“Just grabbing a few things, I’ll put in what I take later. You can go back to whatever you were working on.” She almost laughed that she hadn’t even needed to dodge his question as he was distracted by his employee.
“Oh, of course! As you say.” He looked flustered as he retreated, and Jade grinned and poked Eric in the side, making him jump defensively.
“I feel practically invisible walking around with you three! Everyone’s always so deferential.”
“Did people act differently around the nobility where you’re from?” Camille asked curiously as Tisha was walking around inspecting everything with the energy of a bull.
Jade shrugged with a grin. “Not sure. There was no nobility in my country. There were the rich, and I suppose people did treat them a bit like that. So I guess it’s pretty much the same, only without the titles. Different kind of power too, but all in all, we were taught that everyone had an equal opportunity to succeed. The whole going from rags to riches thing was essentially the defining story of my country. It was founded by immigrants seeking religious freedom and liberty from the monarchy of their old country. So they sailed halfway around the world and fought wars for their freedom. But that was hundreds of years ago, so it’s something I’ve only read about in history books.” On the internet, she added silently. No need to confuse them even more.
Okay, she hadn’t planned on giving them a history lesson, but oh well. Camille and Eric looked absolutely fascinated. Tisha, meanwhile, had come back with a pretty metal rose sculpture, peeking with puppy eyes at Eric.
He chortled and then motioned, “Take it.” Tisha grinned and stuck it into the bag while Eric started to put together a few bars of several materials, putting them in a box and handing it to Camille, who didn’t even try to hold it before putting it directly into the bag.
She contemplated Eric and asked simply, “How much? Dad said to get her everything she needed.”
He sighed, told her the at-cost amount of what he’d put in there for Jade, and Camille doled out the money. Jade frowned a bit.
“It’s going to take me a while to pay this all back…”
Camille grinned at her. “Nonsense. First of all, the magic you’re going to do on the sculptures is worth quite a bit more than you think. So you’ll be partially repaying us that way. I’m also pretty sure a lot of your ideas are going to benefit the kingdom as a whole, which Dad is super big on. So just consider this your ‘welcome to the world, it sucks you don’t have family here, so we’ll look after you instead’ gift.”
Jade laughed a little sadly, then nodded. “Got it. And thanks for everything.” Camille’s little blurt had reminded her that she really didn’t have her family here. Granted, she wasn’t as close to them as she’d wished sometimes. She had nothing like the close bonds she so obviously saw with the royals. She envied them a little. Her parents had been kind, but she’d been a constant financial and emotional drain, with them never knowing if any of the treatments would work, if she was going to die on them, etcetera. They’d done their best, but she hadn’t blamed them for funneling most of their time and energy onto her little brother, who was perfectly normal and healthy.
Mom, Dad, Ty… Wherever you are, whatever happened… I hope you’re happy. Live a good life. You deserve it for putting up with my problems for all those years…
Chapter Twenty-Two – Shopping
Camille and Eric both caught her slightly sad and wistful gaze before she came to and smiled radiantly at them. “Okay! What’s next?”
Eric reached over, patting her on the head as he notified them, “I should probably head back. I’ve got a few more things I need to get done.” Jade nodded, because that made sense. He’d only made her appointment for two, so that meant he had other things he was supposed to be doing before then, and he’d had to move them around to accommodate her.
“Sure, thanks for helping! I do have one last quick question that just occurred to me though. Is there like a…place that rents out workshops or something?” Tisha had come over again, staring at them and wondering what she had missed. Camille and Eric looked thoughtful, but Eric replied.
“Most workshops are attached to their stores, as you’ve seen. Except for the ones at Dracona, actually. Every class has its own space depending on their needs. How big of a room do you need? We could probably get you a room there.”
She grinned and bounced happily, “That would probably work out just fine! I just don’t want to turn my bedroom or my room at the library into a workshop, because it’s bound to get a bit dirty and cluttered. So I guess, the bigger, the better, but I can deal with it if it’s small, as long as I have a space. And I need a window, obviously.” She grinned at him and he laughed ruefully.
“Very well, I’ll send a note and see what’s available and have them prep it for you, so you can stop there when you’re done shopping. I assume you’ll want to drop some of your purchases there?” She nodded, and he smiled. “Very well. I’ll be off then; it was a pleasure seeing you Princess Camille, Princess Tisha, Lady Jade.” He bent over, brushing his lips over each of their hands in turn, then opened the door for them as they left the shop and parted ways.
As they walked towards the next store, she had a princess on each arm. It was a little unfortunate, given that she couldn’t touch anyone to siphon, but she figured she’d already bitten off quite a lot with the royal family this morning. Tisha was happily chattering, and Camille asked quietly as they walked, “So, what are you trying to make?”
Jade grinned. “Honestly, a little bit of everything. I’m mostly trying to bring things from my world that made life easier or that I miss, but that are easy enough to make that I can do it with the help of magic. They won’t be the same, because there was a material in my world called plastic that I have no idea how to make, but we used it a lot. So I’m trying to find other things to replace it with. They’ll probably be more durable and environmentally friendly that way, in any case.”
Camille was fascinated. “I’m looking forward to it even more now! I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Such confidence in her was a little confusing, but Jade just acknowledged it with a graceful dip of her head.
Meanwhile, Tisha squealed, though not directly in her ear and not as loudly as the last time. “We’re here! I love Sew in Style!” Jade was peering at the store, wondering why it was so familiar as they entered. Her question was answered as out of the back bustled a very familiar woman and her tiny daughter. The three of them had disengaged in order to enter the shop, and Jade was standing to the side.
Tina took one look at her and launched herself forward, running up and jumping at Jade. With a laugh, Jade caught her and stuck her on her hip like it was the most natural thing in the world, even though she’d totally never done it before. She smiled down at the little girl as she matched Tisha in her happy squeals. “Jade! You came back! And you don’t look like a zombie anymore! Can you heal my knee again? I tripped.”
Jade just laughed lamentably. Out of the mouths of babes… She just walked over to the counter, setting Tina on top of it as she ruffled her hair and sweetly crooned, “Of course, let’s take a look at your knee.” She didn’t mention the zombie bit, and Camille and Tisha had both figured out she really didn’t want to talk about it, though they had confirmed that she was indeed the zombie healer. Tina was easily distracted as she pulled up her dress to show a scabbed over knee. Jade put a hand on it, asking with a quiet grin, “Do you scrape your knee a lot?” She could see the wound in her mind’s eye and was trying to distract her because she could see the beginnings of an infection there.