Sweekstars 2018: Peculiarities of Torotain Varvaressos by Shahzoda Vareberg

Torotain Varvaressos was a peculiar man. He loved academic journals, tolerated furniture, and abhorred keys. Therefore, both his main residence and his pied-à-terre, which were labyrinths of shelves with titles such as Journal für die Botanik and an occasional floral sofa, could only be opened with one key.

Despite his peculiarities, however, Torotain was a sought-out man. It was rumored he had water from the Fountain of Fortune and if one answered his question correctly, Torotain would give away three drops of it in a little corked vial.

One day, Mademoiselle Lygery showed up for a visit. She came with two chaperones and a purse full of mint candies. Ordinarily, she couldn’t drink tea without the mints but Torotain’s tea went down like nectar. No wonder, she thought, it was imported from Imperia after all.  

“I quite enjoyed your tea,” she said.

“Marvelous,” Torotain said. “Now, let me ask you this…”

Finally, she thought, the question.

“Did you enjoy it because it’s good tea?” He leaned closer, “Or because you think it’s the finest tea in the world?”

Lygery stuttered. How could there be a right answer to that? 

Torotain waited.

She thought long and hard.

§

An hour later, a happy Mademoiselle Lygery left with a small vial nestled amidst the mints.

Torotain finished the tea (brewed from his homegrown leaves) and filled another vial with tap water. Then he wrote down the results in one of his journals and smiled.

Torotain Varvaressos was a peculiar man indeed.

Sweek is a global community for reading and writing stories. Short stories, poetry, fantasy, science fiction, fanfiction, or classic books—you will find thousands of them on Sweek.

Red Hen Press and the Los Angeles Review are proud to sponsor the 2018 SweekStars contest by publishing this year’s winners.