IISZ 2018 Challenge #5 - The Queen's Dreams

[vagabond]

The shop smelled of sandlewood and something more familiar but somehow unobtainable. A heavy velvet curtain was drawn across the room just behind a very large and very old, oak desk. It was ornately carved with a kind of tapestry, depicting what appeared to be some kind of a story, a story of a child swimming with fishes, climbing mountains and journeying through dense forests.
On the right side of the room, behind the curtain, there was a thousand small drawers each one locked and only identifieable by a symbol etched into the wood. On the left side of the room, a shelf with a thousand brightly coloured glass bottles each one seeming to contain a liquid and a gas. Hanging under the desk was a huge key ring, one for each of the drawers.

A cloaked lady with dry, bleached hair and a face covered by wrinkles was standing just behind the curtain holding a solid silver candelabra with three candles, she whispered something in old Romany into one of the open drawers, it rattled and slammed shut, extinguishing one of the flames.
As it went out, a small bottle at the far end of the room glowed with a bright green light. The cloaked lady looked towards the light without turning her head and smiled.

Just a few moments earlier a young girl had entered the shop, pretending she was only stepping in to get out of the rain. She lifted a hand as though requesting to speak, before thumping it down on a brass bell that had an ink written note, cello taped to the desk infront of it, it read, please ring for attention.

Tbc it's late here in the uk, so I'll come back to this.

"...exstinguishing one of the flames. As i went out...."
i like this story, keith. whether it´s continued or not.
gets me to imagine all sorts of things (from time loop to an old folk tale i read long ago to )