Arcanum 183 Hope and Pastries

"6 Please!" Grace asked since she was closest to her.

"Sure follow me, please." she said leading us to a round table.

"Um can we take the ones with the comfy booth chairs?" I questioned pointing at the more comfortable ones.

"Sure." She smiled leading us there to my surprise there wasn't any menus handed out to us.

"So what's good here?" Morgana asked.

"We have an assortment of dried meats, breads, fresh fruits and fresh juice." She answered with a gleeful smile.

"We'll have one loaf with butter and a bit of everything please and if there's a special one of those." Jay said with a smiled.

"Sure sure." She smiled and walked away, giving us a second glance before entering the kitchen.

"I can't believe they tried to scam us!" Grace said in utter disgust at the way the lady selling us the caravan conducted her business.

"Don't blame her, she's only trying to make a living." Jay said defending her.

"Here's your fresh loaf." The teenage maid came over placing a plate in the middle with a whole loaf of bread still warm to the touch, "and the butter," she placed a plate with butter on it with a butter knife, "and lastly" our fruit spreads she said placing small jars on the table with a selection of different fruits and a small knife for each flavour. "Enjoy!" She said with a giant smile and walked away but quickly scurried back to us. "Um, if you don't mind me asking are you all Atlantis students?" She asked in brimming in absolute excitement.

"We are, how could you tell?" I smiled back.

"We don't normally get fresh faces around here.. and you all look the right age to be students plus you all have weapons on you." She answered. "Tell me is it really as great as everyone says it is?" She questioned in complete admiration.

"It's great." Jay smiled.

"I wish one day I could go or at least visit there..." She rocked side to side in imagination.

"I'm sure one day you will." I smiled.

"If only… sadly I not blessed with the ability to use magic." She sighed, looking a little depressed.

"Just keep your hopes up!" I smiled to her.

"Hey Mary! the drinks are ready!" A voice shouted from inside the kitchen.

"Oh that's me! Be right back." She smiled, running into the kitchen, coming back out after a few seconds with a huge jug of fresh orange juice and several cups. "Have you met Paul the Black Dragon Slayer in person?" She asked in excited to hear our answer.

"We have actually." I smiled.

"Is he really as great as they say?" She questioned.

"He really is something." Grace smiled.

"I literally would die if he came to eat here and I could meet him." She said in total admiration.

"Say what's this tavern called?" I questioned.

"Oh, it's the Open gardens." She smiled.

"Ahh delightful place. Is this a family-run establishment?" I questioned smiling to her.

"Oh, no.. I just work here helping provide for my family, the owner was nice giving me a job with no experience." She smiled.

"That's nice." I smiled.

"Between me and you is there anything I can do to get into Atlantis?" She asked quietly.

"Just stay hopeful, keep that spark of hope." I smiled.

"I'll get the rest of your order." She smiled extremely happy.

"Emilia.. you can't give her false hope like that." Morgana whispered.

"I agree.. she said she can't use magic." Grace agreed.

"Yeah but.. a little of hope doesn't hurt." I answered them.

"I agree with Emilia.. Everyone needs a goal or something to work towards." Helen agreed with me.

"Even if the goal is unobtainable? You can't just will yourself to use magic." Jay agreed with the others.

"Yeha but there're students in Atlantis that fight without magic and some students can't even use magic." I argued quietly.

"Yes, but those students aren't just normal fighters, their bodies naturally use Arcanum giving them a higher peak." Jay answered.

"I'm with Emilia, hope is strong even if she can't make it to Atlantis maybe if she worked on it she could still be a strong individual and go on to do great things." Daisy explained making the three of them reexamine their views.

"Let's just forget it for now and eat some food." I said trying to cheer everyone us cutting a slice of break for everyone.

"Okay.. here's the rest of your order.. Dried cured meats, bowl of fruits and my personal specialty fruit pie. I hope you all are enjoying your meal." She smiled, placing on the table a beautifully cooked black berry pie.

"Wow.." Helen and Daisy looked at it in awe.

"You did this yourself?" I questioned in absolute shock.

"Yup! it's what we are famous for." she smiled with pride.

"You know what you should do?" I asked her with a smile.

"Oh, what else?" She asked with a smile.

