The weaver girl followed her and also leaned against the railing, holding onto it while she looked out at the garden behind the house, the breeze blowing through her hair.
She hadn’t known what to expect. When it came to Stiwa, she had seen her for half a year once every few days but they had only started to talk yesterday and there hadn’t been much information contained in those words. So to be honest, she hardly knew anything about her and never knew what was ahead.
Seeing this place, she felt a lot closer to her. “You cultivated this yourself?” She wasn’t sure but the way Stiwa looked gave her this feeling. Otherwise, she’d probably just point at it and tell her it was the garden instead of asking her about it.
Stiwa nodded. “Yeah, I did. Originally, there was a garden but it seemed a bit … monotonous? When I started out painting, I painted a lot of flowers and plants, actually. There wasn’t much to see her though so I went out to find more. Later, I started bringing them back and planting them here.
“Now, when I do those commissions, I always like doing it out there if the weather permits it. It allows me to have many different backgrounds even though it’s all happening in the same garden. Not to mention that all women are beauties and all flowers possess some kind of beauty themselves. And what’s better than two beauties in one picture? So I try to get as many kinds in there as I can.”
Juinlift looked around and realized that what Stiwa was saying was the truth: There was a path leading around the outside of the garden and another two leading straight through the middle. The aisles that resulted from this setup had been planted with different kinds of flowers. In fact, each aisle itself was again split in a way so that you could see a different kind of plant from each direction. Naturally, the walls surrounding the garden hadn’t been left out either.
With this kind of garden, no matter who Stiwa invited here and when she would always find a fitting background for them. And even though she couldn’t judge it quite as easily from up on the balcony, the paths were likely big enough to sit there and paint as well, making it a pleasant experience to sit there for those commissions. “What if one of them doesn’t like flowers?”
“I’ll make something up.” Stiwa tapped her temple and then motioned over to the other side of the balcony. A small table and a set of chairs were arranged there. “Want to sit down? I could make you some tea maybe and I think I have some cake in the kitchen.”
“Oh, I’d love to. But how about showing me that kitchen first? I believe you promised to show me the house, after all. While I do like your garden I haven’t forgotten about that.”
Stiwa grinned. “Sure thing!” She strolled back into the bedroom, leading Juinlift back to the corridor and to the room next door.
Surprisingly, this one turned out to be the aforementioned kitchen. It wasn’t much bigger than the room they had just come from, once again proving that Stiwa had been right when she said the house wasn’t big. There was hardly enough space for a few cupboards and the stovetop. Not even a small table fit into the kitchen so that explained the setup on the balcony.
Juinlift raised her brows, quite surprised when she saw this room. In her family’s house, the kitchen was the heart. Other than the area for cooking there was a big table that everyone could gather at. So seeing such a small kitchen that barely allowed room for one person to move around felt odd to her.
She looked around some more and then couldn’t help but turn back to Stiwa with a puzzled expression. “If this is your kitchen, do you always eat outside?” The balcony was lovely and so was the garden down there so she could imagine that. It still seemed strange though. Right now, winter had just passed. The temperature was getting higher again and it had to be nice sitting out there with the gentle breeze blowing through your hair. In summer, it had to be even better. But in the cold months, sitting there just seemed so … uncomfortable.
Stiwa laughed in response. “Good catch, weaver girl! I do most of the time when it’s warm but I have an even better place when it gets cold again. Do you want to see? I’ll show you in a minute! First, let’s make some tea and grab the cake though.” She filled the teapot that was standing to the side with water and put it on the stovetop to boil. Meanwhile, she fetched a box of tea leaves from the top of the cupboard, putting it down next to the stovetop. Then, she grabbed two plates, handing one of them to Juinlift with a smile. “Here you go!”
“Oh, that’s a lovely cake.” Juinlift turned the empty plate in her hands, giving Stiwa a questioning look.
“Oi, weaver girl, don’t be this impatient! You’ll get your cake soon enough. Although I guess it’s no wonder you’re being impatient. Who can say no to a lovely piece of cake? I’d be on the edge of my seat as well if I had to wait for it.” Even though she said so, she first went to grab two spoons, putting one of them on Juinlift’s plate with an exaggerated motion that was probably just meant to waste more time.
Juinlift raised her brows at her. “Is that cake of yours still baking that you are playing for time like this?”
“No, not at all. It’s been baked long ago. After all, I knew you’d be coming over so I got up early to make sure everything was ready whenever you’d turn up.”
Finally, she walked over to another wooden box that Juinlift hadn’t taken note of before. Taking off the lid, she revealed a cake that really looked stunning. It was round with a sand-colored bottom and a white layer above, as well as some blueberries to decorate the top.
