(advent) Day 11 – The scent of oranges

[vg_ford]

Sunday, December 11

Normally, the bookstore smelled like cookies, tea, and the wonderful smell of books, combined with woodsmoke from the stove, and the subtle fragrances that Molly and Aunt Margie wore. But today, when Lily came into the store with her mother, her sister, and Jack, there were new smells that hit her nose: sharp citrus, bright and sweet, and the spicy smell of cloves. “I wonder what Molly is baking,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It doesn’t smell like her normal cooking.”

I smell oranges, Jack agreed. And maybe lemons.

“Maybe she’s making more cookies!” Kaylee said, running ahead and into the tea room. Lily shook her head, but followed her. Kaylee really had only two speeds: running, and running faster. It exasperated Lily sometimes, but she had to admit that a lot of it was because she wished she could just run ahead too.

Sometimes growing up was not as fun as it was made out to be.

“Hey, guys! We beat you!” Gideon said, waving to them madly from where he and Kiaya were sitting. He had a crayon in one hand, and there was a coloring book in front of him. Kiaya, instead of writing, was actually sitting with a cup of tea and a book. There was a half-eaten sandwich on a plate next to her.

“You did!” Corrine agreed, smiling. “We had to go see folks before we could come over.”

“We saw my grandma!” Kaylee said. “She’s making us scarves and mittens!”

“Wow, really?” Gideon said. “That’s cool!”

Lily went and snuggled up next to Schrodinger, who was napping in his bed but made room for her. Then she pulled out her notebook and began to write.

Today we saw Grandma and Grampa, she wrote. Grandma has new yarn that she’s making stuff for us with. My yarn is purple, with bits of blue and red in it, and she’s going to make me a scarf with pockets on the ends. And mittens, if she has enough. Kaylee asked for new mittens for her yarn, because she was playing with Jack and ripped one of hers. Mom was not happy about that.

She has yarn for you too, Zoey! And she said she’ll make you a scarf that matches mine! Your yarn is blue, with bits of green and yellow in it, and it’s really pretty! I think you’ll like it.

She paused and looked out over the tea room. For a Sunday, it was quiet: Kiaya and Corrine were talking while Gideon and Kaylee colored, and Jack supervised. At one of the other tables, Mr. and Mrs. Dorr were sitting. She was knitting something little, not the normal blankets she worked on, and Lily wondered if it was something for a baby. He was reading out loud to her, and there was a pot of tea on the table in between them.

The only other person in the tea room (and that was odd, because it was usually full on Sunday afternoons, after church got out) was an older woman that Lily had never seen in the Cove before, sitting with a cup of tea and a plate of Molly’s cranberry-nut bread. Her long, dark hair was intricately braided into two plaits that hung down on either side of her head, held back with an embroidered headpiece or scarf (Lily couldn’t decide which it was, but it was gorgeous), and the embroidery was echoed in the long coat she wore. There was another, plainer coat on the chair next to her, obviously her overcoat, but the embroidered coat was a riot of orange, red, green, and blue, with beads and what looked to be pearls worked into the stitching. Underneath the coat was a white shirt with long, flowing sleeves – almost like Pavel’s sleeves on his pirate shirts, although these did not end in lace cuffs. The bottom edges of the coat brushed her knees, and Lily could see that her dark green pants were loose and also embroidered up the sides. Her feet were enclosed in stout black boots.

She was bent over a book, her dark lips moving silently as she read to herself. Lily knew she was staring, but she couldn’t look away. The woman was more exotic than she’d seen in a long time, and for someone living in Carter’s Cove, that was saying a lot.

She was just about to say something to Schrodinger when a more familiar figure came rushing into the room, and headed straight for the woman. “Mama!” Starsha cried, her vibrant voice filling the entire room with its music. The Mareesh girl was dressed in similar robes to her mother, something Lily hadn’t seen her wear before but now realized must be traditional garb from the village she was originally from.

The older woman looked up, the star-shaped irises in her dark eyes unmistakably Mareesh. “Starsha!” Then she said something in a different, more liquid language, and embraced her daughter.

The noise had awoken Schrodinger, and he nosed Lily. Still writing?

“Yes. It helps me remember things.” Lily turned the page and put her pen away in her bag, exchanging it for a pencil. Then she began to sketch the two women as they bent over the book the older woman had been reading. The book itself was large, and brightly colored; Lily wondered what it was.

