Sophie eventually found her way to the bakery from the administration building. She was really going to have to start paying attention to street signs, she supposed. She hesitated at the entrance. It wasn’t like she was dreading the cooking lessons, exactly – especially not under Acacia’s friendly, confident guidance – but Sophie and the entire concept of cooking weren’t exactly on the best of terms.

She bolstered up her courage and pulled open the door to the now-familiar ring of the little bell. Acacia had someone else working with her today. He was tall and blond, and looked more like a rugby player than a baker. He was currently helping another customer, but he looked up curiously at Sophie.

“Sophie!” Acacia called out with excitement from her spot behind the counter and waved her over. She gestured to all of the baked goods on display. “Do you want to grab a snack before we get started?”

Sophie made her way up to the counter, sorely tempted, but shook her head before she considered the pastries seriously. If she looked too closely, she would probably give in. “I thought this was about making sure I eat some real food,” she teased.

Acacia laughed. “I suppose you’re right.”

Sophie winced as she heard the bell ring again behind her. “Are you sure now’s a good time? You seem awfully busy.”

Acacia leaned over the counter and whispered conspiratorially. “It’s fine. We’ll just make Hollis do all the work.”

Hollis snorted from his place helping the other customer. “That’s fine,” he said. “It’s no problem at all. Acacia told me about your plans for this afternoon already.”

The customer handed over a few coins, and Hollis slid a bag of pastries over the counter. “Go on ahead,” Hollis reassured Sophie. “I’ve got a handle on things here.”

Acacia practically skipped around the counter, gesturing for Sophie to follow. “This way! I’m really excited to show you our kitchen.”

Sophie dutifully followed behind Acacia, honestly curious what a bakery’s kitchen would look like, especially in this fantasy world. When they made it to the end of the hallway, Acacia led her through some swinging double doors to a surprisingly spacious area. There were huge stone ovens, metal racks with long flat pans on them, and a large wooden workspace area that was still dusted with flour. One pan appeared to have little loaves of dough rising on it.

Acacia stepped over to a sink area and pulled an apron off of a rack next to it, handing it over to Sophie. It was identical to the ones Acacia and Hollis both were wearing. “Here, you need one of these,” she said, as she handed it to Sophie.

She turned back towards the sink, beginning to wash her hands. “What would you like to learn how to make?” she called over her shoulder.

Sophie slid the apron on, trying to rack her brain for any sort of answer. She honestly had no idea. What did people eat when they cooked for themselves? It had been a few years since she lived with her family – she hadn’t seriously stayed in her family home since high school, really – but even then, her father mostly ordered takeout for them. Her sister was more into cooking, but Sophie never really bothered to try.

Over the summers Sophie had always found excuses to stay in her college town, working to help offset her loans, usually at a convenience store right across from the local Italian restaurant where she often got food before or after her shift, depending on the time of day. Pasta never got old, but she didn’t think she’d be able to manage making that. Not unless they had boxed pasta and jarred sauces in this strange fantasy world.

“I’m not sure,” she confessed. “Soup, maybe? I just want something simple and easy to make for myself –”

Acacia turned around again, grabbing a towel to dry her hands, but then her eyes widened suddenly. “What do you want this time?” she asked, but the question was obviously directed at someone behind Sophie.

Sophie glanced back to see the woman from before – the one that Acacia had seemed to be arguing with that first day Sophie came to the bakery. The woman’s long black hair was pulled up into a bun, and there was no mistaking her resemblance to Acacia.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said – this directed to Sophie – and then her eyes met Acacia’s. “We need mana loaves.”

Acacia shook her head. “Can’t you see I’m busy right now? I can’t afford to drain myself –”

“It’s critical, Caci,” the woman interrupted. “A special request came in. We need it as soon as you can get it done.”

Acacia sighed. “It’s always critical with you. Why can’t someone else do it?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’re better at it?” Sophie could hear the annoyance dripping from the other woman’s voice. “And anyways Linden’s going to be in the party. Do you really want him going out there with someone else’s inferior product?”

Acacia frowned, biting at her lip. She glanced away for a long moment and then finally back at Sophie. “Sorry, Sophie. I guess I need to do this instead.”

“It’s no trouble,” Sophie insisted, although the entire exchange was confusing to her on so many levels. She wasn’t quite sure what exactly Acacia needed to do, but she figured they could always do cooking lessons another time if it was as important as it sounded.

“Do you mind telling Hollis for me, when you head back up front?” Acacia added. “I need to discuss some things with my sister.” Her tone was polite to Sophie, but it sounded like there was some history there.

“Of course,” Sophie said and quickly pulled off the apron, hanging it carefully back on its place on the hook, before leaving the two sisters to their argument – whatever it was about.

When Sophie made it back to the front of the bakery, the other customers had already cleared out for the most part, with the exception of one woman who had just finished paying. Sophie waited her turn, wanting to buy some baked goods after all since she obviously wasn’t getting cooking lessons today. When she got up to the counter, Hollis frowned.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I saw Calli go back there. Are they arguing again?”

“Yep,” Sophie replied, frowning as well. “Acacia said she’ll be busy for a while. Does this happen a lot?”

Hollis nodded. “More often than not. I’m guessing Calli is here on another special order?”

“I think so,” Sophie replied. “She mentioned something about mana loaves... Is that something Acacia makes?”

