What a day it had been. There had been times when she had a couple people in her shop at the same time, rarely though it happened, but that day she had had not two. or even three, but five. Five people in her shop.
It had started with Adriellyn, who appeared at her gate while she was out picking some of the lavender. The slight woman was timid, as if stepping into her yard would be as standing on hallowed ground, only walking tentatively to her door at Sareva’s welcome and encouragement. Just as she was about to begin fitting her for some much-needed new clothes, another knock came at the door: Leoffrith and Brynleigh, whom she had been expecting. A third was down the steps behind them, someone neither she nor the two at her threshold recognized. Upon closer examination of his features, he appeared to be one of the eerie, mystifying beings that were said to wander the twilight hours and had the ability to disappear into thin air: an elf. Why was one at her door, at her shop? Had it gotten lost? Do elves get lost?
Immediately flabbergasted, though she strained not to show it, she hurriedly invited them all in and did the only thing that made sense in the situation. Making tea was an easy choice, providing some normalcy. Surely elves drank tea too, so it would be a common ground for all. Adriellyn too came to join the rest while Sareva prepared the steaming beverage, choosing a plain black tea and adding some dried blueberries, something simple that could appeal to most. As set out the cups, she also set about ordering things in her mind, who she would see to first and why.
When she brought the cups around, she could hardly look the elf in the eye when she offered it to him. If he had given his name, she couldn’t recall, and she might have to find some way of getting him to say it again without looking like she’d forgotten it. As for business, Brynleigh came first. She’d asked for a scarf, light blue, for her husband. The soothing project had occupied several relaxed evenings after she had made acceptable progress on all her other tasks for the day.
Next, Leoffrith. The southern Rohirrim would definitely need some warmer clothes, both for the coming months and for the snowy mountain passes he intended to traverse the following spring. Less for looks and more to last, the garments had taken her some time to put together, working in the furs he'd brought for her to use in their making. It appeared to fit well enough, and it had helped that he'd made it easy for her to take accurate measurements. Still, sometimes you could never tell until you tested it out for a while. It gave him a broad shouldered look, something he needed perhaps to give him a more confident appearance. That much, she didn’t tell him, but the directionless man seemed to be lacking more than just a path, or even the will to find one. Those, he had, but the belief in his own ability to carry it out might need to be nurtured. As a tailor, there was little she could do for that, but she hoped that this, a set of clothes to prepare him for the immediate and more distant future, and a more confident appearance, might help in some way.
When they emerged from the shop proper into the common room, she found that a fifth person had arrived. She prayed she wasn’t visibly paling, and took a deep gulp of her tea. “Lavender, should have made lavender…” she mumbled to herself, turning from the now two elves in her home and shop to one she knew at least how to interact with. Besides, Adriellyn had been the first to the shop and had now had to wait for two others to attended to before her. Meanwhile, Brynleigh and Leoffrith gave their farewells, going on about the rest of their days. It was a simple measuring, and deciding what kind of garments to make. Adriellyn’s occasional skittishness was not unexpected, and was soothed over for the most part by the simple conversation and idle chatter that came easily to Sareva, perhaps by natural inquisitiveness into the lives and minds of others, perhaps through practice for just such situations, as it was not uncommon for someone being measured to feel anxious or self-conscious.
With that and a proposed price out of the way, they returned to the main room only to find both the elves had gone. So striking was their traceless absence, that Sareva had to wonder if they had ever really been there; however, her doubts were put to rest as she and Adriellyn continued to chat, and talk, and meet her cat, and talk more, on and on. She wasn’t actually sure how long it was, but only that it felt needed. It seemed as if behind the uncaring attitude, the lack of interest in her own life goals other than to be a tool for others, there might be something more about the woman before her, even more than the depth she spoke of in her past. Sareva wouldn’t be able to bestow self-worth on her own, but she tried at least to help Adri acknowledge herself. Whether or not their discussion came to anything, she wasn’t sure.
For Sareva too, it was a balm. The only two beings who had been in that house for any stretch of time other than for business in quite a while had been herself and the cat, and they lived there. While he was an affectionate companion when he felt like it, Cat was still just a cat. And while you can speak to a cat, he generally won’t speak back to press at the tender parts of your soul and remind what parts need to be cradled carefully.
So, with her house now once more empty but for herself and Cat, she smiled softly down at him. She scratched the reclusive cat’s head and neck as he rubbed up against her on the bench “Ah, well, you’re all the the company I’ll be wanting this evening. Too much else today, don’t you agree? Besides, I know I can trust you, right?”
