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“Wait wait wait!” Navia shouted, throwing her hands out as Furina picked up a bag of flour.
The ex-archon squealed and froze, but not before a portion of the white powder fell down the front of her apron.
Navia breathed a sigh of relief and took the bag from her companion. “We have to measure it first.”
“That’s not how I’ve seen Escoffier do it,” Furina said.
“She’s a special case,” Navia chuckled. “There are only two things you measure with your heart – garlic and vanilla.”
“Those don’t go together.”
“No no, of course not. It’s just that I mean in baking everything must be carefully measured. It’s like a science experiment. One ingredient is off and the whole bake is a disaster in some way.”
“Oh! I see,” Furnia nodded. “Sorry for getting a little impatient.”
“That’s okay!” Navia moved the measuring tools to Furina’s side of the counter with a smile. “Let’s try again. What dry ingredients do you need and how much?”
Furina picked up the recipe card, her heterochromatic eyes dancing over the words as she read. She trilled a little hum in the back of her throat and nodded. “Almond flour: 110 grams, powdered sugar: 200 grams, and granulated sugar: 50 grams.”
“Perfect! Now let’s measure them all out. You’ll want to zero out the scale once the bowl is sitting on it or else we won’t have enough.”
Furina nodded. “Got it. So,” she picked up the bag of flour again, looking a bit sheepish. “I can pour the flour now?”
Navia giggled, her eyes tracking the stains on Furina’s apron. “Yes, now you can.”
“Okay! 110 grams of flour coming up! Oops!” The almond flour poured too quickly into the bowl and cascaded over the sides.
“Oh no,” Navia laughed. “It seems the flour really wants to escape your clutches.”
“I guess so,” Furina chuckled, too, though her cheeks were pink with embarrassment.
“That’s okay. We can just use the cups to put the excess back into the bag.”
Together, they cleaned up, added a spoonful back into the bowl and smiled at each other when the scale read 110 grams. Furina was much more cautious with the rest of the ingredients and they were onto the next step quickly. Navia showed her how to mix the ingredients with the egg whites and explained how the batter should look. Though nervous, Furina did a wonderful job and beamed at her teacher’s praise.
“Time to put our cookies on the tray,” Navia explained. “You’ll squeeze the bag of batter into a circle. Like this!” She demonstrated and then handed the bag to Furina.
“Like this?” the ex-archon asked, trying her hand at it. The cookie was less circular and more blob-like. “Oh dear. What a mess.”
“It’s fine. It will still taste great! Try again.”
Concentrating hard and sticking her tongue out a little, Furina managed an oval and whooped in delight. “This one looks better, right?”
“Much better!” Navia clapped. “Keep going until you run out of batter.”
“Yes, Chef!” Furnia said with a grin that made Navia’s heart flutter.
After years of seeing Furina as this cold authoritarian, it was nice to get the real version of her. Goofiness and all. In Navia’s opinion, Furina was a blast. Between the Tabletop Troupe meetings, directing, acting and now baking, the woman kept very busy. It was like she was making up for lost time. And Navia was certainly excited to be a part of her new journey.
Furina stepped back from the counter, the bag squeezed thoroughly of its contents. “Done!”
“They look…” Navia bit her lip to suppress a laugh but a little giggle came out anyway.
“That bad, huh?”
“No no, it’s just a bit uneven. But like I said before, I’m sure they’ll taste great!”
“You’re just being nice,” Furnia sighed, a bit dejected.
“Not at all!” Navia moved to stand next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her lightly. “It’s great for your first try. The first time I made macarons it was an absolute disaster!”
“Somehow, I don’t believe that.”
“Well, it's true. Now, let’s allow the cookies to rest before we put them in the oven. You can help me with the filling.”
Furina dutifully followed to the opposite side of the kitchen and got to work under Navia’s thorough instructions. A few hours later, after cleaning up and lots of giggling, Navia and Furina were sat at the dining table in Furina’s townhouse. Fresh brewed tea and a lovely plate of oblong and lumpy macarons waited for them in the center of the table. Just like Navia told her, they may not look pretty but they tasted amazing!
“Thank you for today, Navia,” Furina said, nibbling on a raspberry lemon cookie.
“Anytime, my dear friend! This was fun,” Navia said, picking up her third cookie of the afternoon. “Maybe next time I’ll attend one of your workshops on acting. Or you could give me some private lessons.” She winked, making Furina blush a deep pink.
The ex-archon stuttered out a response but her smile said a lot more than her words. Navia was happy to be part of her journey to have fun and live a fulfilling life.