Avery shuffled back to the bakery, lost in thought. He'd finished his deliveries, for the day, and there wasn't any mail for anyone at the post office, so his work was pretty much done. Usually, this time would be spent seeing what everyone else in the village was doing, but the incident with Milli this morning was still weighing on his mind, and he wanted to mull over it, for a bit. It wasn't the first time it'd happened; there were a few other "incidents" like it, but he was a bit worried, nonetheless. As much as he wanted to help, though, it just didn't seem like there was much he could do.
"Maybe Lily could help," he thought. Did doctors handle this sort of thing? He might ask her, tomorrow. As he opened the door to the Bakery, however, he was assailed by the sudden smell of cigarette smoke, causing him to cough a bit and breaking him out of his thoughts. Looking in, he saw his mother, Rinthea, leaning on the counter, wearing her usual hoodie, jeans, and slippers as she smoked a cigarette. she was holding a piece of paper, and seemed to be reading it rather intently.
"Mom, you shouldn't be smoking in the bakery," he said, trying to wave the acrid smell away from his face. Rinthea looked up, as if just noticing his entry.
"Ah, yeah, you're right, kiddo," she said, absently snubbing out her smoke and tossing it into the trash. Her eyes flicked back to the paper in her hands, fingers drumming on the counter top, and Avery, intrigued, walked up behind her, trying to look over her shoulder at what she was reading.
"What's that?" he asked. His mother just shook her head, handing him the paper to read.
"A notice, mayor's calling for a meeting at 6," she said,
"Looks like we're finally gonna start talking about the problems we've got with our Tree."
The exact tree she was talking about escaped him until he read the letter, the mayor calling for a discussion about the changes in the Tree of Seasons. Change... Avery nodded, putting the letter down on the counter and telling his mother he'd be upstairs in his room.
"Make sure you're wearing something nice before we leave," she called after him as he walked up the stairs. He let out a sigh as he stepped into his room, closing his door behind him. Now he had even more to think about. Just sitting there and thinking it over wasn't going to do him any good, though. He moved over to sit on his stool, by the window facing the sea, and turned to the canvas he'd set up, earlier. Then he began to paint.
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Avery and his mother left at 5:45 sharp, early enough to make it to the inn without being in any particular hurry. Avery had on his best dress shirt and slacks, while his mother still had on her usual attire. At least she was wearing her sandals, now, he supposed...
"Why did I have to dress up again?" he asked, grimacing and tugging at his shirt collar.
"Because everyone's gonna be there," she replied, hands tucked into her hoodie's pockets.
"Then how come you aren't dressed up?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who's gotta impress the ladies."
He groaned, rolling his eyes as his mother chuckled to herself. Well, it was too late to turn back and change, now. They made it to the inn at about 6:05, the two of them taking seats near the back. There were a few people already there, and at 6:15, the mayor began the discussion. Avery didn't really have much to say; he'd just noticed the changes recently, himself, and he was still sorting through his own thoughts on the subject. His mother, however, had no such qualms about speaking up.
"Well, there's not really much to say, right? Something's going on, and nobody knows what," she said, leaning back against her chair with her arms crossed.
"If they did, I assume they would've spoken up, by now."
And with that, the discussion was off to a start. Somewhat. Avery wondered if his mother was really the best person to consult, here...