That’s really good, Schrodinger said, looking at the drawing as she finished it. I had no idea you liked to draw like that!

“Thank you,” Lily said, putting the pencil away as Molly came out of the kitchen, carrying the advent castle. They got up and joined the others to look for that day’s number.

“Why do we smell oranges?” Lily asked Molly, as they looked for the 11 on the castle.

Molly indicated the two Mareesh women. “Starsha’s mother Pallavi brought me oranges and lemons from her home as a thank-you gift for the friendship I’ve shown Starsha over the past few years. Don’t they smell amazing?”

“They do!” Lily agreed.

There it is! Jack said suddenly. Look, it’s there, on the right side of the castle!

Kaylee pressed the 11 next to the window, which was surrounded by a flowering vine. The window opened and showed them a room piled high with citrus fruits in baskets, surrounding a couple of young women who were seated in a circle. There were wooden trays of what looked like twigs next to them, and they were busy poking holes into the fruit, and sticking twigs in them.

As one of them reached in for another twig, she knocked the tray, and they went flying everywhere. One flew out the window, transforming as it landed in Kaylee’s outstretched hand into a note that she handed to her sister to read.

“Spice and citrus keep things safe, as well as enjoyable,” Lily read. “Why don’t you make some pomanders too?” She looked up at Molly. “What’s a pomander?”

But it wasn’t Molly who answered her. Starsha and her mother had joined them, and now the Mareesh girl said, “Pomanders are special ornaments that my people hang up every Advent season, to keep the good spirits happy, and the bad spirits away. That is part of the reason we have so much citrus.” She handed a small jar to Lily, which had more of the twigs in it. “These are cloves,” she said, as Lily opened the jar and a heady spicy scent wafted out. “We put them into the citrus.”

“You can also chew them,” Pallavi said, her voice a richer version of her daughter’s. “They make your breath fresh, and can dull tooth pain if you have it. Cloves are a special spice, and one we cherish.”

Lily shook out one of the little cloves and put it in her mouth. The taste, sharp and spicy and warm, exploded on her tongue, which then went a little numb. “Wow, that’s weird!” she said, chewing the little bud. “But good!”

The others tried it as well, even Jack, and all of them agreed with her. Weird, but good.

“So we are making pomanders?” Kaylee said eagerly. “Will we hang them here?”

“Actually, I thought it might be nice to hang them downtown at the shops down there,” Molly said, picking up the castle. “Why don’t you guys settle in here, and I’ll bring out the oranges after I put this away.”

Lily followed her into the kitchen. “Molly, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can,” Molly said, bringing the castle into the pantry. When she came back out, she said, “What’s up, peanut?”

The affectionate diminutive made Lily smile, but it didn’t dissuade her from the question she had to ask. “Why are we decorating the Cove?”

Molly stopped and looked at her, blinking.  “What do you mean?”

“I know something’s up,” Lily said seriously. “The other Advent calendar had us doing stuff in the area, but this seems to be pushing us to do something every day to make something, and it leaves things around the Cove. Why?”

“Does there have to be a reason?” Molly asked her in return.

Lily thought about that as Molly piled oranges and lemons on a tray, and then said, “Yes, I think it does. You seem to know everything we’re doing ahead of time. There’s got to be a reason, and I think Schrodinger knows it. But you don’t want us know – maybe because you think we’re too young?”

“Well, if you’re asking the question, I don’t know if you’re too young,” Molly admitted. “But I think maybe you shouldn’t tell Kaylee and Gideon.” She turned and faced her niece. “Do you remember Caliban?”

“The spirit that was courting the Snow Queen at the same time that Jack was? Sure. He didn’t seem to be a very nice man,” Lily said. “But didn’t he go to jail?”

“Yes, but he broke out,” Molly said. “And because he originally helped make the protections on the Cove, the Snow Queen and Jack were worried that he might come back here and make more trouble.”

“So they’re having us redo the protections? Is that it?” Lily said, putting everything together.

Molly nodded. “Jade thought it might be better to have you guys do it, since the Cove really belongs to you, not to them,” she explained.

“Do you really think he might come back?” Lily asked her.

