Reservations

[Rowan Finnegan]

Gareth Rice
General Manager and Rowan Finnegan's Personal Manservant

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The young woman could not hold eye contact for the life of her. Not proper when meeting new acquaintances. A shy one, Gareth guessed. She had a plethora of books scattered before her, no doubt taking pleasure in the Amber Room’s well-stocked and pristine library. He could not fault such curiosity. Indeed, it gave him great pleasure to see one of their patrons attack the tomes with such gusto. True, some came here to read, but never at this hour of the night.

Gareth’s eyes glanced over the titles of the books – all esoteric in nature. Another Goddess, then? They were drawn, after all, especially after Rowan ran off. A funny twist of fate, that. The Mistress of the House had craved to start a community here, a Court of the Gods as it were. They never came in numbers. The day after she left, however? Well. There were usually two or three of them flitting about the Café at all hours of the day and night. Gareth did not know if they were beginning to organize or if they too found this to be a place of sanctuary. How did this young thing find them? Word of mouth?

The patron moved as if to leave, her words sounding docile. Gareth held up his right hand in a soothing gesture, urging the woman to stay put. He chuckled lightly and tilted his head with a warm smile. She had a minuscule trace of a Japanese accent, so Gareth took a risk and starting speaking to her in the Japanese language.

“Please, forgive me. I did not mean to imply that you should leave. My name is Gareth Rice, the General Manager of the Café,” he gave the woman a very slight bow of the torso, “Be welcome. I wished to see if you had need of anything. The customer is king at the Café. Please do not hesitate to ask for anything you require. What does this person look like? Perhaps I may go about the Cafe to see if they have arrived?”