Chương 19: XIX. The Hart Stop

"Ah, look at you two! Like two sœurs walking to their mamon's maison," Madeleine said. She moved around the counter and.. Kissed the air beside Jasmine's cheek? Jasmine returned Madeleine's kiss, and then gripped her forearms. Madeleine squeezed back, and the pair talked on and on. I dropped my backpack on the table and neither of them turned around. I pulled the 18 [Blood Carrots] by the sprouts and dropped the eighteen there. Madeleine broke eye contact with Jasmine and turned to my direction.

She shook her head with a small smile, and stared down at the carrots.

"Alright, chérie, if you simply can not wait." She released Jasmine and walked around the counter, before leaning over and tapping the wood with her long, painted nails. Jasmine's head touched mine, and her blonde hair covered my nose and mouth. I hacked it out, jerking my head to the side and pushing hers away. Madeleine chuckled, picking up one of the carrots from the table.

"Not as good as last time, chérie. I know that [Vampire Lord] requested 200 a week, but I would expect he wants something less..." She tugged at the carrot; and its poorer, bendier quality betrayed me." [Common], la?" Right, I also had to worry about the quality. That meant some sort of [Fertilizer]. [Common] Manure started at 1 silver bag and [Uncommon] is twice that. With a minimum of 200 crops, that's 400 silver pieces at the very least! Madeleine counted out 36 unminted gold coins and placed them on the table.

She then counted it three more times to give me the wholesale price. Jasmine picked up the gold coin and examined it.

"Unminted, eh?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I can' use it for the full amount, it's uh…"

"Yeah, I know," Jasmine said.

"Lady Hawthorne was teachin' me [Book-Keeping]. You can' convert this legally, y'know. Oh! Is that why you wanted to make that [Guild]?"

"Kind o– wait, convert this legally?" Jasmine held the coin in front of my face, and closed one eye.

"Ya wasn' just gon' take this to the [Tax Collectors] and convert it, huh? What was you selling as yer front?" I groaned and wiped my face, looking down at the [Blood Carrots].

"This is just makin' it worse, Maddy. I can' even use these at the guild rates…" Madeleine raised her eye at me, and then beckoned to the rest of the store.

"Demoiselle, do you think most of these items are actually sold? I just produce a [Receipt] that says it is, and the [Tax Collectors] accept it."

"That… only works if you ain' makin' a lot of money," Jasmine said.

"Lady Hawthorne says that even for her kind, they have to uh… actually Launder it. Well, I know the basics of tha–""So… do I… grow more [Blood Crops] then…?" I said. Madeleine turned her head towards me.

"You aren't going to make your fortune selling crops, chérie. Most people have no interest in a [Legendary] [Carrot] to buy, but monsters will buy [Blood Crops]."

"Unless you make [Carrot Juice]!" Jasmine said, smiling at the same time.

"I dun' know how to [Cook] and that seems like it's goin' to take a long time." I said, and stopped. I chewed on my lips. Most crops were only good if they were part of a dish, and a [Chef] could make a [Legendary] meal with [Uncommon] or [Rare]. [Legendary] crops were mostly for winning the Farmer's Fair… …or, as Addy and I had wanted to do, a [Vintery].

"People always buy wine… can [Blood Crops] be used for that?" Madeleine shrugged.

"I would always buy wine myself too. But… [Blood Crops]? I believe it could be, but they're better off as rea–""No!" Jasmine said, leaping forward and covering Madeleine's mouth.

"Makin' wine sounds fun! We can even get a patio, those neat little umbrellas, and make chee– err, yes, if Elora wills it, a wine spot would be nice!" Madeleine glared at her and pulled her hand off her mouth." Pipelette, I do not cover your mouth during your inane chattering, do I? Please, decorum. Besides, I like the wine shop too; I always wanted to make my own wine. It doesn't matter what we actually sell… one of my friends in Martivia, Gustav, used to sell Poulet Frit as their cover."

"I can do that," I said.

"I mean… maybe? I don' know how to do any of that, let alone how to set up a [Vintery]." Jasmine wiped Madeleine's spit from her hand over the table, which only made Madeleine glare at her again.

"Let me handle it! Besides, ya ain' even goin' be able to sell your carrots to anyone without talkin' to them. And if I'm going to be your sister Ashy, I gotta earn my keep. By the way, what is my keep?" The pile of unminted gold coins were mostly useless to me. And besides what I needed to keep the farm afloat, the next seeds bought, and keep everything sustained, I didn't really care. I moved 10 of the unminted coins from the table, and pushed it towards Jasmine. She blinked rapidly, before picking them all up.

"An entire gold?!"

"If ya wan' more, I don' mind. I jus' need enough for the farm," I said. Jasmine looked at the coins and then to Madeleine.

"Ya still has the Guild thingy, Ashy?" I pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that had four names and nothing else.

"Uh… not the official one, this is more for the… other thing." Jasmine peered over it and shook her head.

"Good basis though, all a [Phoenix Agent] would have to do is look at it. Uh, watcha gonna call it?"

"Ashley's Farm?" This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Madeleine snickered.

"Non, demoiselle. Too… basic." There was a term that Addy and I used to call it.

