by L-J Baker
“You think so?” Flora sounded amused. “Would that be safe at my age?”
“They’re so scathing and this minute,” Holly said. “Oh! That’s Orpine Madder. In that carpet there. She’s the snottiest girl in the whole school. And we’re going to pass them! Astronomical. Don’t look. Pretend you don’t see them. I’m going to wait until we’re passing before I look surprised and give her a little wave. I’d hate for her not to realise that I’m in the stylish carpet that is passing her family’s dusty old thing.”
Rye smiled. She shared a look with Flora’s image in the mirror. Flora fully restored her idol status by speeding up to whiz past the Madder family carpet in the lane above them.
At the entrance to the park, Flora flew past the queues waiting to cram into the parking lots and parked in the VIP area.
Rye followed Flora and Holly into the big red VIP tent. Volunteer workers greeted them. Rye found herself handed a sticky tag with “Guest” printed on it and a glossy brochure.
“Ms. Withe?” A pixie woman beamed up at Flora and held out her brochure and a pen. “Could I get you to autograph my brochure, please?”
“Sure.” Flora took the pen and signed her name across one of the pages.
“I really, really liked Adventures in Four Panels,” the pixie said. “I went to the gallery, like, every day in my lunch to see it.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Flora smiled and handed the pen back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Flora went off to check her judging duties. Holly made a beeline for one of the hospitality hostesses. Rye jammed her hands in her pockets and frowned back at the little pixie woman, who was now wiping tables. People wanted Flora’s autograph?
“This cup of tea is yummy,” Holly said. “Raspberry leaf and hazelnut. And free. You should get one.”
“What was that woman talking about?” Rye asked.
“Adventures in Four Panels?” Holly said. “My eyes dropped out when I saw it. Only a copy in art class, of course. Not the original. Flora was still an apprentice when she wove it. Haven’t you ever seen it?”
Rye shook her head.
“A really, really fabulous cook,” Holly said.
Rye scowled.
Rye trailed Holly and Flora through a sea of people and colourful alleys of stalls displaying oddly-shaped pots, lumps of glass, paintings, lurid clothing, tortured bits of metal, and supplies for making them all. Wind chimes tinkled behind the noise of chattering and laughter. Music thumped somewhere. Jugglers and tumblers moved through it all attracting knots of spectators.
Later, Rye’s bored gaze snagged on a stall displaying cooking pots and pans. She left Flora and Holly discussing some knitted rags to saunter across. She lifted the lid on a double boiler.
“That’s one of my best sellers,” the elderly pixie man said.
“Yeah?” Rye caught sight of the price tag and nearly dropped the lid.
“You look like you’re in the trade,” the pixie said.
“What? Oh. No. I work on a building site. You make these yourself?”
“I used to have an apprentice. My son, Hop. But I work alone now. Between us, it’s getting a bit much. I really need someone to come in and help me with the heavy work. But no one wants to work just a few hours a week.”
Rye looked up from enviously studying a frying pan. “What sort of work?”
Ten minutes later, Rye strolled away from Nuttal’s Pot stall whistling. A hundred pieces for two nights’ work. Okay, it sounded like heavy, dirty stuff, but it paid well. Mr. Nuttal seemed to be a nice bloke. Not the sort to work her to death.
Rye stopped to frown around at the seething crowds. Where were Flora and Holly?
After wandering fruitlessly for more than an hour, Rye bought herself a hideously expensive jar of beer and found a spot to sit on a grassy knoll near the dancing stages.
“There you are!” Holly slumped down beside Rye and started eating from a paper plate.
Flora lowered herself on Rye’s other side and handed her a plate of food. “We’ve been looking for you.”
“How much is it for the food and entry?” Rye said.
Flora waved that away with her fork. “Tell me what you think of the lavender shoots.”
Rye dug her wallet out. “Will twenty cover it?”
“It’s my treat,” Flora said. “I’m not inviting you two out and expecting you to pay.”
