Shy rose's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Shy Rose stood at the edge of the empty lot, brushing dust from her sleeves. A weathered sign leaned in the grass, its bold letters promising the plot to anyone who could pay. She had counted coins for months. This patch of dirt would be her tavern, the place where loose tongues would feed her something better than gold. Then the crowd shifted, and every head turned toward the square. Celeste Windwhisper had walked into town. People pressed close beneath a tall iron lantern wrapped in juniper vines, its glow catching on her hair. Whispers spilled out fast, hungry, careless. Shy Rose slipped to the back of the crowd. She pulled a small lined notepad from her pocket and let the pen move. A merchant muttered about a debt. A baker named a lover. A widow named a price. The secrets fell into her pages like rain into a bucket she had not yet built. She looked down at her empty lot, then at the full notepad in her hand. The order had reversed. The drinkers had come before the tavern. Shy Rose tucked the pages away and walked toward the landlord's door, no longer planning a tavern someday. She was building it tonight.