Mix 4: Commoner's Mule, being true to self

"Tonight, I'm going to leave this bar to you, Asher," Herick said to Asher as she was wiping the blue counter. The old man believed that his newly hired Master Spirit knew how to make her way on his once dwindling business. He misjudged her. This female knew exactly what she was doing by mixing and crafting drinks. 

Now that people started noticing his unnoticeable bar, he knew it would only be a matter of time before the nobles would find out about this floating bar. 

Nobles were masters of magic, the strong ones, top-tiered because they were the direct descendants of the heroes. If by chance they'll hate his bar, they'll destroy it. He knew them well. Will his newly hired bartender be able to defend it? He thought. 

"Why the long face, Boss?" Asher asked her boss. When he said he'd leave her the bar tonight, the boss hadn't moved yet and instead, she thought she was thinking about these nobles again.

From her perspective, purchasing the anti-magic and anti-physical strength was important. The old man hasn't known it yet. 

"I'm worried," he replied. 

"What? About the nobles again?"

"Yes. I'm afraid during my leave a noble might visit here and create chaos."

Herrick has said his dilemma and instead of her employee showing fear she was confident instead.

"Boss, haven't the dwarf told you this place has an anti-magic and physical strength as an upgrade? Don't worry, everyone who visits the bar will become an ordinary person," Asher assured her boss. 

His eyes bulged. 

"Really? I didn't know about that," he said, scratching his head. 

"The bar is safe, boss. Now go to whatever errand you are going to attend," Asher replied as she wiped the cocktail glasses.

Herrick was a little bit worried but trusted Asher. She seemed to know how to handle a difficult customer. 

Asher made sure that everything would be alright. She sensed the hesitation of her boss but she assured him it'd be okay. 

On the third night of her job, Asher started to enjoy serving the common people, beast folks, or even intelligent monsters. Most of them ordered casual beers and often listened to their stories. When she was young, she watched her father rolling around, serving people their drinks. He was a local bartender and the one who raised her, teaching her the basic mixture of drinks, such as cocktails. He even worked hard, double shift just to be able to send her to a Mixologist school when he saw potential in her. After her graduation, she went back home only to find her father with terminal cancer. 

Her father told her that his medication was not important and that her education was his priority. Asher was born when her father was fifteen. Her mother left them and her father's parents kicked them out. Despite the hardship and raising a child, her father never gave her up for adoption. And Asher was proud of her dad.

Before his death, her father told her to always listen to anyone's problems. Maybe they were having a difficult time and there was no one to listen. She kept her father's words even until now. 

Bartending, mixing drinks was her root, a job Asher would never trade. 

Delanie on the other hand, was enjoying the customers' preference to sit on the cedar tables before the river. They said they wanted to watch the two moons and the stars surrounding them as they enjoyed beer and loud noises. That part of the bar was made for the people who love beer and loud noise. The design of the floating bar was great. The river was a filter. It filters the noises coming from the beer area so that the leisurely drinker would enjoy their drinks quietly. 

Delanie arrived earlier and helped her clean the area before opening. It was a good steal for Asher. When she laid her eyes to the troubled mage last night, she knew she had a problem. And she was right. She was struggling financially. Asher has a keen eye for good employees. She had a feeling Delanie would be a great server. The enthusiasm in her was apparent and couldn't be extinguished.

Asher liked employees like her. 

She was full of enthusiasm and ready to welcome new guests. At exactly seven in the evening when the stairs descended down for guests to be able to climb, Delanie escorted a woman. 

Based on her dress and the way she carried herself, Asher could say that she's a noble. 

The woman sat on the stool, high and looking mighty. 

I smiled at her and looked at her oddly cerulean-colored eyes.

"Good evening, Ma'am can I interest you with something tonight?" Asher asked, attentively. 

Customers often give the name of the drinks they wanted and some often say, whip them something good. 

"It is common sense that looking in the eye is rude, especially coming from commoners like you," The woman said, arching her brows.

Asher smiled. 

"In my line of work, eye contact is a must and it is to show my attentiveness to any of my customers. It's not being rude. It is to serve you," Asher said, calmly not affected by what the woman had said. 

The woman looked at her, her face was red in anger. 

"Or I could easily burn this whole place down," she said, threatening. 

