Welcome to Gaia! ::

A knock at the door caused a bit of a scuffle inside the house where a raised voice echoed by a shriek of what anyone could assume to have been some sort of bird. A crash of something falling to the ground and shattering. More raised voices before everything settled down. Most people of the village often wandered away after hearing the noise, but a young leaf/wind dressed in a layered green dress. One that was blotted with what looked like flour and a smudge streaked across her cheek.

"Hello?" She asked in a small voice, behind her a purple feathered streak was sprinting through the room behind her. "Soran, calm down, it's just someone at the door." The girl called over her shoulder as the streak slowed to show that it was a young Scorra. Its stubby wings giving a few flaps before settling back to its sides. Large eyes stared sidelong before tilting its head to one side and padding over. Curiosity taking over.

The girl could merely shake her head before turning her attention back to the woman that stood at her parent's door. "Sorry about that, is there something I can help you with?"

Aldara listened to the woman as she spoke of her mom's pastries and wanted to see about pairing them up with her own products? Tilting her head to one side a little she looked back over her shoulder. "My parents aren't here at the moment, but I can bring some outside if you'd like me to." Aldara said before she was bumped into from behind as the dark colored Scorra poked its head out around her to see what was going on.

"Soran, behave." She warned the Scorra who was interested in the basket that Cassia was holding. "You'll have to forgive Soran, he does jump a little easily. And he gets very curious." She strained a little to keep the young Scorra from pecking at the tea packages that Cassia was carrying.

Wrangling the Scorra back into the house, she managed to close the door with a little bit of a sigh. She was trying to train him to behave better, but being as young as he was it wasn't the easiest at times. Turning back to Cassia, Aldara gave a smile. "Name's Aldara, are they any pastries that you are specifically looking for? I have been helping with the baking this morning while my mother left to make a delivery. We have some Turnovers, small flaky muffins. " She started to list off before she paused. "Crap! The pie!" She turned quickly and threw open the door to rush inside, hoping Soran hadn't gotten at the pie on the sill.

Aldara got to the kitchen to see a curious Scorra eyeing the pie as it sat cooling on the window sill. "Oh no you don't." Aldara said as she picked up the pie and placed it higher then the bird. "You will get your own later. This one is for guests." she told the bird who got distracted with something else and wandered off.

"Really, you are getting too big to be in here. You should be outside with the rest of them." She said with a bit of a sigh. Turning her head towards the tea merchant as she asked some questions. "Best sellers are always to cookies. The chocolate and berry ones are always asked for. Mmmm." She paused to think.

"Let me get Soran outside with the rest of the Scorra and then I can get you a few of our pastries." Aldara says before ushering the bird out the back door and towards the Scorra pens. She would let the bird into the closest pen and gave him something as a treat to keep him there. Reentering the house, she went to the kitchen pantry to look and see what they had.

"Lets see... AH! Here we are." Aldara pulled out a small covered container from one of the lower shelves. Taking the lid off the container, inside were a neatly placed pastries. They looked like two small cake halves with a berry flavored filling in the middle(Think Macaroon). "There are these, I can also put on a kettle of water if you'd like to brew up some tea. I wouldn't mind giving some a try as well." She grinned taking the container over to a small table before reaching for a water pod to fill the kettle.

Aldara was bustling around the kitchen while her guest was talking. Placing the kettle on the stove she went back to the pastry closet and started fishing around for more things. Not at all, go ahead and sample. Let me see if there are any of my mom's famous cookies in here." Aldara said as she poked her head out of the closet.

"AH! Here they are." Aldara said after a moment a couple of moments and took the container over to the table. Opening the container she pulled out a few chocolate and sugar stalk cookies. She placed these on a plate before returning to the pastry closet, well, pantry. She wondered what else she could find for her guest, though she didn't want to pull out too much from the start.

"Think these are what we're going to start with. Mom took the muffins and cupcakes with her on her outing. The pie was a special order. Hope that is ok." Aldara asked a little worried that it wasn't going to be enough.

As Cassia was speaking, the kettle that had been placed on the stove had begun to whistle. The water within had come to a boil and Aldara was quick to remove it from the stove and place it on a cozy on the table. She glanced at the packets of tea that were offered.

"Those look like they'd be tasty. Just let me get a couple of cups." She said before heading to a cupboard to pull out a couple of tea cups and saucers. Reaching into a drawer she picked up a couple of small spoons before looking back over her shoulder. "Would you like sugar as well?"

Aldara didn't know if sugar was used with tea or not. Her mother often used it with her black coffee in the morning. It gave just the right amount of sweetness to the black liquid, Aldara herself never understood why her mother liked the stuff. She had tried it once and she hated it. The bitterness was too much.

A flush washed over her face at the mention that Cassia didn't add sugar to her tea and preferred it straight. Truth was, Aldara had never had tea before. Her mother had the tea china, but never supplied tea to anyone, it was mostly coffee. Setting the sugar bowl down on the table with everything else she shrugged willing her face to not have the slightest tinge of red.

"Never had tea before." She admitted openly, "Mom only really drinks coffee and that stuff is bitter no matter how much sweetener in it."

She watched as Cassia picked through the packets in her basket to pull out one that had a faint floral scent to it. There was a sort of grace with how the tea leaves were released into the strainer and water poured over them. Roses and Hibiscus added to a white tea? She didn't know that there were colors to teas, this is what she got for being at home most the time.

"Seems like you can have almost anything in tea." She commented as Cassia handed over one of the cups. The smell of the roses and other plant hit her in the face. While at first it made her nose scrunch up a bit, she eased off and looked down at what was in her hands. The pink of the tea almost made her not what to drink it, but what else was there for her to do with it otherwise?

"Thanks," She smiled before taking a sip of it.

The hot tea did scold her tongue at first, that would teach her to not blow on it first. That water had been piping hot after all. After puffing over the cup a couple of times to cool it down a little she took another sip. This time she was met with the floral taste of the tea. Aldara had no experience with tea tasting, she supposed it was good? It was certainly better than the black stuff her mother served.

"This is good, a lot more light than the coffee mom likes." She continued to nurse at her tea before picking up one of the pastries. Taking a bite of it with the tea... Well it made her mouth explode in flavor that she wasn't sure where to start with anything.

"I may have to purchase some of this one off you. It might also be something that my parents will try. My father is always looking for new things, mom is always skeptical." She looked away a little towards the windows that laid open nearby.

A warm breeze drifted into through the windows carrying the smells of the outside. She glanced back towards Cassia as she smiled at the tea merchant. "Do you have a set price on your teas? Or are you up for trading good for goods?"

Aldara wanted to purchase the Rose and hibiscus tea from Cassia, also some others that she might have to offer. Something to try with her parents and perhaps even her own future family... There was also the fact that she would have to learn how to brew the tea. It looked simple enough, but it was hard to say when it has been in the water long enough to be considered tea.

An almost dream like expression crossed her face as she thought of serving her husband tea after a day of work. Children running around teasing each other in some way or another. There would be laughter in the house and she'd be happy... "That would be perfect." She muttered to herself, though loud enough for those near to hear.