Then two Gatewardens crowded through the door to buy out the rest of the rolls.
They promptly forgot about the gnome.
14
Thimble appeared before they opened the doors, another list clutched in his paws. It wasn’t particularly long.
“Currants, walnuts, oranges… cardamom?” Viv asked, with a puzzled expression.
Thimble nodded ardently.
“I don’t even know what that last one is. And the rolls are already perfect!”
The rattkin wrung his hands and looked aggrieved. “Trust,” he whispered.
Viv held in a sigh. “All right, I’ll take care of it. Tandri, you’re fine while I gather… whatever this is?”
“If it means Thimble bakes more things, then I’ll do almost anything you need,” said Tandri.
Thimble beamed.
* * *
The morning waschill and damp as Viv headed back to the market district, doing her best to remember which shops Thimble visited during their first excursion. The currants, walnuts, and oranges didn’t give her too much trouble, even if the oranges were a little rare this time of year. Viv asked about the last curious item at each stop, but the shopkeepers were as bewildered as she. She eventually retraced Thimble’s steps to the elderly gentleman with the fragrant house.
After a few wrong turns, Viv relocated the place and rapped on the door. After some shuffling and muttering, the old man cracked it an inch and glared at her dubiously.
“Uh, you might remember me,” she said. “I was here with, um,” she held a hand at Thimble’s approximate height. “Little guy. Anyway, I’m looking for… cardamom?”
“Hmph. Running errands for Thimble, eh?” He opened the door a little wider.
“Guess so. I have to say he’s one hell of a baker.”
The old man glowered up at her through his spectacles. “Lad’s a genius.” Then he snatched the parchment from her hand and shuffled into the shadows of his house. Such a dense array of scents filtered out his door, it made Viv dizzy. Individually, they might have been pleasant, but taken all together, they were too much. She didn’t know how the old man could abide it.
After some distant muttering, some clatters and bumps, and a few sharp expletives, the old man returned with a brown paper packet. He thrust it at her, along with the list.
“Two silver, four bits,” he said.
“That much?”
“Somebody else offering you a better price?” His grin was wide and not entirely pleasant.
“Hm.”
Viv dug through her coin purse and paid the man.
The door snapped shut in her face.
* * *
Thimble receivedthe groceries with a pleased squeak, carefully arranged them in the pantry, and returned to the rolls he had in progress.
Business was at least as heavy as the day before, and Tandri flashed a grateful smile as Viv joined her behind the counter to help manage the rush. Viv couldn’t help her disappointment that Thimble didn’t seem to have an immediate use for the fruits of her shopping, but the morning press soon chased it from her mind.
Only later, when the demand for rolls was more manageable, did Thimble retrieve the items from the back.
Tandri gently elbowed Viv. “I amunbelievablyexcited to find out what he’s going to do.”