"The Hart Stop." Jasmine took a quill from Madeleine's desk and scribbled it down. She drew what was supposed to be a bunny's face beside it, and handed me the quill.

"All ya need is a sentence, Ashy, and then we can hand it to that weird girl." The bunnyhead was badly drawn. It was just a circle with two loops for the ears, and no face at all. Mirchie was half black, half white, and had the cutest nose. I filled that in, and coloured half the face down. And underneath, a term that I had liked since I was a child. Blood and Carrots. [A GUILD HAS BEEN FORMED: THE HART STOP] Madeleine and Jasmine looked at the sky, and Madeleine flicked her head away in annoyance.

Jasmine squealed, and hugged me.

"Elora's Laces, woman, what is with ya and touchin'?" I said, shoving Jasmine back. She let go and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Im finally in a guild with ya, Ashy!" Her eyes shot to the left and her lips sounded out the words as she read.

"Wait, why can I not see it?" Right.

"That's the [Cult]," I told her.

"Sorry, what?" Jasmine said.

"The cult, pipelette. Ta sœur est une [Acolyte]," Madeleine said, getting up and moving the crops off the counter and cleaning it from the spit Jasmine put there.

"... Right," Jasmine said.

"So… the cult is to sell carrots?"

"And other [Blood Crops]," I said. That's only half-right, and we know it. Something is following us. I squeezed until my nails pierced my palm. These two were the closest things I had to friends, and I couldn't tell Addy. Jasmine peered at me, and Madeleine hummed as she worked. Neither said anything, and I'm sure it was only a few seconds, but each moment Jasmine kept staring, the more I felt like I owed her something.

Since I did tell her she was my sister, and Addy said I was his sister, and family was supposed to tell each other everything? And I liked Madeleine…

"... Okay, I think I see Rhyvesta following me around. She's… taking the form of my Ma," I said, and turned my head to the ground.

"The [Cult] is part of it, and I ain' sure where it's leadin'. But it's making the farmin' easier, so I gotta follow it." Jasmine inhaled and held it in her chest.

"I really don' like that part, but… fine. I trust ya, Ashy." I frowned, my eyes locking with hers. Would… Addy trust me? If I told him? No, he was a [Paladin]. I exhaled and closed my eyes.

"Thank ya, Jazzy. Ya, Maddy?"

"It is not who you are, but what you do," Madeleine said.

"There, but for the Grace of Danu go I. I'm with you, and if it helps me make the 1, 000, 000 gold I need for my coven, all the better." My eyes twitched, and Jasmine covered her mouth.

"Elora's Laces, what, are ya buyin' an entire country?" Madeleine smiled and shook her head.

"I need to purchase an [Absolution] from the [Druids], and then purchase my own land away from… others."

"An [Absolution]?" I said.

"Is that why you're not Symphonic?" Madeleine shook her head.

"A [Witch] is never symphonic, chérie. We call upon Loam and the spirits that came from it, not the Symphony. But no, a [Druid] has… done something unforgivable for a childish mistake done by one of my [Coven], and I've to undo it." Jasmine opened her arms and ran towards Madeleine, and Madeleine took the embrace. It looked nice, and I stepped towards them. My feet locked in spot, and I couldn't force myself to move forward.

Jasmine squeezed Madeleine and whispered something in her ear, and Madeleine rubbed her back. I turned my head to the side and coughed, but they didn't break the touch. And we couldn't get ourselves there either. I shook my head, and then glanced at the piece of paper. The [Guild] was registered, but shouldn't something have happened? I opened the [Guild].

THE HART STOP"Blood and Carrots" Type: GUILD Status: GUILD LEADER ACTIVE MEMBERS 4 [HERO/ADVENTURER] 2 [COMMONER/EXPERT] 2 I made sure to give both Madeleine and Jasmine access, but when I had moved to make the type into a [Cult], the winter flew through my symphony. Before me was the surge of possibilities and the unending storm of consequence. Snow pattered to the ground, each flake a thousand different variations of a singular motion.

"The Hart Stop? Show me it?" An Unfamiliar face and voice echoed about, her voice strewn together by the pratting of snowfall. Another snowfall dropped in front of me. [Guild Writ] and transfer.

"You can remove the old Guild, doesn't need to exist anymore." All different snowfalls of eternity rested against the ground, and the cold, exotic whisper licked at my ears.

"Not yet. It will be." Jasmine stroked my cheek.

"Ashy? Do you wanna join too?"

"Huh!" I immediately shouted, and jerked my head.

"Sorry, a thought came up. Uh… I don' think this one is registered by the Phoenix Empire, is it? How would I do that?" Jasmine smoothed out the crumpled piece of paper.

"We just have to see the [Phoenix Talon] and get this sorted." There was snow and frost growing on the windows. I grabbed her wrist, and turned around.

"Let's do that now." Jasmine blinked and waved frantically at Madeleine. She returned the wave and put the carrots back into her spot for later, but watched as we left. We walked around the rest of Oakheart, mirrors and windows forming cold frost. Eventually, we arrived at the [Phoenix Talon], whose stone reeked of bureaucracy. The guards at the front barely noticed as we walked in, even as their metal frosted over.