Late Night Baking

[Rhyse Falmarin]

Four AM….hand rubbed over tired eyes, streaks of flour painting her cheek like heavy handed highlighter. Petite form sat perched on the steel stool behind the baking table, enjoying the silence of the closed bakery.  She liked the night shift. She got to bake alone and once the stock for the morning was done… experiment.

 

Thick amber lashes drooped over the crimson orbs, sleep deprivation finally catching up on her as the breathing slowed. For a split second sleep grabbed her. Lulling…. Calming… Drowning…. always that tumultuous ocean and the angry captain swallowed her dreams.

 

Ding of the oven popped open her eyes, frown descending immediately. Hopping from the stool she slid on the mitt to pull the trays from the oven.  The room flooded with the scent of scrumptious bread as she pulled the door open, setting the hot trays on the metal baking table.

 

Why did that trip always haunt her.

 

She had barely managed to help the captain get the ship to shore without exposing her "grotesque" demon form… a little more ocean spray and the "rash" of red that had crept up her skin would have erupted into tentacles on his deck. As it was… she had managed to keep her secret.  There had been such hope for a moment… hope that she was not alone, that there would be someone she could talk to, share what she could do with…. but he was as different and cold as the others on this world. Wanting nothing to do with her the moment they were ashore.  He didn’t want to learn how to speak with these waters. She didn’t understand that.

 

It had been a rough year on this continent halfway around the world from Ireland. A victim of Outworlder Registration, she was scared to be seen, spending her time scrounging for food and hiding out in abandoned buildings through what was once Main, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. For all she was trying to stay hidden, over the year she was slowly making her way down to civilization.

 

She missed Ireland. There she had somewhat fit in. The fiery crop of waves attributed to an Irish heritage. On this side of the world,  in the dregs of towns and cities still desolate…. it got a few looks. It hadn't been until she reached New York that she finally seemed to manage a little anonymity. Women here came in all shapes and colors. Hair as vibrant as neon green had caught her completely off guard. Suddenly her bright red seemed tame.

 

The first three months she scrimped and saved, still keeping to the shadows… still afraid she would be hunted down. Odd jobs and sifting through trash eventually got her enough to replace clothes that were in shambles and usually two sizes too big for her. She was looking….. normal.

 

That was when she had gotten a part time job selling in the front of the bakery. One month later the owner took a chance and let her start working in the kitchen and in just two more months she was the Assistant Baker. It wasn’t the same like having her own bakery. Maybe someday she would again.

 

Fingers delicately poked one of the exotic brioche breads, smiling at the spring. She had finished all the pastries for the morning. This had been her experiment one. The bakery owner and head baker was an elderly Frenchman who had taught her a number of new recipes. This was a twist on the brioche she had learned last week. Popping them out of the trays she placed the small loafs in an arrangement on a white platter on the baking table. Jean Pierre would be in by 4:30 so they would still even be warm for him to taste. This had become a ritual of theirs. Plucking the extra one to take home for herself she hung her apron on the hook by the door and puller her coat on in its place, the blue wool 3/4 length hanging to booted calves.  Times like this, she was glad for her petite size, the wool swallowing her to keep of the bite of cold.

 

Locking up the back door as she left, she started the three block walk back to her small loft.  It was a single room efficiency that some might find claustrophobic, but she didn’t need much. Sometimes she wished it had a real kitchen for baking, but she got to do that at the bakery most days so… for now… it worked.

 

Hands shoved away in her pockets as breath swirled from her lips. Winters were worse here than in Ireland but she didn’t mind. She had lived in ocean depths far colder than this.   

[Calder Muireadach]

Too much to bear.

 

The ship beneath him rocked slowly, slow roll of a harbor horn echoing across the bay from a distant source. Thumps of ice every so often clacked against the side of the boat, not a particularly cold winter, but enough to cast bobbing remnants in amongst the boats. Most captains were too cold shy to weather it out in their boat, he was completely the opposite. It was when he could truly be comfortable, on his own anyway. The weather kept him from making any more trips to Ireland at least until late April. He’d been patrolling the waters down the coast, into areas less traveled. The more he explored this world, resentment had begun building. The squabbles, the pettiness.

 

His own world fought for the right to live. Exist. Generations of his world saw unimaginable struggles, for a cause. Right and wrong. Here? Money. Power. Not the right to live beyond the boundaries of an oppressive regime. Here, petty squabbles about who came from where and when and how.

