“Your work is stunning,” I tell her seriously. “I haven’t seen much of it yet, but maybe another day I can come see more?”
She takes a bite, and her whole face relaxes with pleasure.
I steal a glance at Teren and see him swallow, his entire being fixed on Sunani.
As I feel Zan’s presence behind me like a fire licking at my soul, I think I may have an idea of what it would cost Teren to leave Crystal Hollow.
“Wow, this really is incredible,” Sunani marvels. Her whole being has lit up, making her somehow even more entrancing than before. For Teren’s sake, I really, really hope she’s as nice as she seems. “And you’re sure your ice supply is stable?”
“Yes, very sure—” I start, the same way I have many other times today.
But Teren says slowly, “You don’t mean just the quantity, do you? You mean the price.”
I’m glad his brain still works around her.
“Yes,” Sunani agrees quietly. “People are worried about what your ice supply means for the rest of us—if there will be less ice come next year, or if the prices will change. That’s—that’s actually what I wanted to tell you. Since you all were so busy, and since you were in the middle of it, Teren, I wasn’t sure if you would have heard... some of what you’re going to have to contend with.”
Is she trying to help, or to scare me away? “Which is?” I ask sharply.
She flinches.
“Yora—” Teren starts.
“It’s fine, Teren.” Sunani meets my gaze. “People are worried you’re wasting ice—ourice—on frivolities. And that we’re going to pay the price.”
“Areyouworried?” Zan asks.
Mildly.
Dangerously.
Teren freezes.
But Sunani just shakes her head. “No. Teren is with you. I know he cares about the people of Crystal Hollow.”
She steals a glance at him, the barest of flushes creeping into her cheeks, then back to me.
Well, well.
I wish I could revel in my amusement that they don’t seem to know they both like each other.
I wish I could promise that my selling ice cream won’t bite Crystal Hollow in the end, but obviously I can’t.
Zan and I could probably manage to supply them with ice in the future, but if my presence here causes political problems, I can’t supply everything they get from the mainland.
But more than anything, “frivolities” has unlocked something in me.
Is ice cream frivolous? Maybe. I certainly survived before I tasted it.
But did Ilive?
Don’t we all deserve to have more than simply what is necessary for literal survival?
Don’t we all, sages and dragons and normal, extraordinary humans alike, deserve to have joy?
“Is there a way I can reassure people about the ice?” I ask Sunani.
She nods. “There’s a town hall this afternoon. Do you want to come?”
