[se] sugar, butter, flour

Amalia

the shield of safrin

Amalia sits at her table writing letters, a bittersweet smile on her lips.

It is a hard thing, saying goodbye to the thing that has been your life since well before you were born. Devas Bakery is an institution, passed down from Chandrakant to Chandrakant. It is where Amalia took her first steps, spoke her first words; it is where she met her first love, felt her first heartbreak. She has been a baker since she first held a spatula in her hand and sent flour all over this counter and onto the floor.

Who will she be without this place? What will she become?

Three of the letters belong to people who she should have spoken to in person, yet finds that she cannot. Two more will probably never be sent. An apology, and a thank you, both for things she barely remembers. One will be placed on a notice board in Sanctuary.

There are other things, too. An overabundance of baked goods, mostly things that will keep. A cup of tea, and a half-empty pot. Care packages with carefully written names upon them. Instructions for the management of the hives her grandmother so long maintained, the garden, the ovens, the basement. A few boxes and bags, thrown into a corner, holding her scant belongings.

It's twilight when she finally finishes, her hand cramping from the effort of holding the quill.  Massaging it gently, the Shield leans back, looking up to where Jyoti dozes in her normal place among the rafters. "It's the end of an era, Jyo," the girl murmurs, casting a glance around the quiet bakery. "Time to start a new chapter. Wherever that will lead."

she is calm in the storm
and anxious in the quiet

Amaris

However big, however small
Let me be part of it all

Amalia Chandrakant, the words came with a smile, and a prompt and terrifying cold leap into icy waters. It was the first and last memory she held of the one she called the lost Chandrakant, before the magic of the moment dissipated and she was left picking up pieces with her fellow Stormbreak-ians. That Seraphina had secured an egg, an egg that Dramyrth held strong suspicions contained a dragon, was enough to pull the girl out of her preoccupation with wanting to follow Amalia, to discover more about her.

But she couldn't stay in Stormbreak for long, not when she had come so close, not when Amalia was still out there. She had to know more, had to see what the world outside of Stormbreak was like for that branch of Chandrakants - but perhaps most pertinent in her mind, was her desire to know her cousin.

So to the Grounds she turned her compass, and to the Bakery she wandered, having picked up enough from the locals to know where to look now. Above, Dramyrth cooed away, picking up on his bondmate's mix of anxiety and excitement, doing his best to support her, even if he was unsure why the whole adventure was so important to her. But, it was important to her, and so it was important to him. So with his lofty vantage in the skies above, he helped direct her steps, that she might come to the door and gently knock. The hour was late, but the girl was hoping to catch her cousin alone, feeling that whatever might unfold between them was better done privately.

"Hello? Amalia? It's…" she realised she never did get to give her own name in the chaos of the Sea of Glass. "Amaris. Amaris Chandrakant."

You may be right, you may be wrong
But say that you'll bring me along

Amalia

the shield of safrin

She starts at the sound of the knock on the door, her reverie abruptly broken. It's late enough that Amalia doesn't expect anyone to be here for business, and she isn't anticipating any visitors to come by tonight. Rising up from her place at the table, the Shield casts Jyoti a curious look before shrugging, her bare feet padding quietly on the floor as she makes her way to the entrance. "Just a minute!" she calls ahead, resisting the urge to turn off the lights and pretend she isn't home.

The door swings open to reveal a familiar yet nameless face. It takes the baker a moment to place it, and when she does her eyes go wide, surprise and confusion written clearly beneath the anxious flush. The girl from the Sea of Glass stands upon her stoop, the girl who had been looking for her, who called her the "Lost Chandrakant", like a character from a fairytale.

The girl who now gives her own name, declaring herself Amaris.

Amaris Chandrakant.

Amalia blinks, clearly not comprehending what has been said. "You- you're-" It can't be a coincidence, can it? Perhaps it's a trick of the Order, or something by the Voice. There's no way that this woman is her family.

Is there?

"Are we--?"

she is calm in the storm
and anxious in the quiet