Lilac Child Chapter 7

The sun had dipped behind the palace, but the temperature in the streets was still climbing. A weariness had grown in Zini’s bones until she could hear the creaking in her own ears as she walked. She wanted to go back home and sleep until nightfall, but she had to visit The Tea House and learn what her old employer Fir’ma wanted. Just the thought of him had her balling her fists and dreaming of ways to hurt him. Until today she’d pushed him from her thoughts and banished him to the past, but stepping foot inside the shop had brought it all back.

The tea house windows were wide open. Men sitting inside and out, drinking from glasses while Fir’ma’s children ran among the tables. He’d be in there, directing them from behind his counter, waving the fan over himself and swatting at any of his ‘children’ that displeased him. “Zini’la, my favourite daughter. You’ve come to visit me. I am doubly blessed today,” the man crooned before Zini even stepped foot inside. This time he wasn’t in his usual spot but sitting with a customer, something he never did. The well-dressed man he was with sat taller in his seat and stroked his beard. He bowed his head to Zini and then looked around the shop with a possessive air. Fir’ma half stood and put an arm around Zini, pulling her to the table. “Asust’ma, this is one of the first orphans I gave a home to. This humble tea house has allowed me over the years to take in those less fortunate and give them employment.” “A charitable act that I’m sure pleased Fara, and that our children will continue once they take over,” Asust’ma said, glancing at Zini before dismissing her.

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