’d be the last to set up.They’d get the worst booth placement and have no extra time to prepare their wares.That was why I had been nagging Bromir for the last two days to ride on without the others.If we got to Moonshine Hollow first, we’d be assigned the best booths and have extra time to make more goods to sell.Two wins.It all seemed perfectly logical to me, but not so much to the dwarf who liked a diversion.
I looked back to see Bromir heaving two massive tankards as he made his way across the tavern toward me.
“Did you tell the barkeep I’m not a dwarf?”I asked with a laugh as he set the huge vat of ale down with a slosh.“Should I drink that or bathe in it?”
“I expect you to drinkhalfof it,” Bromir said, his moustache already trimmed with the ale’s white foam, “so I can drink the other half.
“As for him,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder with his chin at the barkeep, “he might have other ideas.”
I followed Bromir’s gaze to the strapping black-haired barkeep.When he caught me looking, he flicked his gaze up from under a rogue lock of hair and gave me the kind of smile that made my stomach knot and my mind bubble with what probably amounted to very bad ideas.
“He was askin’ questions,” Bromir told me.
“What kind of questions?”I replied, pulling the tankard toward me.“Gods, if I drink all this, I won’t see straight for a week.So, what did he ask you?”
“If you were Cooper’s girl.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What did you say?”
