I had a cylindrical stove among my things, small enough that I could carry it in one hand. Long use had dulled its original color—probably gold—and the metal surrounding the cup-like burner at its center had been scorched a bluish-black. I’d inherited it in this condition, and I couldn’t even guess how long it’d been in use. This stove—they’d called it a Svea camping stove—was dead simple, which meant that it was rugged. They always used to say that Svea stoves would still be around even after everyone had gone.
A small key dangled off it, attached with a chain. I put that key into the pipe connecting the stove’s fuel tank to the burner and turned it as if unlocking the pipe. Then I put a match to the burner. Womf. A flame began dancing on the top of it. It ebbed and grew with a faint sputtering noise. The flame was unstable until the heat reached the mana stones in the fuel tank.
I peered inside my match tin and gave it a shake. The bottom of the tin showed through the matches. I’d used a fair few of them, and I decided I’d need to find some more from somewhere as it went back into my storage box.
I sat down on the station’s stairs and crossed my legs, staring vacantly up into the sky. The edges of the clouds floating in the sky glowed red, and the expanse of water below reflected that same gorgeous color.
The Svea quieted down and the flame stabilized. It took some feeling around in my backpack, which I’d taken from the car, but I eventually pulled a small kettle from the bag. Then I scooped up some water from the bottom of the stairs.
Spreading a handkerchief on the floor, I took a cup’s worth of roasted coffee beans from a leather bag and placed them in the middle. Then I wrapped the cloth around them and used the back of a small handaxe to break them. I kept hitting them, only opening up the cloth once they’d stopped giving any resistance. The beans weren’t exactly ground, even coarsely, but this was the best I could do under the circumstances.
I poured the broken-up beans into the kettle, put the lid on, and placed it atop the Svea. I toned down the flame, and then all I had to do was wait.
Once steam started rising from the kettle, I plucked out a metal cup and a sugar container from my bag. I used a leather glove to pick the kettle up and slowly transferred its contents into the cup, making sure not to shake it. The brown liquid poured forth, and the scent alone was glorious.
They called this brewing “in the field”—an old method passed down from cowboys and Native Americans. In some ways, you could call it the most traditional method. I blew over the cup, sending the steam away and cooling the drink, then took a sip.
“Bleh...”
Of course, traditional did not in any way mean tasty. The drink was intensely bitter. The rough breaking of the beans and the long steeping time meant that all the bitterness and other unpleasant flavor notes came right out into the drink. It’d been some time since I’d found the beans, and they’d just gotten worse and worse. It was more like a caffeinated slurry than actual coffee.
A mound of sugar dumped into the drink made it somehow—only just—bearable to drink.
The cup rested in my lap as I looked vacantly out at the scenery, occasionally sipping the bitter mud. The olive green Kettle was enshrined within the pool on the plains. Wind blew across the water’s surface, sending ripples skittering across it, which swirled around the Kettle’s tires before carrying onwards. They warped the reflection of the setting sun, making it feel like the motionless world had come back to life, if only by a little.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps and turned to look in their direction. The girl was standing in the dark shadows of the station, a rucksack on her back, carrying her easel in front of her. She was leaning back to balance the easel’s weight.
“Evening,” I greeted, trying to hide the slight awkwardness I was feeling.
The girl frowned, not hiding her distrust as she answered in kind. I tried to keep the conversation going.
“I figured I’d stop here for the night. Want some coffee? It’s pretty bad though.”
After a long pause, she asked, “You’re offering me something that tastes bad?”
“It’s all right once you’re used to it.”
“Thank you,” she said, drawing out her words, “but no thank you.”
The girl moved to the stairs at the edge of the entrance—as far away from me as she could—and put her things down. She then crouched and started undoing her high-cut boots.
Her hair had a strange color to it. The sunlight on her bangs gave the silver a reddish hue and an almost transparent sheen. The rest of her hair was a much lighter gray, probably due to how the light fell.
She leaned forward and her hair fell in a curtain, covering the side of her face. As she brushed it back over her ear, I could see that the ear came to a sharp point.
“Have you not seen a half-elf before?” she asked icily.
“Sorry, I was just thinking how your hair had a strange color to it. I don’t know anything about half-elves.”
Whatever reason I had, it was rude to stare at a girl like that, especially when I didn’t know her at all. I turned back around and sipped at my coffee for something to do.
Splashing drew my attention and I looked over out of the corner of my eye. I could see the girl walking away. She had tied her boots to the easel, and they swayed with each step she took. The hem of her dress fluttered over the surface of the water, just barely skimming it. She walked around the side of the building and then I couldn’t see her anymore. I guessed that’s where she’d parked her car or whatever she was traveling in.
My eyes followed the ripples she had left in her wake, but before long they had vanished too and I was assailed by loneliness. Speaking with someone had reminded me of normalcy, so it weighed on me all the more.
The remnants of my coffee were bitter as they went down my throat. The harshness had increased as it cooled, making my face pucker up.
Well, there was nothing to do about it. Growing close to people in a world like this wasn’t easy.
I could feel grit in my mouth from the coffee beans. Since I hadn’t used a filter, they had settled in the bottom of the cup. I threw away the last mouthful and scooped up some more water to rinse it out.