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 Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:33 am
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 10:01 am
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:41 am
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Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 12:27 pm
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:28 am
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Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:33 am
Cassia quietly swept the front entrance of the little shop. When her family had started their tea business, they’d closed off the entrance to their home. It left just enough space for a small desk and two standing shelves among the walls also lined with shelves. Everything was filled to the brim but there was still an order to the mess. Inside their home, since the deaths, the house was now a lot more empty. A lot of the tea making equipment had been moved to the empty rooms since they were no longer used by her siblings. It was nice to see so much space, but it was a painful reminder.
“Cassia!” Came the yell from the family home. Cassia stopped and went through the small door to the other side of the home.
“What’s wrong?” Olan, Cassia’s mother, was sitting on one of their chairs, tasting away at some teas. She had a sour expression on her face.
“Can you taste these for me?” Cassia went over and took the empty seat next to her mother; she took a sip of the first tea. Olan pushed the small book towards Cassia so that she could write down her notes. “We’re not going to last very long if we don’t have a tea specialist in the house.” Olan sighed.
“I’m sorry mother…” Cassia said softly before trying another tea.
“It’s not your fault; your father was the specialist in the house. We might have to hire someone.” Olan sighed and Cassia kept her eyes on the tea in front of her.
Cassia knew they could not afford anyone right now. Her mother’s production had gone downhill, their operations had been for a larger group of people and two people could not keep up.
“We can always ask other family?” It was granted her father’s family who had been tea merchants and they hadn’t spoken to them in a long time. Not since the deaths at least.
“Will you ever remarry?” The Cassia had come up so suddenly, that Olan blinked a few times. She seemed unsure of how to reply to her daughter about such a topic or even why Cassia was bringing it up to her now. Cassia knew it was a little indiscreet to ask such a thing, but she was worried for her mother. Being alone was not good for her, Cassia could see that much and she only truly wished her the best. Cassia knew her father wouldn’t want her mother dying alone.
“Well, I am not sure.” Olan said slowly, mulling the question over. Cassia knew her mother was not that old, she’d had her very young thus the hasty marriage to a girl who was not in the trade. Her mother was still beautiful; Cassia wanted her mother to be happy after all. Perhaps have more siblings?
The leaf girl dearly missed her siblings; she missed her father too of course but her siblings… Her heart ached. Her brother was the one who was going to become the tea specialist. It entailed a lot of traveling that was for sure, did Cassia really want that kind of stress put on her? If she didn’t do it the family business would crumble to almost nothing… Did she watch all of her family’s hard work combust into flames or did she face her fears? Cassia swallowed the tea, it prickled the back of her throat.
She had no choice.
“Would you be against the idea of me becoming a tea specialist instead of a merchant? I know father’s side of the family will be able to help you with the rest of the business, but we can’t afford a specialist.” Her voice had quivered a bit and her mother sighed softly extending her hand to gently tap Cassia’s.
“You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to right? I am not forcing you. Things might be hard for us for a little while without a specialist but we’d be fine. You do know that right Cassia?”
“Yes I know, I want to do it.” That wasn’t entirely true, but how could she admit the truth to her mother? She couldn’t.
“Alright, well. I can give you your father’s notes for you to study. He learned from his father, perhaps you could see if your grandfather has any advice for you? We could take a few days to travel to see him.”
“Yes, I will study and we will go see him.” Cassia was not ready to meet her grandfather; she hadn’t seen him in years. He had not attended the funeral. She did not know if he would want to teach her, but at least it was worth a try.
Cassia finished the notes on the tea’s her mother had been struggling with and left to go back to her cleaning.
What had she just done? Cassia could not believe she’d actually just put everything she knew aside to become a tea specialist. She’d looked forward to being a merchant and being surrounded by people, she would always be safe. Now though, she knew she would have to travel and quite far. Belrea was looming on the horizon and she knew she needed to get their first before the other merchants.
Belrea… Cassia didn’t know what she would find there, but she was sure of one thing. It was going to have to save the family business.
