[Information, Success]

  “Hi Lily, any chance I could help you do the gathering today?”

  “Sure Paula, why the sudden interest in gathering?”

  “Well it’s not actually the gathering, I’m interested in. I’m interested in becoming a baker.”

  “Ok, grab that big basket off the porch and we can talk and gather at the same time.”

  “Fantastic, thanks, this the basket you mean?”

  “Yep that’s the one.”

  We walked toward the gate.

  “So Paula, why the sudden interest in baking?”

  “Well it’s not really sudden, when I was young, I loved baking with my Mom and Grandmother while she was still alive. Then after my Dad died, I changed my focus to school and defense of my country. After the events in the book, I was at loose ends just living off my savings trying to decide my next move. When Paula and Rose showed up and got me worrying about my reality, I shifted my focus again. If I’m not real, the least I can do for myself is try to be happy. I think baking is what might make me happy.”

  “Well that’s about the best reason I can think of to become a baker. I had a similar experience, I used to come to Wyldwood in the summers when I was a kid and teenager. I’d stay with Maggie and we’d bake everyday and work in the shop. But I don’t have any magic, so I never thought that it’d be something I could do long term. Then I got a letter from Maggie asking me to look after the store for her. I still was concerned that I have no magic working in a magical bakery. But now that I’ve been doing it for a while, I discovered I wouldn’t really be happy doing anything else.”

  Then we reached the gate.

  “Hiya Bob, Mike this is Paula she started working at the bakery today. Here’s a few donuts to hold you over till lunch.”

  Thanks Lily, nice to meet you Paula, I’m Mike and that's Bob, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of you. Enjoy your first day.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Thanks I will. Do you mean it Lily, just like that I’m in.”

  “Of course I mean it, we can always use the help. Let me explain the bakery, technically we don’t have to do anything. All non magical ingredients are always available in the kitchen. If a recipe called for dung beetle feet, there would be a supply of them in the bakery. Also non-magical bake goods mix and bake themselves. Magical baked goods need ingredients gathered, then a recipe followed to the letter for the mixing. Then the bakery takes over and does the baking. Nothing ever rots. I have magical bakes that Maggie baked herself that are as fresh, good and potent as the day they were baked. Ok more about the bakery later, here’s our first field. Today we’re looking for Lucent Lemon Peel, a key ingredient in Funny Looking Muffin. Those become very popular around Samhain. They turn people's heads into animals, ghosts, zombie you never know what you’ll get till you eat it. Kid’s love it it lasts for a few hours”

  “There’s a yellow flower Lily, it looks pretty close to the one you picked.”

  “No, it’s not the Lucent Lemon Peel, here smell the one I picked, do you get the lemon scent?

  “Yes, it’s not strong but noticeable.”

  “Good now go smell the yellow flower you pointed out.”

  “It’s acrid bitter taste in my mouth just from sniffing it.”

  “Usually that acrid taste in your mouth is from something poisonous, and it is poison. If you ate that flower you’d be dead in half an hour without the antidote.”

  “Gods I could have killed your customer.”

  “No you couldn’t, once that plant is inside the bakery the bakery magically renders it inert. Nothing produced in that bakery could hurt a fly let alone a human. The magic also keeps out insects, rodents, anything we’d consider bad. People, dogs, cats no problem. OK, we have plenty so we may well go back, usually we need to go to multiple fields for sustainability but the Lucent Lemon grows like a weed. The other thing about the bakery is that since we don’t actually pay for any ingredients, we don't usually charge for non magical baked goods. Everyday we make up some reason why the bakes are free today. If a customer looks very well off, go ahead and charge them. You will occasionally get a nasty customer, charge them double. I take all that money and put it in the bank for Salome when she gets older she may need some money. Maggie left money for me to live off of but my needs are simple. I’ll give you a cut of that money now.”

  “No Lily, I wouldn’t take the job if you pay me. Rose paid me an insane amount of money for stealing that bone. I tried to give it back to her but she wouldn’t take it back. I want to work at the bakery to learn the trade. Now that I know what you use the profits for, I'll pay you a weekly teaching fee to add to Salome’s nest egg. OK?"

  “OK, pay what you want for as long as you want, but stop anytime you want. Would you like a bedroom here or are you going to stay in the tower?”

  “I was going to look for an apartment in the area but if you have a room I’d rather rent from you.”

  “The room is included as an apprentice, you are entitled to room and board. But you’ll miss the laundry cleaning itself at the tower as we have to do our laundry the old fashioned way.”

  “No problem, I haven’t lived at the tower long enough to get dependent on it luckily.”

  Then we were back at the bakery.

  “Hey Salome, I hired a junior apprentice for you to boss around.”