Alura | The Alura Trilogy, Book 1 [She-Ra 2018] ✔

13 | It Is Time

When I inherited our small fortune, I wanted them to burn the money at first. I was disgusted at having so much wealth when I considered how I destroyed everything between Father and I. Then I attempted once to use it for the betterment of the man I loved. He refused me; afterward, I decided to box away the money and never use it, living off of my wages from my job at Arxia Academy.

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The next day, Micah entered the kitchen, where Light Spinner was cooking some little bread-like things over the stove. "What are these?" he asked, pointing to the pans. His eyes went to a carton of red fruit. "And these?" A bottle. "And - "

Light Spinner had the funniest try-not-to-laugh face Micah had ever seen. "Crêpes in the pan. Strawberries in the carton. Whipped cream in the bottle."

"Oh." He'd never seen any of those things, but he'd heard of them. "You didn't seem like...a whipped-cream sort of person to me."

"And what makes a whipped-cream sort of person?" Light Spinner said, taking out the crêpes and crowning them with strawberries.

Micah thought for a moment. "Maybe someone who likes going to the beach and doesn't care if they get sand between their toes?"

She eyed him with amusement. "I've never been to the beach before."

"What?" he exclaimed as she poured more batter into the pan for another round of crêpes. "That's horrible!"

"Equally horrible you don't know what whipped cream is," Light Spinner teased. "Tell me about the beach. What do you do there?"

Micah grinned back. "Well...can you swim?" 

She shook her head with a sad smile, and his mouth dropped open. "Swimming's fun. But not in the winter, because it's too cold - we live in the northern area of Tropicilas. But in the summer, when it's broiling outside, it's a great way to cool down. Do you know what seashells are?"

"I've read about them," Light Spinner said. "Norwyn gave me an encyclopedia of them when I came to Mystacor. It's probably still in my library..."

Her voice trailed off as Micah dashed to her office and looked for it. It was a heavy book thick as his first three fingers, and he grabbed it, hurrying back to the kitchen and opening it up. Disappointingly, the book was written in Meyan.

Light Spinner gave him a gentle look. "What are you trying to search for? If you say it in Standard, I can find it in the book."

"I'm looking for the Concha."

Light Spinner panned the crêpes off, then flipped the page, pointing at the one marked Closca de conx. "Is this it?"

Micah nodded. "I'd pick up dozens of these on the shore - they sell for almost five crescents apiece, and that was how my family earned money. We also have a wreath of seashells on the door back at home."