"Use this dough or pastry.. and make smaller fruit filled packets for individual customers to purchase so they don't have to buy a complete pie." I advised her.

"Woah.... that's a brilliant idea!!" She smiled, I could tell that she was whipping up a storm of ideas.

"Oh and brush the outside with egg yolk.. and sprinkle sugar on the top after they finish baking. Gives it a nice golden crust and a great appearance" I also advised.

"Thank you, miss.." She paused, not knowing my name.

"I'm Emilia... and this is Jay, Daisy, Helen Grace and Morgana." I answered also by introducing everyone else.

"and I'm Mary." She replied with a giant smile, "So what brings you guys here?" She questioned.

"Oh we're here to visit Jay's home town Thralkeld." I answered her.

"Jay's from around here?" She looked at him in admiration.

"Yes, I am." He smiled.

Another set of customers came in causing her to look at them giving them a 1 second sign, "I've got to go.. It was lovely to meet you all! If you ever come back, please come by for a visit." She smiled loooking, extremely hopeful.

"We'll try." I smiled to her.

"Have an enjoyable meal." She said and ran towards the new customer and seated them.

"I really hope one day she gets to go Atlantis." I said, wishing the best for her.

"We all do.. we always wish the best for everyone," Helen smiled.

"Well, let's finish up and get on the road." Jay suggested finishing up his share of the food.

".. Human food is a lot nicer than Elven food." Both Grace and Grace stuffed themselves.

"How far is Thralkeld?" Morgana asked.

"Hmm should take us about four hours if I remember correctly." He answered looking a little nervous, making me remember what Paul told me about his mum and dad yesterday.

"Say Morgana what was your upbringing like?" I questioned.

"It was boring.. Mother always came back with so many ingredients that needed to catalogued and processed." She answered.

"And your spare time?" I questioned.

"Learning to do.. magic." She took a pause looking at Helen choosing a word that won't offend her. "and potion craft and stuff." She answered.

"What did you do for fun?" I asked.

"Nothing you'd find interesting." She replied.

"Surprise me." I answered her.

"Well, my best friend was a swamp troll..we spent a lot of time hunting for food and gathering food together." She answered.

"Oh, that's nice..." I hesitantly replied knowing trolls are generally bad creatures.

"Before we go Emilia heres my share." Jay said giving me two gold coins.

"Oh, mine to." The rest replied giving me their gold coins.

"Sure." I answered, taking the gold. "Um Mary, can we pay the bill?" I ask politely once I grabbed her attention.

"Sure." She said with a smile coming to our table.

"So.. in all everything would be... 34 silver pieces." She smiled.

"Okay sure!" I said paying her two gold coins, making her look at me in astonishment. "It's a tip keep the change." I smiled.

"Thank you so much!" She said giving me an enormous hug and bowed respectfully to everyone else.

"Remember, my advice I got a feeling it will work." I smiled.

"Yes, thank you!" She said packing away the plates and bid us one last goodbye before going into the kitchen.

"Let's get this road trip started." I smiled, trying to hype everyone up.

"Woo" Daisy yelled, mimicking my enthusiasm.

Making our way back to the stables, the Caravan waited outside, both horses already strung up and saddled ready to head off.

"Oh, you're back." The woman said in excitement. "Everything is ready, I assume one of you can drive." She asked.

"Yes, one of us can. How much will it cost?" I questioned.

"How many nights will you be needing it?" She asked.

"2 day's please," I requested.

"Sure that would be 20gold in total including deposit." she asked.

"Sure here you go." I said passing her the gold.

"Thank you for your business." She smiled, walking around the corner to show us the caravan.

"Thank you." we all answered, jumping in while Grace jumped on the front with the reins.

"Have a safe journey." The lady smiled walking back into the building.

Helen and Morgana took both the horses' heads towards themselves calming the horse while whispering something to them. "I'll ride with Grace." Helen said jumping in the front next to her.

"Sure!" Morgana said, jumping in the back with us.

"Some more padding would be nice." I said, finding it a little uncomfortable.

"At least they did an excellent job cleaning out the smell." Daisy said as the sound of a leash whip caused us to begin moving, starting our first ever journey.

Chapter end