Page 50 of Of Potions and Honey
Amusement crept back into Yoni’s tone. “Are you planning anything uncouth?”
“Uncouth? Me?” Mira pressed a hand to her chest. “Such unfounded accusations!” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Only when I’m sure that nobody is watching.”
“You-” Yoni sputtered. “Not in the woods! There are so many bugs here, do you know how unpleasant that is?”
That piqued Mira’s curiosity. “Is that experience talking?”
“I-” This time, even Yoni’s strong tan couldn’t hide it – she was blushing fiercely. “How about we discuss that some other time? I’m hungry, and we’re almost at the spring.”
That they were. When they got there, the clearing lay in the midday sun. The flowers dotting the grass, fresh pink, yellow, and white, looked like candies strewn about, though the smell was one of heavy soil and fresh greens instead of vanilla and sugar. With the birdsong in the air and the gentlest of breezes rustling in the canopy, it was as close to a perfect day as Mira had experienced since she had moved to Emberglen. She stopped at the edge of the clearing to take a deep breath, eyes tightly closed to feel the sun on her skin more clearly.
“I should’ve come here so much sooner.”
Yoni laughed. “You can come here any time you want now, plenty of time to enjoy the place.”
“Mhmm.” Mira opened her eyes again. “I want to sit by the water, it’s the nicest spot.”
However, as they crossed the clearing, Yoni’s face fell. Mira, being somewhat more vertically challenged, took a moment longer to see what Yoni saw, and realise why.
“The water’s so low.”
They stared down into the pool, and down it was now. The waterline had dipped even further, drying out the shore and leaving white lines and dried algae behind. It looked like almost half the water was gone from the pool, even though the trickle that came through the rocks seemed to be as strong as it had been last time.
“It shouldn’t be like that,” Yoni said. “It rained so much Thursday night.”
“It’s been pretty dry in the weeks before that though,” Mira replied. “Might be it needs time to refill.”
“Maybe.” Yoni took a deep breath. “Maybe we should… sit somewhere else.”
“Yeah. That oak tree’s nice, too.”
So that was where they spread the faded old picnic blanket that Yoni had brought. They sat down and began to unpack their downright decadent meal. There were the two kinds of pastries Mira had brought, along with fresh pickings from her garden. She’d also picked up fresh bread the day before, and had brought along a jar of Kian’s orchard honey to go with it. Yoni’s contribution was a modest nut mix, a chocolate bar that was beginning to melt a little, and a generous flask of sweetened tea that smelled of herbs from her greenhouse. She studied the selection.
“If I had known you were going to bring that much, I would’ve put in a little more effort.”
“I said I’d get the food, so don’t worry about it.” Mira pointed at the pastries. “Savoury and sweet. I got cheese and bacon, and the strawberry ones.”
“My favourites.” There was a tiny waver in Yoni’s voice, but her smile was bright. “Thank you.”
“I had to, you know?” Mira tried to lighten the mood a little. “If I want to impress someone, I can’t just put in minimum effort.”
“Impress me, huh.” Yoni sounded thoughtful. “It’s been a while since someone tried that.”
Mira peered at her. “Is it working?”
Yoni pretended to be thinking very hard for a moment, tapping her chin with her finger. “I think that depends on how many of those strawberry pastries I can have…”
Mira laughed and pushed the plate closer to Yoni. “However many you want.”
All of them,she thought,as long as you keep coming here with me.
Twenty-One
SummerinEmberglenlargelyhappened outside. The same was true, in a way, for Willow Harbour, but things felt so different that Mira hardly recognised it as summer. Back in the city, there had been walks in the park or along the canal, cold tea purchased from windows and sipped on the way home after work. Street markets with stalls and vendors setting up along the curb. Here, she had none of that. Well, almost none of it. They’d stopped at thePeckish Pelican, where Emilia served cold apple cider, mead, and sweetened tea out the window, while Matteo was clanging pots and pans in the kitchen and singing off-key along to the radio. After that though, she and Kayden had made their way down to the village green, where half the town seemed to congregate as soon as the weather permitted – and sometimes even when it didn’t. They found a spot underneath a tree, near a group of elderly women and one slightly younger man sitting around a picnic table and discussing fibre arts while needles clicked ceaselessly. As soon as they got comfortable in the grass, Poppy turned to Kayden, tongue sticking sideways out of her mouth.
“Yes, go play!” He gestured to the open space. “Behave!”
With an excited bark, Poppy turned around and raced off to join a group of children playing with a leather ball nearby. Mira watched her seamlessly integrate into the game while the children’s shrieks and laughter drifted across the field.
