51 Chapter 51 Tea Party (1/2)

The tea was hot, but the smell of the leaves as they steeped brought a warm happy place inside of him. Stella was busy placing the cookies and tiny sandwiches on the table. He practiced picking up the teacup and holding his fingers in just the right way. He knew how to do it, but his muscles didn't.

”Ready?” she asked, sitting down in front of him, with a proper stance and he nodded.

The tea party began with introductions around the table.

Sir Teddy Rumpton did not have a proper stance as he sat slumped in his chair. They gave up trying to get him to sit up straight after he almost fell onto the table, causing the fine china to rattle. His red hat was on straight at least, and his matching red jacket had been cleaned to within an inch of its life by Stella.

Lady Broomstick sat up straight in her chair, but everyone knew she wouldn't eat a bite as it might ruin her figure. Her dress was only a little rumpled, as it didn't lay just right on her stick frame, but it s.h.i.+ned in the light from the window as the sun gleamed on its yellow fabric.

”It's a beautiful day,” said Stella, picking up her cup with the proper finger positions, and she blew gently on the tea before taking a sip.

”I agree, the sun is finally s.h.i.+ning and the storm clouds have blown away.” Joseph struggled to hold the cup still as he took a small sip. It almost burnt his mouth, but the flavor was heavenly. He fought the urge to melt in his seat right to the floor.

”I do hope you like the tea, its my personal mix.”Stella was smirking as she watched him nod enthusiastically, before catching himself and giving a proper nod. He almost spilled the tea.

As they sampled the sandwiches and little cookies, they continued to make small talk. This was so hard for Joseph. He tried to make conversation with Sir Teddy and Lady Broomstick, but they refused to join the conversation, with added to the difficulty.

The tea party was both fun, and a learning experience for the two of them. They never knew when either of them might be invited to an actual tea party, and needed to know how to make small talk that didn't actually imply anything.

”Stella, what would it be like, not to be human?”

”I'm not sure, not human as in elven or dwarven, or not human as in dragon or demon?” She set the rest of the food on one plate for them to finish eating later, then gathered the dirty dishes together to take back to the kitchen.

”I'm not sure. I was just thinking, there's a lot of things that humans can't do, like dragons can fly, and stuff like that.” He had to be very careful about what he said, he knew there were spies watching them at all times.

”I think it would be great fun to fly, but I don't think I would like to be a dragon. Can you imagine how much they must eat?”