Brewed of Memories

Chapter 12: The greatest tea maker in Snezhnaya

"This is some damn good stuff!"

"Language, Beidou. You're in a tea shop not the Crux!" Ningguang scolds, glaring sharply over the rim of her teacup.

Beidou winces apologetically. "Sorry, sorry, my bad."

A beat. A snicker.

"Sourpuss."

"Beidou!"

Kazuha, passively sipping his own tea, listens silently to their bickering. He doesn't intervene or look bothered in the slightest; if anything, he seems used to the fuss.

Quite unintentionally, you catch his eye.

His gaze ensnares you, scalding ruby red, but soft in a way you don't know what to make of. You can sense a stifled anger and something deeper, something sorrowful and soul-wrenching that tugs at your heartstrings like gentle fingers — something he's buried beneath the coal of the fire.

But he's difficult to read, like Zhongli.

The rest of his face remains a mask, burning eyes a gateway to a wealth of emotions and experiences you can't even begin to imagine.

His cup clinks as he sets it against the table, cocking a single conspicuous eyebrow.

Oh no.

You turn away, face hot.

He'd seen you looking. Not just looking, staring.

Before you have the chance to perish from embarrassment, Ningguang chuckles, and your attention spins back to her.

"You've got that look in your eye again."

Beidou scoffs, smile as broad as ever.

"What d'you mean 'that look?'"

"The one you get whenever you come up with some strange idea," Ningguang replies, and the other woman's grin widens.

"You know me too well."

Ningguang sighs as if satisfied by her sleuthing, and — in a teasing tone only a dear friend can pull off without sounding condescending — asks, "What is it this time?"

You catch the curious tilt of Kazuha's head as he too awaits an explanation.

"I know you've been interested in getting catering at the Jade Chamber since it's so hard to find time to whip something up with your busy schedule," reasons Beidou, addressing Ninggaung. "And you love tea."

"I do," Ningguang confirms.

"So I thought, maybe you could hire this place to bring you tea 'n stuff. A healthy dose of Invigorating Jasmine every day or so, eh?"

You try not to react to the suggestion, as they're nearly guaranteed to hear any noise you make in the otherwise empty tea shop and realize you've been shamelessly eavesdropping on their conversation the entire time.

It's not a chain of events you'd like to spark.

But that doesn't mean you stop listening; far from it, in fact. You wait with bated breath from behind the counter as Ningguang pauses to contemplate the proposal.

"It's...an idea, that's for sure," she finally murmurs, and with a jolt you watch her gaze shift from the teacup cupped in her palm to you, once again staring, this time caught red handed. "Whether or not it becomes a reality depends on someone else."

She's looking at you with an intensity that startles color into your cheeks and a single word from your lips. You poke at your chest with a finger.

"Me?"