67. Coffee (Patreon)

To say that Aloe had grown used to her job fast, was an understatement. Routine quickly set in; and before she knew it, she was reading parchments, signing missives, performing audiences, and going into meetings. Free time was scarce during her apprenticeship, but after having had more than a month with what could only be called free time, not even having an hour to herself felt stressful.

Two days passed by since she met Fayruz and Idris, and whilst it wasn’t much, Aloe found herself yearning already for the greenhouse. She had spent so much time with plants as of late that it felt weird to not have any around her. And it isn’t like potted plants will make the cut. She sighed, stopping her feather mid-stroke. I need to work with evolved plants, but any of them will raise a thousand alarms. Hmm...

“Lulu?” Aloe called for what appeared to be now her personal maid. There hadn’t been any announcement nor an official notice, but the last three days the fair-skinned maid had spent all the time with her.

“Y-yes?” Lulu jolted into motion, her voice trembling.

Aloe frowned. “Were you sleeping standing up?”

That didn’t surprise Aloe, it was almost dark already. It wasn’t that late, but Fayruz and Idris had already gone away – she didn’t know if it was to their homes or offices – after a day of work. Unfortunately for the scribe of commoners, she had still some unfinished business to attend to in the shape of accumulated work.

“Of course not.” The maid reassured. “That would be unpolite and unbecoming of my po-“

“Just sit down next time.” The scribe interjected before the woman would say something stupid.

“Understood.” Lulu’s tone was formal, but she was smiling in gratitude. “May I ask what you wanted from me, Aloe?”

“Could you bring some coffee?”

“Will that be all?”

“Actually, no.” Aloe had been waiting for that confirmation. “Could you also bring a coffee bean?”

“A bean?” Whilst her voice expressed doubt, Lulu’s visage remained as serene as always. She has a good mask.

“Yes.” Aloe nodded.

To her surprise and the maid’s merit, Lulu didn’t question it and left the room. Aloe cracked her neck and returned to her paper, a tally on the deaths of the plague in a nearby town – or so she assumed as it was within the emirate of Sadina – and a call for supplies. The subject made her sour, it hit too close to her heart to be comfortable with it, though that didn’t mean she could ignore it. It was comforting that the death toll in that town, Selen, was low; but not by much.

She sighed, out of both exhaustion and lament and decided to forward the petition to Tamara. This subject fell more into the area of the scribe of commerce. And after listening to Rani’s advice – if it could be called that – Aloe preferred not to use much of the coffers pertaining to the scribe of commoners.

By the time Lulu returned to the office, Aloe was on a new parchment, but she pushed it aside as she had only begun reading it.

“Here’s your coffee,” the maid put the saucer and cup on the desk, “and here’s your coffee bean.”

Now, there weren’t many reasons for a person to ask for a coffee bean, but Aloe didn’t want to make Lulu suspicious – even though the concept of Evolution was so convoluted and random that it couldn’t be guessed – so Aloe did the most logical thing after someone asked for a coffee bean.

She tasted it.

“Eek!” The scribe instantly cringed and pulled her tongue out at the foul taste. “It’s so sour!”

Lulu didn’t comment on it, but her face shifted in a meaningful deadpan stating: “What did you expect?”

Whilst her reaction wasn’t an act, the motion was premeditated. In the time that it took her to lick the bean, Aloe had pushed her vitality inside. Luck hadn’t been on her side with that one. Dunes. She had expected it, but it hurt, nonetheless. Well, I guess I should try with different seeds whenever I have the opportunity. A lot of seeds were used as condiments on many plates, so if she asked for them to the cooks, she could get them.

I can’t forget that maybe there’s some requirement I haven’t met yet. That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst discovery Aloe had made. She didn’t know if every plant could be evolved but knowing that some needed more materials than just the seed and vitality made her eyes twitch in paranoia. The sheer quantity of possibilities was overwhelming.

The scribe of commoners sighed in defeat and proceeded to taste her coffee. She liked it black with just a bit of milk, but she couldn't deny that a bit of honey helped. Not much though, she didn’t want to spoil the coffee.

“You can have coffee if you want, Lulu.” Aloe offered her the kettle.

“I’m fine, thank you.” The maid bowed politely.

Aloe loved how Lulu pampered her to no limit, but she couldn’t deny that the woman’s formality and humbleness irked her a bit. There was a point where one could be too humble, and Lulu was constantly getting there.

She kept her musings to herself. Lulu was a lovely person and Aloe didn’t want to offend her with petty critiques that highlighted more of her own problems rather than the maid’s. Her ponderation ended when someone swung the office door wide open. Has no one gotten the memo from the other day? Aloe frowned at the interruption. Who dares to-

It was the emir.

Aloe’s heart jumped out of her chest. I kept that to myself, haven’t I? Paranoia was louder than logic in her juggled mess of a brain.

“To what motif may you present yourself in this humble office, Rani,” Aloe said humbly as she slightly bowed down.

“I don’t really need a reason to visit my personal scribes, do I?” Rani smiled warmly, her eyes squinting yet some purple made it through.

That visage tells me otherwise. “Of course not.” The scribe of commoners also smiled, against her inner thoughts. “Please take a seat then, I can offer you coffee if you want. It’s been just brewed.”

“I’ll gladly take on that offer.” The emir pranced forward, yet her pace stopped the moment her eyes lay on the maid. “Could you leave us alone, Lulu?”

“Understood, my Emir.” Lulu bowed and made her way out, her reaction and mannerisms perfectly gelid.

Aloe frowned at the interaction.

“You know the name of every single servant of the palace?” She asked once the emir sat down and she began pouring coffee for her.

“Heavens, no.” Rani giggled softly behind her hand. “But I’ve been here long enough to at least know all the maids intimately.”

The sheer sultriness of the last word sent shivers down Aloe’s spine.

“I see...” Aloe downed her response and worries in a cup of coffee, not bothering to think what the sultanzade meant with those words.

Rani followed suit and drank from her cup. But she didn’t enjoy the warm beverage as much as the scribe did.

“Mm.” The emir grunted; her eyes squinted. “A bit of milk and sugar would do wonders. This is a bit too sour for my taste.”

If it had been another person, Aloe would have laughed at them and told them to tough up. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that to the ruler of the lands and the one who was paying her salary.

“I am so sorry. Please let me fetch some milk and sugar.” Aloe pushed her armchair backward and made a motion to stand up.

“Stop.” Yet the sultanzade interrupted her before she could.

Trembling slightly, Aloe obeyed her orders and rested her slightly risen bottom back on the armchair’s cushion.

“Ehm... so, why did you come to visit me, Rani?” Aloe tried to make the situation less hostile than it was. “If it’s about work, I can assure you that me and my team have it all under control and things should already start going back to normalcy.”

“That is nice to hear, but no. I am not here about your work efforts, though I won’t deny they are commendable.” Rani pushed her hands on top of the desk.

Her fingers were long and delicate. Aloe hadn’t known physical labor before the greenhouse inheritance, but her hands weren’t as nearly as tidy as the emir’s. Her fingernails were especially impeccable as they were coated with a shining purple paint. Instead of feeling like gemstones comparable to how it happened with her eyes, however, they felt like poisonous claws.

Their gazes met, sending more shivers down Aloe’s spine, bursting her heart into faster motion. There’s something about those eyes... The scribe of commoners blinked and cut direct line of sight, otherwise she felt like she would lose herself in those eyes.

“What I want is way simpler.” Rani smiled warmly at her reaction. “You.”