Love, Tea & Scones

Honey Filled Cakes

Terra's hands were covered in flour and dough as she kneaded dough for scones while she waited for the cakes filled with honey and rose petals to finish baking in the oven. The rain lashed on the window as clouds full of rain passed over the forest. The clock above the kitchen door ticked quietly as Helga threw in a few tea leaves into a warm teapot and placed it gently on the stove to keep the tea warm.

Terra took the honey cakes out of the oven and left them to rest on one of the kitchen counters while she shoved the fresh scones into the oven. The woman heard the café bell ring as the door opened and someone walked in. "I'll go see who it is!" Helga siad to Terra as she made her way quickly towards the café counter. "Good Morning good Sir!, what can I get for you this fair morning?" Helga asked the knight who was dressed in his full suit of armour. "I'll have a cup of tea and a scone with a bit of jam and butter on it please!" Sir Darryl told Helga while placing a few copper coins onto the counter. "I'll get that for you in just a few moments Sir!" Helga informed the knight before she walked into the kitchen area which was semi-open so that people could see into the kitchen from the cafe and vice versa

"Terra bring me one of those scones that we made earlier and slather it in jam and butter!" Helga ordered Terra as she strained the tea from the tea pot and poured some tea into a small blue teacup. Terra quickly cut the scone in half and spread some butter and jam on both halfs of the scone. Terra placed the scone on a small plate and handed it to her grandmother. Helga walked back into the café and saw Sir Darryl sitting at one of the tables nearest to the kitchen, he appeared to be watching Terra with a curious expression on his face. "If you don't mind me asking madam but how old is that young woman there?" Sir Darryl asked Helga. "She is fifty-two, why do you asked?" Helga questioned Sir Darryl. "Well you see there is this competition happening in a few weeks and myself and a few other knights have been tasked with collecting names of young unmarried woman who would be willing to join the competition!" Sir Darryl explained to Helga as he picked up his tea cup by the handle gently.

"How do these women sign up for this competition?" Helga asked Sir Darryl as she glanced quickly at Terra who was now at the café counter serving a new customer. Sir Darryl smiled at Helga "Well madam all they have to do is sign the piece of paper I have with me!" Sir Darryl explained happily. Helga told Sir Darryl that she'll get him a woman to sign that paper for him if he gave it to her. Sir Darryl glanced at Terra again and nodded happily while handing Helga the paper, he knew what she was planning to do.

Helga walked over to Terra who was still behind the counter, her face was not giving a single hint of what she was truly thinking in her mind. "Terra I need you to sign something!" Helga told Terra quickly while handing her the paper while putting her hand underneath the counter and pulling out a pot of ink and a quill. "What is it for?" Terra asked her grandmother while she read the top line of the paper, it didn't reveal much. It just said it was a competition sign up sheet. "Oh just some competition that I think you'll enjoy participating in!" Helga told Terra quickly "Sign it quickly Petal as other people must be desperate to sign it as well!". Terra shook her head and laughed "Granny I don't have time for competitions, who would run the café if I was participating in some competition?". Helga assured Terra that she would be fine running the café by herself for a little bit and she told Terra that she could enlist the help of some relatives who owed her a favour.  "Come on Terra  it'll be a bit of fun, you don't go out much Petal I just want you to still go out and have some fun, you're still so young and have many years ahead of you to work!". Worn down by her Grandmother's insistence on her signing the paper, Terra slowly took the quill from her grandmother and signed her name down on the sheet.

Helga snatched the sheet from Terra the second she finished signing it and hastily gave it back to the smiling Sir Darryl. "Thank you madams, this will help make getting more signatures easier!" Sir Darryl proclaimed as he looked at Terra's signature on the paper. Terra's signature was mostly in print but she signed her last name Riverglade with a heart on top of the "i" instead of a dot over the "i". When Sir Darryl left the café after having his afternoon tea Terra cornered her grandmother in the kitchen pantry. "Are you gonna tell me what you just made me sign up for?" Terra questioned her grandmother as Helga stack the new spices she had gotten from the farmer's market that morning onto the right shelves. "You'll find out soon enough Petal, I wouldn't worry about it!" Helga told her slightly worried granddaughter.

