Page 56 of Morel Dilemma

Tezilly lifted a hand to pinch Brella’s lips closed. “A joint event could be wonderful and memorable. The unveiling of our exotic coffees and the opening of your rooftop terrace designed by the renowned elven plant master would mix wonderfully together.”

“Yes,” Jildarin stated firmly.

Brella leaned back to extricate her lips and open her mouth, no doubt to protest.

But when Jildarin added, “The elven queen will attend,” she paused.

“Does she drink coffee?” Tezilly asked. “Oh, what an opportunity it would be to share our samples with royalty. You have to agree with that, Brella.”

Her partner frowned but didn’t continue to protest.

“It might be all right to meet her,” Brella said. “I’m sure she’s snooty though. All elves are. Except our quirky regular.” She pointed upward, toward to the lone table and chair on their unpublicized rooftop seating area.

“The quirky regular who leaves gold coins and is funding your grandson’s private tutoring,” Tezilly said wryly.

“Yeah, I like her.”

“The rain has stopped,” Jildarin said. “We will depart. This establishment will host its unveiling at the Dragon Diner tomorrow evening.” He nodded firmly, then turned for the door, but he paused to eye the chalkboard and lift his hand toward it.

Magic rippled in the air around his fingers, and Rylana was close enough to sense heat radiate from them. The chalkboard started smoking with ash trickling from the slate. Tezilly squawked in surprise, but before she could intervene, a blackened dragon-shaped image appeared, one that matched the pyrography on the door and the lampshades for the diner.

“Now, your beverage consumers will know where to go for the special,” Jildarin said before stepping outside.

“He’s presumptuous, isn’t he?” Tezilly asked.

“He’s a dragon,” Brella stated.

“You can send me a bill for the damages if you don’t like your new artwork,” Rylana offered, feeling she should apologize.

“It’s all right,” Tezilly said. “We can work with it. We can draw coffee mugs in front of the dragon’s maw. And I love the idea of having our gathering over there. I’ve been peeking at the progress, and it already looks amazing. I’m surprised Chef Jildarin wants us there though. He’s always given the impression that our coffee shop is beneath him.”

“He’s a dragon. They all think everything is beneath them.” Brella laughed shortly. “At their size, most things are beneath them. Literally.”

“True. Maybe he’s changing though.” Tezilly considered Rylana. “Maybe you’re changing him.”

“I doubt that,” Rylana said.

“He stands closer to you now. Maybe he likes you and cares what you think.”

“Maybe he just wants to mate with her,” Brella said.

“Maybe both,” Tezilly said, as Rylana shook her head.

“Dragons don’t mate with other species,” Rylana said. “It’s not logical.”

“I thought I noticed him smelling your hair.”

Rylana’s cheeks warmed. He had been standing close. But he kept assuring her that he wasn’t interested. No, she corrected, realizing something for the first time. That wasn’t what he’d said. He’d said it would be a mistake if they were intimate. Because of his clan and the threat its dragons represented to her. Maybe, if they weren’t a problem, he would let himself...

“Come, my partner,” Jildarin stated from the doorway. “The threat to the diner remains. We must deal with your kin.”

“Yes, of course,” Rylana murmured.

As she joined him in walking along the waterfront toward the Sun Whale offices, wagons spattered through the puddles. Though it was early in the afternoon, the dark day already saw the gnomish fire-fliers zipping between streetlamps, igniting the flames. Judging by the lingering clouds, it would rain more later.

Rylana and Jildarin walked a mile and a half, reaching an upscale area of piers and shops where luxury passenger vessels and yachts docked. Though it would have made more sense for shipping offices to be located near the freight docks, the marble-columned building decorated with sculptures and friezes fit with this area. A sign listed offices within, giving Sun Whale Shipping, with its sun-and-harpoon logo, the most prominent spot at the top and sharing that it occupied the entire ground floor.

Her father had worked out of a smaller space when Rylana had been young, so she hadn’t visited this building before. She followed signs to a desk with a female half-orc receptionist, her orange-dyed hair in two perky pigtails. On the walls behind and all around her were mounted ancient fishing and hunting paraphernalia, everything from whalebone harpoons to a boomerang to artfully arranged collections of stone arrowheads. Rylana recognized an antler-handled dagger as something her brother had traded for as a boy. His collection had expanded greatly since then, and he’d added numerous magical items. A silk fishing net and a cudgel glowed slightly.