foundforaging

[foundforaging]

Chapter 2: Joanne and Nora

Within the few minutes that I had been in the library, Joanne already had Nora bring me some tea as we engaged in an intense debate.

"Constance tried to stop me on the way here, you know. She doesn't know when to leave people alone." I muttered as I sipped my tea, holding it on a saucer decorated by small flowers. The tea itself tasted like a blend of juniper and Saint Mary's Bloom, a flower known for its calming properties. While I wasn't stressed, it did help to make me relax my back and jaw a bit.

"I don't know what you have against her," Joanne replied with a raised brow, thumbing through a thick book and smoothing out the wrinkled pages, "She's a business woman, although an annoying one at that. She is a skilled seer, considering her experience."

"She uses divination to poke her nose where it doesn't belong, Jo," I shot back, my tone a little more volatile than I originally intended, "You at least have the decency to use divination to find things, not people's personal dilemmas."

"The way I use divination is within the constraints of my contract, Gabe," Joanne said, shaking her head and closing her book, "You know how Lord Everdale is about magic. I'm lucky enough to be able to use any at all, considering his latest tirade about how magic has doomed the economy." Joanne stood up and walked to her desk, muttering a quiet "rhabdophobics" as she did so. She looked frustrated, so I decided to change the topic.

"I've been reading about conjuring magic in other districts-- Did you know that District Three uses it to summon these things called familiars?" I asked as I stood up, leaning against her desk as she knealt behind it to rummage through a drawer.

"We'd never have the luxury of conjuring anything," She scoffed as she retrieved a small envelope from the drawer and placed it on top of the desk. It had a familiar seal on it and I felt a bit of dread run down my spine. "Joseph told me to give this to you if you came by. He didn't say who it was from, but... It looks fancy." Joanne gently nudged the envelope toward me and we made eye contact, as if she was expecting me to open it.

Reluctantly, I ran my finger under the seal-- red wax with a six petaled flower-- and I pulled the flap open. Inside was a small note with book titles and a caption below them, along with a few coins.

'Explorer's Horticulture by William Romanov.

Botany For The Misinformed by L. Liliana.

These should help you, my dear. Buy them from your friend-- you'll need them more than her.

- Auntie L.'

I dropped the coins into my palm and held them for a moment, then slid the paper to Joanne.

"Can you find these for me?" I asked, my voice surely quiet and shaking. Joanne raised a brow after reading the note, then nodded. Without the need for a catalogue, she walked by a shelf and grabbed one book, then grabbed another from a different shelf. Joanne's divination allowed her to find people and things, but only in the present. She couldn't see the future like Constance, or she chose not to. She never told me which.

"Who's Auntie L? I thought you didn't have any family besides Gwenny." Joanne inquired, placing the books on her desk as she reached for her stamp. I stopped her and pushed the coins toward her, her face twisting into confusion. "You're buying them? You've never... Since when do you have an acute interest in plants? You can hardly keep a White Yeastleaf alive." Joanne snickered, taking the coins and counting them. Satisfied, she dropped them into her purse.

"It's... It's a long story, Jo. Apparently I had a relative that died recently and she knew about me," I started, albeit hesitantly. I wasn't sure if I wanted to share this information or not. "But I had never met her. She wrote me into her will, though. I inherited a plant shop that she ran by herself, I guess." I just shrugged and ran my fingers over the books. One was leather bound, the Explorer's Horticulture book, and the other was made of some type of cardboard material. I recognized the signature on Botany For The Misinformed; it was the same one that had been on both of Lenora's letters.

I slipped the original letter out of my pocket and held it to Joanne who took it eagerly. She always loved a bit of excitement, especially on dreary days like today. I watched as she read it intently and gently ran her thumb across the key before looking up at me. A smile tugged at her lips, which was the opposite of what I was doing.

"Gabe, you have a business now! Have you been there yet? Surely you're excited about it?"

"I'm far from it, frankly. I've never managed a business before, especially not a plant shop. What makes you think I even want to deal with this?" I muttered, reaching for the letter from Joanne's hands. She already knew the address, I was sure of it. Maybe her and Constance had something in common; they can't keep their noses out of my business.

"It's just a few blocks from Dahlia's shop. We should go there, it could be a little outing for the both of us." Joanne said with a grin branded on her lips, waving to get Nora's attention from across the library. I watched her blonde head poke out from behind a shelf, waiting for a command. "Nora, keep the library running while we're gone, won't you? I trust that you're confident in your abilities?"

