June 10
Fiora stopped by while I was working today and said hello. It felt like an inspection than something cordial. She smelled like apples and spice. I'm not type for perfumes, but I had to ask about it.
Also, I think my mother is trying to blow up the shop with all of her science-y gadgets. A vial containing her explosive chemicals almost fell on a stove while I was boiling some penne. I laughed so hard after catching it, out of sheer relief.
June 11
The days are getting very long and hot. Inside the shop, however, it's always hotter. Heat doesn't bother me anymore.
Guests at the inn next door worry about a ghost haunting the lamppost in front of my forge. This ghost, so I hear, is a highwayman who died a month before I arrived, killed in by a stranger dressed in black and red. How sad! Violence in the streets of the capital! Of all the places to see a highwayman! It makes me want to investigate a little.
June 12
Today felt so short because of work. The inn keeper next door sent for an exorcist to check out the lamppost. He was a hunchbacked old man with spectacles that did more to obscure his eyes than improve his vision. "That lamppost is haunted as heck" he informed me at around 2 in the afternoon while I treated him to lemonade. "But it's not dangerous. I'll have this ghost sent on his way by next week. In the mean time, don't panic. Just, for heaven's sake, don't panic." I'm not afraid of ghosts, but I know soldiers who fought against Shadow Islanders. They would move to a different neighborhood, were they in my shoes.
June 13
Today I went shopping for groceries at the market district. The vegetables this season are fine, but the prices jumped 30% up from last year. Owning a business, you gain an awareness of these things. Distribution chains in Demacia are generally slower than anywhere else on Valoran. Letters travel like the wind, but packages have to get past all sorts of inspections, brigands and plain mishaps. I get my neighbor's things more often than my own.
Anyway, I met a housemaid from Manor Laurent. She was looking for me, and greeted me with a congeal smile. "The mistress sends her regards. She asks if you would be available for a visit in the near future."
"Of course!" I replied. "For what purpose?"
"Miss Laurent wishes to test your skill with the sword and, following that, treat you to tea."
"Well gosh!" I exclaimed. "Let's make it a date!"
And so we did, and I continued on with my day.
Three days hence, I'm in for a date with Fiora! But I can't call it a date. It's just tea and swordplay. And if it's a fight she wants, I'll put in all the effort I can muster. Come at me, Fiora Laurent!