Asher kept her cool. She has dealt with entitled customers before and here in this world would be no difference. 

"Unless you don't want to embarrass yourself, Ma'am I suggest you choose a drink and enjoy the long night quietly," Asher said as she started to think of a drink that would shut the noble's mouth. 

"How dare you!" The woman screamed and raised her hand to summon her powerful fire ball to burn the bar but to no avail, no fire magic appeared. It was as if her magic had gone. Wide eyes and, pale face, she looked at Asher who seemed to not mind her at all as she was preparing a copper mug.

The audacity! I'm a Noblewoman now! I should be treated with Nobility! The woman screamed in her head. She looked around and noticed that no one really paid attention to her. Everyone was minding their own business. 

Asher took out a bottle of vodka. A brand she knew and favorite to store in her own fridge back on earth. She also took one medium-sized lime along with a small bottle of ginger beer. 

Then she took a small cutting knife and a chopping board where she sliced the medium lime. She squeezed the half lime enough to make ½ ounce of fresh lime juice and set the half aside for garnish. She also took her jigger and spiral spoon carefully placing them before the woman. 

She filled the copper mug with ice followed by pouring 2 ounces of Vodka and the lime juice. She filled the mug with ginger beer and gently swirled it with a spoon to mix. 

She took the remaining half lime and cut it into wedges, placing one wedge on the mixed drink. 

She then pushed the drink to the fuming woman. 

"I'm sorry I was not listening to you, Ma'am. This place is secured with anti-magic spells and even physical strength. Once you enter the bar, everyone, powerful or not, will become an ordinary person." Asher explained. "Here's your drink. It's all on me."

The woman couldn't believe what she said. An anti-magic spell? Does such a thing exist? She asked herself and then took the mug of what she would have called an ordinary drink.

When the liquid reached her tongue and tasted it, she blinked her eyes. Gone the server before her and even the beautiful bar in her eyes. Everything vanished. And she was standing in a familiar place. A hut, a fence made of wood, a garden of vegetables. She knew them all. They were the same she remembered ten years ago before she abandoned them. 

"Reina, come on! We need to pick the vegetables before the sun is up!" She heard a young girl's voice. 

"Goodness, Elena. Wash your face first! And also you're so loud. Father will hear us," Reina shussed the young girl who looked exactly like the woman in her childhood days. 

The woman watched the two kids carefully uprooting their healthy vegetables and putting them inside their basket. 

"Do you think these would be enough?" Elena asked Reina. 

"I think so," Reina answered, " better get going and sell them so we can buy our father's gift."

The woman, the grown-up Elana watched the two make their way to the market. When they sold their vegetables, they bought their gift and went straight home, surprising their father. She could hear laughter inside the hut despite being in shabby condition. 

Elena's eyes started to water. 

She asked herself, where did everything go wrong? Was it when the priest discovered her fire magic? And made her believe that she wasn't destined to be a commoner but instead a noble. Or when she chose to abandon her sister and father and live as a noble?

Elena bit her lips, clutching to the mug while her tears fell freely from her eyes. 

Adopted by a noble family, Elena forgot her roots, bullying commoners like her adopted siblings do. She thought she was complete, that a noble status better suited her than a commoner. There was a hole in her heart that she was desperately trying to cover for ten years and with just tasting the drink, everything was uncovered. She missed her father. She missed her sister. She wanted to go back and be with them. 

The drink was refreshing. The ginger flavor was strong, sweet, and pronounced. The spiciness is balanced with the fresh lime juice, something like Reina used to make Ginger-lime drink when she was sick. The only difference was the drink in the mug had alcohol in it.

"Here," Asher said, smiling as she offered a tissue to wipe Elena's tears. 

"T-thank you," Elena said, smiling genuinely. "Your drink was delicious. It made me remember a memory I desperately wanted to hide," she added. "What is it called?" 

Asher smiled at Elena. Her tone was changed. She reverted to probably the Elena she used to be. 

"It's a commoner's drink. I call it Commoner's Mule."

"Ah…." Elena trailed as if thinking something. And then smiling. She insisted on paying for her drink despite Asher telling her not to. 

Elena left. Something has been lifted off in her chest. She made a decision to go back to her family. A family she didn't need to pretend. A family that she could be herself. Thanks to Asher's drink, Elena made her choice.