Read The Crystals of Tlalli: Awakened Affinities Page 18
fiasco. Rica fervently vowed not to bring it up!
Breakfast ended and dishes were done. Tod and Chaura went off to work and Zafira and Rica went out to work on the rest of the garden harvest and clean up. It was hard work and soon they were hanging the last bundle in the drying shed the morning dampness forgotten.
“We need to plant these Flit bushes to keep bugs out of the garden. It’s a new thing my mom wants to try. They are vicious plants but other gardeners in the north seem to vouch for them. It’s better than spraying harmful chemicals.” Zafira was all business.
“Ok, just show me what to do and we will get it done.” Rica was tired but interested in these Flit bushes. Like everything else on this world it was new to her. The bushes were small gray green wiry plants with white leaves and bulbous pods on long wiry stems. Zafira picked up two pairs of thick gloves, handing one pair to Rica.
“You need to be careful not to let the pods close on your bare fingers, they can do serious damage. It’s how they capture and eat the bugs.” Fear surrounded Zafira like a cloud. The feeling was cloying and dark.
“Can they do that much damage?” Rica had seen Venus flytraps on Earth and didn’t think any plant could be that dangerous. These bushes were small and didn’t look like they could do any real harm at all to a human, but Zafira demonstrated with some dead bugs she had in a jar for the purpose of feeding the plants. The bulbous things opened and stuck fast closing over the bugs and tearing them apart in a sickening crunch. How utterly disgusting! Yuck!
“Wow they are vicious. Where did you get these?” These things were little monsters. It reminded her of a movie she and Natalie had seen once. Rica suppressed the urge to giggle. Now every time she looked at these little plant carnivores she heard feed me Seymour in her head! Wow! Zafira was telling her something better pay attention.
“…. have them for big gardeners and farms. We always try to find methods of controlling pests without the use of harmful chemicals. In the last war between the mage factions the Northern Mages developed a form of these plants into trees that they planted along their boarders to keep unwanted people out. Those trees are outlawed in all but the Northern Nation of Semlor.” Zafira was always so serious!
“The last war?”
“Well the last devastation war anyway. It was fought about a thousand years ago. It’s what made the wastes we found you in. The mages used terrible weapons rendering the lands barren to this day.” Rica remembered the pull and tug at the line. Something was still active in the wastes.
They spent the remainder of the day planting the Flit bushes around the perimeter of the garden so they would be established for the next growing season. It was almost dark when they put away the tools and walked up the path to the house. Jim was by the front door waiting for her. He jumped to her shoulder and rubbed his face on her cheek then jumped back down to scurry across the yard to a big evergreen tree near the road. Rica could see his new mate in the branches watching. Rica put out food for them and then went in and washed up for dinner.
10 - The Herbalist Shop
Dark clouds had overtaken the sky; the smell of rain perfumed the air. Today would be a new adventure on this world. Excitement swirled within her as she looked out the window. The dismal day could not dampen her mood as Rica dressed in her jeans and new green sweater. She didn’t know exactly what she would be doing at the shop so she wanted to dress flexibly. The prospect of new experiences and new people to meet filled her with anticipation. To top it off she would try to go without the translation rune today. Just in case she tucked it in her pocket. After breakfast Zafira and Rica headed out in Zafira’s blue treb toward Jamara. It was still early and not a lot of traffic on the roads. They got into the outskirts of Jamara with no hold up at all.
Zafira pulled around to the back of the shop and parked in an employee parking lot. She opened the back door with the secure crystal slipping it into the slot Rica heard an audible click. Zafira opened the door and turned on the lights. The back room of the shop was crowded with boxes. Rica was glad she had worn jeans they had a lot of work to do today! They turned the lights on in the front of the shop but didn’t open for business yet. There were boxes of half unloaded supplies everywhere.
