Page 60 of Of Potions and Honey
“To pay off that loan and stay? Maybe.” Mira saw immediately that this was not what Yoni had hoped to hear, but she owed her the truth. “I’m hoping that I can. I really do want to stay. Not just for the shop and the house.” She gave the next words a moment to breathe. “For the people, too.”
“For the…” Yoni took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I… Not yet.”
“We don’t have to figure that out right now, too,” Mira said gently, however much she wanted to come around that table and give Yoni the tightest hug she could muster. “One step after the other.”
Jaw set, Yoni nodded and abruptly stood, her chair scraping across the wooden floor. “Right. One step after the other. First step, I’ll make some tea. I think I need that right now. Do you want a cup?”
Mira smiled, worn out and tired, but with a glimmer of hope again. Maybe all of this was salvageable after all. “Yes. Some tea would be nice.”
Twenty-Five
“Wait,that’sit?”Kaydenstared at the bottles. “That’s what all the fuss is about? It doesn’t even look nice.”
No, it really did not. Mira had all but forgotten how boring of a product this was, even compared to some of the other things Golden River was selling. Like the exceedingly beige welcome mats where the entire first batch had spelled ‘weclome’ in a slightly different shade of beige. Very small bottles, too, for a price Rue had complained about twice, though she had acknowledged the money Mira had sent along with her request. She had also sent back several questions that Mira could not comfortably answer just yet. Though after today, maybe she could.
“It might not be the final version, I think they’re testing if there is a market for it.”
“A market forourwater,” Yoni muttered. Kayden nudged her.
“We don’t know that yet.”
“Hopefully, we will once we get to the spring,” Mira said. “You really think Poppy can do this?”
“She once smelled her favourite cheese in the neighbours’ ice box and kept whining at their back door until she could have a piece,” Kayden said dryly. “Yes, I’m sure she can.”
“What’s that on the label?” Yoni picked up a bottle and inspected it. “Is that the fountain?”
“What?” Mira leaned in, squinting at the label – and immediately leaned back the second she realised how close she was. “Uh. Sorry. It might be? It’s so small, it’s a bit of a blob.”
The shape did look familiar, and now that Yoni had said it, Mira thought she could make out the tiers of the fountain, and the shape on top might be a honeycomb, if one was generous with the definition of a honeycomb, and a shape.
Yoni put the bottle back on Mira’s kitchen table with a little more force than necessary. “If that is the fountain, they have some brass balls, advertising their thievery like that.”
“How about we stop speculating on that until we know for sure?” Kayden suggested. He held up his hands when both Yoni and Mira looked at him. “Come on, I’m just saying, we can’t draw any conclusions that might land us in a solicitor’s office if they reach the wrong ears.”
Mira huffed. “Fine.” She grabbed two of the four bottles and put them in her bag. “Let’s get going then, so we know for sure if we’re mad at the right people.”
They set off on what from the outside probably looked like a leisurely walk. The atmosphere was a little tense though, and even Poppy picked up on it. Contrary to her usual habits, she didn’t run far ahead. Instead she stayed close, looking back every so often to make sure her humans were, in fact, still there, seeing as they didn’t talk much on the way to the spring.
A little ways away from their destination, Kayden slowed, then stopped.
“All right. I’ll send her from here.”
Mira eyed the trail ahead. “All the way? We’re at least five minutes away.”
Kayden shrugged. “I figured if she can smell it from here, it’s a safe bet that it’s the same stuff, and she didn’t just smell ‘water’.”
“All right then.” Mira took out a bottle and opened it. “Here goes nothing.”
Kayden crouched down, bottle in hand. “Poppy!”
The dog, who had stuck her entire head into a bush, perked up and obediently trotted over.
“I need you to find something.” Kayden held out the bottle. “Find, you know that, don’t you, girl?” He waited for Poppy to sniff around the bottle a few times. “Find!”
All four of Poppy’s ears went up, and she went very still for a moment. Then, like an arrow loosed from a bow, she turned around and shot off along the trail, deeper into the forest. Towards the spring. Kayden quickly put the cap back onto the bottle.
“All right, let’s go.”