Hollis nodded again. “It’s not something we sell here, but Acacia contracts with the Adventurer’s Guild to make them. Calli is a clerk there,” he explained. “Acacia is really good at making mana bread, so she gets roped into doing it a lot, even above and beyond what she really should…”

Sophie frowned at the explanation. She wasn’t sure what was involved in making mana bread, but if it was anything like her experience channeling mana, she imagined it must be exhausting. “That sounds…” she trailed off, unsure what to say.

Hollis shrugged. “Exactly,” he said. “Well, I’m sorry your cooking lessons got cut short. I’d offer to help, but it sounds like I’ll be running the shop for the rest of the day.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Sophie reassured him. “I just want to get a few pastries for the road.”

Hollis nodded amicably, as Sophie scanned the display case. There were a few different items in there today. She pointed to something that looked awfully similar to a croissant. She was excited – she hadn’t seen those the previous two times she had been in the shop. “Are those plain?”

Hollis glanced down to where she was pointing and shook his head. “No, they’re filled, actually. Chocolate –”

“Chocolate!” Sophie interrupted. “I’ll take three then.”

Hollis laughed. “Of course,” he replied, pulling the tray out. He looked oddly pleased at her selection, and he began wrapping them in paper for her as Sophie pulled out her coin pouch.

She hadn’t yet gotten any leads on coffee in this strange fantasy world, but at least there were chocolate-filled croissants. There was some hope, yet.

After she paid and said her thanks to Hollis, she made her way back out into the town. She was a little tempted to stop by a restaurant again to get some more of that real food that Acacia kept harping on her about, but… Well, she thought back to the previous night – especially the part about Elowen waiting sadly for her in the rain – and she decided against another restaurant adventure. No, instead, she’d just pick something up at the market. She should probably be a little more careful with her coin anyway.

She made her way to the market and found the same little stand that sold the kebabs she ate on her first day in Caulis. There were many other stands here, but she figured she’d try them all out eventually. Instead, today she bought three more kebabs, along with a pita filled with meat and vegetables. The vendor wrapped everything in a small box, with the kebab sticks poking out of the side.

The food might be a little cold by the time she got back, but Sophie thought it would probably be worth it, if only to surprise Elowen by coming back earlier than she intended.

***

By the time Sophie got back to the shrine, she sorely regretted not eating one of the kebabs on her way back. She also fully expected Elowen to be waiting for her in the courtyard again, but she was surprised when the spirit was nowhere in sight. She made her way into the shrine only to find Elowen sitting cross-legged in the entryway, staring at the plant they had found earlier in the day. Well, more like hovering than sitting, but –

“What are you doing?” Sophie asked, still juggling all of the parcels from the bakery and the market.

Elowen looked up at her, frowning slightly. “I just don’t get it. Why does this plant have so much mana?”

“I have no idea.” Sophie shrugged. It wasn’t like she could offer any real input to this problem, and she could smell the kebabs. She left Elowen to the plant investigation for now and made her way back to the kitchen.

She placed the bag of pastries on the counter next to the one from the day before. She was starting to accumulate a collection – she could almost open a satellite bakery of her own at this rate. Although, she was sure none of it would last for very long, since she really didn’t intend to try and cook anything else until she got those cooking lessons from Acacia.

She sat down at the table with her other box of food from the market and finally got a bite of one of the kebabs. Some small part of her was almost a little annoyed at Elowen’s lack of response to her early return, but then the spirit came floating through the wall that separated the kitchen from the main area. Sophie nearly choked on a piece of well-seasoned poultry meat in surprise.

“You’re already done with cooking lessons?” Elowen asked. It seemed she had given up on the mystery of the plant for the time being.

Sophie spluttered a bit as she finished chewing her food and stood up to get some water from the bucket she had brought in earlier this morning. She took a long sip and dreamed of the day when she’d have the chill box. The water was lukewarm and already kind of stale-tasting.

“Acacia was busy,” she explained, finally, when she could speak properly again. “So we didn’t get a chance to do cooking lessons after all.”

“Oh, that’s a shame!” Elowen replied. She floated around the bags of pastries curiously and then hovered near the table, peering down at Sophie’s box of food.

Sophie sat back down in her chair and started in on the pita wrap as Elowen watched her with open curiosity. Sophie supposed Acacia had a point about real food. Too bad Sophie didn’t know how to make any of it for herself.

“Maybe we’ll get around to them another time,” Sophie said, choosing to ignore Elowen’s staring. “But, hey – actually, someone’s coming over tomorrow to check on the shrine. Do you know anything about registering?”

“Registering?” Elowen repeated. She frowned at the word. “What do you mean? Why is someone coming over? Is this about the stuff in the entryway?”

“Oh, sort of. When I went to take care of that, the clerk I met asked me if I wanted to register as the town’s shrine priestess. Didn’t the previous priestess do that?”

Elowen looked thoughtful for a moment but eventually shook her head. “I don’t think we had anything like that. Or maybe I just don’t remember…”

Not for the first time, Sophie wondered how long exactly it had been since Elowen lost the previous priestess and how much things had changed since then. “Well, it sounds like people from the town want to make sure everything’s above board here. And if it all checks out, we’ll get free trash service.”

Elowen frowned further at that. “People from the town…” she trailed off, and then gave Sophie a very strange look indeed. “Well, I chose you, and I’m the spirit of this shrine. There’s nothing anyone can do to change that. So I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

The way Elowen said the words made Sophie wonder if Elowen could really do anything about it if someone decided otherwise. She nodded along, but she found herself staring down at her half-eaten pita.

She hoped Elowen was right.