Nora nodded quickly and practically skipped to the counter, seemingly elated over Joanne's sudden trust in her. "Yes, ma'am! It'll be like you never left." She said confidently, her hands on her hips and her feet together. She reminded me of a child sometimes, despite her and I being only a few years apart. Joanne, the eldest of us three, likely viewed her as such.

As much as I didn't want to accompany Joanne in her mission to rummage through my dead aunt's store, I couldn't deny that her excitement was infectious. Begrudgingly, I took the key from Joanne and motioned to the door.

"You're leading me, I hope you know. I've never been there before." I said with a small chuckled in my throat, which Joanne ignored.

"I already know my way," she replied, a strange cloudiness glazing over her eyes. She always had this look on her face when she used her magic, as if she was trying to calm herself. "Come along, then. Be good, Nora."

As soon as the door was shut behind us, we were met with a familiar face.

"Going somewhere, aren't we? What's the occasion?" Constance asked with a grin, casuing me to roll my eyes.

"Like you don't know, Constance. Could you stop following me around everywhere? I'm not buying a reading from you." I replied as I nudged past her with Joanne at my heels.

"You wound me, Gabriel. Your aunt was an interesting lady, I heard... I bet she had some dirty laundry to air out."

"And if she did, it's none of your concern. Good day, Constance."

I began to walk away rather swiftly, nearly causing Joanne to stumble with the sudden pace change. She just patted my back to ease my frustration, but I was already upset over a second interaction with Constance. She just didn't know when to leave people alone.

#FoundForaging #bookworm #reading #novel writing #novelist #original work #dark fantasy #original story

[foundforaging]

  Chapter 1: Gabriel

    I was half tempted to throw the thing away, the key that rested heavily in the unsealed envelope. It was brass and had a ribbon tied neatly around the bow, as if it was a gift. I thought it was anything but that, considering the letter that came with it. Being told my family was next to nothing to "Auntie Lenora" was one thing, but being told that she didn't want to take care of me was another.

      It wasn't that my caretaker didn't do a good enough job raising me; she was a retired teacher, after all. Gwendolyn was a generally agreeable person for her age, despite her incessant complaining about aches and pains. Her parenting style was much different from others that I had seen; she was strict yet fair. She valued education and knowledge, incorporating it into my childhood with relatively good results. I never had to be enrolled in a public school because of it.

      Placing the key and letter on my desk, I continued to go along with my morning that was interrupted by the sudden mail delivery. I combed my hair so it looked less like a frazzled mess, I brushed my teeth for a minute and a half, and I scrubbed my face with a balm that was meant to ward off acne. I looked different from most people in District Five with my dark complexion and my brown, nearly black hair. My eyes were a soft green color that Gwendolyn always bragged about with other parent figures and I was just barely average height. I made sure to keep my face shaven, although sometimes stubble grew and I became too busy or lazy to tend to it.

      Most people in District Five followed similar traits: Reddish brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and lanky figures. Most elders, like Gwendolyn, had hair that faded to a light gray rather than white. My heritage points toward a lower district, perhaps District Eight or Nine. Without parents or any living relatives to ask, I will probably never know where I'm from. Not that it mattered; for all I care, I'm from Galeah. I've never been anywhere else.

      Once I finished my morning routine, I placed the key and the letter, which I folded neatly into a square, in my shirt pocket and went down stairs. Gwendolyn's house always smelled like tea and fresh bread due to her baking habits, but today it smelled like rain. The house was old, but it had charm. The walls were brick and the floors were old wooden planks that creaked with nearly every step, unless you memorized the silent ones. I've memorized the silent ones.

      "Good morning, Ma'am," I said to Gwendolyn, who was rocking in her chair while drinking a cup of tea for her breakfast, "Did Joseph leave anything else for us?" Joseph was the mail man for most of Galeah, aside from the few houses that scattered themselves across the outskirts of Galeah.

      Gwendolyn shook her head and sipped her tea, her hair tied in a tight bun atop her head. "He only brought that letter for you. What was in there, anyway?" She asked with a curious tone, turning her fading blue eyes toward me. I cleared my throat and shook my head dismissively. She didn't need to worry about my current affairs, especially when she can't handle stress from her own life.

      "It was a letter from Joanne. She was letting me know that a book that I've been waiting on is in, finally. Would you like for me to tell her you said hello?" I lied, tapping a stack of mail from the previous day against the kitchen counter before topping off Gwendolyn's tea. She used to be good at catching me in lies, but she had grown less sharp at her age.

