Sungrass Oasis
{Rp between @beamgully and myself. Thank you for reading if you do!}
The arid sun beaming through the purple Tanari sky began to dip westward, just barely considering its retirement. Gadgetzan was somewhat quiet. Many of its denizens were likely enjoying dinner. Amidst a cluster of adobe buildings there was one with a desert-blush sheet serving as a door. It complemented the sunbaked hue of the clay it rested against. Artful script flitted above the small foyer entrance:
Sungrass Oasis -Tea Lounge-
The void elf that stepped into Gadgetzan may have been more of an odd sight had the importer not been a known personage among several traders. What did draw a few eyes was the glowing scythe carried on her person, indicating that she was something more dangerous than a simple ‘delivery girl’. Yet, with a blink of an eye the ethereal blade of the Black Harvest was dismissed to a pocket of the Void, returning Safrona to her shades of nuanced professionalism. Stranger things had happened in the little desert city, perhaps.
Her eye was caught by the shift of the sheet that seemed to beckon her to an entrance she’d never stepped inside before, the written word of ‘tea lounge’ murmured soundlessly between her lips in consideration. Her step inside was preluded by her curious smile, tucking away the black shard between her fingertips. Tea sounded more cleansing against the trinket’s corruption than her usual glass of bourbon.
Though a hole-in-the-wall, it was contemporary chic and polished. The floor was tiled in sleek black. Voguish artwork brought the white walls to life. Framed in thick, black frames, the paintings were as soothing as they were stylish. They depicted modern abstract, turquoise beaches, and desert blossoms. A few were pieces that might have been pretentious in another setting, but somehow felt innocently trendy here. Two of them were offset by equidistant sandstone bowls resting in tasteful square impressions on the wall. Sweeping glass sculptures ribboned with solid colors - some glittering in the light - added bold character to the lounge. Most of them were feet tall and stood on the floor.
On each chair was a pale yellow cushion. Filled with sand, sea glass, and shells, a candle resting in a glass bowl embellished every table, along with a daisy in a white vase. A handful of firebloom petals were strewn about them. Each table was large enough for two guests, with a pair of long, slender menus. At the far back was a bar (of sorts), near another curtain which supposedly led to outdoor seating. It offered several stools should anyone choose to be in company with the Sin'dorei woman behind it. She scribbled something down with a quill, a gnomish-styled calculator beside her hand.
One look at her sleek, leggy physique and one might already imagine her at an amateur marathon. Yet she had a breezy posture as if vacationing somewhere nice. Her clothes paralleled the establishment: contemporary chic with painted, manicured nails. A sand dollar rested below her slim neck, joined by two silver starfish on a sterling chain.
Her tawny skin was mottled thick with freckles. Coffee brown hair, streaked subtly with caramel highlights, draped either side of her thin face like a square curtain - save the asymmetrical chunk knifing a few inches above her collarbone. Her nose was sloped, and her wide, pale lips coated in gloss. Smoky lavender makeup embellished the golden lights of her eyes.
They were upturned, and cheerfully lean in shape. For now there were only two separate couples occupying the lounge as guests, far too engrossed with each other to notice anything outside of themselves. It was the apparent owner who looked up from her work at the scarlet-haired courier, and spread a sunflower smile. She had a neighborly and wizened kind of charisma. Even her breathy, sand-like voice conveyed warmth: “Welcome! Please, take a seat anywhere you’d like.”
The Courier took her study of what could have been considered a diamond in the rough of Gadgetzan as she walked, violet pupils glinting in low light approvingly of the little secret she’d stepped into. That arresting, otherworldly gaze eventually drifted to the desert flower that was the owner as she was greeted with warmth. She offered a practiced smile of her own, pulling away the burgundy hood that matched the long spirals of her gathered hair a little too well.
“I will. Quite the lovely place here,” she spoke, her silk voice pleasant, if not a touch unsettling with its residual echo of the Void. “Almost Ramhaken in appeal. I’m surprised I’ve never found it before, actually.” The scarlet importer took an elegant seat of a nearby barstool, a long leg flattered by the cut of her skirt as she’d cross one over the other. “Do you own this little gem in the sand?”
“Thank you!” the owner beamed. Her Muppet-esque friendliness was simple, but not patronizing. Pure, yet the opposite of naive. Her affable smile only broadened as the new guest drew back her hood and made herself comfortable. The tell-tale echo didn’t appear to inspire any hesitation in the server whatsoever. She reached under the bar to procure a menu, then offered it.
“Oh, we’re very new,” she explained. “We opened weeks ago. I’m Colpeia, by the way! Let me know if there’s anything that catches your eye.” She nodded at her question. “Yes, I do! Though I couldn’t have done it without the help of my tribe. A few continue to help as waiters, cooks, and business assistants.”
