Now, there are no Starbucks in the world of The Moonlight Blade, but there is coffee! It’s canon. The characters never visit a café because they are too busy trying not to die, but I like to imagine that in a quiet moment after the story ends, or in an alternate universe somewhere, they all finally get to take a coffee break. This is what they would order:
Narra: She’s a simple drip coffee with a little cream and sugar kind of girl. Not too bitter, but nothing fancy either. If there isn’t any cream or sugar around, she won’t complain, but she’d prefer a little less bitterness if she had a choice.
Teloh: He would order something new every time, or roll a dice to pick for him. In fact, he’d make a point to try the new item on the menu even if it sounded horrendous. Especially if it sounded horrendous.
Kuran: She’s the sweet tooth. She would always choose hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles. On a day she needed a little more energy, a mocha would be her next choice, but chocolate is absolutely her go to.
Tanu: He would order a latte, with no sugar or extras. He’d just want something warm and filling to keep him awake late at night while he reads. If you asked him about the history of coffee bean’s arrival in Tigang, watch out, he’d probably will go into excruciating detail that you never knew you needed to know.
Virian: Definitely a cappuccino made with a fancy espresso machine – none of those automatic machines that dispense coffee at the push of a button. You bet she’s judging the foam to milk to coffee ratio and the precision of the coffee art.
Dayen: He’ll order whatever Virian tells him to. He’s not picky. He’s just happy everyone invited him to come along.
Reshar: He’s definitely a black coffee person. All he’d want is burning hot caffeine to keep him awake, because he never rests. He’s not going to wait either. Just pour him the sludge that’s been sitting on the burner all night. He won’t like it, but he’ll still drink it.
Arisa: She doesn’t do anything half-way. She’d request the drink with the most toppings she could manage. A triple fudge strawberry rose petal caramel swirl? Even if it didn’t exist, she’d demand it, and no one could tell her no.
Shora (Narra and Kuran’s mom): A drip coffee with a little cream. She’s counting her coins and would rather let her girls have something nice than order something frivolous for herself.
I promised my mother I would never come to Bato-Ko…and yet here I am.
Narra Jal is one of the cursed, cast aside her whole life, considered unlucky. But with her mother’s life on the line, she will return to the city where she was born to face the trials: a grueling, bloodthirsty series of challenges designed to weed out the weak, the greedy, and the foolish. Trials to select the next ruler of Tigang.
Narra has nothing. No weapons. No training. No magic. No real chance of leaving with her life. Just her fierce grit and a refusal to accept the destiny she’s been handed. Even the intense, dark-eyed Guardian she feels a strangely electric connection with cannot help her. Narra is on her own. But she’ll show everyone what the unlucky can do.
Let the bloodbath begin.
Tessa Barbosa is a Filipina-Canadian author who writes fantasy novels by night, and software help by day. She studied computer science and the fine arts in university, but stories were her first love, and she’s thrilled she gets to write them now. Tessa currently lives in Vancouver with her family and when she’s not at the keyboard, you can find her reading, making messes in the kitchen, or sewing things.
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