Life at Lily’s Lodge, Tale #1: A Blueberry in the Wind
Lily stops by a bakery to buy sweets before starting her shift at Betty’s Inn, ending with one too many pop’boxes.
Lily pushed through the crowd of people roaming the streets of Dragonsburg Town as the sun of Skylight 8 shone brightly in the sky that displayed a few pink clouds. Rose petals wafted in the breeze and emitted a flowery fragrance, which mingled with the smell of coffee and pastries.
The air always smelled good during the Spring Season.
Lily stepped inside a bakery, her mouth watering at the sights greeting her eyes, from croissants to chocolatines to buns, and she bought enough pop’boxes to feed an entire Dazzball team. Lily wasn’t working for a Dazzball team, though. She was working at Betty’s Inn as a manager, and despite enjoying her job, she still required a high dose of sugar to help her get through her day.
After paying the Pastry Mage, Lily glanced at the tower of pop’boxes stacked on the counter in front of her, gnawing on her bottom lip.
The problem wasn’t that Lily didn’t have enough space in her stomach for these sweets—because she did—but that she didn’t have enough space in both her arms and NeverSpace to carry them all the way to her workplace.
Lily didn’t fret, though, because while she’d learned a lot of useless spells during her 28 years of life, she’d also studied some useful ones like the levitation spell. She summoned her wand and cast the Spell that Makes Objects Float in the Air on all of her pop’boxes before controlling them out of the bakery and onto the busy streets, all the way to Betty’s Inn—wait a starspeck! Where was the inn?!
At the inn’s place stood a tale shop with books propped in the front window instead of a board describing the inn’s services.
Lily’s heart pounded in her chest. What was happening?
She stumbled inside the tale shop, her flock of pop’boxes hovering beside her shocked self. Because shocked, she was.
“What happened to Betty’s Inn?” she asked the Wizard working the front desk.
His face brightened with recognition. “Are you Witch Lily Blueberry?”
A frown wrinkled Lily’s brow. “Yes, that’s me.”
The Wizard handed Lily a scroll. “For you.”
Lily unrolled the parchment sheet and read Betty’s message. She was informing Lily of having sold the inn to go on an adventure aboard a Trek-Inn before adding to be sorry for the short notice but quite certain that Lily would find another job in no time.
Lily dismissed the letter, a snarl leaving her lips as unexpectedly as Betty.
She exited the tale shop without a word and stood in front of the building that wasn’t an inn anymore, countless pastries floating beside her. She fetched a croissant and bit into its flaky flesh, staring at the tale shop as annoyance sneaked into her heart.
Lily was out of a job. “Well, frogs!”