Sierra - Kaelin

Strong Bond



Kaelin was probably the best baker Sierra knew. It most likely had a great deal to do with the fact that Kaelin’s mother owned her own bakery back in his hometown of Flanaria. Kaelin had grown up working in the bakery during his free time and the result ended with the pretty-blond spoiling his family rather often with sugary baked goods. No mood would deter Kaelin from picking up a whisk and digging his hands into flour—he was always in the mood to bake.

Sierra, on the other hand, was miserable at baking and cooking. Try as hard as she could, she couldn’t seem to ever make anything taste quite edible… In fact, she had managed to even make some of her family a little ill with her cooking. Due to her horrible reputation most veered away from the young woman whenever she attempted to put her culinary skills to the test. It was most curious how quiet the manor got during those times.

Never one to give up, Sierra decided to give it one last chance. She stood side by side with her Papa. Kaelin had his long blond hair pulled back into a tight pony-tail. He was wearing a white apron and was absolutely covered in flour. Sierra had the sneaking suspicion that her Papa just enjoyed making a mess. Between gardening and baking he always seemed to be diving head-first into whatever he was working on.

Because her hair was so short, she didn’t need to do anything with her black locks. However, the apron she was wearing wasn’t nearly as worn as Kaelin’s; who seemed to favor that particular white apron with marigolds and carnations etched along the corners. Hers was plain white, crisp looking still, almost like it had never been worn before. She wondered if that was a sign.

“Papa…” Sierra said slowly, poking her dough that seemed to be much more runny and gooey than her Papa’s. She glanced down at his—it was soft looking—like how it should be. Sierra made a face. “Man…”

Kaelin looked to his daughters own batch and suddenly he began to laugh. He had measured every thing out for her. Their measurements had been exactly the same and yet Sierra had still managed to ruin hers. He knew he shouldn’t laugh, but there was just something so amusing about her inability to make a simple batch of cookies…

“Agh, I give up!” Sierra cried, pushing her bowl across the flour-powdered counter. “There’s no way that I’ll ever be able to make a freaking cookie that tastes right!”

Kaelin cleared his throat, trying to put on a serious face, but tears of mirth were still in the corners of his eyes. He just simply found this oh too amusing. He hoped that when Sierra found herself someone to settle down with, they would, at the least, know how to cook.

“Well, my dear, I just have to say… baking is not your forte…” He said it gently, diplomatically, but there was a tremor of laughter hidden beneath it all. Sierra caught it and gave him an annoyed glare. Kaelin bit his lip, looked away and began to busy himself with putting the dough onto the baking pan. Sierra couldn’t help but notice how very little he paid attention, but how perfectly sized they all were. She made an annoyed noise and sat at the stool, watching Kaelin expertly form each cookie.

“What is my forte, then, Papa?” Sierra finally asked flatly. Kaelin looked up at her, blinking his lavender eyes widely. “You’ve got baking and cooking… doing doctor-y stuff and calming people down. Dad’s got the piano and his healing arts and magic… Why didn’t I inherit any of that?”

Kaelin tilted his head at her, “Why would you want to inherit any of that? Your parents don’t make you who you are. Who cares what we did or what strengths we have. You are your own person.”

Sierra sighed dramatically, “Yeah, but it would have been nice to have some innate talents…”

Kaelin snorted, “Innate talents? You think that I’ve always been good at baking? Let alone medicine? It takes a lot of failures for success…. And in the baking department there’s no short of failures.” He picked up the tray and turned to the well used brick-stove. He pulled open the cast-iron doors, slid in the tray and closed it. He seemed completely unalarmed by the billow of heat that escaped in the short time that the oven doors had been opened. Kaelin turned back to his daughter, smiling, “Besides, Sierra. Your life long dream isn’t to bake or to cook…” He hesitated for a moment, brushing some flour from his hands absently, “…is it?”

Sierra snorted, “No. Of course not.” She had never really discussed it with her parents, but she actually wanted to follow in their footsteps—she wanted to be a doctor. Where she would go to train though, she wasn’t sure. Her Papa had learned in Flanaria, her father in Xidan, but there was a most impressive medical academy here in Aurora City. Sierra wasn’t so sure she wanted to stay here. There were other places to explore and for her, Aurora City had become entirely too boring.

Then again, if her luck was as good as her baking skills, she may just want to find herself another career. Sierra sighed loudly, dropping her chin into one upraised hand and reached over to her bowl of runny-dough. She ran the tip of her finger over it and brought it to her lips, giving it a little lick. She blinked blankly, looking to it.

Even though it certainly didn’t look right, it seemed to have the same taste as her Papa’s batch… For some reason, Sierra felt a little hope renewed.

Maybe she did have a chance… just maybe.


[Ramirez]

<sub>A/N:Story Bond 27/81 of a Project I'm working on...

Holy $#%! I had to do so much research on old-school baking... stoves... and the only thing that I could find that wasn't within the 1900's was like.. an old school brick oven.. excuse me if that is just weird, but.. man, it was really freaking hard to find good information on how they baked stuff back in like.. renaissance times which is more or less like the time-period my books take place....

I don't even know what to say about this story other than the fact that I had planned it to have a lot more dialogue and humor, but that didn't seem to work out. Oh well. =/ It was also much shorter than I had anticipated... I guess I made up for it having Sierra in that other 15+ page story earlier? lol</sub>


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