Just as promised a few days later, Emily showed up on my doorstep in the late morning hours to invite me over to her shop. With my family already out to work and me finishing up the morning meal cleaning, I made my way to the door greeted by a smiling Emily.

“Hey!,” Emily said eagerly. “Ready to keep you part of our promise? I’m here to pick you up.”

“Yes,” I said. “Let me grab my bag and we can head out. I don’t have any items to pick up at the market today for mom so we can go wherever you’d like.”

“Great,” Emily replied.  “I still need to open the shop today, so we will probably be just spending time in the store front while I wait on customers. Though I didn’t forget my side of the deal and dug through my grandfather's collection. I found a few general knowledge books that he had me read when I was starting to help out at the store so I figured that would be a good place to start.”

With that, I went back into the kitchen and grabbed the small snack cookies mom had made the day prior and put them in my bag. Making my way back to the front door, I locked up and we made our way back to Emily’s shop in the market area. Once we entered the market area Emily stopped me to point at the street lamps which used an aether crystal to light up at night.

“I thought I’d point the lights out to you this time since I forgot to show you when I brought you home a few days ago,” Emily said. “From how my grandfather described them to me, there should actually be two crystals in the lamp. One’s for the actual lighting and the other is to tell how dark the surroundings are. I have a few replacement crystals in the shop so I can show you when we get there.”

From what I gathered from Emily’s explanation, one crystal acts like an activator switch which turns on the light crystal. Comparing it to my past knowledge, I thought of the solar yard lights some people put in front of their houses to light the path to the door. After the quick explanation from Emily, we made our way to her shop and she flipped the sign to the open side. 

“I pulled an extra chair from the back to put behind the counter for you,” Emily said. “I figured you could read there and keep me company too. Also on the plus side, if you want to look at some of the items mentioned in the book, I can grab them from the shelf to show you. I also brought the books out this morning and left them on the counter.”

Still quite surprised by how much Emily had prepared for me I thanked her and she showed me to the counter and the books. She said I could go ahead and start reading since she needed to do some quick dusting around the shop and started wiping down the shelves with a rag.

Sitting in front of me were a small stack of books. I picked them up taking a quick look at the titles which read ‘A Quick Reference Guide to Aether Crystals’, ‘Everyday Aetherial Contraptions’, and ‘Standard Mechanics and Daily Maintenance’. Figuring that I could open the reference guide for more information, I grabbed the next book and started reading while Emily moved about the store. 

Like that a few hours passed with me reading with Emily sitting next to me for most of it seeming happy to not be alone. A few customers came in during the time with a small chime for the bell and picked up some small parts and oil from Emily. They must have been regulars since she greeted each of them on a first name basis and when they asked about me, she replied that I was a friend who came over to keep her company. I gave my small wave to them each time and they finished their purchases. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the midday bell chimed, Emily hopped up from her chair and flipped the sign to closed.

“Let’s eat!” Emily shouted happily. “I made extra last night for us in case you came over.” 

She pulled me to the back and sat me at the table from last time and ran up the stairs to bring down food. Finishing setting up lunch, I gave my thanks for her feeding me again which she brushed aside happily saying she was glad for the company today.

“Hopefully this morning wasn’t too boring,” Emily said between mouthfuls. “Like I mentioned last time, the store hasn’t been too busy since grandfather passed so we mostly just get a few regular customers who pop in to pick up ready-made and maintenance items. Unfortunately, they only come in the mornings so after lunch is basically dead…,” she sighed.

Seeing Emily looking a bit bummed about the lack of activity of her shop, I tried to cheer her up.

“I had a great time this morning,” I said. “Yes it was a bit quiet, but it seemed like the customers you had come in really enjoyed chatting with you and even bought a few things. Also, thank you for the books. I managed to make it halfway through the simple contraptions one and the reference really helped out understand about each crystal.”

Thinking about how much Emily was helping me out currently and even feeding me, I decided that I wanted to do more for her to show my appreciation. 

“If you’d like, I could try to help you out with the shop sometimes,” I said. “I know I’m just getting started learning about aether working in general, but I really want to do something to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I also am really happy to spend time with you, but I don’t want you this to be one-sided since I’m happy to be your friend too.”

“You..you don’t have to do anything for me,” Emily said, shaking her hands back and forth in front of her. “Just having you around is great for me and I don’t want you to feel like you have to repay me or anything.”

Setting my spoon down, I looked Emily in the eyes feeling the need to express my feelings to her more.

“How about we change the conditions of our favor?” I questioned her grinning. “Instead of just spending time with you in the shop, I help where I can here when I’m over and in return you keep letting me come over to learn. Think about it while we finish eating and we can talk more after lunch.”

With that I picked up my spoon and continued to finish my lunch leaving Emily staring at me in silence.

autumnrayne92

Thanks everyone for the great comments and support! I was blown away earlier this week when this story hit 5k views.