Two weeks since Sir Darryl had come to the café a letter arrived in the post and it was addressed to Terra. Terra looked at the envelope the letter was in curiously. Who could have been sending her a letter she thought as she took the letters upstairs to the small apartment she lived in above the café with her grandmother. Helga was reading the daily newspaper as Terra walked into their small living room. Helga looked up and saw the very fancy and elegant looking envelope in Terra's hands and she knew instantly what the letter was going to say.

Terra opened the letter as delicately as she could simce she had never saw an envelope as beautifully and expensive as this one and didn't dare ruin it. The paper the letter was wrote on was similar to the envelope, it seemed expensive and made to look pleasing to the eye. Terra read the letter once and then three more times, praying to the gods that her mind was just playing some cruel trick on her. It couldn't be, could it? How in the names of the gods did she get picked to be one of King Gael's potential brides? Terra casted back through her memories to try to find something that would explain what was happening, she was still foolishly clinging to the hope that this was just some cruel joke.

Terra remembered signing that competition sign up sheet a few weeks ago that her grandmother was being quite suspicious about. Terra's head jerked up and she looked accusingly at her grandmother. "Granny?" Said Terra in a tone that meant she was not one bit happy about something, her grandmother knew this tone of her's well. Terra never yelled or siad profanities but you could tell she was upset by something all from her tone and in Helga's opinion that was more intimidating than being yelled at with profanities. "Yes Petal?" Helga responded while not looking up from her paper knowing she would be meet with a furious glare. "That paper you made me sign a few weeks ago, you failed to mention that the competition was to be one of the King's suitors!" Terra stated angrily. "That I did" Helga confirmed after a moment of hesitation. "How could you?" Terra whimpered, Helga looked up from the paper to see tears of sorrow falling down Terra's face. "How could you trick me into signing myself up to potentially be that dreadful cold-hearted King's wife?" Terra asked her grandmother as she desperately tried to stop herself from bawling her eyes out.

How could her own grandmother do this to her? Did she not know the stories that Terra had heard about what happened inside the castle? Did she not know how cruel and unsympathetic he was? Terra tried to think of what she had done to make her own grandmother hate her so much that she would want to subject her own grandchild to that cruel, hate filled monster that is King Gael of the wood elves. Helga tried to comfort her crying granddaughter. "Terra sweetheart, I didn't mean to cause you pain, I only wanted you to come out of your shell a bit and make some friends and maybe even find that someone special!" Helga explained to Terra softly as she rubbed Terra's back in a soothing motion. "Why couldn't you just tell me you wanted me to make some friends or to go find a boyfriend, why did you wait until now and make me sign up for this awful competition?" Terra questioned her grandmother as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Helga sighed slowly, "Child I have given you hint after hint that you needed to get out more but you always found some excuse to not make friends or date anyone!" Helga said exasperatedly "I knew you needed a little push to put yourself out there but..." Helga admitted with a remorseful tone "Having you sign up for this competition was a bit too much of a push and I'm sorry for my actions Terra can you find it in your heart to forgive this old fool who happens to be your grandmother?". Terra sniffed once and nodded her head, Helga sighed with relief knowing that her granddaughter had forgiven her for her foolish actions. "You don't have to participate in the competition you know, you could always deny your place in it!" Helga suggested to Terra but Terra mournfully shook her head. "The letter said we couldn't back out once we've been picked, the royal guards are coming to collect me tomorrow, the only way out of this competition is for the King to dismiss us from the competition" Terra explained as a few more tears fell out of the corner of her beautiful emerald green eyes. Helga hugged her granddaughter tightly. They both knew a man like King Gael wouldn't want to send home a woman like Terra, kind and sweet with a calm temperament, too early.  Not when he could torment them until they either break or he looses interest in gaining the reaction he wanted from them.

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I hope you enjoyed this part and I would love to hear your thoughts on the story!