Rye frowned. Holly glared at her as if she were contemplating throttling her.
“Look,” Rye said, “I owe you.”
Flora shook her head. “No, you don’t. Your food is getting cold. Try the lavender shoots. Oh, Holly, look. That’s Chicory Field. The sculptor I was telling you about.”
Rye’s frown deepened as she shoved her wallet back in her pocket. She hadn’t realised that by accepting Flora’s invitation to come with her, she had tacitly agreed to let Flora pay for them all. She would have to be more careful in the future.
While Rye brooded on how she might discharge this unintended obligation, she happened to glance aside and see Flora giving her a scorchingly saucy look. Despite sitting in the middle of a crowded park and Holly close on her other side, Rye’s wing buds twitched in response. She lost her thread and had trouble thinking about anything other than sex.
Holly finished her food, leaped to her feet, and strode away to find a bathroom.
“I could have sex with you right now,” Flora said.
Rye nearly choked on a lump of boiled dock root. “Here?”
“Doesn’t the idea of public sex turn you on?” Flora said.
“It scares me to death.”
“Oh. Then I suppose I’ll just have to keep seducing you in my lair,” Flora said. “Hmm. I have to go and do my official thing shortly. Why don’t you take the opportunity to talk with Holly about her career? Which reminds me, Holly said you’ve given up night classes. Is that true?”
Rye shrugged and reached for her beer. “Just until next year.”
“But why? I thought you loved doing it? And were a straight-A student?”
“I can pick it up again next year.”
Flora frowned. “Does your decision have anything to do with us?”
“Here comes Holls.”
Flora glanced across to where Holly wove her way through the crowds. “Did you arrange something with Letty Elmwood?”
“Um. No.”
“Why not?”
Rye shrugged. “It doesn’t feel right. I’m not a proper cook or caterer.”
“Branch, you can be hard work sometimes. I have to go. We’ll talk about this later.”
Flora and Holly exchanged a few words before Flora strode away. Holly dropped down beside Rye and helped herself to Rye’s beer.
“I hate you,” Holly said. “I wanted the earth to eat me when you started getting all knotted about paying for the food. Why can’t you be normal? Flora doesn’t care about a few pieces.”
“That’s because Flora has a lot more of them than I have.”
Holly angrily plucked at the grass. “You always say stupid stuff like that. It’s not the end of the world if Flora wants to buy us lunch, is it?”
“It’s not Flora’s place to feed us. That’s my job.”
Holly scowled. “I’m going to earn so much money that my kids are never going to be embarrassed about me paying for anything. And I’ll be able to afford mobiles for them. And give them good clothes from a real shop, not the second-hand. And not live in some mouldy apartment.”
“I hope you do.”
“And I’m going to give you thousands and thousands. And I bet you’ll keep it all tucked away somewhere and patch your shirts anyway even though you could afford to buy new.”
“I’ll be interested to see how you cope with teenaged children just like you.”
“I’m going to be with Flora.” Holly leaped to her feet.
“Holls! Wait. Sit down. There’s something I want to talk with you about.”
Holly glowered.<
br />
“Flora is judging,” Rye said. “We’ll go and find her just as soon as she’s finished, okay? Please sit down.”
Holly subsided unhappily and played with Rye’s beer jar. “I wish I was Flora’s sister.”
“She was telling me that it takes a lot of hard work doing what she does.”
Holly looked wary.
“But if I really liked doing it,” Rye said, “and if I were really good at it, then I’d give it my best shot. Flora told me that it’s what you want to do.”
“You’re not pissed?”
“Why should I be angry?”
“Because it’s not a proper eight to five job. And I wouldn’t go to university.”
“I know that.”
“It’d take me years and years to go solo like Flora,” Holly said. “But I’d work in shops and boutiques. Get an apprenticeship with some top artist. I’d work really hard. Not like school. This would be real work. It’s what I really, really want to do. And have for ages. I won’t change my mind.”
