Planning A Feast- Talyah's POV
1626 Words
The Next Morning:
I enjoyed waking up in the morning before everybody else. Feeding the animals and buying groceries from the market was the time I got to spend to myself without my older siblings and my parents following my every move.
I walked down the streets, looking at the fruits, vegetables and the different grains that was at the place. They even had venison and other types of animal meat for us to get. My first stop was at the fruit booth. I grabbed all of the fruits that my family and I enjoyed eating. It was the middle of Summer, so watermelon, strawberries, grapes, oranges and apples were in. People swarmed the booth, trying to take as much as they could get. It took me 20 minutes to get to the front where the seller was. Mr. Andrews was my favorite. He was a sweet man and he was nice looking for being the age of 33 years old.
“Hi, Talyah.” Mr. Andrews said to me. “Are you doing your morning shopping again?”
I smiled at him and nodded to his question. He grabbed an apple and rinsed it off by pouring a container of water on it before he handed it to me.
“Try before you buy.” He told me.
I grabbed it from his wet hand and took a bite out of the greenish-red apple. The juice from the apple was very sweet and refreshing. I closed my eyes, savoring the taste of the beautiful fruit he handed to me.
“It’s very good and it gave me a slight boost of energy.” I told him after I swallowed the piece of apple. “What kind is this?”
‘It’s called the Apple of Vitality, milady. It helps with boosting your energy if you need it. Each bite brings your energy up and it’ll have you feeling alive and well. Not weak and fatigued.”
I took another bite and confirmed what he was talking about.
“I want these.” I told him. “And the regulars, please.”
“No problem. Do you have something to carry them in?”
“No, it’s just myself.”
“For the love of the Gods, Talyah. I knew you were going to do this, so I brought something for you to take.”
He wheeled out a basket for me and I accepted it with gratitude. I never had a problem with carrying the bags myself, but others did.
“Thank you, Mr. Andrews.” I said, taking control of the basket.
I reached into my pocket and gave him the money for the fruits. He put the fruits in the basket and we said our goodbyes before I left to grab other things for the house.
**
Three hours later:
“I’m home!” I shouted as soon as I walked into the house.
“Shopping again?” Mama asked me.
“Of course, we needed food. I don’t mind spending my earnings on my family.”
Papa walked in and glanced at me, then his eyes turned to the basket in my hand.
“I take it someone finally had enough of you going empty-handed?” He asked.
“Mr. Andrews. He bought me a basket for me to do my shopping with.”
I brought the basket over to my parents and Papa took it from my hands with ease.
“This is a lot more than you had bought last week, Talyah.” Mama said. “Did you spend all of your earnings?”
“Yes, I did. It doesn’t matter, though. As long as my family has some food in their belly, then I could care less about the money. Besides, I’ll pick up extra shifts again.”
Milking goats and cows was what I did on a daily. If there was extra things to be done like picking up dung and collecting chicken eggs from the chicken coop, I was willing to do that for extra funds. Plus, other things that would bring the money to me.
“I was going to do the shopping today.” My older brother, Lucis said as he walked into the dining room. “I got paid extra as well.”
Then, you can still do it. They had a lot of food to buy today.”
“Save your money, Lucis.” Papa told him. “You can buy food next week.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Lucis looked at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. He smirked before he turned and walked towards the front door. As soon as he opened it, the sound of an Eagle was heard, then the bird flew into the house.
“Whoa!” Lucis exclaimed as he moved out of the way.
I moved to the other side of the table and watched as Papa put his arm out for the Eagle to land it. My eyes moved down to the Eagle’s ankle where a piece of paper was strapped to it.
“Isn’t that…?” Mama asked Papa.
“Yes, it’s King Draco’s Eagle.” Papa confirmed.
“The King?” Lucis asked, closing the front door and making his way back over to us. “What does it say?”
Mama removed the paper from the Eagle and opened it, reading it as quickly as she could. Her eyes widened, immediately and she turned to her husband.
“The King is coming here tomorrow.” Mama announced.
“Here? As in… Gerinburg?” Lucis asked.
