Bets and Debts 2

“You’ve wasted a great deal of my time this evening,” the elegant looking bun said, hands on her hips.

Madeira chewed on the inside of her cheek, uncomfortable.  She didn’t really know what she had done wrong…  Or who this bun was, for that matter.

“My time is very valuable, and what you did was incredibly stupid.”

“...what did I do?”  She couldn’t resist asking.

“...you tried to gamble using literal carrots,” the woman said, extremely slowly, as though she thought Madeira was stupid.  As if to remind her, she dangled them too.

“That’s what everyone says is used to buy things!” she protested, scowling.

“...carats.  C-A-R-A-T-S, not C-A-R-R-O-T-S.”  She spelled it slowly for her.

“What’s the difference?” Madeira asked.

“...Hops, will you see if you can fetch Mercy for me?  They are at Table 12 tonight.”  The woman rubbed her forehead as the other bun with her ran off, before walking to one of the empty tables near them and selecting something shiny from it.  “This is a carat.”

“That doesn’t look like a carrot…”

“That would be because it is very much not.”

They stood in silence until Mercy arrived, following Hops.  “But what does Angora want to see me a-  Madeira?”  The head nun walked over to her, looking confusedly at Angora and then back at Madeira.  “Did something happen?”

“She doesn’t know what carats are, she tried to gamble with carrots,” Angora said.  “I wanted to check with you if this is standard across the new year of buns, before I figure out what to do with her.”

“No, it shouldn’t be,” Mercy said.  “She wasn’t raised by Murmur, and I think she was alone, so it should just be her.”

“Well, that’s a relief at least.”  Angora seemed to be the woman’s name.  She leaned back against a table, and frowned at Madeira.  “Will the church disapprove if I require her to make up for wasting my time?” she asked Mercy.

“No,” Mercy said.  “It might actually be good for her.”  They looked thoughtful.  “I haven’t had the faintest idea how to make up for the things her caretaker failed to teach her, and our attention is spread so thin right now.  If you could take the task on with having her work here…”

Angora raised an eyebrow at Mercy, who considered her for a long moment.

“I think we can come to a private arrangement on the matter, once you’ve settled things with Madeira.”

Angora bowed her head slightly.  “I appreciate that, Mercy.”  She looked back to Madeira.  “Madeira…  I’m going to require you to work in this casino for the next month to pay off the amount this wasted time has cost me.”

She didn’t entirely know what that meant, but it didn’t sound like she could avoid it.  “What does that entail?”

“Let’s start with what you’re good at, if anything.”

That was easy, and in spite of the condescending tone and words, Madeira brightened.  “Cooking!  Azgad said I made the best food, and especially pies, which is most important!”

Angora and Mercy traded a look.  “Well, I have kitchens in the casino,” Angora conceded.  “But I think if you want to get into them, you have to spend the month as a server.”

“End of the month, I think I’d like you to sit down with us and we’ll see if you need more time at that,” Mercy piped in.

Angora looked surprised, but then nodded.  “I think we can arrange that,” she agreed to Mercy.  “Hops, please take her off to the restaurant before you return to the bar - oh, make sure she gets one of the uniforms too.”

“Can do,” Hops said.  She poked at Madeira’s hips to get her to move, wrapping an arm around her shoulders once they were out of sight.  “Sorry, I’m in the same boat though uh- for different reasons.”

“Is it a bad boat?  What’s a boat?”

“Uh-  I mean, it’s not too bad in some ways, I guess.  I like my job here, and Angora is.  Well.  She’s um- She’s- Anyways it’s fine!”  Hops’ face had turned a very interesting shade of pink as she spoke.  “And I mean, you’re not really in it due to serious gambling debt, since they didn’t even let you gamble, at least, so as long as you learn enough to satisfy Mercy and Angora, it sounds like you’ll be free to do what you want after!”

“So what’s a boat?”

“It’s… a thing used to travel over water,” Hops explained.  “Mercy was serious when they said you were all on your own growing up, weren’t they?  Must have been lonely…”

“Well I had Azgad!  He was good company!”  Madeira felt like she needed to protest that her caretaker had been good, even if she was confused why she had never known that carrots and carats were different before, when it had seemed so shocking to all the older buns.

“Mmm, it’s not as much the same as growing up with other buns, though,” Hops said.  “You learn…more social things, you know?  Or well, I guess you don’t know, yet, exactly?  You’ll probably figure it out over the next month, though.”

Still deeply confused, Madeira followed Hops into a back room to get a uniform.  Well, it sounded like she was expected to learn a lot working here, somehow…  Maybe she would understand better why they thought it would help, and what it was supposed to help with.  She’d thought she’d been doing fine till the dealer had started laughing at her when she set the carrots down and started the whole… everything. She’d been so excited to be here in Burrowgatory, and now she could only hope that future months would be less mortifying.

It was funny, Hops had said she must have been lonely, but in a casino crowded with other buns, Madeira had never felt more alone.  Hopefully it would get better or the month would go fast… or both.  Both would be good by her…