Holly bristled defiance, as if expecting Rye to fight her on this. Rye considered that. What did it say about their relationship if she intimidated her?
“Holls, if this is what you really want to do, then I’m behind you all the way.”
“Shit. You are?”
“Language.” Rye glanced around to make sure no one sat within earshot. “How much do you remember about Fairyland?”
“Not much.” Holly shrugged. “What you told me. Why? We’re not going back?”
“Never! I got us out of there so that we could do what we wanted, not what someone told us we had to do. You’re… you’re someone different from me. What I’ve been wanting for you… well, maybe it’s really what I’d want for myself. I should’ve asked you a long time ago what it is you want for yourself.”
“Wow.”
“You’re nearly old enough to get your wings. You’re nearly an adult. It’s time I started bearing that in mind.”
“Yeah?”
“But that also means that you have to start taking more responsibility for yourself,” Rye said.
“Does that mean I can stay out late at night? And drink?”
Rye frowned. “It means that if you want to drink, you pay for it yourself.”
“Oh.”
“Come on, let’s go and find Flora.”
Holly leaped up and fell in beside Rye. “You’re not so bad. When you’re not getting all knotted.”
Rye grinned.
“I’ll have to thank Flora,” Holly said. “I owe her half of Infinity for this. Who’d have thought anyone could talk you into being reasonable and letting me do an apprenticeship?”
Rye lost her grin.
They found Flora in a massive tent crammed with people. She was sitting at a bench with some other people signing autographs. Rye and Holly found a place on the grass to wait where they could watch the tent entrance. Over an hour passed before Flora emerged.
“Sorry it took so long,” Flora said.
“You really do have fans, don’t you?” Rye said.
“She’s one of the best,” Holly said. “I told you that.”
Flora peeled off her name tag. “I’m not going to be Flora Withe for the rest of the day. How’s that?”
The way Flora smiled made Rye go all warm and forget everything else. So much so that Rye halfway reached to hold Flora’s hand before she remembered. It occurred to her that, no matter how many autographs Flora signed for all those people, only Rye Woods got to kiss Flora and give her orgasms on her living room floor.
“Florrie!”
Flora stopped and turned. An older dryad woman, with red and yellow highlights in her hair, leaped up from a chair beneath an awning.
“Aunt Ramble,” Flora said.
“Little Florrie.” Ramble stepped across to envelop Flora in a hug. “It’s been an oak’s age. I was just saying to Wind that we hadn’t seen you. I bumped into Hazel three or four days ago.”
“My mother was Upriver?” Flora said.
“One of her charities,” Ramble said. “She didn’t mention anything about you having buds.”
“Oh.” Flora lost her smile and stiffened.
Ramble directed a sharply interested stare at Rye. “Perhaps you’d like to introduce me to your budmate, Florrie?”
“Oh,” Flora said. “Um. Ramble Vine, these are my friends Rye and Holly. Perhaps I could call you, Auntie? We really must be going.”
Rye felt Ramble’s stare on her back as they walked away.
“What did she mean about buds?” Holly said.
“It’s a dryad thing,” Flora said. “Aunt Ramble is actually my mother’s cousin. She’s the district coordinator of the Community Art Fund.”
Rye frowned. She had not seen Flora disconcerted before. Ramble had stared to the point of rudeness. Had Flora told her about them?
By late afternoon, the crowds had grown even larger. Rye drew a breath of relief when they passed into the calm of the VIP parking lot. Flora flew her carpet up and out. Lines of waiting carpets and brooms still clogged the floating parking beacons.
“How about we end the day together?” Flora said. “I’m hungry enough to eat an early dinner.”
“Me, too,” Holly said.
Rye frowned and frantically tried to remember what food she had in the house. She had delayed her weekly grocery shopping until tomorrow.
“I’ve been told about this new restaurant in Oak Heights,” Flora said. “They specialise in imp food. Their interior decoration is supposed to be like a grotto. What do you think?”
“Astronomical!” Holly said.
