A Place To Bloom

Janju Cakes

I'd spent all of Davod's money. I had to tell him.

The sun began to trace its arc westward, where the city of Ulum dropped down with the valley into a hazy oblivion of blue sky. The warm sunshine muted by the vines trained along the framework of the room, the cold air coming off the mountains, cotton bedsheets threaded so fine as to rival silk and plush pillows covered in woven yarn, the heated floor under the bed, all of it made the room about as comfortable as I could imagine.

I couldn't blame Oasis for drifting off; she'd been exhausted. I hadn't thought she'd slept in days, and this was the first moment where the only thing to do for Dune was wait. I made sure to tuck her in with a few pillows between them so as to keep them from bumping into one another as they stirred. Other than that I took a few bites of the leftovers, starting with that meaty-gravy thing that burned my tongue and sent fumes through my sinuses reminiscent of the first time I tried hellroot. As my eyes watered, I swallowed what was left of the fruit cup, and the strong liquor it was soaked in did nothing to put out the fire. It was delicious, but damn was it punishing. I finished that up, took a good swig of water, then gently slid the door closed on my way out.

In the hallway, the air was thick and warm, and the song of the water organ downstairs echoed through the staircase.

Down in the lobby, a middle-aged Goloagi woman dressed in a gown with layers of sheer white tulle set with woven red and pink flowers sat playing. Her eyes were closed, and her curly hair moved with her shoulders as she massaged the keys, inciting melodious tunes of dizzying complexity. I sat in one of the plush chairs and listened, trying to work out in my mind how to explain the money.

She was a practiced virtuoso. Her fingers danced across the keys as her whole body flowed into the melody. She changed the tone of the music entirely with her mastery of technique and blended herself into the thing as though the instrument was an extension of herself.

If it was one in the afternoon, how many beers would Davod be into, and how many would it take to have him in a forgiving mood?

I sat and listened. When she was done she turned to face me and smiled before floating up the spiral staircase.

I needed to go meet with Davod. I couldn't wait any longer.

Out on the street, I stood and stared. Over people's heads I could see the pub that graced Falcon Plaza where he'd said he would be. So, with my heart racing and a deep breath, I mustered up the courage, crossed the street, and entered a totally different shop.

Beside the door was a light-colored wooden table with some curiosities on it. One of them had a large cylinder with a hand crank, and that was connected to another cylinder through a series of belts and gears. Inside that was a fan, and when I turned the crank, the fan started turning. Then, as I turned the crank further I heard a click, and suddenly the fan started turning faster and faster with each crank. It clicked again, the tension in the crank grew, and the fan turned ever faster even though I turned it slower. I knelt down to try and get a closer look, see if I could make out how it was doing that when a voice came from behind me.

"Can I help you?" The voice came from an older man with long, straight hair that hosted streaks of gray and cascaded down his shoulders. He studied me through emerald-green eyes.

Through his intimidating disposition I managed to force some words out. "What is this place?"

"We're engineers. We engineer things. Don't touch any more of the demos."

With that, he disappeared behind a gray curtain that filled a doorway to the rear of the shop. I looked around. Mounted on the wall was an insect made of wood and paper, easily three feet from wingtip to wingtip, that had an open casing on its back with a box of strange gears and levers along with a coil connected to a small knob that I badly wanted to turn if only I was allowed to touch it. Another exhibit was a long metal railing the width of a marble, several of which were held in a pool. The rail ran the length of the wall and followed a series of jumps, bridges, and other obstacles. I wanted to touch that one, too.