As they ate, Viv continued. “I think I’d been looking for a way out for years. Adventuring, fighting, hunting bounties—you’re either bleeding yourself slow from a hundred wounds or waiting on one deathblow. But you get numb to the possibility of anything different. This was the first time something else made me feel a way I wanted tokeepfeeling. So, here I am, and with some blood still in me.”
Tandri nodded but said nothing.
Viv waited, thinking Tandri might have something to say on her own behalf, but she quietly ate instead.
Maybe another time.
Still, it was a very pleasant meal.
* * *
When they returnedto the shop, an enormous, gnomish crate sat in the street out front, and waiting atop it, legs dangling, sat a sturdy dwarf Viv knew well.
“Roon!” she cried. “What in all the hells are you doing here?”
He leapt down and approached, tugging nervously at his braided mustache. “Just makin’ a delivery to an old friend,” he said.
“Come here, you old stump,” she said, opening her arms wide.
His face broke into an expression of relief, and he embraced her. “Have to say, wasn’t sure you’d want to see me. The way you left….”
She got down on one knee to bring their faces closer to level. “I’m sorry about that. If I’d stopped to explain—tried to lay it all out—I thought I’d talk myself out of it. Wasn’t fair to you or the others, but….” She shrugged helplessly.
He searched her face, then nodded decisively and clapped her on the shoulders. “Well, you can tell us, now you’re clear of it. True?”
“Yeah, I can do that.” Then she looked up at the crate. “But… the delivery?”
“Ah! Well, my brother Canna runs the carriage post out of Azimuth. Saw your name, was curious, an’ let me know. I offered to ride security. Done it before. Have to say, after seein’ the crate, I’m fair burnin’ to know what you’re up to.” His eyes flicked behind her.
“Oh! This is Tandri. She’s working with me.” Viv stood and made introductions. “Tandri, this is Roon. We ran together for, oh, for years, I guess.”
“Until veeerrrry recently. Pleased to meet you,” said Roon.
“Likewise.”
“Well, we can’t just stand in the street, like this,” said Viv. She unlocked the shop, then unbarred and opened the big doors. “Roon, help me move this thing inside.”
Together, they hauled it onto the long table. Tandri followed them bemusedly.
“All right,” said Viv. “You’re curious. You want to do the honors?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Roon replied.
He took the edge of the hatchet he kept on his belt and gently popped up the corners of the lid, and they slid it off.
Inside, nestled amidst wood shavings, was a large, silver box, crowded with ornate pipework, gauges behind thick glass, a set of knobs and dials, and a pair of long-handled contraptions along the front.
“Viv,” said Roon, who was standing on the bench to peer down into the crate. “I haven’t the faintest damned idea what that is.”
“It’s a coffee machine,” mused Tandri aloud. “Isn’t it?”
“That’s exactly what it is,” said Viv, with great satisfaction.
“Coffee?” said Roon. “Is this what you were on about back in Azimuth?” He shot a glance at Tandri. “Couldn’t stopbelaborin’it.”
“Yep.” Viv smiled at him.
“Well, what in the hells are you plannin’ to do with it?” asked Roon.
