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It’s early summer, and the lazy heat of Khaelora seems to have finally woken up after all of the long winter months. It’s hot enough out to break a sweat, a rare treat for Madea as she wanders the market. She’s ditched as many lares of clothes as she possibly can, enjoying the pelting sun on her shoulders and back. She knows she’s going to have a lizard-shaped tan line on her shoulder from where the Ashspawn basks there, but she can’t quite get herself to care— today is a rare day, a day where her insides don’t feel like a black hole, and her mind and fingers feel sharp with life.
Madea vaguely wonders if she’s like a basking lizard, that if it’s nearly the sun she’s missing in this frozen hellscape she’s called home for almost twenty-five years. That maybe if she were to move south, her problems would be solved, and she might just feel alive.
That particular musing brings a sharp, ironic smile to her face as Glau, one of two not-very-alive party members, walks next to her. Earlier that day, he was busy doing whatever Glau does on his time off-- Madea assumes it's mostly getting high at this point-- before she grabbed him and brought him to the market with her.
“Here’s what I need,” Madea says, stepping towards one of the booths, Glau walks behind, murmuring to himself. Madea doesn't know what the others complain so much about, even with his halfling size and quiet footsteps; once you know what to keep an eye out for, Glau is easy enough to keep track of. Keep your nose open for the smell of musty fabric and an ear out for his constant quiet murmuring, and you'll find him. He's not some child or lost kitten; he's just dusty.
“What do we need here?” Glau asks in his usual sleepy way. He looks up at the table filled with several different berries. Rasp, straw, and blue, to name a few.
“Don't worry about it, You’re just here to carry the basket.” Madea says dismissively. She picks out several pints of berries; a few pounds of fruit in the end. Handing over payment without any issue; she's actually paying in cash today. Because If you screw over farmers too much, you don’t have food, and she has plenty of money right now, so why waste the spell? That’s just inefficient.
Sugar is next— a commodity that is worth using some magic to get the good stuff. However, Madea prefers getting less refined sugar and using her magic to clean it up— the same goes for flour. However, she's much more likely to buy the former over the latter. Because why waste your time baking when you can just buy a better loaf from the baker on the corner?
Madea buys nearly equal amounts of sugar to the berries. Probably a bit more than what she really needs, but Sofia and the girls would appreciate the extra. Madea takes the bag of sugar she just bought and places it into the basket for Glau to carry. That basket, now filled with berries and sugar, is nearly as large as he is and probably weighs nearly as much at least. However, the human-sized woman pretends not to notice and continues down the street, listening carefully to Glau shuffles behind her, slowing her step ever the slightest amount for him to keep pace.
“Make sure Creature dosen’t eat too many of them.” Madea says over her shoulder as she walks.
“I don’t think Creature eats.” Glau says.
“Then make sure Clay doesn’t when we get back to the Lion.” Madea says dismissively. A few more steps down the road, Madea steps out of the street and into a store, Glau stopping right outside, the basket filled with their wears hoisted above his head awkwardly. That basket was definitely made for the taller folk of the world, but Madea isn’t going to go out of her way to buy a new basket if Glau isn't going to ask for one. She also won't carry it for the same reason.
“Ah madea!” The brewer says from the other side of the shop. “Here for your usual then?”
Madea hums and nods “and add an extra bottle of your youngest mead too.”
The brewer looks at Madea quizzically and shrugs, adding the large bottle to the number she had ready for her most regular customer. Madea hands over the coin and takes the few bottles readied for her. Four in total, it should last her as many days as possible, maybe a little more deepening if anything exciting happens between now and then. Depending on if she needs the help falling asleep.
She does not make Glau carry the bottles; instead, she keeps them in hand as he meets her at the entrance, his large dark eyes tracing over her. Those dark eyes that always see too much. In return, She stares down at him with a look that dares him to say anything about her habits. Instead, she is met with Glau's usual blank expression. However, she knows that this flavor of blank would be a smile on anyone else. So, in return, she nods and smiles down at him, her teeth slightly too sharp.
