Green tea. Today he was to make green tea. As slivers of white peeked into the dark room, a thought slipped into his mind. Green tea would take quarter sky to pick, dry till full sun, and brew for quarter dark. A full quarter left for anything. The corners of his lips pulled up as he ran through the possibilities.
Slipping from the nest of cushions, he walked across a forest of woven rugs to a wooden trunk. He knelt down by the opening and fished out a loose shirt and overalls. Once dressed he trudged over to the door picking up a wicker basket on the way out. As he stepped outside he paused to gaze at his garden. White rays leaked from the sky to illuminate rows of multicolored buds. Slowly coming back to his task, he waltzed down to the first row of leaves.
As he approached the small row of plants, he studied the way the tree reached out towards the sun. His eyes followed the branches as they broke off into thinner twigs all rising in an attempt to soak in the rays. Covering these desperate limbs were bundles of green leaves, and within the collection of green were white blossoms all facing outwards. It was interesting, he thought, that the tree would face its flowers towards the sun as if to attract it, even though the sun was ever-present. Did they hope to bring the sun closer? That he knew was quite impossible. So why display all its beauty to a distant figure. As he returned to his senses, his eyes wandered back to his task. Green Tea. He was to make green tea.
Precisely as the sun traveled a quarter through the sky, he began to walk down the row of trees back to the house. As he entered the small cottage, he swiftly took off his shoes, before walking over to a wooden work table. He gently placed the full basket at the end of the table, while walking over to a large brick oven. On the left of the oven, an industrial lever protruded out. With all his strength he pulled the lever down, and within a few seconds a hatch on the back wall of the oven opened and spilled out a few pieces of coal. With a forceful push, he returned the lever to its original state. As the hatch closed, a small metal drawer opened with one match within. After he started the fire, he waltzed back to the basket waiting on the table. Inside of the wicker laid bundles of leave connected by their stems. He took each stem, broke it into multiple pieces, and place them in a shallow bamboo bowl. Once he finished dividing the stem he placed the bowl into the intense fire.
After watching the fire for a bit, he searched through the cabinets opposite of the fire. Hidden behind many pots was a large silver pot labeled “Green Tea”. Grabbing the pot, he trudged over to a water pump in the corner of the room. While the pot filled, he began to wonder what to do at the end of the day. Before he could finish his thought, he was blinded by a bright ray of light. Shocked and unsure of the very recent events, he took a moment to check himself. Yep, he still had all his limbs and his sight seems fine. He began to search around the house for anything out of place. While looking he past a window, and all his attention was taken by a large dent in the rows of plants.
The dent seemed to have appeared on the row of lavender. Which happened to be his most prized plant. Hastily he moved towards the problemed area when a figure came into sight. Surrounded by lavender was a girl. It was curious, he had never seen a girl before, he wasn’t even sure what a girl was, but the thought slipped into his mind and refused to be corrected.
She didn’t seem to be awake. He began to make a plan of action. Should he wake her up and ask her why she was here or should he wait and see what she would do. Before he could choose from the two, he jumped in surprise as both of her eyes opened. He studied the amazing cool blue that filled her eyes as she began to look around. Her eyebrows began to pull together as her sight locked onto him.
"Something is burning,” she blankly stated. Slightly confused by her opening line, he quickly remembers the simmering tea leaves in the oven. Running faster than he thought he could, he rushed into the smoking building. Blindly he found the large lever and pushed it down with all his might. The smoke began to disparate as the hatch inside the oven began to suck the clouded air. After the air cleared, he sadly scooped up the bamboo basket and dumped the contents into the compost bin. He would have to work long into the next day to make up his lost work. As he began to plan out his next few days, his thoughts were once again interrupted by the mysterious girl.
"Umm, excuse me is everything alright?” questioned the girl as she entered the house.
With a quick thumbs up, he took this opportunity to study the girl. She was slightly shorter than him with skin pale as a baby's breath. Her hair barely touched her shoulders with a hue similar to his lilies. But by far the most striking thing about her was her eyes. He had never seen such a blue in his life. With a loud cough, the girl regained his attention. When his focus returned to the rest of her face, the skin that once resembled a baby’s breath now gained a slight pink tint.
Her eyes wander the small room in search of a diversion and locked onto the half-filled metal pot. “What were you making?”
“I was just about to brew some tea leaves,” he said looking over to the compost bin. As her eyes followed his over to the small bin now full of burnt leaves, his mind began to wonder. How strange it was. A new seed being placed into his garden normally would begin to grow finding its place among the rest. But she was different. She seemed to be a whole new element. She was not a mere seed but an already blossomed flower, uprooted from her own garden dropped into a new. He had never-
“First time?” she asked taking him from his thoughts, her hands gesturing to the once smoke-filled room.
“No, actually I make tea every day. I normally never burn the leaves, but today was…  special.”
