This is the twenty-eighth chapter of Wealthgiver, an alternate history serial romance about nationalism and cave-Thracians. For the back-of-the-book description and an index of chapters, click here. For the beginning, click here. For the previous chapter, click here.
Andrei stood as the master of the house entered, served coffee. This was served in the Turkish style, in a steaming cezve of beaten copper.
"My Master, My Mistress, good morning." The rope merchant cleared his throat. "Should you be talking like that?"
Andrei recognized the tones of a man more used to giving orders than asking polite questions. He appreciated the effort.
"I was just telling him," said Kori. "No. Sit, Chichko Arsene."
She called the most prominent Good in Tatar Pazardjik 'Little uncle Arsen.' Kori must have spent most of every summer here with this man. It was kind of her to remind Andrei of his name.
"Arsen," he repeated to himself as the old man fetched a low table and two little stools from a corner…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to DAPPER ZMEY to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.