Tea Time (tag: Isis)
Sigyn reviewed the table that was set before her, looking for anything that stood out as flawed. She wanted everything to be absolutely spot on, though she knew Isis would probably not mind if it wasn't. It was a matter of principle though. She was hosting a queen, she wanted everything to be exactly right for somebody of Isis' stature. More than that, she was hosting a friend, so she wanted everything to be perfect for someone she cared about and to whom she owed such a great debt. But it had taken longer to set things up that Sigyn had anticipated.
Starting with the tea. Because her visits to Egypt had been necessarily brief in the past, she'd never really had the chance to ask what sort of tea it was that Isis always served her. But she desperately wanted to be able to offer it to her friend. So her first visits to tea shops had been somewhat frustrating, as she attempted to explain that she was looking for a red tea from Egypt. She kept being told that Egypt didn't have tea, they imported theirs from Sri Lanka and Kenya. So she'd had to start over and explain that she wanted a red tea that was served in Egypt. Only to be told that really, only black tea was served, followed by a lecture on the different ways to prepare it.
After that, it was a scramble to find a tea service worthy of being presented to an ancient queen. Sigyn had been slowly furnishing the house in Minnesota, and while she'd found a perfectly good set of dinnerware for her own and Loki's use, she hadn't picked out a tea service yet. She probably should have done that before inviting Isis to her new home, Sigyn reflected as she went on to pick out the appropriate linens, infused sugars, and some very delicate pastries from a rather snooty bakery. She very much hoped they were worth the price she'd paid for them, because their cost seemed rather out of proportion to the amount she'd received.
Then it was a dash home to get everything set up in time for the visit. As Sigyn stood overlooking the table that she'd done, she wondered if she'd forgotten something. She didn't think so, but after finding the tea she'd been a bit rushed, so it was possible. The last thing she wanted to do on this important occasion was to offend the goddess that had been such a source of comfort and support in her darkest years. This was a way to thank her in a proper setting, since Sigyn could never, ever have invited her to her previous abode. Nobody should have been in that cave. Nobody.
Sigyn chewed on her thumbnail, counting the bowls with the infused sugars again. Was three too many? Two seemed to look odd to her eyes. And there was the bowl of plain sugar as well, which made four. Was that too many? At least there was only one creamer. Perhaps she should rearrange the setting to make it look more symmetrical. That would help. She nodded and reached for the bowls, both hoping and dreading that Isis would arrive soon.