The Girl With Silvered Water

Chapter 6

Welcome back! This is a longer chapter and one of my personal favorites so I hope you all enjoy it! 

Just a brief warning this chapter could be triggering for anyone who's suffered severe bullying.

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The Jasmine Dragon was a stately old tea-house, one of the oldest buildings in the village. On the outside, it stretched two stories high with the gray tiled roof reflecting the sun's rays. Windows stretched the entire height of the building and were set firmly into the plank board walls like staid soldiers guarding a treasure. Ornate shutters with swirling patterns, both cut out and raised on the wood, framed the windows. Even though their paint was faded and starting to peel, the shutters still gleamed like jade ornaments on the side of the building and contrasted nicely with the vibrant red door. It was one of the only buildings that had color in the drab little town of Ransford.

The inside was just as ornate as the outside. Bright pools of sunlight spilled into the tea-house, filling it with a warm glow as it seemed to polish the worn wood floors. Tables and chairs were clustered tightly together, yet each cluster felt private and secluded thanks to the tall ceilings and high-backed wooden chairs, carved with delicate jasmine flowers and dragons. The tables were square, hewn from pine, and stained a dark brown that was almost black.

On the right side of the Jasmine Dragon, if you'd just come through the bright red door, was a long bar where the owner of the tea-house, an elderly gentleman, personally oversaw the brewing of the tea. The bar itself was wooden, with intricate carvings that matched the shutters on the outside. The colors had faded over the years from the intense gaze of the sun, but it still brightened the space like a sophisticated floral arrangement. The bar top matched the tables. It was worn from time and use, but was polished so finely customers could see the reflection of the teacups in it. Behind the bar were three long shelves of the same polished wood, lined with jar upon jar of dried herbs for tea.

The staff wore plain rectangular aprons which at one point in time had been white but now were a pale ivory. Usually, the staff moved with slow, serene steps between the glass jars of herbs and kettles, taking their time to fill trays with snacks and tea before delivering their wares to the various tables with a lazy grace. Usually, soft chatter mingled with the damp herbal aromas wafting into the air in thin, cloudy spirals; sweet smells of freshly brewed tea and the bitter smell of dried herbs. They were all held together in a beautiful symphony by the underlying beat of the clinking of teacups chiming like the tinkling of tiny silver bells. This melodious atmosphere was why Kalara loved to come and read in a tiny corner of the Jasmine Dragon. But today, things were different.

Like crazed ants whose colony has been upset, the staff rushed to and fro from the counter to the teapots to the tables. They brushed shoulders and sloshed tea. Jars were left uncovered and the snacks were sloppy but no one seemed to care. Everyone's heads were bent together. Hushed and hurried whispers escaped the clusters mixing in with the aroma of tea and sweets, turning it sour.

Kalara tried to sip silently on her tea but the searing looks and accusing eyes of the other patrons bored into her very soul, turning her tea into tasteless swill. Her fingers shook as she turned a page of her book. How she longed to be in the fantasy world of the novel she was reading instead of trapped by the droning of whispers which filled the tea-house thicker than smoke. The low voices buzzed menacingly like an angry swarm of wasps. Kalara knew they were just waiting to strike.

Kalara's eyes shifted; not a single person met her gaze. A lump formed in her throat and Kalara tried to swallow but it wouldn't budge. With all the hurried footsteps and clacking of china, Kalara couldn't make out what was being said distinctly but she didn't need to, she already knew what they were talking about; the draft.