Tea Room

Written by George Sanders

The door stuck a little and the glass panes rattled in loose glaze but a nice chime danced when customers entered. The front room only had six tables and most only had two chairs at them. A passage at the back of the room led to a small kitchen. Through the passage a tree stood by a window in the South wall of the building. It was only three or four feet tall and the foilage had been generally shaped like a ball.
"Aaa! Is that an lemon tree?" My sister couldn't hold in her excitement.
We were from the South where they were common but now lived far to the North were it would not be possible for them to grow.
My hands went to my mouth, "Blessed Silver Dragon, it has lemons on it!"
While I pointed, my sister was already in the kitchen holding one of the yellow orbs that hung on the tree.
A young woman with an accent from the vineland district South of Heliopedia dried her hands with a towel, "Good afternoon, ma'am. You can have a seat and I'll bring you some tea."
My sister looked from the tree to the woman and back to the tree. "It's a lemon tree! How is this possible?"
The young woman's father entered in door on the far side of the kitchen as she answered, "My father tended to the trees in the groves for years. He kept young trees in pots until space was ready for them in the grove. We brought some with us. They grow great inside behind windows."
The father smiled and bowed. "Councilwoman, I am warmed by the joy our tree has brought you." He walked over to the tree and picked off on of the most rip lemons. "For you."
My sister was Ranon, one of the founding members of the Etonia Council. She had been a talented performer so the father or daughter may have even seen her back in Heliopedia. It had been a stressful week and this shop had been part of a the latest wave of merchants recruited from the South to immigrate.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll need that." My sister replied.
"No, we owe you. I know what you did. You fought for Southern Heliopedians and after you came here, you sent your recruiters to the poor districts to give people like us opportunity. Our tea shop is your refuge as much as ours."