Stars and Moonflowers in Our Garden(Rusame)

Chapter Eighteen: Worries and Teas

America walked away from Russia's room, finding himself hoping Russia might come visit his office later. He'd get Russia some of the tea he'd mentioned in his note, hoping that it'd be a pleasant surprise for the others. He walked to his office and grabbed a box of mixed tea from his cabinet. 

America started to boil some water for the tea. And while he waited, he started to write his response to Nyx. He however, didn't get to finish his response before it was time to pour the boiling water. He took out a couple tea bags, pouring a cup for himself, and one for Russia. He gently tucked the letter he'd started into the folder in his bag. He also put the box of tea in there. It was a chamomile-lavender blend. He hoped Russia would like it. 

He grabbed the cups of tea and snuck back out of his office, making his way to Russia's room. Once he got there, he used his foot to lightly tap on the door, as a way of knocking. 

Russia opened the door, and seemed a bit surprised to see America there. 

"You said you were having trouble falling asleep, so I figured this might help" America said, offering Russia one of the cups. "It's a blend of lavender and chamomile, it's supposed to keep your mind from stressing and help you fall asleep." 

Russia took the cup from America and smiled at him. 

"Thank you, that is very thoughtful." Russia said. 

"I didn't add any sweetener, because this is supposed to help relax you, not give more energy." America noted, knowing that that may be upsetting to some people. 

Russia nodded and lightly blew on the tea, getting slightly steamed by the still fairly hot tea. 

America smiled a little at Russia and used his now freehand to get the box of tea from his bag. 

"If you like it enough, and in case you ever have trouble falling asleep again, I wanted to give this to you." America said, slightly smiling as he offered Russia the box of tea. 

"Thank you America." Russia said, taking the box from the other. 

"No problem! I'll see you later!" America said, waving goodbye to Russia before he headed back to his barracks. 

Once he got back, he put his tea on his desk and put the folder on his desk. He took out his sealed inkwell and put it on the desk, walking away to get himself into something comfortable enough for the next few hours. 

He came back, finding Bean looking guiltily at a knocked over inkwell. Thankfully, the inkwell was intact, and no ink was spilled on his desk. 

"Bean, why?" He asked the cat, knowing he wouldn't get an answer. 

The cat meowed, then hopped off the desk, then walked away. 

America sighed and looked back to the paper, rereading what he'd written. He read something he'd written and saw it as vaguely concerning, so prepared his quill and struck through it. Once he was done with rereading over what he'd written, he took out Nyx's letter so he could check back and make sure he responded as best he could to it. 

Once he was content with his response, he waited for the ink to dry. He wrote "From Aku, to Nyx" on the back of the envelope he was going to put under the Chamomile flowers. Once the ink on both the envelope and letter was dry, he folded the letter and tucked it into the envelope. He smiled a little and checked the time. 

He got up and brought the envelope to the Chamomile flowers, hiding it beneath them before going back to his barracks. It was far too early to go to work, but far too late to get any sleep. 

He ended up finishing his tea while he waited for a proper time to start heading to his job. 

While he waited, he decided to pull out his watercolors and play around with them. He wasn't making a piece to display, just something for fun. He ended up creating a galaxy cat. He left it out on his desk, getting up to stretch. He hoped Russia was doing better, and hoped he'd managed to get back to sleep. 

He checked the time and decided to get something for breakfast then head to his office, he'd be really early, as per usual. 

He opted to just make himself a sandwich, it was enough to sustain him until lunch. He started his walk to his office as he ate, humming to himself happily. 

He had to admit, the night before did have him worried about the prince. But he hoped that the tea blend did help and that he liked it, as it was a blend he'd personally been using for a while. If not, and the prince had another night like that, he had different blends that he may like. He'd ask when he next saw the prince, which would hopefully be soon. 

As he watched the clock on the wall, he found himself zoning out a bit, wondering what had caused the prince to have a sleepless night. Whatever the cause, he hoped the tea helped. After a while of wondering, he decided to make himself some more tea. 

He put on some water to boil, going to his cabinet and looking through it. He pulled out a mug, a tea bag, and a little sugar. Today was a lavender-mint day, so that's what blend he went with. It'd throw some energy into his system and would calm his nerves a bit. 

Once the water was at a boil, he pulled it off and poured it into his mug. He then put the tea bag and sugar into the mug, leaving the tea to steep for a bit. Once he felt it'd been long enough, he stirred it. He then put his tea on his desk, grabbing some of the stuff he had to make into little treatment pills. 

It was a menial task, but one he could do until he had something to do that was important. He'd finished all the painkillers the day before, so was now making the powder into little pills. That always took the longest. 

He reached over and took a sip of the tea, hoping it wouldn't burn his tongue, before going back to making the pills.