“Why haven’t you magicked it up?” she asks. Ana is so casual about this, like of course me having this power is cool with her. Mom was wrong about that, at least. There are people who don’t simply want to use us for what we can give.
“I wanted to sleep on it to make sure I didn’t have to change it,” I say.
“Look, I don’t know squat about scent, but this is a winner.” She can’t get her nose off her wrist. I knew last night that I had it, but having Ana’s opinion is a nice confirmation. “What’s it called?”
“Aiai.” It had come to me in the daze before sleep claimed me, clicking like a sprocket into a chain. “It was the name of the first Hua with our power and ‘ai’ means love. Also, Aiai hated that she was forced by the empress to work for her and her only.”
“Sidebar,” says Ana. “I can’t believe your family was buddies with an empress from a thousand years ago.”
“Tell me about it, but from what Aiai said, they were far from buds. A patron at best, a jailer at worst. The point is, why do only the powerful deserve to get what they want?”
“That’s my good anti-capitalist,” she approves, taking my used blotters and tossing them in the trash.
“Well, I’m still going to sell it for a significant price,” I say.
“That’s okay, we can work on beating the system from within,” she assures me. She smells it again. “This is so good, Lucy.”
“Thanks.” I know it is, but her enthusiasm makes me happy. “How about your night?”
“It started off fantastic, with Mom saying at least Ferd had steady work where she was respected instead of only being a shopkeeper.”
I wince and she keeps going.
“I had already made it to the kitchen before I realized what she’d said, because I’ve heard versions of it for so long I didn’t notice. So, not proud of this, but I took a couple shots of the booze she keeps in the kitchen. That gave me the guts to go talk to her.”
“What did you say?”
Ana pokes at a pile of rhinestone bracelets. “I said I was sorry she thought so little of my shop and what I do because I work hard. I said if they were going to be unkind, I would prefer they not talk about it at all.” She frowns. “It was hard. I felt like I was being stripped.”
“Then what?”
“Oh, the excuses. They didn’t mean it. I was being oversensitive. How could I think so poorly of them and be so rude.”
“No.”
“Yeah, it was demoralizing, and it occurred to me they cared more about protecting their self-image than apologizing for hurting me. It sucked. I didn’t know what to say, but then my older sister, Maria, stepped in and said I was right and they were being mean. That shut them up because Maria is Maria and you don’t mess with her, not even Mom.”
“Not to sound like a therapist, but how do you feel?”
“Sad I had to say it. Glad I did. Jayne reminded me it’s possible to hold both feelings at once.” She shrugged. “We’ll see what changes. We can talk more after you freshen up, though. You’re a mess.”
I hold the bottle in my hand. “I’m going back to Vancouver,” I say.
“Forever?” Ana’s voice goes high.
“No, for a visit. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Talking to your mom?” She sees my face. “And Rafe? I’m rooting for you.”
“Thanks.”
“Not looking forward to it?”
“It has to be done.”
She nods. “You know, the thing about joy is there’s always the moment when the fear comes. It happens the other way around too.”
I must look unconvinced because she laughs.
