Fall in Spring

A Time for Tea

There aren't many tea shops Rhoswyn could confess to being in, let alone the ones here in Anvil. She can't remember even seeing one within the Dawnish encampment - taverns, yes but not actual tea shops. Wynn had mentioned a particular one in his last letter - Lumi's, a Wintermark tea shop, run by a woman, well, named Lumi.

Lumi's, it appears, is where they're going to tea.

They straggle their way through the Dawnish and Wintermark encampments, laughing and talking. Rhoswyn lingers towards the back listening to the chatter around her, as often is her way. She doesn't feel like she knows these people well enough, except, perhaps, for Solene.

Lumi's tea shop, it turns out, is a small establishment under a tent awning, lights decorating the ropes, benches positioned around an open brazier smoke hung in the air. It may be small but it's cozy.

As she, Solene, Salene and most of the Willows file into seats along the benches, they seem to almost fill the whole establishment. Lumi appears not to mind, taking it in her stride; Kestrel insisting he covers the tab. As the others real off their orders, Rhoswyn glances down at the menu filled with lists of teas she's never heard of before, had never even considered existed: Jasmine, Mint and Apple and more, more choice than Rhoswyn expects to find.

'Rhos?'

Rhoswyn jumps as Kestrel addresses her. He's asking her what she would like, she realises and flushes, sincerely hoping that the red flush in her cheeks could pass for sunburn in the light of the brazier.

'Oh ... um ... the apple and mint one, please.' She somehow manages to get out.

The Kallavesi merely smiles and reiterates the order to Lumi.

Desperate to find something to do with her suddenly shaking hands, Rhoswyn replaces the menu, taking a seat next to the Naga already nursing a Jasmine tea.

'Did you know that Jasmine tea is great for hangovers and poorly stomachs?' says Salene conversationally.

In honesty, Rhoswyn couldn't remember ever considering tea as having healing properties, a majority of her healing remedies came from her magic, And whilst she was a learning physick, sometimes in battle, there isn't always time.

'No, I didn't know that,' Rhoswyn confesses taking hold of her own tea.

As the Naga embarks on explaining the different healing properties of various teas, Rhoswyn listens sipping the tea. It's both sweet and refreshing in her mouth, seemingly washing away the weariness from the day's travelling.

Rhoswyn smiles. Lumi's it would seem would be a place she would visit again and again so long as she was in Anvil.