"Good morning, lina," Alistair greeted her with a bright smile, being the first custor that morning. So adventurers had arrived shortly after him and were watching the exchange curiously.
"Good morning, Alistair," she returned the greeting, sowhat nervously. He looked a bit too… cheerful for the serious talk they had yesterday. As if she had told him that he would beco the king, not that they destroyed the world together. "What would you like?"
"One of everything, please. It's been a while since I ate your pastries," he said jovially.
It's only been a week… Maybe a bit more.
"You seem to be in a cheerful mood, Captain. Did your trip go well?" Barrett asked.
"Oh, yes! I got everything I wanted and more," he humd, glancing at lina.
Is he happy about getting his mories back? Now, when I look carefully, he seems well-rested.
"How are your… nightmares?" lina whispered, leaning over the counter. "Should I make sothing for them?"
"They didn't bother tonight, don't worry, lina," he said. "How are you on ingredients? Still have enough?"
"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot," Barrett pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. "This is the contract from the Guildmaster. She told to have this sorted out as soon as possible."
"Contract?" Alistair questioned.
"For the weekly supply of waffles," lina explained.
"Oh, the one you gave yesterday?"
"Yes…" lina answered quietly. The adventurers looked very interested in their conversation. Wasn't Alistair worried that they'd appear too close? "I'll take this to Master Gilbert to read."
The old baker was resting by the kitchen table. He no longer took an active part in service ti, unless it beca really busy, and instead used the ti for other things. One of the things he had grown to like was tending to the plants.
"Master, here's the contract from Guildmaster Arianne for the waffles," she said, handing him the papers. He took one look at them, retrieved a pen, and signed.
"Wait… Shouldn't we read through it?"
"That girl wouldn't dare to fool her old master. She knows she'll regret it," he explained nonchalantly. lina couldn't believe how easily he trusted her. It made her a bit nervous, but on the other hand, it felt… pleasant to be able to just trust sobody without question.
She returned to the shop and handed the contract back to Barrett. "All signed and ready."
"That was fast," the man said in surprise.
"Master Gilbert said that it was fine," lina replied, not wanting to admit how nonchalant the man had been. "Sorry for the holdup, Alistair."
She began to put one of every pastry in the bag for him.
"Don't worry, I don't mind waiting a little," he humd, watching her. His newfound cheer would need so getting used to. While she was happy that he rembered her, him becoming so friendly felt almost jarring.
As lina handed the pastries and bread to him, Alistair whispered. "Can you et in the afternoon? We still need to explain things to Elowen."
"Of course," lina nodded.
"See you later!" He waved and left while the other adventurers looked after him.
"I hope he doesn't take Miss lina back to Fenrora," one of the adventurers said glumly.
"I hope the Captain remains in Sunglow too."
"Oh, now that's an idea I can get behind!"
lina ignored their talks, serving the pastries with a smile like always. But she did worry whether she was getting too comfortable around Alistair. From a side perspective, people would surely assu that they were closer than they appeared. But then again, how close were they really?
Alistair has regained a lot of his mories, so they were decade-old friends and companions, right? But nobody knew that, so they would most certainly appear differently to them. In the end, lina pushed these thoughts aside and thought about how much she'd reveal to Elowen.
In the late afternoon, near dinnerti, Alistair ca to get her. He was dressed in armor, his hair disheveled, so she assud he had been fighting so monsters on his patrol.
"Let's go to the Guild. I've reserved a private room there where we can talk without being overheard. Apparently, it even has privacy wards installed."
Much to lina's surprise, Alistair held out his elbow for her to hold. She stared, a bit confused.
"Do you not want to? We used to do that a lot," he snickered.
lina racked her mory. "Do you an all those tis when I was out of breath and you half-carried to our destination?"
"Yes!"
"Hey, I wouldn't get out of shape just by making pastries. Also, I'm in better shape now. You saw digging Sienna's enclosure yesterday."
"Do you an that small hole over there?" Alistair pointed to the area she had dug out. In her defence, it looked far smaller from a distance.
