Eve’s Magical Adventure ~ Chapter 6
"Mmm… This is delicious, Espella. Did you make it?"
"No, Mr. Barnham made that batch, except Aunt Patty had to rescue them from the flames."
She gave Eve a sideways look as if she hoped for her to say or do something, but the blonde girl was disappointed when her friend continued to enjoy the bun as if it mattered not who had constructed it. Shrugging, she took a couple of berries from the small bowl on the table.
"'Tis quite good considering that."
"He's also been trying to improve his éclairs," the girl added, unable to keep a grin from poking up the corners of her mouth.
Eve swallowed a bite almost too soon. "Hmph. How amusing," she said dryly. "As fascinating as is the subject of non-lumpy éclairs, we'd best not distract ourselves from our reason for being here."
"I know. I'm sorry," Espella replied, pulling her lips into something more serious. Then she bounced from her chair to pour a bit of milk for her cat. "So we'll go to Mrs. Gewler's shop. Do you think she'll have anything new to tell us?"
"Of that I am doubtful. We'll ask her about the circumstances around the time her ring disappeared—who else was there, what she was doing at the time, where she searched for the ring and so on."
"Oh, I know," Espella mumbled through the meat in her mouth which she quickly washed down with a gulp of milk. "After that we should ask the other people in the area too. That part of town is not usually as bustling as the marketplace and perhaps someone saw something."
"Indeed."
The two were quiet for several moments as they watched the feline daintily lap the fresh milk. They each consumed a link of the sausage and then shared the utterly delectable strawberries which Espella had gathered just the other day with Nell and some other children from the village in the forest.
"…Do you know why Zacharias was in that shop in the first place? I wouldn't think he could afford many of the items offered there."
The blonde girl popped a pink finger from her mouth and spoke around a berry on her tongue. "Uh-huh, I've seen the prices. He wanted to find something pretty and not too expensive— Ooh, I wasn't supposed to tell you that!"
Eve raised both brows. "What? Is this the confidence you wouldn't break last night?"
A flush as bright as the strawberries came over Espella's cheeks. "Uhm, yes, that was part of it…but you can't let him know I told you, Eve!"
Resisting the urge to smile, the former high inquisitor assured her she wouldn't mention it. "Then he purchased nothing at Mrs. Gewler's shop yesterday?"
"That's right. Do you want the last strawberry?"
"No, thank you. How do you know these things, Espella? You weren't with him, were you?"
"Oh no. I would have told you if I had. He told me about it after he returned to the bakery, before we had to leave for the play." She frowned a bit as she reflected, "Hmm, now I wish I had been there; I could have kept on eye on the ring and I could tell her he didn't touch it."
"There's no sense in wishing, you know. I'd be better satisfied with the knowledge of what really happened."
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Another chapter in this ongoing tale, in which Eve and Espella go investigating in order to find out what happened to the missing ring. Their morning is full, as they encounter a grousing jeweler, a talkative tailor, an annoying bird and bard, and a girl who knows something about Barnham.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12468348/6/Eve-s-Magical-Adventure
