Chapter 83: 84: Morning in the park

It's beautifully peaceful. The summer heat is still held at bay by the early morning clouds covering the sky and the gentle breeze, wafting through the streets, carries away any muck and grime still lingering in the air from the previous day. All of this leaves nothing but a gentle calmness in its wake. Fresh notices as they walk, that the sound of the birdsong has changed since she first arrived here in this world. Looking up towards the trees, she sees that the birds nesting and flying in and out of their boughs are indeed entirely different species than the ones she had seen here during spring.

The three of them had decided to walk around the city. Apparently, according to Basil, there’s a small park near the cathedral plaza. Jubilee seems a little hesitant about the idea, but after Fresh ends up nagging them, they relent and so the three of them head in that direction. Though, they stop on their way several times to look into shop windows and Fresh and Basil buy themselves something to drink while they walk. The streets are filled with the usual early morning hustle and bustle, though the three of them still seem to be ahead of the crowd.

“This is really nice, Basil!” remarks Fresh as they walk through the open wrought-iron gates to the park. A waist-high stone wall surrounds the entire area, encasing a sea of green grass and sparsely dotted trees. The sounds of running water can be heard not far off in the distance, as if there is a small creek just up the way.

“Yeah, there are a few parks in the city, but this one is my favorite,” replies Basil.

“Because it’s by the church?” asks Fresh, but Basil shakes her head.

“No, I just like this one the most.”

Fresh blinks. “Oh.”

“Mm,” smiles the priestess, picking up her pace and walking on ahead down the road. The laughter of children can be heard from somewhere in the distance as well, intermingling with the sounds of nature. “I gotta run ahead, I’ll meet up with you in a minute.”

Jubilee quietly strolls along at her side, their gaze wandering over the many trees as if they were also looking at the birds like Fresh had done before.

“I never knew the city had places like this,” says Fresh to Jubilee.

“Maybe because you never go anywhere, goo-brain.”

The girl crosses her arms. “I never go anywhere because I’m working all day and it’s not like you ever take me anywhere.”

“What? Why would I take you anywhere? Go on your own. What am I, your babysitter?” Jubilee shakes their head.

“Because we’re friends, Jubilee,” explains Fresh.

“Uh huh,” remarks Jubilee, dryly. “Is that what friends do then? Take each other to the park? Are you sure you understand how this whole ‘friendship’ thing works?” says Jubilee lazily, continuing on walking as Fresh stands there, wondering. Does she even know how friendships work? No. Not really. She’s just kind of making it up as she goes along.

“Well, it’s been working well so far,” she mutters to herself. Looking back towards Jubilee and running after them. “Fine!” she pouts. “If you aren’t going to take me places. Then I’m going to take you places.”

“Uh…”

“Can we do this more often, Jubilee?”

“What?”

“Take a day off. It’d be nice if we had like… a day every week, where we can just relax and catch up a little. There’s gotta be more to life than work,” says Fresh, looking at her friend.

Jubilee looks at her incredulously. “You want to cut out a full day’s worth of profits every week?”

“Yes,” nods Fresh, not skipping a beat.

“To do nothing but laze around with me?”

“Mm!” acknowledges the girl. “Having the shop and making money is a lot of fun, Jubilee. But you know what else is fun?”

“I don’t really want to know, honestly. I’ve seen what you do in your free time,” replies Jubilee.

Fresh ignores their comment. “Spending time with yooooou~”

“Shut up. Why?” asks Jubilee dryly.

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because what,” says Fresh, shrugging.

“What?” asks Jubilee.

Fresh raises a finger, explaining. “Chicken-butt.”

Jubilee groans. “You have issues.”

“Maybe, but so do you, Jubilee. That’s why we work so well together.” Jubilee doesn’t say anything more and the two of them keep walking, trying to catch up to Basil, who has rushed ahead for one reason or another.

The park itself is calm and empty, occasionally a well dressed person or a couple on a walk come past them, sparing them little to no mind, apart from a curious glance now and then. Apparently, the people from the expensive houses around here liked to use this park for their morning strolls.

A flurry of excited sounds comes out from up ahead and the two of them round the bend, looking at the priestess who has been swarmed by a ring of children that surround her, all of them vying to get Basil’s overwhelmed attention.

“Sister Basil! Rosemary stole my ball!”

“No I didn’t! Thistle’s a liar!” yells a girl on the other side of the circle, pulling on Basil’s sleeve.

