Coffee With Ioreth, for Agape4Rivendell
The Battle is done, and now Lord Faramocha lies swooning in a sugarcoma. None can revive the brave man, not the Wizardry of Grandëlf nor the woManly charms of Mayowyn, now armed with coffee and smelling salts. They have tried nearly everything, and there is now great fear that he will not awaken at all.
Then Aromagorn called to Eyôrebreath and he said: "You have store in this House of the beans of brewing?"
"Yes, lord," she answered; "but not enough, I reckon, for all that will need them. But I am sure I do not know where we shall find more; for all things are amiss in these dreadful days, what with fires and burnings, and the lads that run errands so few, and all the 7-11's packed with orcs. Why, it is days out of count since ever Juan Valdez to the market! But we do our best in this House with what we have, as I am sure your lordship will know."
"I will judge that when I see," said Aromagorn. "One thing also is short: time for speech. Have you arabica?"
"I do not know, I am sure, lord," she answered, "at least not by that name. I will go and ask of the brew-master; he knows all the old names."
"It is also called kafé noir," said Aragorn; "and maybe you know it by that name, for so the country-folk call it in these latter days."
"Oh that!" said Eyôrebreath. "Well, if your lordship had named it at first I could have told you. No, we have none of it, I am sure. Why, I have never heard that it had any great virtue; and indeed I have often said to my sisters when we came upon it growing in the woods: "Kafé noir" I said, " 'tis a strange name, and I wonder why 'tis called so; for if I were at a café, I would have cream and sugar in my cup'. Still... it smells fragrant when brewed, does it not? If fragrant is the right word: aromatic, one might say... perky."
"Perky verily," said Aromagorn. "And now, dame, if you love the Lord Faramocha, run as quick as your tongue and get me kafé noir, if there is a bean in the City."
"And if not," said Grandélf, "I will ride to the 7-11 with Eyôrebreath behind me, and she shall engage the orcs with small-talk, and bore them into somnolence. And Snackfast shall show her the meaning of haste."
"Well now! Who would have believed it?" said Eyôrebreath to a woman that stood beside her. "The beans are better than I thought. It reminds me of the cappuccino of Imlatté Meleché when I was a lass, and no king could ask for better coffee."