The void elf inclined her head slightly with her gratitude as she took the offered menu, swiveling readily in her barseat to face Colpeia directly. “Ah, that explains much of why we’ve not met. Safrona. Safrona Shadowsun, importer of many of a needful thing. Maybe business will get us better acquainted, yes?”
Mystery was weaved beneath her try at simplistic professionalism, lending to the idea that she had not always been this simple importer she wore. She was too practiced, an enigmatic charm pooled there to her merlot smile. The emerald eyes of a bronze scarab trinket glinting in her gathered hair, set apart from the scarlet and shadow she wore. It seemed she favored this scarab theme, another design dangling prettily from the lace at her throat.
“I’d say let’s see what I can help you with…but.. ” she opened the menu as her eyes flowed down the lists inside. A breath of a chuckle unraveled beneath her next words. “Maybe I should just be the customer today for a change.”
“Well it’s an honor to meet you, Safrona,” Colpeia dipped her head, with her own brand of flourished, Cheshire, yet plain charisma. “And sure! Actually, I know one way we may be able to help each other. My parents own a glass business called Beamgully Crystal. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s been around for a long time. Their wares range from windows and vials to extravagant art. Much of what you see in this shop was crafted by their hands. They have me acting as their personal courier at times, so I would be very surprised if they wouldn’t welcome a charming new courier like yourself.”
A brief fondness flashed across Colpeia’s features when she eyed the diplomatic woman’s scarab motif. It reminded her of a friend. Her smile grew. “I think that’s a great idea. We all need to treat ourselves sometime.” The elegant script on the menu displayed prices that - while not dirt cheap - were reasonable.
“You as a courier, when you have this fine place to run?” Safrona lifted her eyes from the menu to connect her gaze to Colpeia’s once more. "Well, we can’t have that, lovely. All you need to do is give your parents my name, and I’ll come do my job. I can handle fragile glass well enough too with the travel, and fees can also be settled on before I come for pick up. My specialty’s actually connecting businesses and filling client bases, so maybe we’ll see both the Oasis and your parent’s glassware business growing, yes?“
Her eyes returned to the menu then and began to settle on a decision. "Mm…my inner wine importer is telling me you could use more alcohol for this menu, but let me slide away from that and take some of your Sweet Spice Tea. And…I’m tempted by Desert Dumplings, but I’ve….” she chuckled. “The meat choices are….different. What do you recommend to pair with the tea?”
Colpeia shrugged a shoulder. “It’s something I’ve done for many years,” she replied. Her dark brows lifted at the proposal. “What a generous offer! I’m certain they’ll be very happy to speak with you about it. Perhaps they can meet you at a neutral location that’s easy to get to?” She chuckled. “I have thought about it. I wanted to focus on tea, but some alcoholic options might be a good idea.”
An unsurprised, but somewhat amused glint couldn’t help but touch her eye as Safrona ruminated over her meat choice. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d heard similar remarks about Tanari cuisine. “Well there’s no arguing that,” Colpeia agreed. “Desert meat is unique. The sweet and spicy flavors of the tea may go well with something that’s subtle and light. So I would recommend the sandworm meat. Silithid is bold, and hyena is milder than lamb but more robust than beef.”
“Dalaran is the easiest for me to arrive to as far as neutral cities go. And seeing as much of my business brings me there, I’m there often enough for the odd appointment. They can simply place a reservation at the Ledgermaine Lounge with the barkeep and I’ll meet them there and take care of the tab.”
Safrona nodded her acceptance on the suggestion, folding the menu to offer it up for the collecting. “Being a courier is…not a very satisfying lifepath to wander for the long run. Take it from me,” the Void elf chuckled witheringly. “A good spring point for a while, but even I don’t see myself playing delivery girl forever.” Her violet gaze took its run down the dusky skinned Colpeia, tilting her head slightly as she did. “You look like you belong here in your little cafe. Not running around about out there making sure people receive their packages on time.”
“That’s great!” Colpeia smiled. “And so generous of you. I’ll tell them. I think they’ll be very happy to meet you.” She gathered the menu, stowing it somewhere underneath the bar.
She listened patiently. Her gaze on Safrona was deep and open. When the worldly courier finished speaking, Colpeia gave another sincere smile. “Delivering packages for my parents has been something I’ve done for a long time, but only as an occasional side-job when their schedules were very tight,” she reassured. “I’m actually a freelance mathematician. The cafe has become a side job for me, but one I hold dear in the short amount of time it’s existed.” Her pause was pensive, her golden eyes falling briefly to the floor.
“Our world still bleeds and everyone is tired.” Colpeia looked back up at her. “I built this lounge to offer respite, even if for a little while. We all have a role in a time of war. Some believe theirs is to fight in it. Others to heal wounds and keep their friends alive. I think people forget that we need ways to find solace in these times the most, not the least. We all need to be reminded what we fight and are alive for. So I guess for that reason, I absolutely agree with you, Safrona. For now my place is here.”
