My Little Dove

Chapter 14

Sounds of voices and the clinking of dishes woke Teresa. She groaned and sat up. She saw Peter and Alexie standing at the counter talking and laughing as Peter ate something. Teresa couldn't tell what it was. She looked over to the table, where James was sitting. He was drinking some sort of steaming drink.

Coffee? Teresa thought. Oh, please be coffee.

James looked up from his mug to Teresa, he gave a meek smile and a nod, good morning. Teresa managed to stand up. Her back aced and her head screamed. She walked over to Peter and Alexie.

"Morning," said Alexie, looking past Peter's shoulder. "Sleep well?" he asked.

Peter mumbled a good morning through a mouth full of scrambled eggs.

Teresa rubbed her eyes. "Oh, yes," she said, with a sarcastic tone in her voice, "Wonderfully."

Peter turned to face her. "I actually slept quite good."

Teresa looked at him. "Mhm, I'm not surprised." She walked past him to where James sat.

Peter stood confused, looking straight ahead, he asked Alexie, "What does she mean? Why is she not surprised?"

Alexie shrugged. "Muhm," he said, as he turned with his back to the room as he stuffed his mouth full of egg.

"Morning James," Teresa said, as she pulled out a chair across from him.

"Morning," he said, looking into his mug.

Teresa looked around, and then asked, "where's Tep?"

James looked up and frowned. "You know, I have no idea." His eyes wandered around the room. "Getting ready for the trip I guess."

Teresa folded her hands in front of her and looked at the table. There was a single mug on a brown tray, it was full of something. Teresa pointed at it and furrowed her brow.

"For you," he said, "we all had ours. It might be a little cold though."

Teresa picked it up a brought it to her lips, the liquid was certainly cold. She jerked it away from her. "Yep, that's cold." She looked up at James and grinned. Teresa slowly pushed the mug toward James.

James looked at her then to the cup. "Oh," he said, in understanding. He brought his hands to the mug and twitched his fingers. Then the liquid began to steam.

Teresa clapped her hands. "Well done." She picked up the mug with both hands. "What even is it? Coffee? I would be a little surprised if she got her hands on some."

"She has eggs." James pointed out.

"True." Teresa nodded. "How did she get them."

Just before Teresa could take a sip, Tep came bursting through the door. "Ok!" she yelled, "we need to get out of here!"

Peter set down his mug. "What's going on?"

Tep looked at all of them, then her eyes met Peter's. "We need to leave now! They tracked down your little Alenthia friend. They're just a few blocks away."

"They?" asked Teresa standing up. "Who's 'they'?"

Tep looked at her. "Rangers!" She walked behind the counter and pulled out some weapons. "Do any of you know how to fight with weapons?" she asked.

Peter walked up to the counter and grabbed a sword. It was still in its sheath as he put it around his waist. "Of course, we know how to fight with weapons!"

Alexie and James walked up to the counter next. James picked up a flail and looked up at Tep. "You know how to use this?"

Tep looked at him with a strange expression. "Yes," she said, flatly. "I know how to use all of these weapons. But I prefer some more than others."