Mortal Delights(2)

  “You’ve gotten pretty good at this Emma.” Vreena said, smiling at our server

  “Ehehhehe —well it’s been over a year now, so I’ve had a lot of practice." Emma's reddening cheeks deepened — half from exhaustion, half from fulfillment.

  She surveyed our strange gathering before tipping over the counter to look down at me.

  “Madam is this...your son?” My contrasting appearance must have been responsible for the obvious hint of confusion on her face. I can only imagine her reaction if she ever saw what I looked like before.

  “Yea this is Liam, he’s four years old. By the way you don’t have to keep calling me ‘madam’ you know, Julia will do just fine.”

  “Alright, then you can just call me Emma.” she responded curtly, suppressing her shock.

  The tender smiles this girl was giving us felt nothing less than natural, and yet there was something curiously strange about this situation.

  “My you two seem to be getting along quite well, and here I thought I’d have to introduce you to each other.” Vreena perkily cut in, her tone suffused with a pleasant hint of surprise.

  “She’s stopped by here a few times, so I’m a little familiar with her.” Emma answered.

  “I guess its not all that strange. Zale isn’t that big anyway so you’d be hard pressed to find any strange faces around here.” Reaching into her robe, the elder produced out a single silver coin and placed it on the wooden countertop.

  “I’ll have two of those Faerie buns.”

  Emma’s gave a blank stare to the piece of metal on the table. After the shocking realization hit her like a thunderbolt, she immediately fell into a flustered panic

  “W-w-w-wait a minute elder Vreena! That’s way too much money for a few-”

  Her fit of confusion came to an end upon seeing the old woman raise her palm. It wasn’t meant to be anything intimidating or threatening, coupled with the gentle smile on her face the gesture had actually come off as being reassuring.

  “Take it. If you don’t want it for free then give me as many buns as that can buy, I’m sure there’s someone out here who’ll appreciate it.”

  Taking a deep breath, she shook her head in quiet compliance.

  “What an honest girl.” Julia muttered absentmindedly, her expression showing a quiet pleasure at the touching sight.

  “I think I’ll have two Faerie buns. Let’s see if Liam will end up liking these.” Following in Vreena’s lead, she placed her order with an aura of anticipation. She had deliberately mentioned my name earlier, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that, out of everyone here, she was the most anxious to receive her order.

  “Here you go, this is about as fresh as you can get em’!”

  After five minutes, Emma finally finished the human cuisine and placed a few strange boxes on the countertop. Wafting from them was a white trail of murky steam that seemed almost viscous in its erratic motions. The aroma from the freshly made pastries was rode along the captivating stream of hot air, once again inviting a reply from my mortal body.

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  “Fufu; Looks like you can’t wait anymore.” Julia remarked, sporting an eager grin. She opened the thin box and placed it in my hands with an ecstatic look on her face.

  “Go on Liam, try it”

  At her word, I took a bite from the surprisingly soft pastry, the delicate structure melted in my mouth and a flood of new sensation temporarily blanketed my mind. In a single, blank moment, the box I had been holding was empty, leaving only the sticky residue on my hands and mouth as evidence.

  The three people before me stared in amazement, holding back their mellowing expressions for as long as they could before bursting into laughter.

  “Heh-heh-heh! Was it really that good, Liam?” Julia—now chuckling to herself — stooped to my aid with a handkerchief.

  “....It was sweet.” I responded, struggling to suppress my bashful expression.

  Emma’s face sparked red with the brightness of the evening’s sunset. It seems she inadvertently took my offhand comment as a compliment

  “Look at that, Emma it looks like you’ve actually got me beat here. It's the first time I’ve ever seen Liam eaten anything that quickly. Is there some secret ingredient in your recipe?” Julia asked, her tone cautiously probing.

  “N-no not at all! I just made it the usual way.”

  The bashful girl timidly replied, her face still a beet red color.

  “I see. Well either way, you still did a really good job there’s no going around that. Good work, Emma.”

  At first she flinched from Julia's praise but eventually, she responded gracefully by giving a bow.

  Since I was starting to get a handle on my strange suspicion, I decided that now was the best time for me to test my hypothesis.

  Stepping forward, I posed a question to the child looking down on me -

  “Emma, are you sad?”

  Emma's face went completely blank, as though her usual array of emotions had been overtaken by something murky and unsettling. She stood there in silence, eyes wide and lips trembling. From my position it was hard to tell, but it seemed like though her entire body was discreetly trembling.

  There was an odd crunching sound, and from the corner of my eyes I saw the old woman— Vreena clamp down on her round-top staff, casting her dreary gaze to the side.

  “Emma....?” I pressed, lacing my voice with mock sincerity.

  “Ah! My bad. My mind must have wondered off somehow —oh! I don’t know if this will help or not but here, have a few more of these. They're on the house.” Reaching over the counter, she extended a few more of the suspiciously thin cardboard boxes to us.

  “Are you sure, Emma?” Julia questioned, her tone betraying concern.

  “It’s fine, Liam seems like a nice boy so I’m sure I won’t regret it.”

  “Well, if you insist. Although I must apologize for earlier, I have no idea why he even asked you something so strange.”

  “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.”

  My parent accepted the gift with a curt nod and handed me one of the small boxes. Then began to say her farewells.

  “Thank you for the gifts Emma. It's about time we head out but I’ll stop by to visit you some other time .”

  “Yea take care, and Liam you’re free to come back any time, we’ll always have more pastries for you.” She declared proudly as she began her series of waves.

  “Yeah I’m coming back!""I let out a shout and responded with my own series of waves as I trotted alongside my enthusiastic parent. Humble though they were, my words managed to leave a bold impression behind, reaching Emma’s ears amidst the resonant sounds of the bustling townscape.

  By the time were ready to leave her expression ha returned to normal along with the overall mood.

  The only one whose expression hadn't softened yet was Vreena; she had been staring at the ground the entire time. It was a stark contrast to the display she'd put on just moments ago, but it was in that silence that I noticed something rather interesting.