A strong coffee, with mocha as dark as night. A bit of chili heat to remind you this was once the drink of gods. Just enough cream to cut that heat and concede you are a mere mortal.
Why the hell can’t I make this in the Waking?
Jill smiled as I dropped all social politeness and savored each sip. She left me alone in the cafe as she tended to other customers. I haven’t been in here for a while, and was already mostly forgotten by the populace. Helping that was a change in the appearance of the cloak. Everyone knew me by the raven-feathered cloak, or by the light blue clothes I wore underneath it. This time, I intentionally gave myself the appearance of an elderly woman in a white and brown dress, with a black lace shawl wrapped around age-bent shoulders.
But Jill saw right through the glamour at once. She played along though. Moving errant chairs out of my shuffling way and helping me settle into the booth. When folks saw the “old woman” settling into “Weaver’s booth”, they surmised I was a relative or a guest of Weaver. They stopped watching the boring person and was watching the door instead for Weaver’s impending arrival.
How Jill and I kept from laughing out loud, I have no idea.
Only halfway through the mug, the number of customers trickled away. They were bored waiting for someone that was last month’s obsession. Jill had a few moments and came to me with a concerned look.
“I lost the job.”
I almost dropped the mug. “How did that happen?”
“Well, you know what I’m not, right?” She sat in the sheltered booth, opposite of me, and fingered her enchanted bracelet. I know she is not human, that she is of a reptilian species. The bracelet gives her the appearance of being human, and for most of the City’s citizens, that’s enough to keep her out of trouble.
But there are some fiercely speciest factions in the City. And since the City is a human city, folks like Jill are tolerated as long as they can keep up the appearance of humanity. My first introduction to Jill was her asking if I could fix her bracelet. It had been broken, which made the enchantment unstable, and she was at risk of being deported if the populace at large saw her true form. That was a big risk to her, asking an obvious magic-worker, but I was relatively unknown at the time. Without question, I fixed it, both material and enchantment. I asked for nothing in return, viewing the work as something proper to do.
Roger was present, though. His response to her true form told Jill and I both that he was going to cause problems for her. Indeed, later on, there was pressure on the Envoy from “concerned citizens” to deport Jill because of her inhumanity. But without any legal cause to do so, he could not. Instead, he made life very uncomfortable for her, always watching for any public slip-ups that would give him justification to deport her. An associate of mine heard of her predicament, and arranged for her to have a second part-time job that would make her too valuable to the City to deport.
“Will this fall back on your friend? I know some strings were pulled to get me the job, they had to be.”
Good question. “That depends on how you was fired.”
“Not fired. Out-tenured.”
Oh. I just found where the chili powder had been hiding. Jill smiled at my sudden red face and asked if I needed milk or water. My curiosity was stronger than the discomfort and I shook my head. “Out… ~cough~ tenured implies a power play. ~sniff~ Someone that used to work there came back?”
She nodded. “He was told he would share shifts with me, which would knock me down to just once a week. That was okay with me, you know the pay really didn’t matter.” I nodded. Just holding the position itself was what kept her safe. “That wasn’t enough for him though. He felt he was too important, and that… well… ” She fingered her bracelet. “He argued that someone like him was better than something like me.”
I was now glad for the chili powder. I let my anger wrestle with it instead of bubbling to the surface. “So, now what?”
“Well, officially I’m still on the books as an employee there. But I’m only to be called in when he calls in sick. In other words…”
“You’re effectively not working there.”
“Yea.”
“Fuck, Jill. No, that’s not going to blow back on my friend, but I’m more concerned about your status.”
“The guy I reported to is very understanding about why I went there. I was supposed to be dropped off the employee roster entirely, but he was able to have me written in as a call-in. So technically, I still work there.”
“Yea, but technically, we’re not supposed to be having this conversation here, because the City. “
Jill smiled. “So… your friend will not be affected by this?”
“No. And what are you up to? For someone that got fired, you sure are smug about it.”
“I have another job, one that keeps me on good terms with the City and the Envoy. But I can’t tell you all the details of it. Only that I’m an on-call translator. So I still get to work here at the cafe unless needed.”
“That’s great! How did you get it?”
“A book was found that no one could read. It was handed to me to be archived. It’s a collection of really horrible love poems. I told my boss what it was and he almost fell out of his chair. Turns out, there are rooms and rooms of books, scrolls, and sheaves in that language. But no human could read them.”
“You’re a polyglot. Of course you are.” While I’m laughing, Jill excuses herself. She returns moments later with another chili coffee, and a small glass of cream. Sipping the fresh drink, I realize why she can’t tell me specifics about her new employment.
“Not all those books are adolescent scrawlings. And if no human can read them, then most of the esoteric minded factions can’t read them either. But you can, and you can translate. Which makes you as valuable as those books. Whoever controls access to you, controls access to those books. It is now in the Envoy’s best interest to keep you close at hand, and safe.”
Jill grinned a very self-satisfied smile. “It is a possibility, that your conclusion may have some factual points to it.” I facepalmed as I realized from her intentional wording that Jill is another “chess-player”. If no one else can read the books, then there is no one to check if she is translating them properly, or even completely. They will have to take her word for it. Jill is suddenly one of the most powerful people in the City.
Yes, it is definitely in the Envoy’s best interest to keep her close at hand.
“So, Garak, do I have to worry about my coffee?” I didn’t try to hide my concern.
“What is garak? And if you mean am I going to try and manipulate you the way Roger did, no, Weaver. You helped me that day without any demand for debt or payment. You helped me simply because I asked. I have never forgotten that, and I do have a sense of debt from it. I am repaying that debt, by being as open and honest with you, as you were with me that day.”
I believe her.
I relished the second cup of chili coffee without fear.