The Lost Star's Sea

by C. Litka

  06

  We turned off Long Street into the courtyard of a rambling stone inn shortly after crossing the Opaphar. The main building of Pine Spirit Tey House was a stone fortress of three stories. The upper two stories were divided into various sized rooms for travelers - bare rooms with low platform beds or bunks, dimly lit by narrow slits in the thick stone walls. The ground floor was the common room for eating and drinking. The kitchen was in back, along with a walled garden with tables for dining or sipping the tey the Pine Spirit Tey House was famous for. On one side of the inn was a long shed for carriages and on the other side, a stable for the lopemounts of mounted travelers.

  CarVori led us through the dim dining room, calling out friendly greetings to several customers and the staff. CarVori was, no doubt, a familiar figure at the Pine Spirit, but the two Simla dragons, walking along with him and exchanging low barks of anticipation as the scent of the kitchen wafted through the common room from the kitchen - were not. We attracted the collective gaze of the assembled travelers as we made our way to the tey garden. It was large and shaded by several massive pines that grew within the walls - their trunks nearly two meters thick and their wide spreading branches allowing only twinkling sparks of light to dance in the green twilight of the tey garden.

  'You'll like this inn - Wilitang, the Pine Spirit is famous for its selection of teys. Strange as it may seem, here in the middle of the Opaphar Hills, the Pine Spirit is one of the most famous tey gardens of all of Taravin, if not all of Windvera. Its proprietor, NeDarza is famous for her discerning taste in tey. And better yet, not only is her food as good as her teys, but it will not cost you half of what it would in the cities,' said CarVori adding, with a sweep of his hand to the well filled tey garden, 'The Pine Spirit is, as you can see, a favorite with knowledgeable travelers.'

  We had just settled around a long table when a portly figure rose from a shady corner and approached us. His broad head feathers were untamed and he was dressed in an eclectic collection of vests, satchels and bandanas, all travel worn, but seemed to have been, once, long ago, the blues, more or less, of the Laezan Order. He wore no sash to indicate his rank - if any. Yet despite his rather wild and colorful appearance, he carried himself with a certain, well, dignity might be slightly too strong of a word, as would be authority, but shall we say, easy confidence, along with a cheerful expression. We rose and greeted him as a Laezan, cupping our hands and bowing, as he did as well.

  'Greetings, my brother and sister, my old friend CarVori, and my new friends, whose names, I confess, I've yet to discover,' he said, beaming on us.

  'Greetings, Tey Pot,' said CarVori, and then to us. 'Tey Pot Wanderer is his formal name, but he is known mostly as Tey Pot, or Tey Pot Pest. He claims to be a distant member of the Order, but many of the Laezans I have transported are reluctant to claim him as a brother. His claim to fame, however, is that he is an expert in tey - its production, preparation, and appreciation.'

  'You mustn't forget, my friend, my fame in verse, poetry, stories and the playing of the reed. And I might add, humbly, that it is only the stuck-up toffs of the Order who turn a blind eye to me. The ones who will not talk to you either.'

  CarVori smiled, and nodded. 'That, at least, is true. We have that much in common. And I'll admit that he can play the reed very sweetly, when he cares to - well worth the meal and the cup of tey he hopes to pry from your coin purse. I would not recommend his verses and poetry, as they are an acquired taste, and his tales are not fit for polite company.'

  Tey Pot laughed. 'I will not dispute my friend's claims, though I will say that my verse and poetry, once the taste is acquired, are as pure and true as the steam of the finest tey. So tell me, CarVori, who do I have the honor of meeting? Fine-feathered travelers, one of whom is of the Order, are as rare as Simla dragon travelers. And here you are with both in your carriage, How did you arrange for that?'

  'By luck, seniority and decisive action. All of my friends are, indeed, from some distant islands beyond the great sky. I am adding much to my storeroom of knowledge! The greatest of Laezan scholars will want to travel with me just to learn what I have learned from my new friends,' he replied, and he proceeded to introduce us, adding. 'Wilitang is, like you, a connoisseur of tey. He has traveled widely and traded in tey. I've told him that he is in for a rare treat stopping here. And I suppose, beggar that you are, a rare treat in meeting you here as well.'