“Oh, sorry for the disturbance, I just… I don’t know what happened. I can’t seem to remember anything,” she confessed. Her eyebrows pulled together while in deep thought.
After a few moments, it was his turn to pull her from her thoughts as he asked. “Well, what do you remember?”
“I can only remember a word,” she said “May.”
May. The word had a certain feeling attached to it was similar to the emotion he felt when he listed the plants in his garden. Lily, rose, violet, iris. After each plant an image appeared in his mind. May. As he thought of the word, the girl in front of him emerged into his mind. A name.
“Perhaps, May is your name,” he said, searching her face for an answer.
The corners of her mouth pulled. “Perhaps, it is.” After a moment of silence, May asked: “So, what is your name?”
“My name? I don’t have one,” he stated. Before today, he had never needed a name. There had been no one else living in his small world.
“Well, if I have a name you’ll be needing one too,” May said. After a brief moment, May asked “What’s your favorite plant?”
“Easy, a juniper tree, they have these amazing blueberries that if you let dry fo-”
“Jun, from now on I’ll call you, Jun.”
He liked Jun. But what sold the name was how she said it, both of those breathtaking blue eyes would sparkle and after the smallest smile could be found on her face. With a short nod of approval, he went back to the task at hand. Since “May” was the only thing she remembered, he concluded that it would be pointless to ask about her sudden appearance. Instead, he began to think about her purpose here.
“Hey, May have you ever pick tea leaves before?” Jun asked.
In the fleeting sunlight, Jun was determined to teach May how to efficiently pick leaves. And after a few broken branches, May seemed to pick at the same pace as Jun. Once again there was that amazing sparkle in her eyes, but now it was accompanied by an intense look of concentration. While Jun was studying May, he didn’t see that in his path was a protruding rock. With a very uncharacteristic scream and an ungraceful fall, hundreds of leaves dispersed into the air. As the leaves slowly fell to the ground, Jun looked up at May and was greeted by her laughter. Although it was tedious to pick up the hundreds of leaves, he was contemplating repeating his actions just to hear that soft birdly laugh again.
As the light began to drain from the sky, the pair made their way into the small cottage and placed their half-filled baskets on the wooden table. Throughout explaining how to prepare the leaves, Jun couldn’t help but appreciate how well they worked together. Unlike their first moments together, when they were meticulously working in the garden there was an air of comfort around them. Jun felt like as though small comments meant to fill silence were unneeded.
While the leaves brewed in the large oven, a low orange light filled the room and begun to wrap around the two. To escape the heating room, May walked towards the cool night’s air, Jun following instinctively. The moment the warmth left, Jun found himself gazing at the moonlit garden. What was once a bright spectacle of hues became a somber painting. The color-rich flowers seemed to blur with the dark greenery, letting the bright globe in the sky take his attention. Unlike the sun, the moon allowed him to take in its beauty. His eyes scanned the smooth surface and landed on a figure standing a few feet in front of him. May sat down near a bed of lilies, the grand globe in the sky stealing her interest.
“Beautiful isn’t it,” May commented, eyes still glued to the sky.
“Yea,” Jun said, as his attention slipped from the moon to May. The hue of the lilies and her skin tone were so similar that it looked as though she was just another flower.
May turned as if for the first time, she could sense his eyes on her. And with a slight blush, she asked, “Do you think we can stay out here?”
“Of course, the fire should die out after the tea is finished brewing and we can finish packing it tomorrow,” Jun said. With a sparking in his eye, he turned and rushed into the small cabin. After a few silent moments, he emerged with a pile of warm-toned pillows and woven blankets.
“Let’s make a fort,” Jun suggested.
Matching Jun’s bright-eyed look, May ran into the cottage grabbing a few wooden chairs and began to build the frame of the fortress. Surrounded by stable pillow walls and stuffed between layers of blankets, the pair let out a sigh.
“So what are we doing tomorrow?” May asked, her voice slightly muffled from underneath the blankets.
“Well we have to finish packaging today’s batch, and work on tomorrow's bunch,” Jun said, “But after that, we can do whatever you want.”
Once again there was that wonderful twinkle in her beautiful eyes, and as sleep slowly took her, there was a slight smile on her lips. Before joining May in her slumber, Jun pondered the events of that day. It perplexed him that May was unknown to him this morning. May with her soft laugh, bright smile, and genuine excitement over the smallest thing. He reminisced about the moments where he would sit with a blank mind waiting for the sun to set, knowing those moments would never arrive while May was with him. There were countless activities the pair could indulge in. Since tea making took half the time, there would be many moments that would need to be filled. Considering May need a room and the daily tea batches, there would always be something to do. And with the thought of working beside May through it all, Jun slipped into sleep.
Under the cloak of moonlight, the world seemed to stop to glance at the pair of tea farmers tucked under a pillow fort both wearing a smile as if to be wary of waking them from their dream-filled slumber.