Page 52 of Ties of Legacy

Elliot looked over at her, clearly catching her discomfort, and she straightened, stilling. He already saw too much.

An insistent tapping at the door made Mattie heave herself back to her feet. “Another visitor?” she exclaimed. “That’s unusual. Is there a family gathering I’m unaware of?”

She hurried off, leaving Avery to exchange a worried look with Elliot. It was going to be hard to share their story with Mattie if other family members showed up.

A loud cawing made them both start, and a bolt of blue, red, yellow, and green shot into the room. Frank circled overhead cawing indignantly.

“And here I was, hoping you’d managed to shake that thing off,” Mattie said, reappearing in the room with a scowl.

“You even remember Frank?” Avery asked.

“He’s a hard creature to forget.” Mattie watched his flight with narrowed eyes. “Just make sure he knows that if he destroys one of my books again, I’ll start plucking his feathers.”

“Bitter old woman!” Frank cried. “Nasty nincompoop.”

“I see the years have made you even more pleasant.” Mattie propped her hands on her hips.

“And I see they’ve made you gray,” Frank rasped back, in a voice that still startled Avery with how human it sounded, despite the subtle tone that set it apart.

Mattie’s arms dropped, and she laughed. “How does a bird know how to hit you where it hurts?” She resumed her seat and looked at Avery. “I feel compelled to remind you that traveling with that bird hurts the dignity of all roving merchants. The creature is a menace.”

“What do you want me to do?” Avery asked innocently. “I can’t stop him flying where he wishes.”

Mattie regarded her balefully. “I did an even better innocent expression when I was your age, Avery, daughter of Magnolia. You might be fooling this handsome young man here, but you aren’t fooling me.”

“What handsome young man?” Frank scoffed. “Are you far-sighted? He looks like a bad egg that will rot the barrel.”

Mattie stood up, her expression completely calm, and threw a well-aimed cushion at Frank. He barely swerved in time to miss it, immediately flapping down to the far end of the library to perch on the top of a bookshelf and mutter angrily to himself.

“Excellent,” Mattie said matter-of-factly. “Now that creature is taken care of, it’s time for tea. I assume you both drink tea?” She looked at them with an expression that dared them to say no. Neither of them were so foolhardy.

“Would you like tea that calms you down, tea that wakes you up, tea that helps your hair grow, tea that makes you chatty, or tea that improves your hearing?” she asked.

Elliot stared at her, so Avery answered for both of them.

“I think we’ll go with tea that wakes us up.” It seemed the safest in the circumstances. She glanced at Elliot who still looked taken aback. “Mattie may not do the roving part herself, but don’t forget she’s a roving merchant. She has access to every enchanted herb that grows anywhere in six kingdoms.”

“She’s nothing like I expected,” Elliot said in a slightly awed voice the moment Mattie left the room.

“Let me guess,” Avery said with a smile. “You were expecting a dusty, white-haired scholar, peering at us through his glasses?”

“I don’t think a speck of dust would dare settle in here.” Elliot stood and wandered along one of the shelves, staring at some of the more peculiar titles.

Mattie reappeared bearing an enormous tea tray. It carried a huge teapot with several chips, a tray of assorted cakes and slices, and three large mugs, each wrapped in a knitted jacket, complete with a fluffy white collar and bright buttons. There wasn’t much chill in the air of the capital, despite the arrival of Autumn, and yet even so, Avery still itched to snuggle her hands around one of the mugs.

“Don’t even bother trying to find anything on your own,” Mattie told Elliot. “I’ve been informed by reliable sources that my organizational system isunique.”

“Like these?” Elliot gestured at the books in front of him.

Mattie didn’t need to approach closer to read the titles. With only a glance in his direction, she reeled off a list.

“The Unique Effect of the Auldana Legacy on Snow and Ice, An Examination of Albino Mice, The State of Sea Foam and What It Tells Us About Ocean Health, How to Cultivate Daises…” She started unloading the tea tray onto a low table, a feat she could only perform after ruthlessly ejecting several piles of books. “But surely you don’t need an explanation for why those are grouped together? That section, at least, is obvious.”

“Is it?” Elliot looked helplessly at Avery.

For a moment Avery felt as blank as he looked. But Lorne had told her to think creatively, so maybe she needed to see it from a different angle.

“It’s about color?” she guessed, despite how ridiculous it sounded. “They’re all related to things that are white?”

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