  'Excellent! We must compare our experiences with tey. I am also fortunate to have met you here, since Mistress NeDarza never errs in her selections of tey. She stocks the rarest and the finest to be found anywhere. May I suggest, seeing that you have just arrived, and have yet to eat, we sample a simply marvelous red tey - the finest Taejinn Golden Treasure? You'll be able to fully appreciate its deep bouquet of scents and rich complexity of flavor. I know that NeDarza has on her shelve the very finest sample of this wonderful tey, which is arguably, the second finest red tey in all of Windvera. It is, of course, a wee bit pricey, but well worth its price, since it is indeed a golden treasure. And I assure you, the spring waters of the Pine Spirit will bring out its best qualities. However, if you would prefer a nice round green, she has fine examples of Pinza Garden as well. It is your choice, of course, but I think a green after the meal would be better, a light, sweet desert. Ah, here comes NeDarza now. Shall we go with the Golden Treasure Taejinn?'

  CarVori glanced at me.

  I nodded. 'If I can afford it. In my former life as a sailor, I traded, on my own account, small shipments of the finest tey, and so I've sampled some of the finest of my home islands. I am curious to sample the best of this island.'

  NeDarza, the proprietor, a tall, thin, and rather grim looking woman, had arrived at our table.

  'Ah, Darza, my dear. Bring out your finest Taejinn, the Golden Treasure - a large pot for my friends, water, and a fire so that I might brew it properly while calling their attention to the fine details of your magnificent leaf.'

  She said nothing. Nor did she move.

  'Darza?' inquired Tey Pot politely.

  'I heard you, Tey Pot. Your words went in one ear and out the other. CarVori, will you, or should I, explain to your passengers the nature of this Tey Pot fellow?'

  'I have already explained to them that he is a famous authority of tey. Can you deny that?'

  She shrugged, but didn't.

  'As well as a highly regarded poet - in some circles - a story-teller and a master of the reed. If I must say so myself,' added Tey Pot.'

  She scowled at him. 'It is well and good to refrain from speaking ill of a friend, but if you won't tell them, I will. Tey Pot travels without a coin to his name. He begs his meals and his precious cups of tey from travelers such as yourself, who find him, or his poetry or music worth the cost of his meals and tey.'

  'I did mention that,' said CarVori.

  'As you can see, I rarely go hungry,' replied Tey Pot with a quiet smile. 'And that is because my words and music are valued by my many friends of the road. I have spent many tens of thousands of rounds acquiring my skills - as humble as they are. If I now choose to wander, rather than spend my rounds, like my dear Darza here, under one roof, doing the same thing, round after round, who can blame me? And I pay for every meal, every cup of tey with words and music, which are well worth even a cup of Taejinn Golden Treasure. Some day, when your feathers are white and thin, you'll be able to tell your great grandchildren that you shared a pot of Taejinn Golden Treasure with Tey Pot Wander, and they will exclaim, "Surely, not the legendary Tey Pot Wander?' And you will nod and say, "Yes, the Legend himself." And trust me, you will not miss the coins it took to say that.'

  'And that price is two silver coins for a large pot of Taejinn Golden Treasure,' NeDarza said tartly.

  It was likely twice the price for our meal of ten or eleven, if I included Tey Pot, which, of course, I must. I sighed, more for form than anything else. I would not like to be mistaken for a man of wealth. Still? 'It is indeed, a bit pricey,
but I am curious to taste the finest sample of the second best red tey in all of Windvera. Bring us the Golden Treasure and a pot for Tey Pot to brew it in. Trin will gather our meal order and arrange for our stay,' I added, nodding to Trin, who had taken on the role of our business manager and routinely took care of such matters.

  Tey Pot clapped his hands. 'Excellent. I am sure you will find Darza's sample to be as wonderful as I claim. There are not many teys more highly regarded, though of course one can argue endlessly as to the exact order. Mistress, the pot, kettle and fire.'

  I will spare you the complete description of Tey Pot's performance of brewing a pot of tey. He was certainly no fraud, and though he waxed very poetic, and called our attention to every detail of the brewing, from the size of the bubbles of the boiling water to savoring the aroma of the brewed cup and finding in it many traces of exotic places, he made brewing tey seem like a magical experience. As for the Gold Treasure, it was indeed, as excellent as advertised. As good, if not better than the finest Cha I traded in my Guild trading days which allowed me to sample (small) packets of the very finest Cha to be had in the Nine Star Nebula. Of course, many of those samples had traveled for years, one spaceer to another via the Guild exchanges, so they were likely somewhat past peak flavor even in their sealed packets. In any event, I would have gladly traveled on with a large packet of Golden Treasure. But I was not that rich. I settled for a taejinn of slightly lesser quality, but considerably lesser price.