MEOW: Magical Emporium of Wares - A Cozy Slice-of-Life Fantasy

The bacon in my belly felt heavy, even though it had been perfectly crispy. Indigo had eaten a pile bigger than her, and the cat had asked for seconds. We finished two entire packages of the stuff. The scrambled eggs had been tasty as well, but I felt off. Part of it was that my mind kept going back to that room, and whatever Betty was trying to get me to figure out. I didn’t want to let the shop down. They were one of my friends, practically family.

I doodled on a napkin a rough outline of an oak leaf. That had been the center part. My fingers tapped on the counter and a part of me wanted to ask the cat about it, yet I resisted. This I wanted to do without his help. And, to be honest, I wasn’t sure he’d help me anyway. It was the shop that had shown me his room, not the cat. Shaking my head, I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye. I set my mug down on the napkin and grabbed out a teacup.

“Would you like some coffee?” I asked.

The cat's tail twitched as soon as he landed on the counter. He didn’t answer, but I could tell he was grumpy. Something was bugging him today. Hopefully, it was only too much bacon. Indigo was zooming around the shop from all the bacon. The cat, not so much.

I quickly made a mocha and refreshed my mug as well. On top I added some whipped cream, thankful that nothing ever went bad in the magical fridge. At least I knew the reason now. The cat loved whipped cream, but I didn’t pull it out very often.

“Here, this should be tasty.”

His green eyes landed on the teacup, and his whiskers twitched. “Thank you.”

That worried me even more. He rarely thanked me for things. Yet, he dove into the whipped cream, getting it all over his face. I knew better than to offer to clean him until he was done. Somehow it would all get cleaned up. The mocha was a little less chocolatey for me, since I still had a quarter cup of an Americano in my mug, but I didn’t care. The chocolate was still good.

“What’s on the schedule today?” I asked after a couple of moments.

“Deliveries, then dragons.” The cat licked his face, getting the last of the cream off.

My mind raced, trying to figure out what was supposed to show up today. “Oh, the MP3 players are coming in? That’ll be good. And then the dragons on the same day.” I shrugged. “Keeps things straight.” Yet, the cat almost flinched at the word dragons when I said it. My eyes narrowed.

The dragons were upsetting him. That’s where the trouble was coming from. I watched Indigo continue to fly around the shop. “Hey, Indigo. You’re gonna need to hide for the deliveries. Do you have a story to listen to?”

Indigo chirped once and headed to her spot on the bookshelf near the door. Her little hidey-hole was there, and slowly I think the shop was expanding it into the wall, like her own little cave. She still slept in the cat tree in my bedroom, but anything she thought was shiny ended up in the hole.

The cat nodded to himself as Indigo vanished, and he glanced at me. His bright eyes landed on me and I smiled at him. Then the door unlocked.

“I’m assuming it’ll be John?” I took a deep breath and let it out when the cat nodded.

“Don’t worry, I’m here…” mumbled the cat. He had moved closer as I eyed the door, and his shoulder touched my hand near my mug. I petted between his ears; his fur was super soft. It didn’t take long for the door to jingle and John darted inside with a large box.

“Hey Sable, cat…” He moved faster than usual and gave us both a nod as he approached. “Today is a busy day, so no time to chit-chat. Working on a promotion!” He smiled at me, set the box on the counter, then left. In and out before I could even say anything.

I blinked in shock, staring at the box as the door shut behind him. “That was… okay.” Shaking my head I grabbed out the box cutter under the counter and quickly opened it. Packed inside were MP3 players, along with things that looked like digital recorders.

“Woah, this is more than I thought we’d get.”

“I added more to the order,” said the Cat. “They will be needed.”

Indigo glided across the room and almost landed directly in the box. At the last second, she slammed into the counter.

“Indigo!”

She chirped once and shook her head, then shook her wings as she folded them before climbing toward the edge of the box.

“Dragonlets,” muttered the cat, shaking his head. “She’s fine.” He practically rolled his eyes.

I dug around in the box, looking for an invoice, but didn’t see one. “Do I just hand over the box?”

“Pretty much,” replied the Cat. “The dragon will pay us a fair price.”

“That’s good to know.” Everything looked in order and Indigo nudged my hand before crawling up my arm to my shoulder. I scratched under her chin as she nuzzled me. The cat gave her an approving nod, and I wondered what he had said to her about the dragons coming.

The doorbell jingled again as Lord Bennit walked inside. The sunlight in the room felt like it shifted, and a breeze entered with him. His blue robes flowed around him and today he didn’t have a cane. Instead, he strode inside like a young man, though it was still him. It was a little odd, an old man prancing in like he was in his twenties, but I had no doubt that it was the great dragon.

“Good morning, Lord Bennit,” I called as he entered. “Would you like a mocha?”

An eyebrow raised, but then he nodded and smiled at me. “That sounds like a great way to start the day.” His eyes landed on the box. “Are those the story players?”

“Yes, along with some recorders,” I added. I quickly grabbed a mug and started pulling a shot of espresso.

Indigo peeked out from underneath my hair and chirped a few times. The dragon started laughing and responded in that language. I focused on the mocha and set it on the counter once it was done.

“I’ve come with a proposition for you, Cat.”

I froze, then turned to look at the two of them. The Cat looked regal, sitting on the counter in a sunbeam that hadn’t been there before.

“I want to host the conclave for the Clan of Lore here in your shop.”

Indigo dashed off my shoulder and took to the air. She started flying in a circle around Lord Bennit, chirping nonstop.

“Why?” The question slipped between my lips and both of them turned to look at me. Bright green eyes from the cat, and warm blue eyes from the dragon. “Why here?”

“Well, it would allow both you and Indigo to attend. All dragons of the Clan of Lore will be attending, no matter how young. Plus, this will allow some of our more reclusive dragons to spend some time out in the wider world. See things that have changed.” His eyes stayed on me, and I felt like he really meant what he was saying.

I went back to looking at the Cat. It was his shop. Indigo chirped rapidly at the Cat, but he didn’t respond immediately. Lord Bennit frowned.

“Of course, I guarantee nothing will happen to either of them. Both are important to the clan.”

I nudged the Cat who still sat close to me. Finally, he nodded.

“Looks like we will host the conclave.”

“Perfect. Absolutely perfect,” said Lord Bennit.

Indigo cheered and zoomed around the room even faster than before.

“I need to distribute these and get working on planning the event.” Lord Bennit nodded at us, then headed toward the door. As soon as it shut behind him, the Cat slumped to the counter.

“You could have said no,” I whispered, picking him up in my arms. Indigo didn’t even notice.

“No, I couldn’t. The book said yes.”

I petted him, feeling a quiver before he calmed, hiding his head against my chest.