Page 30 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
“For your fancy tea?” Iris prodded.
“My chai!” Lira clapped her hands. “You sourced them already?”
Iris winked at her as she started to retrieve small burlap sacks from her basket. “Most of them I had, even if they were buried in my storeroom, and the others I got from an herbalist who was passing through.”
Lira picked up one bag and then the next, pressing them to her nose to inhale the spicy aroma of cardamom pods, the fresh bite of ginger, and the sweetness of cinnamon sticks. “This is perfect. Thank you.”
Iris emptied the basket and then lowered it to the floor by her feet. “My pleasure, love.”
Crumpet took this as an invitation to fly down and inspect the empty basket himself.
Iris didn’t jump or even flinch at the creature’s presence, no doubt inured by having a flock of bookwyrms. “So that’s where the rascal went!”
Lira gaped at Iris. “You know him?”
The woman held out a hand and the white ermine scampered over and sniffed it before giving her fingers a little lick. “He’s a flutter-stoat.”
“A flutter-stoat?” She narrowed her eyes at the apothecary. “Should I assume he came about in much the same way as the bookwyrms?”
Iris shrugged.
“How many enchanted creatures are wandering around Wayside?”
“No comment.”
Lira sighed. “Well, I call him Crumpet. He showed up when I started baking and seems to have an eye for pastry.”
Iris scrutinized the flutter-stoat as he leapt back to the counter. “Hmm.” Then she gave herself a little shake and beamed a smile at Lira. “Now are you going to brew some of this fancy tea from The Wild Reach or are you going to make me beg?”
Lira flushed with pleasure at the request. “I’d love to, but fair warning, I’ve never made it from scratch.”
Iris shrugged and leaned against the table. “I don’t mind being your test subject. I did it enough for your gran.”
Lira laughed at this as she put a saucepan on the stove and poured in equal amounts of milk and water. Then she whirled on the woman. “Do you happen to remember any of her recipes?”
Iris blinked a few times as if digesting the question. “Your gran’s recipes?” She shook her head, and her curls quivered. “I’m afraid I never learned them. Not that she wouldn’t have shared them. She was generous with her baking, and that included recipes. I never asked because I don’t bake.”
Now that she thought about it, she’d never seen Iris bake or cook. Did the woman subsist on tea alone? She was just wiry enough that she might.
“Since your gran passed, I’ve had to rely on Pip.”
Well, that answered that.
“But he doesn’t make the treats your gran did. The village keeps him busy enough doing morning buns and loaves for slicing, but I miss your gran’s teacakes. They were perfect with a cup of tea, and you know I love my tea.” The woman sighed then she perked up as she glanced around the kitchen. “Are you baking her recipes?”
Lira stirred the warming milk with a wooden spoon. “If I can remember them.”
Iris reached for her free hand and squeezed it. “I wish I could help, love.”
Lira wished she could too. She began to open the tiny bags and empty the contents onto the table, savoring the aromas wafting up. She dropped a few of the green cardamom pods into the milk along with a pinch of whole, knobby cloves and a snugly curled cinnamon stick.
Then she thought about what she’d forgotten to ask Iris when she’d been at her shop, what she’d been wondering for years. “There is one thing you can help me with.”
Iris straightened.
“What is that heavenly smell?”
As Sass walked in breathing deeply, they both turned.
