Beers and Beards

This time I awoke in my own comfortable bed.

I made my way to our impressive bathroom and sat in the steaming pool for a while, thinking. It was either really early, or really late, but who could tell underground? Either way, I was the only one in the bath, which really gave me an opportunity to think.

What was I going to do? Did I take the offer and go off to the unknown, or stay here with my family and bask in our hard won success.

Why was this so hard?

I had an offer on the table. A serious offer. Given the general mood of the Grumble, it was an offer I’d need to follow up on alone. I doubted anyone else would be willing to drop everything and come with me. Okay, maybe Annie, but she’d need to stay and be in charge of brewing.

No. It would be me alone.

I’d undoubtedly get an escort, but I’d be a sitting duck if things went really sideways.

I shivered, remembering the monstrous fire-breathing feathered demon this world called a duck.

Okay, a sitting buck. Or something.

After a scrub and a dunk in the tub, I was no longer a mess. I really wanted to drink more elven wine, but it was at roughly the same level of really wanting a bloody oreo cookie. Note, ask Bran.

Beard shampooed, body scrubbed, and hair combed I made my way upstairs. It was roughly noon according to the clock in the wall of the manor living room. The only other person about was Aqua, who was seated in the sunken space reading a leather-bound book titled ‘The Mind and You’.

“Pete.” She said matter of factly without looking up. “You missed our session again. You were supposed to check in last night.”

I winced. “Sorry, I was a bit occupied.” n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

She closed her textbook. “Aye. Annie told me. Sounds like you had an adventure. Want to talk about it? Now’s as good a time as any.”

I sat down on a couch demurely, hands on my knees.

Aqua eyed me and began in a calm tone. “So tell me Peter, are you avoiding our counseling sessions on purpose?”

Condition Gained: [Calm]!

You have gained the [Calm] Condition!

I thought about it, and answered honestly. “No, I don’t think so. Not even subconsciously, I’ve just been busy with other things.”

Aqua pulled out her counseling notebook from thin air and began writing in it. She’d gotten another Milestone recently, and had chosen a subspace Ability that let her store her client notes. Combined with her [Keep Secrets] Ability, it meant she had a pretty thorough lock on her client information.

“Hmmm… Okay. [Truespeech] says you think you’re telling the truth. But that still doesn’t excuse it. As your friend, stop skipping out on me!” She rapped me on the knee with her pencil.

“Sorry…” I said, long-faced.

“Apology accepted. Have you been working on what we talked about last time?”

“Opening up ta more interpersonal relationships? I told you that I hung out with Balin and Annie.”

“Yes, good, and I hear that you, Johnsson, and Dwarf Draconis had a wonderful time at Berry’s new year's bash?”

I nodded. “You looked great up there by the way.”

Aqua preened. “I have groupies now. At least that’s what Berry calls them.”

“Berry’s backup dancers have groupies??” I tittered. “That’s as impressive as Left Shark.”

“Who?”

I waved it away. “Don’t worry, it’s an obscure reference even fer me. It was someone my daughter was briefly obsessed with.”

“Pfeh. You just wish you got more than just put on a pedestal, isn’t that right Mr. Forefather of Brewing. How’s that been on your ego, by the way?”

“Ugh, I think I’d be gettin’ a bigger head if it didn’t sound so cringe.”

“Mmmm…” She jotted in her notebook. “Is it making things worse?”

“I dunno. It definitely isn’t helpin’ in the interpersonal relationships department, since I cannae tell anymore if people like me or tha Forefather of Brewing.”

“And the crying jags?”

I flopped down onto the couch. “Mostly gone. Stress is still up, and the insomnia is back.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Did you try the breathing exercises we discussed for insomnia?”

I rolled over on the couch. “Yes and no. Tha breathing exercises helped me calm down, but then I had lots’a time ta think, and then I spent all of it thinkin’ about ducks in dark tunnels and giant ants and screamin’ dwarves in market squares.”

“I see… you’re still having nightmares about the duck? And the ants?”

I rolled my eyes. “Who wouldn’t. And you forgot the wombats”

Aqua chuckled. “Fair. So, sitting in the silence is a trigger. Do you have something you could focus on instead while you do the exercises? Happy memories? Do some mining on your walls?”

I closed my eyes and thought back to that moment in the arena. The crowd roaring its approval. The King beaming down at me. “Sure.”

Aqua made more notes. “Any other concerns?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot less about music from Earth recently.”

“Is that worrisome?”

“Eh, yes and no. I was always big into listening to the old radio and cranking the tunes, but outside of going to Berry’s concerts that just isn’t as much a thing here.”

“Let’s assume I know what you mean by a radio. Did you find that listening to it helped center you? Is the lack of familiar music a missing anchor in your life?”