“Hm, about time he came to visit.” Papa said. “Thank goodness you bought enough food to last two weeks, Talyah. we can make a meal for our guest.”
“Papa, you know him?” I asked.
“Your father was your King’s right hand man.”
Lucis and I glanced at each other before we turned our attention back to our parents.
“Why did you leave?” Lucis asked. “We could’ve lived in the Kaenid Kingdom.”
“I know, but your mother wasn’t ready to leave her home. And I actually like it here.”
“Sometimes, I question you two.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes at my brother. I was like my mother in some ways. Gerinburg was a relaxing place to live. Even though we weren’t living the royalty life, I could say I was happy my parents chose that place to reside in.
“Well, Talyah and I could make a feast for our guest beginning tomorrow afternoon.”
“I need you guys to do your chores tonight instead of the morning.” Papa told Lucis and I. “Can you guys work early today?”
“Definitely.” I told him. “I can go in a couple of hours.”
“Also, that spare room needs to be cleaned up. I want you two on that.”
“Of course.” Lucis said. “I’ll take my leave now.”
Lucis and I agreed and we headed out together.
“I never thought the King would come this way” I said to Lucis as we headed off to work.
“Me, either.” Lucis said “However, this could be something interesting. Maybe Father would rethink about us staying here in Gerinburg.”
I chuckled keeping my eyes on the road ahead.
“And what’s wrong with Gerinburg, Brother?”
He bumped into me and we both broke out into a fit of laughter.
“I love it, but…. I want more.”
“Greedy much?”
“Never. You know I’m never the one to ask for more. However, this time I am.”
Understanding where my brother was coming from, , too, was excited to see why the King was bringing himself this way. Gerinburg was the opposite direction of his route to the other neighboring
countries.
Once Lucis and I got to the crossroad of the street, we turned to each other and he spoke first, pushing his brownish hair to the side.
“Well, I’ll see you, little sister.” He said to me.
“And I’ll see you.” I told him as I turned to take my leave to work.
I walked to my right and he walked to his left, getting our minds ready for work.
**
Six hours later:
I finished everything that I needed to do, plus extra. Once I put the milk jars in the basket, I carried them over to my boss. There was one person before me, so I checked the milks before I got there. 12 milk jars, each filled to the brim with fresh cow milk and another twelve filled with goat milk. Jars were labeled and marked for the boss to tell which was which. No mistakes, I thought to myself. Perfect.
“Next.” My boss, Mr. Alonis said.
I picked up the basket and brought it close for him to see. He counted the jars and nodded his head.
“Perfect.” He said.
“I also did the extra things that were not done yesterday.” I told him.
“Good work, Talyah. His a little extra pay for you today.”
He handed me a coin purse that was filled with coins. I squinted my eyes, but kept my mouth closed.
“Thank you, Mr. Alonis.” I said. “I will be able to get extra food before the King’s arrival tomorrow.”
His eyes widened when I said that.
“King Draco?!” He asked in complete shock.
“Yes, Papa got a letter today saying he was stopping this way.”
“Oh wow. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Mama and Papa should be letting the town know now as we speak.”
“Alright. Thanks, love.”
I nodded and turned to walk away.
“Oh, before I forget. I wanted to give you a reward for helping out this past week.”
I turned back around and he handed me back the basket of milk I had just did. I shook my head at him.
“It was done without a reward on mind.” I told him.
“Please, take it. You could use this for the feast you guys are making for the King. Just save me a plate, yeah?”
I smiled and nodded my head.
“I promise.” I told him.
And my promises were never broken. I had always taken promises serious.
**
Comng back to the house, I did my part of the chores like I told Papa I would. Lucis came home an hour later to do his chores as well.
“I got paid extra today.” Lucis said to me as we were cleaning up around the house.
“Same here and I got an basket of cow and goat milk.”
“Nice. Now mama can’t say she doesn’t have milk to make her famous apple pie.”
Just thinking about Mama’s pie made my stomach growl with hunger. Lucis laughed and put the broom down.
“Let’s go eat.” He insisted.
“Definitely.” I said and we both walked into the house.
- Writer
