6Chapter 2- The Dew Drop Café
We wondered the city streets for a while before stopping at a small café. From what Syaoran-Kun could decipher, we were in the city of water, Aquroya, and the café's name was Dewdrop.
"Hello and welcome to the Dewdrop café!" a young woman greeted us with a warm smile that instantly reminded me of Chi, rekindling a deep longing in my heart. However much it pained me to think of Chi, it was hard to ignore the woman's beauty. She wore an elegant black waitress's uniform that made her look intelligent, not cute like waitresses usually did. Her eyes were maroon and her black hair had highlights that matched the color, hanging well past her waist.
"Nice to be here," I greeted back, burying my thoughts like I always did to escape them and waving to her. "It sure smells good."
"Thanks," the girl replied, "Is there anything I can get you?"
Makona twitched slightly from his position on Sakura-Chan's shoulder at the thought of food. The princess stood behind Syaoran-Kun a bit so the white creature could request something without being seen and then relayed the order.
"Tea and lemon cake please; two orders."
"Same for me as well," Syaoran-Kun added.
"Sure, anything else?" she asked.
"Jasmine tea if you have it please," I said, "Although I'm afraid we have no ways of paying you as of yet."
"Oh, you're tourists then?" our hostess asked as if she could already tell.
"We're traveling from country to country looking for something," Syaoran-Kun replied in his usual serious tone, "Do you know of anyplace where we can stay or find work?"
"You can work here if you like, given you can cook or serve. This café used to be my parents' until they passed away a few years ago and I inherited it. There's an extra room upstairs where I live as well if you want to stay," she informed us.
"That should do nicely, won't it?" I replied, receiving affirmative nods from Syaoran-Kun and Sakura-Chan. Kurogane just mumbled something as usual and ignored us so I turned to the café owner again. "You see, we ran a café at one time that got to be pretty popular."
"Really? Well then, congrats on being hired. My name is Rumiko, and you are…?" she looked at us expectantly so I spoke up.
"Fai D. Flowright at your service, and that depressing guy over there is Kuro-Nyan!"
"It's Kurogane!" he exploded in rage, sending me such a look of hatred I had to laugh.
"I'm Sakura," the princess introduced herself with a typical warm smile.
"And I'm Syaoran," the boy finished, "Thank you for hiring us."
"No problem. It's almost always busy here so I've been in dire need of extra help. You're the ones doing the favor, really," she laughed, "Take a seat and I'll be right back with your order."
It didn't take long and soon there was tea and cakes set out on the table we had gathered around, including a few on-the-house muffins. Makona hastened to get to the food with little regard to Rumiko who, after bowing and turning to go back to the counter, stared in shock at the little white character.
"Is that a chimera!?" she asked in horror, her brow furrowed.
"Makona is Makona!" he answered, going back to eating.
"What is a chimera?" Syaoran-Kun asked.
"If you don't know then you must be from far away," Rumiko stated, continuing when Syaoran-Kun nodded, "Chimeras are animals that have been transmuted together to create creatures. It's the second of the three taboos of alchemy."
"Is this alchemy like magic?" I asked in deep interest, the hope to get the original form of my own magic back returning.
"Not at all, it's science!" she answered looking offended at the word 'magic', then explaining herself, "There's no such thing as magic!"
"Pardon me, where I come from magic exists," I explained with a smile, noticing the skeptical look on her face.