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The Authentic Eclectic
The Tea Masters (5/End)
Part 1:
After a week without consuming the school’s hopana leaf, Gabriel lost the ability to pour. It was just as well: lacking ingredients from the school’s gardens, the special pouring could only enhance the effects of common teas and tisanes. The strongest legal substances to which he now had access were caffeine or treacherous prescription medicines. The loss of power was unbearable.
He felt tempted, in darker moments, to turn to drugs, but the memory of the homeless man stopped him. Aided by his degree from the school, which externally masqueraded as a small university of Eastern medicine, he found work at a local tea shop. There was no grand mission. There was no great purpose. It was just a job.
He continued texting with Diya, but it was obvious that their worlds had divided. She graduated and continued at the school. She was doing brilliantly. Sometimes she didn’t respond for a week or longer. “Sorry, I’m just so busy,” she would write. Envy was a new feeling for Gabriel.
