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Elise Liedl was slumped down on a bench on a side road that led to one of the busy centres of the town. Her travels with Lebkuchen had led them to Copenlin, a place that dwarfed Kieferberg in both size and population. She sighed at the hundred coins she had just got from helping a kid find their lost cat, eyeing the bakery across from her seat whilst stomping her feet. What was the point of earning double when the price of food was triple Kieferberg's?
Her stomping halted and a smile rose to her lips when a familiar figure left the bakery. That woman returned the smile and waved. She flipped the “Open” plate to display its “Closed” side and beckoned Elise over.
“Good work today, Leb!” Elise held her hand. “Let's go back to the inn.”
“Not yet, Elise.” Lebkuchen opened the door to the bakery and pulled Elise inside. “Today they paid me in flour and let me use the kitchen.”
“They paid you in flour? Why, I'll have to speak with–”
“Don’t worry, Elise, I asked them to.”
Elise held back her tongue. Staying at the cheapest inns, or sometimes even in barns, as they travelled through the continent, they had not had access to a kitchen in a long time. Elise did not mind it, but, faced with Lebkuchen’s smiling face, she had to acknowledge her partner must have missed her bakery.
“I was thinking we could make some pretzels?” Lebkuchen suggested.
“Now you're talking!”
Lebkuchen guided Elise’s hands with her own as they mixed the ingredients. Though she inched closer and closer to Elise, there was no blushing, nor did Elise shout that she could do it herself. She still looked uncomfortable, but not in a cute way.
“What's wrong, Elise?” Lebkuchen asked, tipping more flour into the bowl.
“Nothing.” Elise kept mixing the mixture, not raising her eyes from the task. “Look, it's not sticky anymore. Shall we knead it?”
“Hm… That's right. You know that much. Have you tried making it before?”
“T-that’s just common knowledge, of course!”
She could not say she had made bread with her own hair for a demon crow that was once destroying their village.
Lebkuchen let it slide. At least now, Elise seemed to be more present in the moment. As she led Elise’s fingers through the kneading of the dough, she could see red blooming on her partner’s cheeks.
“My, you're red as a beet!” Lebkuchen giggled.
“It's because of the oven, Leb.”
When the knots were done, they put the dough in the oven.
“And now we wait.” Lebkuchen said, sitting on a stool by the table still covered in flour. “Well, we can start cleaning up.”
“We can clean up.” Elise stepped closer to Lebkuchen, towering over her sitting frame as she cupped her cheek and rubbed away a spot of white. “Or, we can do something more fun.”
“My, Elise, that won't do.” Lebkuchen drew her hands around Elise’s waist. “After all, it'll be ready in ten minutes. And when you start, heavens only knows when you'll stop…”
“Isn’t it quite the contrary? I can almost forget you were once a nun.”
“Then I guess it won't be a problem.” Lebkuchen pulled her closer. “I wouldn't like to waste that flour.”
By the end of the night, none complained when they finally ate the slightly-burnt pretzels. To get up to mischief with Lebkuchen instead of behind her back, though Elise had not tasted the nectar He had so promised her, she was sure it could not have been better than the overcooked pastry they had made together.