Juinlift stared at it, her mouth watering. In her family, something like this definitely wouldn’t be put on the table but every now and then, Joem would sneak her a piece from one of the bakeries in the city. To be honest, she felt that those pieces looked pretty much like this specific cake as well.
Realizing this, she couldn’t help but tease Stiwa. “Oh, did you make that yourself? I have to say your hands really are quite nimble, Ms. Painter.”
For a moment, Stiwa seemed to struggle with her response. In the end, she took out a knife, cut the cake into pieces, and balanced one of them on the blade to transfer it to Juinlift’s plate. “I’d love to pretend I did but I know your siblings come to the city almost every day so I would only be setting myself up for failure. Actually, I bought this one this morning before you came to town. I figured that when you dropped by here, it wouldn’t look good if I did not have anything to offer. I hope you’ll like this one.”
“So where is it from?” Juinlift didn’t even wait to be shown the place that Stiwa had talked about before and picked up her spoon, taking a bite. The cake was just as good as she remembered the ones her sister brought. Actually, she was afraid that one little piece might not last her until they got to whatever room Stiwa had in mind for eating.
Stiwa chuckled when she saw her like that. She put a piece on her own plate as well and then cut a third one that was a bit smaller. Balancing it on the knife, she put it next to the one that was already on Juinlift’s plate. “It’s from the bakery on the other side of the street. Your sister should know it. It’s owned by a lovely old lady.”
Juinlift gave a hum and took another bite, feeling that this just had to be the bakery Joem liked to go to as well. Speaking of which … “Sounds as if you know my sister quite well.”
Stiwa smiled and took out two cups, balancing them in her other hand while she motioned over to the door with her chin. “Can’t say I do but as I mentioned, I’ve come by her stall every now and then to get some baskets for the house. So I’ve seen her around.
“That brother of yours as well. I assume he is your brother, right?” She wasn’t too sure if this was their brother or the husband of Juinlift’s older sister but she sure hoped it wasn’t the latter.
That guy was always making off pretty soon after they opened the stall. Afterward, you could see him running around somewhere in the city. In fact, he seemed to be doing anything but help at the stall. Having that as a relative was bad enough but it would be even worse if he had actually married into the family. She wouldn’t be wishing that on anyone’s sister.
Juinlift laughed and followed Stiwa out of the room. “Don’t worry, he’s just our brother. Anyway, I hope you didn’t forget about the kettle?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get that in a minute. I just thought we should go and put the plates down. I’ll get the pot right after.”
Juinlift nodded.
This time, Stiwa led her around the staircase they had come up earlier and to the only door on the other side. In front of it, Stiwa turned back to her, a bright smile on her lips. “Alright, the balcony in the back is really great and I’m super proud of the garden I made. But what you’re going to see in a moment is the heart of my home. You have to tell me that you love it!”
Juinlift smiled, quite curious just what could be the heart of the house if it was neither the balcony nor the room with the paintings of all the beauties on the first floor. It had to be something really amazing.
Seeing her expression, Stiwa finally opened the door with her elbow, pushing it further open with her butt before stepping to the side and letting Juinlift go in first.
Juinlift only took two steps before she stopped, her eyes widening slightly. She probably should’ve expected this. Since there was a roof over the entrance, it wasn’t too strange to think that there was a room over the entrance as well. Or maybe it couldn’t be called a room. It was actually just a small chamber, just big enough to take a couple of steps forward but it was cozy.
There was a bay window overlooking the street past the roof over the entrance to the house that took up almost the whole wall on the opposite side. A bench led around the window and the short span of wall next to it while a table took up the middle of the room. The cushions on the bench looked soft, and there were sketches strewn everywhere. It indeed looked like the kind of room where a painter would be spending most of their time in their own home.
Juinlift smiled and carefully went to put the plate down on the table. She made sure not to touch any of the pieces of paper and even looked up at Stiwa to make sure she wasn’t overstepping here. “I guess we should be careful with eating here. Are you sure it’s alright?”
“Don’t worry about that. They are all just rough sketches. I use them to pin down inspiration whenever I get it. I rarely even use them as they are. I have to make several of them until I’m satisfied and can get to the real painting. So they’re nothing you have to consider much.” Stiwa put her plate down as well while she explained, and placed a cup next to each of them before she waved back to the kitchen. “Anyway, I should go and get the teapot first. You can have a look at the sketches in the meantime if you want to or just look around further. On the other side of the staircase is still a storage room left so you could take a look at that, whatever you’d prefer.”
Juinlift nodded. After Stiwa left, she picked up some sketches to make room on the bench before sitting down. First, she took a glance out of the window but, to be honest, she didn’t care too much about what was outside. Rather than that, she was indeed more interested in having a closer look at what Stiwa spent all her time doing. Thus, she picked up the sketches again.
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