The big wooden wagon was pulled through the small streets. Petta’s hooves went cling clang on the cobble stones. Laynah took no fancy to the city, she avoided going there as much as possible. This didn’t mean she didn’t know the city however, she could find her way in that maze just as easy as in her beloved forests. It was still early so she had little trouble guiding them to their destination without passing too much other traffic. The children weren’t sleeping, they sat inside the wagon, as Laynah asked, but watched as much of this exciting city as they could through the windows.

The wagon held still at the back gate of a big house. It had plants climbing up along the doors, all the way up the outer wall. Laynah didn’t step of the box, it seems they were expected. She looked back at the children inside the wagon: ‘We’re here.’
The gate were opened by a woman with long light hair. Leki couldn’t see her yet, but immediately she noticed her lovely smell. From the green plants at the gate on, she had sensed a multitude of enchanting scents. But the loveliest of them all was the scent this woman had herself. It wasn’t simply sweet, or spicy. It had a very distinct nature, strong in a very very soft way. Leki could see this woman merely from smelling her, every detail of her being was revealed to her. She liked their new host. Kyell was using his eyes and he too, liked what he saw. The lady was charming, both in appearance as in the way she welcomed them. In fact, she greeted Petta first, gently stroking her neck. At Laynah she merely nodded, knowingly.xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

‘Welcome to my house children. Feel free to take your time to get to know it.’

A strange welcoming Kyell thought, but it put his mind at ease a bit at least. Leki gasped at the colouring of all the flowers and plants in the courtyard. There wasn’t a wall which wasn’t covered for the most part. And those smells! She fell in love with this house even before entering it.
The wagon was parked in a big open corridor, under the side part of the house. Petta was merely loosened, free to wander the courtyard. A little pond, eatable plants, ‘She’ll be fine.’ The lady said.

Laynah wrapped up her weapons in her cape. ‘Children, this lady here is Sentinella. She will be hosting you till we get everything sorted, ok?’

‘Direct as always Laynah,’ Sentinella smiled, ‘I will host them when they feel like being hosted.’ She said it with such friendliness the children couldn’t help but smile at her. She had the sweetest voice, not sugary sweet mind you, more flowery sweet.
’We will be inside children, just through that door there, drinking tea and eating biscuits I’ve conjured up. Feel free to join us when you please.’ Leki liked the idea of conjuring up tea and biscuits, even just in a manner of speaking. The lady reminded her of Keezul and the marshmallows they roasted over the engine of his huffing puffing mobile.
Kyell looked after Petta first, not that she needed much attending but he couldn’t just leave her there so fast. Leki enjoyed the flowers, the colours and most of all: the scents. Petta already liked it there, Leki understood; they could all relax and rest a bit.

Inside Laynah was reporting about the ambush and how the children described her what happened to Muredin. Sentinella listened it seemed, but she was primarily occupied with feeding pieces of biscuits to Laynah’s owl. ‘He’s not a pet, I wouldn’t risk too much there…’

Sentinella nodded, not a pet, yes yes, and brought another piece of biscuit to the bird who eagerly pinched it out of her hand with his sharp beak.

Leki was the first to enter, Kyell followed close behind. Sentinella pointed a several seats and chairs all over the room. ‘Or you could just sit on the floor of course, it’s a nice soft rug.’

Kyell picked the rocking chair, rather fast before Leki would see it, and Leki herself sat down on a lovely wooden chair with lots of curls and an embroidered cushion.

‘These biscuits may be magic in nature, they still won’t fly into your mouths by themselves.’ Sentinella told them in a very soft but serious voice. ‘The tea might, but you’d still want a cup to catch it than.’ The children went over and made their pick. The biscuits had a warm oven fresh smell to them, while the tea revealed hints of cinnamon and liquorice.

Suddenly a small copper bell sounded, a rather playful light tinkling. Sentinella put down her cup and sighed, not with much grieve but still. ‘Oh dear: customers. What to do with this much work at once? I think I am in need of an assistant, the shop is simply getting far too busy today.’ She looked at Leki, who immediately popped up from her chair. ‘At your service, M’am.’ She followed Sentinella to the front of the house. In the hallway she whispered to the lady: ‘What kind of shop am I actually assisting, if you don’t mind me asking?’ Sentinella stopped, took a long deep breath and went on her way again. Was that her answer?

Upon opening the door to the shop, Leki understood what Sentinella meant. She drew a long deep breath herself and inhaled all the wonderful colourful scents of a perfumery. There were little bottles everywhere, shelves filled with them, and small cupboards, bottles upon small stands and tiny bottles on silver chains to carry with you. All the different scents didn’t fight at all. Instead the smells that went together, passed you and made place for the next chords of scents. It was like a symphony, going elegantly from soft to exciting, all very moving.

‘Good morning Mrs Devoria. This is my niece Leki, who will be assisting me in the shop for a while. Anything I can help you with today?’ Sentinella was as natural as one could be about it. Mrs Devoria was admiring one of the more exquisite bottles near the window. She answered Sentinella’s greeting with a friendly nod and held up a piece of paper that seemed to be a shopping list. Leki didn’t hesitate: ‘Thank you Madam. I’ll give it to Aunti Senti so she can prepare it for you.’

Sentinella grinned, ‘Aunti Senti?’ she whispered behind the counter when Leki handed her over the paper. The girl just smiled innocently.

‘We’ll have it delivered to you this afternoon Mrs Devoria, except for the full moon shadow, that will take till the end of this month obviously.’

‘Obviously.’ The lady nodded once more and left the shop without further ado. Leki couldn’t wait to see how Sentinella would fill out the things needed on the list.

The first thing that Sentinella took, was a small silver penknife. She handed over a small basket with bottles to Leki and put a leather pouch on top of it. The pouch seemed filled with flacons. They went back to the garden. Kyell was back with Petta, as Laynah seemed to be preparing to leave.

‘I am going to get Muredin.’ Was all she said.

Sentinella looked at Leki, hinting at the pouch with flacons. Leki understood and handed them over to Laynah. The hunter took them a bit weary.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course, just don’t blow up the city on your way out. I know you don’t feel much for it but I happen to like it still.’ Sentinella smiled. ‘Oh, and do invite Muredin for tea. It’s been such a long time since I had one from the mountains here.’

There was no telling if she was being sarcastic or not. Sentinella had her own sense of humour, sharp and sweet at the same time.

With a screech the owl flew out of the house, not looking at Laynah it went straight on it’s way. The gate opened, Laynah was on foot but in a moment she was nowhere to be seen anymore. Heavily packed as she had to be, she sure was fast on her feet.

‘Now for Mrs Devoria’s order. Could you bring me the vials please niece, I think these flowers are just at the perfect level of sunshine to be drained a bit of essence from. While Leki brought her the basket, Sentinella took the penknife, made a miniscule cut into one of the petals, and a few tiny yellow drops came glowing down.

Kyell watched her every move. These were no ordinary flowers for sure. And that lady was no ordinary lady either. There is a lot more going on here than meets the eye, he thought. The very moment Sentinella looked at him, smiling.