![]() ![]() “Only if you say please,” I retort, and her ears twitch. Mistress Zembi is waiting for her consultation.” Aiyah, where is that lazy man? He was meant to refill our stock of monsoon berries an hour ago!” She waves a hand. “I’ll pretend you’re talking about your father. “Still a nuisance.”Ī smirk rises up to challenge my own. ![]() “Well,” she says with a click of her tongue. She’s been calling me that for as long as I can recall. I swipe the back of my hand over my forehead. Feline eyes rimmed with black graying hair flowing softly over pointed cat ears. I’m working at a particularly stubborn stain when Tien’s face appears over the edge of the barrel. The sixth is empty, filled instead with me-admittedly also pungent after an hour’s hard work scrubbing dried residue from the buckled wood. The six tubs are lined along the back of the store, so big they reach my shoulders. Beneath it all, like the shop’s familiar heartbeat, comes the bubble of the mixing barrels where we brew our herbal medicines. ![]() Sunlight streams in through the slatted windows, drowsy with cicada song. Not even noon yet and it’s already packed with customers, the room bright with chatter, Tien’s brusque voice cutting through the thick summer air. ![]()
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