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:57 pm
Spread your wings
Blurb: Cassia never liked traveling and never had any plans of travelling. But when her family loses valuable work, she finds herself feeling like the family business might not live. And so she takes it upon herself that she must travel so that the family business can thrive and she doesn't disappoint her dead father. She'll be asking friends to join her of course, but it is a big step for her to finally go out into the world
There was a new place in Oba that had opened up and was requesting tea merchants to visit it so they could find a supplier. It meant a lot of new business for many merchants and so Cassia’s mother insisted they leave and go. It had taken everything for Cassia to be able to leave her home and even then she had huddled in their cart hidden between stacks and baskets of tea. She had created a small tent for herself under the canvas and had refused to get out until they reached a city. That was how their journey went.
Once they’d arrived in Oba and the city, Cassia was amazed at everything around her. Not only the people, yes of course she’d seen traveling Obans before, but those who were here were so lavish! And their homes and clothing. She was so amazed by everything here; everything practically had a gold finish to it. A small part of her wanted to travel, but her fear kept her stationary. She didn’t want to go out, what if something bad happened? What if she was attacked again? No, it was too dangerous and just like that Cassia’s dreams came crashing down.
The day they arrived into the city it was filled with all kinds of merchants, Cassia had never seen anything like this kind of gathering before. Tea merchants weren’t the only ones who had gathered for this, no there were all kinds of merchants from all over. Cassia spent the rest of the day walking through the streets and enjoying everything the merchants had to offer. Cassia was also able to check out some of the other tea merchants around. There were a lot of good things they offered, but Cassia was quiet sure their products would be better than theirs.
The next day Cassia went to the designated building, other merchants were already setting up and Cassia and her mom hurried to set their own items up. The owner showed up a few minutes later, going around and sampling teas from everyone. He did not skip anyone or any of the samples that were offered to him. Cassia thought she would pass out when he came to sample their own teas. He seemed pleased but Cassia could not tell if he would take them as their supplier. This was huge and her family really needed the business this could bring.
“Alright,” the man said clapping his hands together. “Those of you who only carry one kind of tea may take your leave.”
And so a few merchants sighed and began packing up their items. Cassia watched them feeling sorry for them, but it was true. You could not be in this business if you didn’t diversify. Still, this was only the beginning; there were still a lot of merchants left. The man was just culling the herd until he got what he wanted right? Still, Cassia wished they could have stayed just a bit longer in the city. She hadn’t expected everything to only take a day.
“Those with prices above what I was requesting can take your leave. I did not put out a number frivolously and the fact that some of you think you can get more money out of me does not play well.”
And so a few more packed and took their leave. The day continued to move like this, merchants getting sent away for one reason or another. Every time cassia held her breath hoping they would not be thrown out. In the end, there were three merchant left and her family, as small as it was, were still standing.
“My next decision does not come lightly, but since you do not have anything from Belrea like the others, cannot keep you.”
Cassia stared at the man as he stared them down.
“But our tea is excellent,” Cassia began heartbroken.
“Indeed and if you had had any tea from Belrea I would have chosen your business. But the truth is you do not and I need tea from Belrea.”
“This isn’t fair!” Cassia clenched her fists, unable to comprehend what was happening.
“Cassia!” Her mother hissed next to her and began dragging her back away.
“You know this isn’t fair.” While they were already forgotten, Cassia did not want to lose this.
“Cassia calm down. What he says is true; he isn’t the first to ask either. People want tea from Belrea, we cannot blame him for it.”
“What if we found someone to bring in tea for us?”
“You know we can’t afford that, if…” Her mother sighed.
“If dad had been here he would have gone,” Cassia said grim faced. Her mother was right; her father would have gone if he had been alive. But he wasn’t around and they didn’t have any options…
Cassia would have to leave if she wanted the family business not to die off. When her mother would be gone Cassia would be unable to continue the business and would end up falling behind or going broke or worst both. Cassia struggled internally with this knowledge, but she also didn’t feel safe traveling alone, didn`t even know where to begin for that matter! Who would even take her on for something like this? She didn’t have many friends but she knew none of them would want to travel around with her either. But one person did come to mind.
“I’m going to go to Belrea,” Cassia said half frustrated.
“You don’t have too, I know how you feel about traveling. We’ll be fine.”
“No, no we won’t be fine.”
Her mother only shook her head and began packing. Cassia helped her but her mind was already running about trying to make plans. She would make plans, she would get to Belrea, and she would fix everything that was happening. She wouldn’t let the family business die off like this, her father would hate that.
“I’m going to do this mom.” Cassia said as she helped her.
“Of course,” but Cassia knew her mother doubted her and was just entertaining her. Cassia would prove her wrong.
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