Sunflower

Sally puffed out her chest with a little pride. "I taught myself!"

"After I left the orphanage, I put a lot of effort into learning this skill. Crow needed someone to treat his throat, after all, and I was the only one of the three who could do it."

"Actually, I'm not the only one with a skill. Crow's an expert at setting traps and handling gunpowder. He often brings back small animals like rabbits and marmots for us to eat, or to sell for their pelts."

"As for Silverback, that guy's good at hunting. He's very sensitive to animals' scents and tracks, and he often chases a whole family of wild boars all over the mountain."

"I see." Lude found himself a little interested in the three of them now. So they weren't completely illiterate, after all.

"Take this Evergreen Grass, for example." Sally seemed eager to show off in front of Lude, too. She picked up a sprig and said, "One part Evergreen Grass, three parts Isatis Root, and a little Cave Moss make pills that perk you up and cure a cold."

Lude listened quietly, memorizing Sally's somewhat crude method in full.

Sally's crude approach was that of an herbalist. An alchemist would choose to boil the ingredients into a potion, while a potion-maker would go a step further and extract the spiritual essence contained within them.

But Lude knew nothing about the mysterious world yet, so every bit of knowledge was precious to him.

"And this one." Sally picked up a vivid green herb. "This is Green Mud Herb. It can be used to..."

"To extract the effects of herbs."

Lude spoke up. "Its proper name is Hepa Grass, but it's actually a fern that grows in soil."

"If you simmer Hepa Grass at a low temperature until it turns into a paste, you can use it to extract the medicinal properties of herbs. It's quite effective when making high-grade compounds. In some backward regions, people also use Hepa Grass paste, after extracting its medicinal properties, to pickle meat and make medicinal jerky."

Lude enjoyed talking with capable people, especially those who had real knowledge to share.

When the sun reached its zenith, Lude took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. "It's already noon. Would you like to get lunch together?"

"Hmm..." Sally's eyes shifted as she smiled. "If Mr. Hastings is paying, I'll come!"

Then she stuck out her tongue. "It's mainly because I can't afford to eat at those restaurants... Sorry."

Clearly, after what had happened that morning, Sally and Lude were no longer so formal with each other.

"Sure," Lude said with a smile. "I can afford one meal."

So Lude took Sally back along the same route to the shopping street.

At the corner where the shopping street met Central Road stood a café with quite elegant decor.

In an age without phones or computers, cafés were the "second living rooms" of intellectuals, artists, journalists, merchants, and bureaucrats. They came here to read newspapers, discuss current affairs, write, play chess, or do business. On their days off, some of them wouldn't leave all day.

The moment Sally stepped into the café, she timidly took a step back.

Sally wasn't a timid child.

Though she had wet herself in fright when Lude had pinned her to the wall, that had only been her body's reflex. Her mind had remained calm enough to assess the situation, and she had spoken up at just the right moment to ease the tension.

But now Sally was timid, because she realized that everyone sitting here was dressed to the nines.

This was the only café in town, and for that very reason, the dozen or so people sitting inside were also the most respectable people in town.

The moment Sally walked in, she felt out of place, and couldn't help taking a step back.

Just then, several of the patrons turned to look at her.

First they glanced at Sally's delicate face, then at her coarse dress, washed until it had faded white, and finally at her slender bare feet, stained with dust.

Some of their gazes were curious, some disdainful, and others playful and mocking.

Sally's face flushed with embarrassment once again, and her small toes curled tightly against the cracks in the floor.

This was the first time so many people had stared at Sally at once. Even when she had occasionally been caught after a botched theft, only two or three people had kicked her to the ground and beaten her by the roadside, with a few passersby watching at most. Their gazes had never been this complicated.

And more than her own embarrassment, she feared that she might be embarrassing Lude, too.

"Um..."

She tugged at Lude's sleeve. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hastings. Why don't we go somewhere else?"

But Lude only shook his head.

He placed a hand on Sally's slender shoulder and guided her straight into the café.

As Lude's figure shielded Sally, the patrons' gazes naturally shifted to him. But the moment their eyes fell on Lude, the curiosity, disdain, playfulness, and mockery in them melted away like fine snow in the sunlight.

Like cats burned by hot coals, they quickly looked away.

Lude had already changed out of the Obsidian Hall uniform that might have caused trouble. Today, he wore only a simple iron-gray wool overcoat, a white shirt with a gunmetal-gray tie, and an iron-gray felt hat.

Yet even this ordinary outfit could not hide the chilling, austere edge about him.

Lude led the still somewhat tense Sally to a table in front of a sunny window. Before long, silence had settled around them. Loud conversations had quietly turned to hushed whispers, while glances kept drifting their way, only to dart away in a hurry.

A waiter quietly approached and handed Lude a menu.

A café wasn't a tavern, so naturally it didn't serve hearty dishes like braised pork knuckles or smoked sheep's head. Lude ordered only a platter of cold cuts with cheese and pickles, two smoked salmon sandwiches, four boiled eggs, and a bowl of sour cream borscht.

He also ordered an Irish coffee, made by adding whiskey and sugar to hot coffee.

"Um..." Sally's face was still flushed with embarrassment. Her little dust-covered toes twisted together as she said softly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Hastings. I've made you look bad... But these really are the best clothes I have..."

She felt that she had never been so embarrassed in her life.

But Lude only shook his head slightly. He raised his glass and said in a low voice, "Those who dare speak so freely only when dressed in finery still harbor cowardice in their hearts. Unless you can hold your head high, even the finest clothes will only make others think you're a monkey in human clothing."

"A tiger or leopard needn't care what lambs think. Timidity and submission are no manners for the strong."

Sally swallowed softly. She could hardly imagine the quiet strength behind Lude's words, much less where his composure came from. But she knew how much she admired him, how deeply she looked up to the calm certainty in his bearing.

She not only revered him, but longed to be like him, like a sunflower straining with all its might to grow into the sun.

How wonderful, she thought to herself.