However, somehow, the two make their way back to the Lazuli Lion without issue. Really, there is a first time for everything for the Bad Company. Madea leads the way through the back entrance— best not to distract the front of the house with their chores.
However, Madea knows it’s probably very slow with the day's heat. Few people look for company or hot baths during the middle of a heat wave. People are trying to cool off, not steam themselves even more, so summer has always been the slow season. But, with that particular thought, Madea ducks her head into the commercial kitchen on the ground floor of the Lion, knowing that they probably won’t miss a pot or two for a few hours.
“Thank you Sofia,” Madea says as she plucks two pots from the wall. Placing her bottles of alcohol inside the smaller of the two and inside the larger. Again, Glau waits just outside the doorway, watching with his too-large, too-seeing eyes. The same interaction of his not-smile and Madea’s too-sharp one in return.
Up the stairs, the two go to Madea's apartment. It's still somewhat bare, but she’s slowly been gathering new furniture since everything was destroyed. A bed, couch, and bath are three larger pieces, and while it’s too small for a full kitchen, the wood-fired stove in the corner is good enough for cooking and keeps the place mostly warm during the winter. She also has an actual table now. She found it in an alleyway and made Corvus carry it up six flights of stairs to her apartment. It's only slightly broken and very stained, but that's better than not having a table.
“Glau, put those berries over there for me,” Madea says while pinning her hair up. The Ash Spawn beeps and clambers off her shoulder, realizing the three are back home. It returns to its puffball form, scampering into the stove’s firebox. Curiling inside like a sleepy cat. Madea walks over behind her family to check the flue and glances inside the box where the small cat-like creature naps; she says to Glau, “While you’re at it, can you get a basin of water prepared? You’ll need to clean and sort the berries while I get the fire going.
Now, Glau never agreed to help Madea this afternoon, but if he wants to stop or if he’s busy, he’ll have to say as much. However, instead of a rebuttal, Madea hears his small voice say, “Ah… sure. Can creature sleep on the couch?”
“Creature sleeps?” Madea asks and looks over to the mystery-weasel already sitting its little mustelid butt on her favorite blanket. She curls a lip at the sight bearing her teeth, and the odd thing just coughs wetly in return. That’s why The Harken invented prestidigitation.
Madea’s gaze drifts over to where Glau sits on the floor, half underneath her new, slightly broken alleyway table. Glau is diligently sorting the raspberries from the bits of leaves and twigs. Engrossed with the task and his too-seeing eyes doing some good for a change, sorting the slightest bit of wood and dirt out of the pile.
While Glau is busy, Madea takes the bag of sugar and returns to the stove, placing one of the pilfered pots atop and the sugar inside.
“Oi fuzzy,” Madea says to the Ashpawn still in the firebox it’s bright orange eyes instantly flick open to peer back at her. “I’m going to need that for a bit, please vacate the premises.”
The Ashspawn just blinks back at Madea blankly.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Madea says, flicking a hand, lighting a fire inside the ash spawn’s favorite nap space. Within a half second the tiny creature flings itself out with an angry ‘beep’ lightly smoking but unharmed. “That’s why I said leave. You can have the firebox again once it’s come up to temperature and I don’t need to cast- why the fuck am I talking to you like you understand me?”
“It can’t?” Glau asks from behind a pile of berries.
Madea pushes her lips, looking down at the still slightly smoldering creature. Creature had trotted over to the Ashspawn and tries to lick it getting a mouthful of soot in the process. Madea glances over to Glau. “even if it could understand language, I don’t think it has enough of a brain to reason. He has as much brains as you have a heart.”
Glau’s eyebrows furrow, and he looks down. Madea knows that one was a little too far as a joke, but rather than apologizing, she steps to the pile of cleaned berries and says, “Thanks. Do you want to help me with the next part, or do you have somewhere to be?”