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Sister Basil! Sister Basil! Sage ate a worm!”

“You eat worms!” yells a boy.

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“Nu-uh!” shouts the girl back at him, pulling on Basil’s other sleeve.

“Sister Basil! I found this for you!” says a boy, holding out a flower.

Basil sighs and pulls her arms free. The priestess claps her hands together once and the circle of arguing children stops moving in an instant, all of them becoming quiet and tense all at once.

“Rosemary, did you borrow Thistle’s ball?” she asks the girl, who quickly looks down at her feet.

“Yes…”

Basil nods. “Next time, ask before borrowing something, okay? Give it back please.”

“Yes, sister Basil…” says the girl as Basil rubs her head.

She looks over the rest of them, taking the flower from the boy. “Thank you, Cicely, that’s very sweet.” The boy beams, lowering his head for the other hand to fall down on top of it.

Basil looks at them. “It’s almost time for your work to start. Shouldn’t you all get back?” She looks around at the circle of children who tense up, the priestess waves a hand. “Go on, scoot! Before sister Bramble scolds you all for being late.”

Apparently fearing whatever this deathly threat implies, the circle quickly breaks and the group of them races off and away through the park, save for one who still stands there, clutching the hem of Basil’s robe.

“You too, Chervil.”

The orc boy shakes his head, but doesn’t say anything.

Basil pulls his hands free. “Come on, you gotta work. Otherwise how are you going to eat? Go on,” she nudges him away. “Work hard, okay? I’m counting on you!” The boy doesn’t say anything, but then relents and runs after the rest of them, leaving Basil who smiles an exhausted smile and waves to the two of them. “Sorry, I knew this would happen, so I tried to handle the situation before you got here.”

Fresh and Jubilee look at each other and shrug. “I didn’t know you had kids, Basil,” says Fresh and Jubilee snorts, holding down a laugh.

Basil clears her throat. “I don’t. They’re some of the orphans under the church’s care. I suppose they’ve just sort of latched on to me,” sighs the priestess.

“Oh…” says Fresh. That makes more sense. “You did really well, they really listen to you.”

Basil smiles a smug smile. “I suppose you could say that I’m the favorite.” Her posture shifts to a droop again. “But it’s becoming unmanageable, we’re getting a new one every month these days. The situation in the south being what it is…” She looks at Fresh, but then turns away and the three of them keep walking, together now, as they head through the park. Nobody says anything until they reach a small bench by a tiny creek. The water trickles on, down into the distance, where it vanishes into the underbrush.

Fresh and Basil sip their drinks and Jubilee is leaned back with their hands behind their head, as the three of them sit on the bench, staring out over the water. Fresh tilts her head, watching the tiny fish swim around in the clear water of the brook.

“So… what are you two working for?” asks Basil.

“Huh…?” asks Fresh, looking uncertainly at Jubilee who just shrugs.

“You know? Your end goal? Where’s this all going?” asks the priestess.

Jubilee chimes in. “Money? What else are we supposed to be working for? We’re merchants. We work for money. Our goal is money. We get up for money. We make things for money. We sell things for money.”

“Huh…” says Basil in response to the somewhat plain, unromantic answer and then looks back to the water, spinning the flower around in her hand. The three of them sit in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the world around them.

“It’s not about the goal, Basil,” says Fresh. “It’s about the journey.”

“What do you mean?”

Fresh shrugs. “I have a lot of fun every day, making things that people like. And I get to spend every day with my two friends, so even on bad days, I still have a good day somehow!” She looks over, back down to the water, looking at her reflection that looks back up at her from a slight distance. The shimmering water seems to obscure her eyes, the glow of the rising sun behind them, slowly starting to coat the creek in a blindingly bright, white reflection which erases the three silhouettes sitting on the bench, obscuring them from the world.

Fresh fiddles with her fingers. “But it’s not going to last forever. So I want to have as much fun as I can, while the good times are still here,” she explains. “Summer is going to be over before we know it.”

Basil and Jubilee don’t say anything, opting to let her words ring out together with the whistling birdsong around them and Fresh watches her reflection in the water carefully, her eyes narrowing in suspicion of it. She watches as its lips grow into a wide smile, even though she is sure there is no such thing on her own face. The water, buried under the blinding sunlight of a new dawn, seems to become darker beneath the surface, as if a black ink were swirling beneath it, just out of sight.

“Hey, Basil?”

“Yes?” asks the priestess.

“What’s a hero?”

Razmatazz

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