 

It had become too much, and the fate-humbled king had unleashed in a new way.

 

His first take down was a ship in what he was told was once the Carolinas. The ship had intercepted and stolen a shipment of one of Narwa's cargos. Taking it upon himself to liberate the cargo, he'd returned it to New York. He went out again, and liberated another. The pirates, had begun calling him one.

 

Upon further investigation, the moniker felt good. He’d seen the pictures, the giant sailing ships that were grander than his dragon.

 

The first few he doubted his intentions, but the more he took down the random looters and ferries of outworlders that were being swindled out of their money in exchange for being left adrift to die at sea, or worse… the better it felt.

 

The thought of him being ripped from his world as penance for his bloodlust there was being quickly dashed the more ships he sunk, and the more ships he turned back for new York that were a farce of a ferry. It was colder now, and the only place he would travel was south. To ferry, and to hunt. Hunting of late, had taken precedence. As long as the north was frozen for the winter, his time had taken a violent turn.

 

Early mornings were routine, keeping tabs of those that had been brought in from various places, making contacts. He didn't speak with most of them, just a quick peek to make sure they were still there. A bar, a tavern, a bakery. Already moving from his boat, he’d another errand as well… a shipping log from one of the warehouses down on the other side of the bay. Course schedules, ins and outs of cargo. More clues on what needed to be watched, and who may need to be followed, sunk or liberated.

 

A casual path past the small bakery, he pulled his dark blue scarf closer around his neck, black navy peacoat fluttering slightly as he turned the corner. He knew exactly why he kept an eye on her. There was more to her than she ever wanted anyone to know. Sooner or later someone, would know. She was already gone. Nod particularly to himself, he went about his way.

[Rhyse Falmarin]

Soft chiming laughter glistened like drops of water on glass as she made her way back to the bakery. She had gotten so caught up in the success of her experiment that she had neglected to grab her small purse with the keys to her apartment off the counter when she left.  Like any such idiotic display of forgetfulness, it wasn’t noticed until she reached the door of her apartment and had no way to open it.

 

Fingers stuffed in her pockets playing with the bakery keys as she made her way back. Steps suprising light for as tired as she was. Breath made soft swirling billows as she neared the back alley of the bakery, making the last turn on the main street. Crimson orbs caught the shadow just as it vanished at the far end of the block. Breath caught in her throat as she froze. The peacoat that had fluttered around the shadow covered a form that felt……. familiar.

 

It couldn’t be…. not here…..why would he be here?! And so near the bakery.

 

Fear of exposure bubbled up like bile in her throat. She really wasn’t sure if he was friend or foe. He had been so angry at what she could do with the waters of this world and yet that had been so long ago already. Why would he hunt her down now?

 

Before she knew it small feet were striking softly the snowy pavement as the sprint let the winter wind bite into her exposed cheeks. Skid around the corner the shadow had turned came to an abrupt halt. There was nothing there. Crimson searched the snowy sidewalk and could not determine if new tracks were among the mess of slush and dirt that was not quite frozen.

 

Lower lip drug through her teeth nervously. Play of light? Phantom of her imagination? She had been tormented more than once since that trip with dreams that he invaded. Perhaps that was what this was, no more than her mind playing tricks. Scowl wiped away the "young" veil that often covered her features, betraying that age was not so easy to mark among the outworlders.

 

Grunting sigh came as she stuffed her hands deep in the pockets and made a straight line for the back alley of the bakery. Purse recovered she began the march back to her mini apartment. Sleep wasn’t likely to come easy this morning.  

[Calder Muireadach]

He had paused around a corner, hands in his pockets and head down calmly as he listened to her quiet panic. She'd always seemed slightly... skittish, with a confidence that unwavered if it was possible to have both simultaneously. Her actions, bordered on obstinance, hellbent on finding and confronting what had alarmed her. Pondering if this wasn't an isolated incident, he was leaning toward breaching the silence. Of course Outworlders were always looking over their shoulders, but in New York so much less so. It would be helpful to know if she was worried because she was alone and it was early morning, or if concerning shadows weren't uncommon in her world of late. If so, that would be a problem.

 

Listening to the path of her footsteps move back toward the bakery, he stepped from his corner and followed them. Ledger under his arm, hands still in his pockets he started to match the marched pace.

 

"Been a while," he said quietly as he started to close the distance, breath curling in the brisk air. "Was just passing by, didn't mean to startle you."