Glau blinks up at Madea once again, seeming to know all of her at once. He brings the rest of the raspberries over to the stove, where Madea stands chewing her lip. He holds up the basket. “what are we doing anyway?”
Madea takes the other half, pours them into the pot alongside the sugar, and flexes some muscle inside her to adjust the flame beneath. She steps back, grabbing a bottle of vinegar and a stool to pull beside the stove, which Glau clambers on in an instant. She then hands the halfling an oddly shaped implement she does not know the name of. All she knows is that it will work well for mashing up the berries, which she instructs Glau to do. He does as he is told without question, and Madea pointedly does not answer his earlier question.
“Let me know if that gets too hot— it just needs to simmer for a while. If there’s a lot of foam use the spoon to take it off the top.” Madea orders as she goes to a cupboard and starts fishing out the empty jars she and Freddie had saved years ago. He had taught her how to do this— that particular memory being pulled to the surface, making her freeze for a moment. No, not the time for that, Madea thinks and continues to pluck out the jars. She takes them and readies them as much as she can, washing them out and setting them to the side afterward, getting the second— much larger pot filled with water and on the stove beside the nearly-ready jam. She fixes that indescribable muscle inside of her and sees that half of the fire burns down; she takes a towel and removes the jam from the heat while steam rises from both pots.
She feels more, then sees Glau’s eyes on her as she returns with the prepared jars. “Here, hold the funnel in place for me while I pour.” Glau does as he is told. Madea sees the quarter-amount of fear in his eye as he feels the heat rise out of the jars and from the pot. There is a twinge and a flick of his tail as the smallest dot of hot candy-like liquid splashes onto his hand, but he does not ask Madea to stop. She only sets the pot aside once it is empty and the jars are filled. Twelve in total.
“I just need to finish preparing the jars— I don’t need your help for this part,” Madea says, carefully plucking the first jar and putting it into the simmering water basin behind her. Glau’s eyes flash up to Madea, and he seems to have returned to reality in those moments. Madea continues over her shoulder, “Or you can hang out. I don’t care.”
“Why did you get that extra mead?” Glau asks.
“Hm?” Madea hums and adds another jar to the boiling water. “That? I’m planning on flavoring it with the strawberries we bought. It’s real nice at the end of the summer when things are dining off.”
“Will you need help with that?”
“No,” Madea says, watching the pot boil. “no, just going to slice them up and add them to the bottle, the yeast does most of the work there.”
“yeast is like mushrooms,” Glau says so matter-of-factly that Madea has no choice but to believe him. Besides, he’s the mushroom guy, so he would know better than her. It takes a while longer, and the apartment is blazing hot by that time, but eventually, all of the jars are sealed, and most of them are put away to cool.
“Here,” Madea says, “think fast”
Madea tosses one of the jars to Glau. He deftly catches it, looking up at Madea questioningly.
“For your work. I don’t like owing someone a favor,” Madea says with a sharp smile.
Glau squints “I don’t eat.”
“Yeah, but you made it,” Madea says with a shrug. “it goes well with the salted rolls from the corner bakery. It's even better if you wait a while and make it a surprise for yourself. Ya' know-- live a little.”
Glau looks down at the jar in his hands, the contents matching his now red-stained fingers. That not-smile expression on his face and his tail swishing like a cat’s in excitement. And for the first time that day, Madea feels her smile become a little more truthful.
“You don’t even have to share it with the others if you don’t want to,” Madea suggests, and Glau’s gaze shoots up to her like a bullet. She feels that softer, more truthful expression is quickly covered up with something more plastic. However, that fondness still resonates in her chest, not filling, no, nothing will ever fill that yawning black space inside of her, and it will never disappear, but that fondness rests alongside it. Making things ever the slightest bit more bearable, and Madea knows for a fact that Glau knows how this feels.