      "Tell her that she must visit soon. She hasn't been by in a while." Gwendolyn replied softly, staring into the dwindling fire in the hearth. I bit back a frown and retrieved Gwendolyn's book from a nearby table. Joanne had just visited two days ago.

      "I'll tell her." I promised as I put on my coat and took my umbrella from beside the back door, then opened it as the rain began to pelt me. I shut the door behind me, locking it, and stepped out into the cobblestone streets. Galeah was far from what one would consider a happy town; it was quite dreary compared to most picturesque places. District Five was known for its vast swamps and bogs, so Galeah was no different. Swamps were far from a good vacation spot.

      Gwendolyn lived in town, far from any of the rural areas that surrounded Galeah. East of her house was the bakery where Mrs. Grim has been making the same bread every single day, while even further east was Dahlia Anise's family confectionery. To the west was the market and Constance's fortune telling tent. Eventually, Joanne's library was visible from the market.

      Joanne and I had grown up together, in some sense. She was only a few years older than me and Gwendolyn made me a frequent library goer, leading us to meet when she was just an assistant. I considered her one of my closest friends, even when we hardly saw each other outside of the library. She fit the description of most District Five natives; reddish brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and likely over six feet tall. She kept her long, spindly hair in a bun and she wore small, round golden glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose. She had sharp features, most notably was her hands. She constantly fidgeted with them and they seemed boney, though far from delicate. I made a habit of watching her.

      My thoughts were interrupted by Constance, a non native like me. She was above average in height and had platinum blonde hair and brown eyes.

      "You seem troubled, my dear. Would you like your fortune read?" She asked, an edge in her voice and a devious smirk on her face. I didn't mean to, but I definitely gave her a look.

      "Not today, Constance. I'm fine." I replied dismissively, trying to walk away faster. Constance matched my pace.

      "But I see it on your face, Gabriel! You've received terrible news," She exclaimed with a fake expression of worry, "You must come in for a reading! I can give you a discount if you'd--"

      "No, Constance." I shot back at her firmly, earning a fake hurt expression and a pout.

      "Fine, suit yourself. It's like you haven't heard of good business advertising," She muttered as she turned away from me, "Which you'll need, by the way."

      I let Constance's comment send a shiver through me, but ultimately I let it go. She had nothing better to do than harass townspeople, I considered my time more important than a fortune reading. I've never liked how she used divination, anyway.

      Joanne's library was rather neatly decorated. It had large front windows with advertisements for new books, drawn by Joanne herself. It also had listing for local jobs and occasional ads for small buisinesses, which Joanne supported when she could. The building was covered in a thick ivy that draped over the brick walls, leading the eye to the front door. The door was green, matching the rest of the building and giving it a cozy look. I turned the knob and pressed my shoulder against the door, pulling it open and feeling the rush of warm, paper scented air against me.

      "Oh, Joanne! Your friend is--" Someone said as they were cut off by a short squeal, then a thud. Nora, Joanne's assistant, rubbed her elbow as she quickly scrambled off of the ground and tried to pick up the now scattered pages of a book from the floor, just as Joanne exited the work room.

      "Nora, what have I told you about watching where you're going?" She said softly, not a hint of aggression in her voice, just bitter disappointment. Turning her gaze from Nora to me, Joanne smiled at me.

      "Nice of you to stop by for once, Gabe."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 0 is posted on my account.

#dark fantasy #novelist #fantasy #bookworm #reading #fiction #FoundForaging

[foundforaging]

Chapter Zero: Prologue

My dearest Gabriel,

      You do not know me. We are kin, but you have never met me and I have never taken the liberty of being in your life. I know you enough to say that I claim you as my kin, unlike your mother or other relatives. You are different, Gabriel. You are special to me. I see much of myself in you.

     You must be wondering who I am. I am your Auntie Lenora, owner of Auntie's Floral and Botanical Alchemy, and I am dead. You've never been to my shop, of course, I tend to avoid drawing your attention. Rather, I've been paying attention to you. You're rather peculiar compared to the rest of our kin, those who I refuse to claim. You're controlled, stubborn, and spiteful.

     You're similar to me, more than anyone.

     In this letter, I'll have the key to my store. It is yours now. You're the only person that I trust to take care of it for me. I've left instructions for you in my desk for how to fulfill orders and such, as well as the beginning of a catalogue for my plants. I want you to figure out how to identify them yourself, as that is part of being a botanist.

     Remember, I'm proud of you, my dearest Gabriel.

     Don't disappoint me.

     With adoration,

     Auntie Lenora Liliana.

#FoundForaging #dark fantasy #fiction #original story #original work #novel writing