Anticipation propelled the young witch in the direction her nose pointed, and only at the last second did she pivot to avoid running into Zinnia's backside. She stifled a sound of amusement, letting it show unseen on her face instead. The book was a comfort as she held it tightly against her chest, hardly daring to peek at its developing contents. No one at school would have fresh flowers as their bookmarks, not when blossoms outside had long wilted and even the grasses were turning into motley brown sticks.

The beauty of the world inside her aunt's flower shop soothed her mourning for the world outside. Here the plants were bright and alive, like the bubbling water on the stovetop or the brightness in her cousin's eyes when Millie mentioned the romance of her novel. Books were hardly a substitute for the living things around her, and yet even so, the young witch found them just as alive in her mind's eye as what she saw through hers now. The steam rising from the dark surface of the cup Zinnia handed her was just steam to someone else, but to Millie it could just as easily be the steam rising from the flanks of Beauty, gleaming with foam after a mad dash across the pastures of his early home.

"Thanks Zin," Millie mentioned, inhaling a whiff of the tea. It smelled completely unlike anything she had imagined, and the freshness of it drew her eyes wide. She set her book down, discarding it from her hands at thoughts at once, to grip the cup with both hands as gingerly as she could around its scorching surface. "Oh, it smells even better than I imagined!"

Millie ventured a taste, sipping cautiously at the scalding hot liquid. It burned her lips and the tip of her tongue, as every first sip was wont to do. For a moment, the young witch wished she had asked for pumpkin juice instead, or even hot cocoa. Tea is what Zinnia had offered, though, and she would make a poor guest to turn it down or complain about it. She took another sip, and this time she could catch a hint of the floral tastes. They mixed together in new and unusual ways over her tongue, leaving her uncertain how she felt about it.

"It's so unusual," the young witch admitted at last. She wasn't sure how it was even supposed to taste. Another sip confirmed her thoughts from the first, but even so, it wasn't unpleasant. If anything, it was almost better than the bitterness of the teas she was used to. Still another sip brought satisfaction to her face, the tea was cool enough —or her mouth well-enough burned not to mind it— that she could drink it more easily. Surprised by herself, Millie found that she actually wanted to.

Sipping on her cousin's tea, the young witch could easily forget all her problems and thoughts for a few minutes. She grinned at Zinnia, reassuring her with not a glance spared to the backup tea, "I like it."

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