The War Must Go On ~ Book 1: Gemaris Island

Chapter 6: Afternoon Cafe

Book 1: Gemaris Island

Chapter 6: Afternoon Cafe

Master Amien was beginning to see the power of theater stories. As people filed out of Gemaris Cathedral, they all shook hands with Ora, Amien and Marietta after the Minister insisted that they stand by the front door to receive praise from every audience member. The Minister himself said Ora's theater story was "very powerful and enlightening." Amien subtly punched the air in victory when he told her that. Now the people of Gemaris were on the path to appreciating innocence and knowledge.

Ora met the twinkling eyes and joyful smiles of every Gemaris Islander. The men were kind, the women were giggly, and the children were eager with thanks and praise for Ora. But when Sir Grenton approached to shake her hand, Ora froze, realizing how cold his gaze was compared to the innocent, joyful grins of the Gemaris Islanders. Sir Grenton was clearly not from Gemaris. He stood out like a black rose among a field of white lilies.

His gloved hand grabbed Ora's as he nodded at her.

"The king will be pleased if you perform one of your stories for him," was all he said before letting go and striding away from her, with his knights following close behind him.

Ora didn't even have a chance to thank him.

But finally, it was time to visit Afternoon Cafe. Everyone in Gemaris was chattering as they scurried down a steep incline on the stone road, venturing into the thick of the city. The buildings were more packed together and the roads more narrow. Every beige building was shrouded in lime green ivy and bushes. Ora passed by a large hotel with coffee brown roofs and a giant, skinny chimney. All the windows were arched at the top and surrounded by ornate stone carvings. The streets were lined with simple lamp posts and tiny green trees.

Marietta and Ora had changed out of their costumed and into fresh new clothes. Marietta wore a grey jacket over a white blouse as well as a small white furry boa. Ora, who was eager to visit the popular, well-admired Afternoon Cafe, decided to wear an afternoon tea dress instead of her travel clothes. She opened up her suitcase full of clothes and chose a pale pink gown that was painted with large, faded flowers of the colors cream and beige. Her short sleeves were flowy and translucent like veils. Of course, Ora had some white tights to keep herself as modest as possible. Suddenly, Ora noticed in her suitcase a pair of shoes that she had snatched from the costume shop without thinking much about them. She thought they looked pretty, so she had just grabbed them. But now she was examining them more closely. They were high-heeled slippers made of pale purple-grey glass and they had laces to tie around her ankles. The laces resembled white vines with little thorns and attached to the thorny stems were three pink roses. The vines wrapped around the heels of the shoes, consuming it.

Roses have thorns, Ora thought.

After tying her curly blonde hair into a low bun, Ora replaced the scarlet rose in her hair with a light blush pink rose and replaced the red bracelets on her wrist with little white pearls.

Afternoon Cafe was the very definition of quaint.

It was four stories tall and each windowsill had bundles of purple, white and magenta flowers. Outside the cafe were little round tables with little round chairs, all under a red canopy. A little black chalkboard sat outside the restaurant with a list of special dish names scrawled onto it. Ora glanced above the green front door and saw, carved in curvy letters, the name of the cafe.

She was about to burst through the entrance, when suddenly Amien appeared in front of her.

"Allow me," he said, pushing the door open.

Ora was too shocked by his politeness to say anything. But suddenly, she noticed that Amien was holding someone else's hand in his. He was gently leading Marietta into the cafe with him.