“A little…”

We went on like that back and forth for a solid hour. I’d say something innocuous, and Aqua would hone in on it. I’d drop what I thought was a personal bombshell and she’d consider it inconsequential to the greater picture. Psychiatry was confusing.

As we approached the end of our session, she activated the usual Abilities.

Milestone Used

A [Hypnotist] is trying to use [Sense Emotions] on you.

Do you accept?

Yes/No

*Ding!*

Milestone Used

A [Hypnotist] is trying to use [Inner Sight] on you.

Do you accept?

Yes/No

I accepted both prompts and fell into my memories.

—

“Cheers!”

Caroline and I stood in our kitchen, enjoying the gorgeous pastels of an Okanagan sunset. Clouds hung over the ocean far off to the west as it sparkled a deep purple under the shifting streamers of light.

We were also trying to enjoy the very first batch of wine from our vineyard.

Caroline took a sip from her wine glass and made a face. “What do you think?”

I spun the red Cabernet Sauvignon in my own glass, watching the light play through it. It was murky. I took a sip and grimaced. “Eh, not great, and it’s hazy. It’s done fermenting, and it smells right, so it has to be tannins falling out of the wine. That or we have to filter it a tad finer.”

Caroline gave me an arch look. “Was that a pun? I thought red wine doesn’t use finings. Do we need to get the old isinglass out again?”

“Hah! No, no puns. And definitely no isinglass, that was just for the beer. Egg whites are a good fining agent for reds, so we can try some, but not a lot. That or bentonite, though that’s more for whites. You’re right, we aren’t supposed to do much fining for reds.”

Caroline sighed and put her glass down. “So much for our first red. And here I was looking forward to having the girls over to gossip about our husbands over my own homemade wine.”

I gave her a mocking toast and took a sip, then dribbled it back out into the glass. “Blech. It tastes worse than it looks. Back to the drawing board I guess.”

Caroline shrugged. “Well, it was our first, it’s okay to be disappointing.”

I waggled my eyebrows at her. “I don’t recall you saying that about our first.”

She smacked my ass. Playfully.

“Hey!”

Caroline tapped the bottle on the kitchen counter beside us. “But seriously Pete, what are we going to do? We have four barrels of this stuff.”

“Sell it to the college kids on the cheap?”

“Are you trying to get us shut down?”

“Then I guess we just have to dump it,” I grumped.

She sighed. “What a waste. Why us??”

“Could be a dozen reasons. Most of them have to do with the grapes and not us, sadly. Let me test it.”

I poured a saucepan full of the wine and set it on the stove then flicked the dial to high.

Caroline draped herself over my shoulders and peered around my neck at the pan. “Am I about to be subjected to a wine lesson, dear?”

I scoffed. “You hardly need the lesson.”

“Humour me. You know I love it when you winesplain.” She kissed my neck.

“If it’s the tannins, then heating the wine will cause it to clear. We knew this might be an issue with Carbernet Sauvignon grapes. If we wanted something simpler we would’ve used Merlot instead.”

“What can we do?”

“Depends on if it's a ‘too cold’ or ‘too hot’ problem. It’s getting colder these days so it may not be cold stable. If we shock cool the wine to just above freezing for a few weeks before we rack it, that’ll do it. If it’s a heat problem, then the egg whites or some Betoninte are our only hope.”

We watched in blissful silence as the pan slowly turned clear.

“See? Tannins.” I whispered.

—

I came back to the couch, blinking.

“So. How do you feel?” Aqua asked.

“I feel… like I’m missing something.” I began hesitantly.

Aqua nodded. “The emotions I was getting were a mix of happiness, aspiration, and a bit of melancholy, maybe.”

“What does Bing Crosby have to do with anything?”

Aqua glanced at her notes. “Who?”

“My Melancholy Baaaaaby,” I crooned.

“No references during therapy!” Aqua snapped, smacking my chest. I whoofed and grinned up at her. “And I thought you were forgetting your Earth music!”

I sat up on the couch, feeling like a weight was lifting from my chest. “Actually Aqua, this really helped clear my head. I know it’s only been a month, but I miss it. Finding out what was and wasn’t working. Furthering my craft and becoming a better brewer. Now that we’re just ramping through brews, I’ve lost a bit of that.”

“Hmmm… I can’t imagine the Clan Grumble yesterday helped much in that respect. Sorry.” She gave me a sad smile.

“Nah, it’s fine. Thank you, I really needed this. I had somethin’ weighin’ on me mind, and now it feels more clear than ever.”

“Oh, good!” She smiled, “are you willing to talk about it?

“Aye. Duke Schist wants me ta be the new Ambassador to Awemedinand. I’ll be in charge of teachin’ the locals about tha new beer brewin’, and help ta stabilize the import of all the new beer. I’m thinkin’... that I’ll take him up on the offer.”

Aqua gawped at me, then pulled me off the couch by my beard. “YOU COULDN’T HAVE LEAD WITH THAT!?”