“Hi, can I take your order?”

The customers can’t hear my words, of course, not even the magic folks, but they get the gist. No-one asked me to do this little job of mine, it just made sense, and the treats and affection I get throughout the day are certainly a bonus.

From being a little kid, my mage wanted to run his own coffee shop. Learning magic was more a formality to him – Nature gave him the power, but he’s still not sure what to do with it. So for now, we sell coffee made with beans we grow at home, with local snacks and treats from the town’s bakers and crafters.

Seeing the calm that washes over even the most flustered of customers when they enter the shop makes me wonder: perhaps this is what Nature saw in our future anyway?