Episode One Hundred and Forty-One: Choices
“Sable,” whispered the Cat. “You can’t just do something like that.”
I ignored him and nodded at the father.
“They are meant to have it,” I said. This time, my voice came out stronger, making it clear I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Both boys stared at me with deep green eyes I hadn’t noticed before.
Finally, the father nodded.
“How much for the herbs?”
I walked over to the register, ignoring the Cat’s eyes as they flicked between me and the boys, then the book on growing things.
“Five gems…” I read from what the screen said.
He placed five bright blue gems on the counter, and then scooped the bundle of herbs into a satchel I hadn’t noticed on his back.
I picked the gems up and placed them into the drawer.
The human boy clutched the book to his chest as the father turned around carefully.
“Come boys, we must go…” He turned his head toward me, and only me. “Thank you for the gift.”
I nodded my head, and the boys waved before taking off out the door. The father quickly followed.
As soon as the door snapped shut, the Cat started talking.
“Sable, you can’t just give knowledge to any child you meet. It can change things… in ways that we might not understand.”
“The boys are meant to have that book.”
“Sable, just because…”
“No.” This time I stared at the Cat. “The boys came to the shop today to get that book. The father was just how it happened. I know he came for the herbs, but that wasn’t the real reason for their visit.”
His eyes stared at me, and his voice quietly whispered in my mind, “I don’t understand.”
“That golden light I sometimes see? It connected them. That’s how I knew.”
The Cat’s mouth snapped shut, and he glanced at the door before turning back to me. I couldn’t help but pick him up.
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“I’ll need to add it to my journal. It's like the other times it happened.” I petted his head, and he began purring in my arms. “What else is on the schedule for today?”
“That’s all for this morning…”
I nodded.
“Good, I have a long to-do list to prepare for tomorrow. I can get started on that, then prep lunch.” My mind had already jumped ahead to think about what we might eat, since the cereal wouldn’t keep me full for long. Maybe I’d order some subs. My family usually had sandwiches the day before the holiday, since we’d be running around getting things ready. While I could make an okay sandwich, a really good sub would hit the spot.
“After lunch we have another customer, but it shouldn’t be long,” added the Cat. “Hopefully.”
“Perfect…” I set him down on the counter, still smelling faintly like herbs, and quickly placed an order for subs for lunch. “I’m going to be busy in the living room, but it’s a surprise, so don’t peek.”
The Cat blinked at me twice, then nodded.
Off I went up the stairs, hoping I had enough time to get a good amount of prep work done. Not to mention sorting through gifts I’d gotten, and trying to explain to Betty how to hang the gifts for the Cat, and for Indigo.
I knew there wasn’t a chance the shop would understand modern technology. Though, maybe Betty would surprise me.
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Fate magic.
I knew she had some small fate magic, and she’d written about it in her journal, but this, this hard example I couldn’t turn away from. The book told me one thing about the centaurs, yet she had seen something else once they were in the shop.
That book might help the young ones learn to grow the herbs they needed, as the last clan member with that knowledge had died during the flood. They might not need the shop anymore after this. All of those days in the golden book were potentially scratched out, and the tallies were checked off the massive list of things I needed to do to earn my freedom.
“Trust me,” she’d said.
She’d asked me to trust her more than once. Though, that was hard when she spoke about freeing me without any clue of what it would entail.
Yet.
All those days the shop needed to sell herbs to them, done.
Maybe it was possible.
Maybe I could be free…
I shook my head and jumped off the counter. It wasn’t any use to think of wishful things, since that wasn’t how the Fates worked. They wanted me suffering, not hopeful.
At least Sable’s mood had improved. Hopefully, lunch would be better than the sweet cereal thing we’d had for breakfast. I hadn’t wanted to tell her how bad it was, for some reason.
I couldn’t help myself as I jumped up the stairs and headed toward my workshop. The book lay there, waiting. I could flip through the pages and see what the future held, if it let me. Sometimes, the book didn’t care if I glanced ahead. Especially in the early days, several shopkeepers ago. More recently, it gave me less and less information. Since Sable.
Light rose from its pages as I entered the room, leaping onto the large table.
The golden pages shone with a bright white light as I padded closer. This morning’s customer was checked off, and next to it rested a symbol I’d never seen before. A small knot.
“What?” I sniffed at the page as if it would reveal something, then I tried to flip forward. The page wouldn’t turn. All that remained on this page was this afternoon's customer, which I’d seen this morning.
I sat down staring at the pages, wanting more information and trying to not let myself hope. Hope could be so cruel, especially as months turned into years, which turned into centuries. Hope was worse than the pain. Wasn’t it?