“I don’t know,” Molly said honestly, looking down at her niece. “But I think we’re better off being safe, rather than sorry.” She picked the tray up. “Come on. Let’s go and make some pomanders.” Then she stopped, before they went out the door. “And let’s not talk about Caliban in front of the others. I don’t think they need to worry about something that may not happen, okay?”

“Okay,” Lily agreed, following her aunt back out to the table, where Gideon, Kaylee, Jack, and Schrodinger were waiting for them.

Pallavi and Starsha joined them to put the pomanders together, pricking the tender skins of the oranges with pins before inserting the cloves into the holes. Then Pallavi showed them how to wrap ribbons around the oranges and pinning them down, creating a strip to hang them from.

“We hang them in all the windows of our homes,” Pallavi told them in her rich voice. “And once the citrus dries out in the sunlight, we move them to the closets, and they stay for years.”

“These will go down to the Tin Shop, and the other stores down in Market Square,” Molly said, as they continued to work through the pile of citrus. “So let’s keep going!”

As she pricked oranges, Lily’s mind went back to Caliban. The last time she had seen him was at the Snow Queen’s Ball, where he had seemed to be more sad than anything else. I wonder if he’s just lonely, she thought. Loneliness is bad. Especially at Christmas.

<><>

Before he’d made the last Gate transfer, Caliban had stopped on the outskirts of the village to make his preparations. After his meeting with the Librarian, he had decided that his ultimate goal did need to be Carter’s Cove, but he didn’t want to be discovered. Luckily, he had a solution.

It took some time, but he had time. All the time in the world, if he was truly honest with himself. He carefully pulled all his magic to his core, and then layered shield after shield around it. Then, once he was satisfied that no one could detect his essence, he began to shift his face and body.

When he was done, he leaned over the clear stream that ran alongside the road and inspected himself. Caliban the prince had had long, dark hair, dark eyes, and a pale, haughty face. This new Caliban (and he needed another name, because Caliban would be too recognizable) was still pale, but his face was covered with a dark, scruffy beard, trending a little to grey at the edges, and his face was square-jawed, rather than long and narrow. His eyes were hazel and larger than they had been, and his ears were hidden by more long, greying hair. The clothing he wore was serviceable and bland,  nothing like the silks and satins he’d worn as a prince, but he found the soft cotton more pleasing to wear against his skin.

Standing back up, he settled his pack on his shoulders, picked up the walking stick he’d cut from a large branch he’d found on the side of the road, and walked into the village.

“Where to, my friend?” the Station technician asked affably.

“Carter’s Cove,” Caliban said, and his voice sounded different – deeper, older, and more tired. It matched how he felt, he realized.

“Busy place,” the Station tech said, typing the destination in on his console. “Name?”

“Perry,” Caliban said after a moment of consideration. “Perry Wandell.”

The tech typed that in as well, and after a moment, said, “If you don’t mind waiting a few minutes, Mr. Wandell, there’s a cart coming through, heading to the Cove. You could probably ride in with them, depending on where in the Cove you’re going.”

He hadn’t thought that far in advance, actually. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’m assuming there’s an inn or something?”

“Yes, several,” the tech said. “What are you looking for?”

“Just a place to lay my head for a few days, maybe longer,” Caliban said. He hitched his pack up. “But nothing very fancy.”

The old Caliban would have never have allowed those words to come from his mouth. The new Caliban realized how true it was.

“Then I would suggest the boarding house run by old Captain Hoskins and his wife,” the tech said. “It’s down by the harbor, but close enough to walk into Market Square and Town Square. You’ll have plenty to do, and Mrs. Hoskins is a good cook. Plain food, but plenty of it, and a clean room.”

“Thank you,” Caliban said politely. “It sounds perfect.”

When the cart rolled through a few minutes later, the tech stopped the driver, a giant of a man with a surprising light voice, and asked if Caliban could ride along.

“Of course!” the giant said. “I would love company! Come on up!”

Caliban climbed up next to him, and the giant offered a friendly handshake. “I am called Monk,” he said. “How may I call you?”

“I’m called Perry,” Caliban said, accepting the handshake. “Just traveling.”

Monk nodded, and shook the reins. The large draft horse stirred and began placidly walking through the arch, onto the Road and off to Carter’s Cove.

Caliban wondered just what would be waiting there for him.

>Activity: make pomanders like the others did! (http://www.simplebites.net/how-to-make-spiced-orange-pomander-balls/)

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.