The Tale of Two Singers

III : dead to me - kali uchis

It was only ten o'clock, but the morning rush at Drew's was in full swing by the time Aida got to her restaurant.

"Lovely to see you this morning Ula."

"How are the kids Ellory?"

"How many cups of coffee has it been Kallyn? Three? That's it, I'm cutting you off."

"Don't lecture me young lady, you're no better." An old regular, Kallyn, said to her as she made her way past his table. He was as much as a no-good caffeine addict as she was, and they both knew it. Once she had stopped at all of her regular's tables, and greeted all the newcomers her staff had seated, Aida made her way to the small office in the back of the building. She let out a huff as she took off her wide-brimmed hat and placed her purse on a table in the corner of the room.

The breakfast and brunch meals were always the most full, seeing as how her place didn't stay open past 3 pm for the late lunchers. She loved it, but damn was it exhausting.

"Come in," Aida said when she heard a knocking sound at the door.

"Tell us EVERYTHING."

"Aren't you both supposed to be cooking?" The two women, Marcy and Gina shrugged and looked at each other. "Marcy, skat, I'll tell you next." Aida said as she winked at her friend. Marcy cast her a shy smile in return before backing out of the room.

"So? What's his dick like? Magical?" Gina said. She was older than both Marcy and Aida, but she still managed to be the fiercest of the three of them. She had three children, an adoring husband, and a cat that Aida wished she could steal for herself.

"Wouldn't you like to know Mrs. 'I've been married for twenty years.' Whatever happened to loyalty and vows?"

"What Thomas doesn't know won't hurt him."

"It might hurt your sex life if you're fantasizing about all the things the shadowsinger is capable of in bed." Gina let out a low whistle at that as she took a seat in the chair across from Aida's.

"That good?"

Aida nodded. "Damn fucking straight." Gina laughed and shook her head, running a hand through her short cut blonde hair. 

"How'd you two meet?"

"I'm sure Marcy already told you everything, why don't you go ask her again?"

"I want to hear it from you." At that, Aida threw a pencil at her friend's head.

"Get out of here. I have a business to run, you know, you leech!" All Aida got in response was Gina's maniacal laughter as she left her office. The first thing Aida did was bills. For the restaurant, and the apartment above it. Next, she finished pay stubs and checks for all of the cooks and servers. It took longer than she would have liked, as they had recently taken on a few new servers, but there was enough money to go around.

This restaurant was her pride and joy, and it had taken a long time to get here. After moving out of her parent's house, she studied at a cooking school in the Palace of Bone and Salt before she worked in her first kitchen, which just so happened to be Ophelia's. That was where the two had met, Aida as a doe-eyed cook who had big dreams, and Ophelia, an old woman who saw her son's eyes reflected in those of this new stranger who happened to waltz into her kitchen.

It had taken a while and a lot of late-night arguments with her new mother for her to finally get the courage to start saving. That was when she started singing; for money at least. She had always sung or hummed while she cooked, whether it be to a melody she had heard on the trek to work or an old nursery rhyme that scratched at the back of her head. But something lovely was always flowing from Aida's mouth.