A Welcome Tea
Contortionist finds unexpected welcome in new workplace
Content warning1
"Come in."
The cabin Quenlyn entered was as sparsely furnished as hers but more inviting. The light was dimmed, red curtains adorned the walls and in the far corner stood a vase with real snowdrops. The cabin's inhabitant, in a mint green robe and with her glossy black hair in a bun, greeted her with a brief but heartfelt hug. "I'm so glad you came. Please, sit wherever you're comfortable."
Quenlyn sank on a cushion. The faint scent of sandalwood hung in the air and she wondered if Ko knew of its deeper meaning.
"I hope the journey went well?" As Ko leaned into the small kitchenette to boil water, her movements were full of an acrobat's easy grace.
"As well as can be expected. After three weeks in space, I'm sick of stale air."
"Not of cramped quarters, I hope. The Occama may be a circus ship but the living quarters are as cramped as they get."
"Celcovia Station is as big as a planet, though," Quenlyn argued. "It's amazing."
"There will be time to relax and explore during the wintering. To be honest, everyone was surprised when you agreed to start immediately. Most new hires jump in just before the start of the new season." Quenlyn stiffened but Ko didn't ask why. Instead, she returned to the kitchenette and carried out the tea tray.
A tea tray with utensils Quenlyn had never seen.
Sitting on the hard floor, she first wiped the utensils with an orange silk cloth that she then tucked into her belt. There was a tea bowl of light grey and beige pottery, unevenly shaped, and she wiped that with a small white towel that had been dampened beforehand.
"My mother taught me this ceremony," Ko explained as she opened the small container of powdered green tea and gently placed one… two scoops in the bowl. "This tea is called matcha. Her ancestors had a secret way of preparing it that we still practice today. It's supposed to bring host and guest together in peace, even if they're enemies."
Quenlyn sat up straighter. Suddenly her heart was pounding in her chest. "Does it work?"
Ko shot her a smile. "I've never had a chance to try it on an enemy."
After adding hot water, she whisked the tea with an utensil that was surely worth a fortune--a whisk of bamboo, one of the rarest woods. What drew Quenlyn's attention, however, wasn't the whisk, it was the motion itself: swirling rhythmically clockwise, then counter-clockwise. It seemed effortless, but also measured. Was Ko counting in her head? Was she muttering a spell under her breath?
Quenlyn's scales grew hot and she had to resist the urge to squirm. She'd applied for this job out of a razor-thin sliver of hope. Did she dare trust what was before her now? Did she dare *believe*? Magic was still discriminated against in the Confederation.
Finally Ko handed her the bowl. The thin layer of foam reminded her of the shallows at her home beach that had been almost as green and just as refreshing. She drank and with the first drop, sensation exploded across her tongue.
It tasted like nothing she'd ever tasted before.
Together with the warm tea, a sense of comfort and security spread in her belly and outward through her body until it quieted her tingling scales, her jittery toes. You are safe. You are welcome just as you are. Just be, the tea whispered to her.
"How is it?" Ko asked.
Her smile said she knew already but still, Quenlyn replied: "It tastes like a home I didn't know I had. Like coming back for the first time. I don‘t…"
"This is what magic feels like," Ko explained and gestured to the bowl. "Please, have a closer look. My mother made it herself, shortly before she passed away."
The bowl was still warm. The glazed ceramic felt soft and a little wet in Quenlyn's webbed hands. It was black with a white sun on one side, a white half moon on the other. "Sun and moon, yin and yang," she whispered.
Ko heard her. "In tea, each utensil is chosen very carefully to create an overall experience or to send a certain message. I wanted to welcome you not only as the new contortionist, but also as a member of our secret lodge."
Quenlyn's head shot up. "Lodge?" Ko took the bowl from her but she hardly noticed, too excited by that single word. "So the rumors are true? It wasn't just me imagining things?"
"It takes one to know one, after all. Yes, our Circus Occama is a secret magic lodge and we're just as thrilled to have found another true seeker as you are to have found us."
Quenlyn didn't know if it was the tea, the beautiful spell of intent Ko had whisked into it, or if it was just her nerves but for the first time in months, she relaxed. She smiled. Then she laughed, a deep belly sound of relief. "I'm safe."
"Yes."
"I don't have to hide."
"Yes."
"It's… I have no words. Not in this language, maybe in no language."
"I know," Ko said gently. She cleaned the tea bowl and the other utensils, placing them back on the tray. "It was the same for all of us. We were so afraid, so paranoid but also so sick of hiding at the same time. You're home now."
Quenlyn's eyes burned. As tired as she was after the long journey, she couldn't wait to share her magic with the circus. She couldn't wait to study and to practice together. She couldn't wait for communal ritual. For companionship in all things.
"I'm home now," she repeated and let her tears fall.
Mentions of discrimination