Colpeia’s reasonings had the world-worn courier closing her eyes briefly with a small, warmed smile. When she spoke again, another piece of the professional that tried to take over had taken a back seat, letting someone more genuine and perhaps even a little bitter through. “It’s true, isn’t it? We’re all a little predisposed to war like a bad habit. Consistently assigned our roles and thrown at one another for a battle cry in honor or glory of this or that. Told our lives won’t be the same if we do not fight for the little piece of land we were born to. Some become weapons. By the time they come home…do they even know how to live anymore? Or is normalcy stripped from us and replaced by the cycle of conditioned violence? As much as I can tell you that war is profit, most of the time its empty gold put right into a cycle, breeding more machines.”
The Courier shrugged as her eyes veered away with the same bitter smile. “I don’t think war will ever change. People will always have something to fight over, and something will always be trying to deaden Azeroth, because other forces decide our only real, true mercy is the idea of death, or some degree of unified mindlessness. And honestly there are days I wake up and can’t find a legitimate argument against that when we are faced with the same old rut, over and over…”
Her unearthly gaze floated back over to the golden-eyed Colpeia with a withering chuckle. “But…that is perhaps more the Void talking than I. And its quieter here, in many aspects. Finding a place like yours, people like you…? It does remind me that some things are still worth putting in the fight for. Living for. Strange that, the little things, yes? Little mortal things like the delight of an oasis in the middle of the desert. A family trying to make the best of things, apart from the call of nations of war. It’s important, keeping those little things running. The bakers must bake, the teachers must teach, the vintners must make their wine. The midwives must welcome new life, the pallbearers must put their dead to rest.”
Safrona rested her heart-shaped face in the cradle of her fingers, her eyes still alight on her hostess. “I may be a little outside of the cycle of it all, but I find some strange satisfaction in helping keep that quality and culture of life for others in its order more than anything, as a courier. So yes, very much agreed. And I need more people like you in my life, lovely girl.”
The air grew pleasantly cool as night fell outside the lounge. Colpeia briefly dipped behind the bar to obtain a clear kettle and cup. Placing them on the countertop, she released a folded pellet of herbs into the kettle’s basin, then aimed her curved fingers. A stream of cold water materialized from her palm to trickle inside. It stopped when it was full. Since then, her gaze was present and sincere, never drifting from Safrona’s thoughtful monologue. If anything, it deepened. Her manicured palm rested on the kettle’s underside while she used subtle magic to heat it.
Safrona’s last sentence softened Colpeia’s eyes. A smile warm enough to rival the sun from hours ago beamed back at her. “Thank you. I feel lucky to have met you too, Safrona. I think you’re doing something important. Couriers help keep the poetry of our world alive.” The smile dimmed. “I wish I had reason to disagree with many of the other things you’ve said. People don’t like to see themselves in their enemies. War is easier when you’re blind.”
A reflective glimpse landed on the back of a human Shafisian waiting a table. “My tribe has a saying for feeling stuck. ‘The mind wants to heal.’ A lot of people forget how to live normal lives after surviving hell. They don’t heal until they decide they’re ready. It’s a hard journey that often takes a lifetime, if they ever accept it.”
"Death can seem like an easy answer, but I’ve seen secondhand that it doesn’t give us peace. We can’t control wars or the mindlessness behind other people’s eyes. All we can do is create a mindfulness in ourselves. I think that helps when peace is hard to find.” Colpeia’s polished nails clinked as she removed her hand. Bubbles and steam now clung to the kettle walls, a vibrant flower blossoming in its pinkish water. Another server reappeared from behind a curtain. He balanced a platter of dumplings in his hand, which he served beside Safrona’s now steaming hot tea. Colpeia exchanged nods with him.
The teaflower blooming its gift of bounty for her was it’s own touch of magic Safrona had never gave her attention to before no matter how many teahouses she had visited and supplied before this one. Perhaps there was this small, simple meaning now in the generous courtesy of being served by Colpeia and her tribe that gave the moment its credence. It had been a time also, that
Safrona sat to let the steam and its delicate floral aroma caress her face from the teacup. Little cleansing rituals seemed to fall aside her, a deeper bottle of sin the default to reach for by habit in the knowing of what she was. “It’s good,” she murmured with a smile after that first sip. The little things. “I think…I simply want to go back to knowing nothing tonight, lovely girl. Other than the fact that I need to come here again, and more often, yes?”
Colpeia smiled. Watching Safrona enjoy her tea gave her a certain warm pleasure. She dipped her head in a sincere bow, her hand raised in a cheshire-esque gesture. “We will always be happy to see you, Safrona. I certainly will.”