“No,” Rye said. “No, thanks.”
Holly’s back set rigid. Rye could imagine her murderous expression. But, then, Holly didn’t have only twenty pieces in her pocket. When Flora parked, Holly stormed into the apartment and slammed the door. Rye sighed.
“What did I say wrong?” Flora asked.
“Not you. Sorry about that.”
“Call me?”
Rye nodded.
Inside the apartment, Holly’s music was loud enough to hurt. Rye pounded on the door. When she received no answer, she shoved the door open.
“Turn it down!” Rye shouted. “Or I will.”
Holly hit the switch. “You don’t want me to have any fun, do you?
I hate you so much.”
“Very mature.”
Holly picked up her pencil holder and hurled it at the wall near Rye.
“You keep this up,” Rye said, “and I’ll spank you like I used to when you were a little kid.”
“I hate you. Hate you!” Holly screamed. “How could you embarrass me like that in front of Flora?”
“You’d rather I was embarrassed in the restaurant when I couldn’t afford to pay for anything?”
“Flora would’ve paid!”
“It’s not Flora’s place to pay.”
“She has so much money that she wouldn’t care.”
“I care. We’re not charity cases.”
“I’m the only kid in my whole school who has never eaten at a restaurant. Do you know that? Do you know how that makes me feel?”
“You have eaten at a restaurant.”
“When I was seven and you washed dishes in one. Big fat fucking deal.”
Rye’s wings and fists clenched. She forced herself to bite back her retort and take a couple of deep, calming breaths. “Considering your present behaviour, it’s a good thing we didn’t eat out with Flora. Maybe I was too hasty in thinking you were becoming an adult. This doesn’t convince me that you’re ready to leave school and start an apprenticeship.”
Rye walked out. She thought she heard Holly mutter “bitch”, but chose to ignore it. What she wouldn’t give to be with Flora and forget the rest of Infinity.
Chapter Ten
On First Day after work, Rye hung her jacket on the peg inside the front door and braced herself for a resumption of combat.
“I’m home, Holly.
”
Rye carried her groceries through into the kitchen. Holly appeared when Rye put away the last bag of dandelion roots. She looked sullen.
“How was school?” Rye asked.
“Stupid.” Holly slumped into a chair. “I want to get a job.”
“You’re not leaving school. What happened to the idea of wanting an apprenticeship?”
Holly gave her a filthy look. “You quit school.”
“I had no choice. I have to pay for you to keep going.”
“You needn’t. I never wanted to go to that limping school. And the job is at Mr. Cloudnut’s store across the street. Filling shelves and stuff. After stupid school. So there.”
“Oh. Okay. As long as it doesn’t interfere with your homework.”
“You won’t even know that I’m gone. You’re never here!”
Holly stomped out and slammed her bedroom door.
Rye took a deep breath. This was a good development. If Holly worked, maybe she’d have more feel for the value of money.
Rye filled the kettle to start dinner. Tonight was going to be her first night working at Mr. Nuttal’s pot boutique. If things worked out, and it became a long term job, she’d have saved enough for a secondhand broom in two or three months. Then she’d quit working at Pansy’s. That would give her two nights free a week and she’d still be earning more than she did before. One night a week with Flora.
Holly barely grunted two words to Rye over dinner.
Someone tapped on the door.
Holly leaped to her feet. “I’ll get it.”
Rye stood to gather the dishes.
“Flora!” Holly said. “Wow.”
Rye peered around the door to see Flora walking toward her. Had she forgotten a meeting? Although, Flora looked dressed for a date rather than just steamy sex with Rye.
“You’ve just eaten?” Flora said. “Good. Take a shower.”
“What?” Rye said.
“Can you find her something to wear?” Flora said to Holly.
“What is this?” Rye said. “I’ve got a job to go to.”
“I’ll drop you off there afterward,” Flora said. “Oh, Holly, stuff some of Rye’s work-clothes in a bag that she can change into.”
“Afterward?” Rye said.
