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.
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Pesto
Here in our part of Northumberland Spring comes with the scent of Garlic.
Around our village are small areas of woodland which at this time of year, before the trees come into leaf, are carpeted with Wild Garlic plants. Brilliantly green with white flowers the smell as you walk past is intoxicating . . .
Pesto is one of those dishes whose ingredients can be varied with what you have at hand, something green, some nuts, garlic, lemon juice and an oil.
This was todays version adapted from one I found on the internet.
You'll need :
Two or three handfuls of Wild Garlic
A small handful of walnuts
Half a cup of mature Cheddar cheese
A clove of Garlic
The juice of a Lemon
Salt, Pepper and 5 or six tablespoons of Olive Oil.
Peel, roughly chop or squeeze each ingredient as appropriate and put everything except the Olive oil into a blender.
Blend to a coarse paste, you'll need to stop occasionally to scrape it down the sides. Taste it and adjust for flavour : I added another handful of Wild Garlic and a little more salt.
Finally finish by drizzling in the olive oil with the blender running.
Pop into a jar and it will keep for a few days in the fridge.
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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.
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