NOVEL NEXT 12: The Sun and The Moon
Drinking and chatting while waiting for the pastries to finish, Astrid and Valencia were interrupted by the opening door and the twinkling bell chimes. Pushing herself up while tying back her hair, Valencia motioned for Astrid to stay seated as she greeted the two customers. “Good morning, how can I help you? Feel free to take a seat at the front counter here or at a nearby table!”
Waving at the customers, Valencia made her way further back into the kitchen, squatting down to check on the pastries. With the guests sitting on the other side of the counter, Astrid smiled and greeted them before sliding over a pair of menus. “Please let me know if you have any questions or want any recommendations!”
“Ahh, thank you,” the golden-haired man nodded, putting the menu down between him and the silver-haired woman before propping his chin up with a hand while a smile broke onto his face. “Nice to meet you, what’s your name?”
“I’m Astrid! Just kinda an assistant shopkeeper of sorts. What are both of your names?” Astrid laughed while trying to copy the position of a half-flirty, half-genuine smile.
Drawing a faint snicker from the woman, Astrid grinned and returned to a normal position as she listened to the silver-haired woman’s introductions. “He’s Aelius and I’m Luna. We’re siblings, though our temperaments may suggest otherwise. We’re not very interesting people, in all honesty.”
With a delivery drier than a desert, Luna took a second, pondering if there was anything else to say. Thinking of nothing, she waved it over to Aelius before looking down at the menu. Leaning back into his chair and tapping his chin with a thoughtful murmur, Aelius shrugged, “I don’t really have anything either. Any recommendations on tea? I’m looking for something with a little more healing today, if you catch my drift.”
“I... don’t catch your drift,” Astrid confessed after a moment of baffled processing. “I guess it’d be easier to start off with some simple questions. Would you prefer an herbal or non-herbal tea?”
“Hmm...” Luna interjected before Aelius could answer, “Probably an herbal. I’ve been having a lot of black tea recently, I want to mix it up.”
“Sounds good, sounds good,” Astrid acknowledged, leaning over the counter to tap on the menu, “Then I’d recommend any of these three herbal teas at the bottom of the section here. No tea has any direct ‘healing’ properties like what Aelius mentioned. However, those three have varying pain relieving qualities while being a good tea to break up any black tea burnout you might have.”
“Peppermint, ginger, and... rosehip... I see.” Luna murmured with a faint eyebrow raise. Though the three teas were at the bottom of the menu, Luna chuckled and made a mental note to come back at a later date seeing the loopy handwriting cheering about more teas being added in the future.
Putting some water onto the stove on the way back from the oven, Valencia slid into the seat beside Astrid while wrapping an arm over her shoulder. “Take your time with deciding, I’m sure you can tell, there’s no rush.”
With Luna looking at the menu, Aelius, Valencia, and Astrid talked for a couple of minutes. It wasn’t until later before Luna piped up, “Could you make a pot of peppermint tea?”
“Yes ma’am! Coming right up!” Astrid laughed, pushing herself out of her seat before Valencia could stop her. “It should be about five minutes, so feel free to continue chatting!”
Watching Astrid going off to the bathroom after her tea preparation, Valencia spun in her chair back towards Aelius and Luna with a sharp gaze. “So... What are you two doing here? Hmm?”
Interlacing her fingers with an empty smile, Valencia propped her chin onto her hands. “Anything you’d like to... you know~ tell me about? Any excuses you’d like to make?”
Silence so solid it could be touched was the only result after Valencia’s... kind inquiry. Minutes ticked by as Luna’s lips glued together like rocks, her body still like a statue. Aelius drummed his fingers against the table, shifting and averting his eyes like a cloud running from the sun.
“We were just... coming by to form a connection.” Aelius admitted after a moment of hesitant consideration.
“Sure...” Valencia grinned, raising her eyebrow. “Just making a connection huh. I assume with Astrid, yeah? The one with the lovely healing powers. I assume not with an old, scary, violent woman like me, eh? I assume just like Morgana and Casimir who came by this morning, or nah?”
“Yeah, probably just like them,” Luna coughed, as she shrunk under Valencia’s oncoming pressure. “It’s okay, we don’t have malicious intentions.”
“Sure, sure, I definitely believe you.” Valencia waved the two off as a text leapt to light on her phone. “I’m watching you though, do anything to threaten Astrid and... you know. Anyway, you two get off easy this time... I just got a text to take the tea off the stove.”
With the pressure disappearing as fast as it came, Valencia poured the two leaders of the Church their cups of tea as conversation limped its way back to life.
“So... darling, huh?” Luna asked, having snuck a glance at the texter ID flashing on Valencia’s phone. “Count me surprised. Especially for you...”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s none of your business. Stop burrowing your way into my privacy, you weirdo. Just think of it as the reason I came back to Marcen’s Cliffs and opened a shop.” Valencia dismissed as both Aelius and Luna made a mental note to spread to the rest of the Church. “How’s the tea?”
“It’s good,” Aelius nodded, without much to say as an air of faint hesitation wafted off of him. “How is it for you Luna? Does the healing match up to the expectations we were given?”
Speechless, Luna downed the rest of the cup in one go before pouring herself some more tea. “It... actually does heal very well. If I had to hazard a guess it’s... very much so better than what Adelyn reported...”
Beyond baffled, Luna took off her jacket and lifted the front of her tank top just enough to reveal a half-healed stomach wound. Rolling her shoulders, Luna’s stoic expression cracked as an incomprehensible murmured ball of words tumbled its way out of her mouth.
Feeling the muscles between her shoulder blades stitch themselves back together while her half-healed stomach wound waltzed its way into a fully-healed stomach wound underneath its bandage, Luna put her jacket back on. “What the hell are you putting into this tea? This was a wound from a level six-and-a-half monster!”
“Astrid just mixes her healing powers into the tea as she makes it...” Valencia sighed, kneading her eyebrows, “I really didn’t think she had recovered and improved this fast though...”
“I... see...” Aelius murmured, glad his random blurting actually did end up helping Luna.
“I can see it on your face.” Valencia sighed, pouring two cups back out for the two baffled deities. “You’re free to come by as much as you want, whenever you need. But you have to act normal, be nice, and not piss me off.”
“T... That we can do.” Luna assented, continuing to sip the tea as Aelius pushed his own teacup to Luna. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Valencia rolled her eyes as a faint grin flitted across her face. “Shut up though...”
““What...?””