"You guys interrupted , so I didn't get very far," she huffed and went ahead in the direction of the town.
"Don't get mad! I'll help you with it later," he caught up to her in two swift strides, looking not in the least bit remorseful. She'd already forgotten how mischievous this man could be once he opened up.
But lina was glad that he seed cheerful. She had expected that the mories of the past and what they had done would suffocate him, just like they had her for a while. But he appeared happy to rember. Perhaps, he saw it as an opportunity to do better. lina certainly hoped that the future would be better this ti around.
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Soon they arrived at the Guild, having exchanged a few fond mories of the old tis, and saw Elowen waiting by the entrance.
"Thank you for coming to see , lina, Lord Sinclair," he bowed politely. "Let's go inside and continue from where we left off yesterday."
lina was ready this ti around, having ti to think about what she would say to the elf. There was no way she could reveal everything to Elowen like she had with Alistair. Alistair had been her ally until the very end, always taking her side. Elowen was different. He saw her as an enemy at the end.
So lina decided to pretend that she saw visions and only rembered so things, just like Elowen and Alistair. He'd eventually rember everything anyway; however, this way she'll have ti to build trust and show him that her goal really was to live a simple, if a bit unusual life as an [Arcane Baker].
At the start, she wondered whether she even should reveal that she could make unusual pastries, but in the end decided that it'd be foolish to hide it. Elowen was a sharp individual, and he'd quickly caught on to Sunglow's open secret, naly her pastries.
So that was exactly what she told the elf. Alistair confird her words.
"I see. But why weren't you willing to share this yesterday?" Elowen asked dubiously once she was done.
"I've only seen glimpses of you once or twice, and in one vision you were pointing a sword at ," she said.
It was the ti they first t. lina had been sent on a mission to find Wyrm's Peak, but Elowen had barred her way, causing a small scuffle between them until it was established that wyrms weren't dangerous to humans. lina had been brought before the Elders that day, where she slowly learned more and more about elves.
Elowen scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I-I apologize. I don't an you any harm. I understand your apprehensiveness now."
"It's alright. I understand that now. Alistair reassured yesterday."
"I'm glad we've co to an understanding. For the ti being, I have decided to remain in Sunglow and see how these visions of ours evolve," Elowen said.
"Weren't you going to stay for just a few days?" lina asked, not too pleased by this developnt.
"I've talked with the elves, and they assured it wouldn't be an issue for to remain here longer. Besides, the Architect wanted us to keep developing this skill and see more of this uncertain future. I have a strong suspicion that it wants us to prevent a disaster from happening," the elf noted.
"Really?" lina looked at Alistair for confirmation.
"Yes. When I asked it to erase the skill, it seed very unwilling to do so, insisting that I see a vision first," he smiled then. "I'm glad it showed it to ."
Why are you glad about seeing your own death? Sotis I don't understand this man at all.
"Have you seen a clue as to why the Architect wouldn't want us to forget? Anything at all?" Elowen asked.
lina thought about it. If she had to guess, then she was the most dangerous elent that the Architect would want removed to prevent any future disaster. Best case scenario, she wanted them to know that separating the realms was a horrible mistake.
"What did the Architect show you?" Alistair asked, after a mont of silence. "You never told that."
"You never really said what the Architect revealed to you either," Elowen accused.
"It's private."
"It might be crucial to understanding this mystery. I believe we should both reveal what we saw."
"You first."
"No, after you."
"Stop it," lina cut in. Ti rewind or not, these two still bickered whenever they could. "I think for now we should watch the events unfold and see what happens."
Elowen didn't seem pleased with this conclusion but didn't argue. "Very well. Since I'll remain in Sunglow for a while as an adventurer, I'm sure we'll be able to work together in ti."
He had an accusatory sort of look. Elowen likely sensed that she was hiding sothing, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell the truth. If he really decides that lina cannot be trusted and attacks, then Alistair would surely jump to her defense. She didn't want either of them to get hurt.
As the three of them left the private room, they ran into Remi standing by the reception. "lina, hi! Hello, Captain and… Wow! Another elf?"
