19. Coffee House

Veronica looked down at the Styrofoam and cardboard cup suspiciously.

"It's coffee," Becky assured her.

"Becky," Veronica answered slowly, "Coffee does not sparkle."

Becky chuckled but Veronica just glared down resentfully at her coffee. She preferred tea normally; while it was as alien to her as coffee it tasted a little more natural to her. The only exception she made was when Becky and she had their Wednesday coffee mornings. It was a tradition rooted in their first meeting and a way to unwind.

Every time she would take her coffee black with just a touch of cream and sugar. She had never been one for too much decoration; her wedding dress was a testament to that. So she had foregone the shots so popular with the rest of the coffee shop's patrons. There was no whipped cream or cocoa sprinkles either.

This new brew was one of Becky's favorites and to be polite she had agreed to try it. The sparkly surface was strange to her, but at least there was no whipped cream or sprinkles. She still looked at it suspiciously. Merlin had once made a charm with mud to wake a person from a coma, and it had looked quite like this drink.

"Come on," said Becky, rolling her eyes, "Scared or something?"

Veronica narrowed her eyes. She wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

"Fine."

Closing her eyes she raised it to her lips. Conscious of Becky's watching eyes she took a slow and deliberate sip. It didn't taste that bad but something in her stomach flipped when it touched her tongue. She gagged a little on it, trying to force it down. Unfortunately she didn't quite manage to.

She grabbed her napkin and spit it out. It was fortunate that she managed to; otherwise it would have gone all over the table. Becky's eyes widened.

"I…really wasn't expecting that," she confessed, "Are you allergic or something?"

"Not that I'm aware," said Veronica, still having to breathe deeply to combat the drink's effects, "But there are so many more chemicals out here these days…who knows? Balthazar suggested I get tested…maybe I should take him up on that."

"Well, if you were allergic to peanuts, the secret ingredient here, then you might've already known," Becky said, eyeing the cup of coffee with doubt.

"We didn't have peanuts back then," said Veronica, "Apparently they were imported a few centuries after I was first locked in the Grimhold."

"Oh…chocolate's in it. Chocolate too?"

"Chocolate too," Veronica agreed, "Way after my time. Although I heard you were the one who was allergic to that."

"I am, or to one of the ingredients," said Becky, taking a sip of her own coffee, "To be specific it's the cocoa butter."

"Easy enough to avoid."

"Not as easy as you'd think," Becky replied, "I can't tell you how many boyfriends failed to learn that. I decided that the first one that gave me hard candy instead of chocolate would turn out to be a keeper."

"…and?"

"Fourth grade, lollipop taped to a Valentine's day card," said Becky, shrugging, "I'll give you three guesses who it was from. So I was right, in a sense."

"In a sense."

Becky shrugged again. Veronica's head started to swim a little and she touched it with her hand.

"Are you feeling alright?" Becky asked.

"For the most part. Perhaps I'm a little off," admitted Veronica, "I don't know. Some sort of small illness."

She smiled to herself.

"You know," she said, "You've got all these new drugs and chemicals these days no one's worried about some small illness. I never was really, but when I was growing up a cough could turn out to be the plague and kill you overnight."

Veronica watched as Becky blinked. She started to wonder if she should have said that. The plague wasn't exactly good morning talk.

"Huh," she said.

"Just saying," Veronica said.

"The Plague. Really? You're from 740 A.D or so right?"

"Balthazar told me that was correct."

"It's just that I thought the plague wasn't until later," said Becky, "Around the 1300's or something."

Now it was her turn to blink.

"Becky, you can't remember when chocolate and peanuts were first introduced to Britain," she said slowly, "But you can internally compare time periods, do the math, and figure out when the plague first ravaged Europe?"

The younger woman had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"I had a unit on it a few weeks ago," she said, "I have to take European history to graduate."

"I see," said Veronica, "But the plague…it has different forms, understand? And not everything people call the plague was, as Balthazar explained to me, 'the big one'. There were other epidemics, other pandemics."

"Sounds like a dangerous time."

"You don't know the half of it, and not just the illness component," said Veronica, "But I was never very concerned about getting sick. I was trained as a midwife, like my mother before me, and her mother before her, and so on. Midwives didn't just deliver babies; they also helped the sick and dressed the dead."

Leaning her elbows on the table Becky cocked her head to the side. Veronica took this a as an invitation to continue.

"Physicians were very suspicious figures back then, and very expensive ones to boot. Midwives were more revered, or at least in my village," she said, "Now, I know what you're thinking. And some people did say it had to do with the pagan roots but let's think about this for a minute. Which would you prefer when you're sick; some stranger in imposing garb or someone you might've grown up with?"

"Good point," said Becky.

"That's what I always thought; it's the level of familiarity that can be built up. But my work did take me around quite a bit. Getting sick just wasn't an option for me, not something that I thought about," Veronica said, "Never was, never will be."

She grinned.

"But…I could tell you someone who was very worried about little illnesses."

Becky's jaw dropped.

"No," she said, "Nah-ah…really?"

"Balthazar does have a habit of completely losing it when someone was ill, and it's a sight to see him panicking," she said, "Understandable since it was a valid threat. But there were, and are, times when he tends to overdo it past the point of patience. He's what you would call these days, just a touch germaphobic."

There was a glint in Becky's eyes. Veronica knew that she would most likely run to tell Dave after this, who would in turn use it in some way to get out of practice. Still, the playing ground hadn't exactly been even since Balthazar had frightened Dave with that dragon story. Veronica decided it wasn't her place to tell the truth in the matter, and she did find it funny. Dave did deserve something in his court though. Her husband made a formidable foe.

A few hours later she went down to the lab, clutching her coat to herself closely against the cold. Wednesdays were sword training days, an essential skill for a sorcerer. It was left to her since Balthazar was completely hopeless with a sword. He'd always been a much better archer than her, but she could best him in any duel.

Dave was running a little late that day, something that happened with college classes and everything. It wasn't encouraged though. Balthazar was very obviously aware of his apprentices' tardiness. He kept looking at his watch and muttering to himself. This wasn't going to be pretty. Veronica didn't say anything to him when he was in that mood. She just picked up a whetstone and started to do an equipment check.

She was still doing that when Dave burst through the door. He was twenty minutes late and knew it.

"Look, I know I'm late but-"

"I'm in no mood. So this excuse that you're about to give? It had better be good," Balthazar said irritably.

"Um…I was studying?" he said lamely.

Balthazar's fist clenched.

"You were with Becky, weren't you you horrible liar?" he asked.

"….maybe."

"You know," Balthazar said, "I'm the last one to talk to you about picking duty over love, but get a grip Dave! There is spending time with someone you love, and then there is playing hooky. And that was playing hooky and therefore inexcusable. Know what you're going to be doing for punishm-?"

Dave suddenly started wrinkling his nose uncomfortably. Absently he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tissue. He blew his nose into it loudly before sniffling once. With a surprising level of nonchalance he dropped the tissue on the floor. Balthazar's eyes followed the tissue's descent, glued to its travels. When it hit the ground he looked up again at Dave who sniffled again.

"Sorry," he said, "I've had a cold recently. What were you saying?"

Balthazar's eyebrow twitched.

"Nothing," he said, "Nothing at all. But…just remember to throw your tissues away in a trash can. It's…it's…unsanitary."

He turned his back and strode away. Dave grinned before trotting into the Merlin's Circle. Veronica reflected briefly on the old adage that bad news travelled fast. Perhaps bad news travelled even faster when it came from the lips of a girlfriend. Internally she tallied things up. So far the score was one one, all.