“What a mess.” Zafira groaned. Dismay and worry sparked around her in a distracting display of purple and red. Rica looked at the door so she couldn’t see the swirl of color and to partially dispel the feelings from Zafira. This affinity thing could be a pain sometimes. Dismay seemed to make her feel nauseous, anger made her feel as though millions of tiny red hot needles were being stuck into her body all over, sadness from others made her want to hide under any available dark object. It was just crazy. But she was starting to get a little control over the worst of it. As long as she looked away and focused on an inanimate object she could handle it. The colors and feelings would wash around her like a river around a big rock. If she looked at it the chaos would try to join with her as though she were a big sponge and had to absorb it all.
Zafira organized the boxes into groups according to where they had been shipped from and got the manifests out and started checking everything off. It was after ten o’clock by Rica’s wristwatch when she had enough finished to open the front door. Rica didn’t know how they kept time here or if it was twenty-four hours in a day like back home but she didn’t care. Her watch was what she used to organize her day and she was going to keep it.
When lunch time came and went and still no pause in the customers coming in to get their salves, elixirs, and whatnot, Zafira told the last customer in line they were closing for lunch and to please bring their purchases to the counter. After the last customer had checked out she locked the door putting the closed sign up.
“Whew. I can see why mom needed help.” Worry hovered about her.
“This is a mess. What happened to the people she had working here?” Saying the words instead of letting the rune translate them sounded strange. She spoke with an accent and sometimes had to repeat what she said. She couldn’t help feeling proud to have learned this alien language even if the rune had done most of the work. Now she just needed to learn to read it.
“I don’t know. They didn’t call to quit or leave a note or anything. They just didn’t show up anymore. Mom tried calling but got no answer. It’s sort of strange, they had good references.” The worry was pulsing around her now. Rica felt sick to her stomach.
“I think its weird. Two people who didn’t know each other just disappearing like that.”
“They were a husband and wife team. So they did know each other. I was thinking of driving by their house after work to see if they are all right. They were older people.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Lets go across the street and get something to eat I’m starved.” Rica’s stomach seemed to do a flip flop at the mention of food. When they stepped outside She took a deep breath and looked at the trees and flowers lining the street. It seemed to calm her stomach. Was it the deep breath or the focus on the greenery that had done the trick? More experimentation was necessary to know for sure, but her nausea had disappeared.
There was a fast food place across the street. Rica was still timid about some of the food but trusted Zafira to order for her, Rica had a sandwich and a drink. After they ate they went to the jewelry shop and got the findings for Rica to make her crystal necklace with. They were little silver cages for each crystal with a clip at the top to be put on a chain. Rica got a silver chain as well. Zafira showed her how to put the crystals in the cages. She clipped the little cages to the chain, spacing them out so they looked nice then fastened the chain around her neck. Warmth flowed over her. She felt complete somehow. When she looked up at Zafira, she could tell the worry was still there but Rica didn’t feel the nausea, just a since of what the emotion was Zafira was feeling! Rica touched the necklace, her new treasure.
The day went on and when it was time to close the shop for the night Rica was worn out. They climbed i
nto the treb after locking up and Zafira drove past the old couples house but it was dark. They didn’t stop to ask the neighbors if they had seen them or not. The whole street looked deserted. Rica had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
“Maybe we should call the police.” Rica suggested.
“Police? What is that?” Zafira asked puzzled.
“I keep forgetting you aren’t from my world. Sorry. The police are people on my world who enforce the laws. They also help find missing people.” Zafira looked confused and asked her to repeat what she had said. She repeated it to no success, trying different ways to say things, but not having the vocabulary to say it so Zafira understood. Rica sighed and put the translation rune back on, her head felt as though it were being hammered as the rune took effect. Rica took a deep breath and said it again. When she finished she pulled the rune off as though it had burned her and put it back in her pocket. She had to get this language learned! To top it off Zafira had watched this whole thing. But she didn’t smile or say anything about the dramatics with the rune.
“Ah the Guardians are what we call them! That’s not a bad idea. We can call from Nottia’s house.”