Remi was next to them in two seconds flat, looking excitedly at Elowen, who seed a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm. "It's been such a long ti since a new elf joined Sunglow! Are you staying for long?"
"I… Well, I do intend to stay for a while. My na is Elowen Freyer," he said awkwardly.
"Remi Shaelara! It's an absolute pleasure to et you. Welco to Sunglow! Let show you around town," Remi said.
"I-I suppose that is acceptable."
"Excellent! By the way, lina, I completely forgot to ask you this morning, but are you setting up a stall for the Sumr Festival?"
"Sumr Festival?" lina cocked her head quizzically. She hadn't heard about any festivals from Master Gilbert.
"Gilbert didn't tell you, did he? Oh, that grumpy old man. Go and ask Erina. She'll tell you everything you need to know," Remi gushed, then turned her attention back to Elowen. "Co now. I'm going to show you everything. Do you know how fun it actually is to live with humans?"
Remi pulled Elowen along, and he was helpless to resist. lina chuckled at the sight.
"So I guess you'll be going to Erina now to get so information about this Sumr Festival?" Alistair asked.
"Might as well. I am curious what it's all about and why Master Gilbert didn't tell anything."
"How about we have so dinner together? You must be hungry," he offered.
"Sure."
As most evenings, the inn was packed to the brim with people, leaving almost no free tables open. But luckily for lina and Alistair, a small table vacated just as they entered. lina sat down to reserve it while Alistair went to get food for both of them.
She wanted to give him the money for her portion, but he heard none of it and instead insisted on paying. Alistair ca back with a large steak with potatoes for himself and salad with large succulent shrimp for lina.
"That's too expensive," lina muttered, rembering the price of the dish. She had always wanted to try it, but put it off to a ti when she'd have more money.
"I've already paid for it. Will you not eat it?" He looked sad.
"Of course, I'll eat it!" She protested, pulling the plate in front of herself. He looked pleased by that.
"Don't worry about the price. It's nothing compared to all your pastries."
lina didn't reply, instead focusing on the salad in front of her. She tentatively stabbed one of the shrimp and took a small bite. It was delicious! Perfectly seasoned slice of heaven. While Gilbert's cooking was wonderful each ti, they didn't buy any expensive ingredients. Seafood, unfortunately, was completely off-nu since Gilbert didn't like it. Said it ssed with the sll of bread. That nobody would buy bread that slled like fish. But it's not like she wanted to bake fish into the bread; she just wanted so for dinner.
"lina, Lord Sinclair! It's nice to see you two," Erina said as she noticed the two of them.
"Good evening, Miss Erina," Alistair greeted.
"Nice to see you too, Erina," lina said.
"Oh, I see you two are having a good ti together. I won't intrude," Erina gave lina a conspiratorial look.
"Wait, I wanted to ask you sothing."
"What?"
"About the Sumr Festival. What is it exactly?"
Erina groaned. "Gilbert didn't tell you, did he?"
"No."
"I should have known. Do you mind if I sit at your table for a mont, Lord Sinclair?"
"Not at all. I'm also curious about the Sumr Festival," Alistair nodded.
"Wonderful. I'll make it quick. Basically, the Sumr Festival is an event when we celebrate the arrival of sumr. I'm sure you've encountered your versions of it in your own hotowns," Erina began.
lina and Alistair nodded. She vaguely rembered the Sumr Festival in Tuvia. There was a large magic show each year. It was so grand that she could see the display from the orphanage. It was mainly that which inspired lina to beco a mage in the first place.
"In Sunglow, we set up stalls and gas by the beachside. There are all sorts of events, and so mages even co to Sunglow to perform. The town is usually sward with tourists. It's a chance not only to have fun but also earn a nice bit of money."
lina's ears perked up. More money certainly wouldn't hurt.
"Lots of vendors also co from far and wide, so it's also the best ti to shop for miscellaneous items. So years, even magitech vendors co."
lina was doubly invested now. Chance to earn money and possibly buy magitech. She would definitely participate.
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