Information

Khana_361
Legacy Name: Khana_361

The Spectrum Sheeta
Owner: Windstorm

Age: 11 years, 11 months, 2 weeks

Born: May 12th, 2012

Adopted: 10 years, 11 months, 3 days ago

Adopted: May 24th, 2013

Statistics

• Level: 27
   
• Strength: 23
   
• Defense: 17
   
• Speed: 23
   
• Health: 23
   
• HP: 23/23
   
• Intelligence: 5
   
• Books Read: 4
• Food Eaten: 0
• Job: Register Clerk

The wonders of cupcakes

There is something almost magical about the smell of freshly baked bread. It evokes so many old memories that would otherwise lay forgotten. Not many other smells can evoke the same sense of nostalgia. Except maybe the smell of cakes. Or peppermint humbugs.

Khana doesn't generally have time for much nostalgic musing. She's up at four to start creating the smells people love. By half past five, or three cups of coffee later, she is mixing six types of cake batter and has a smudge of flour on the side of her face that she won't notice for a while yet.

At half past six, she's separated the cake batter into pans and knows she has exactly twenty-one minutes to wash her hands in the basin and set up shop so that, at seven o'clock on the dot, she can flick on the main shop lights, flip the closed sign to open, unlock the door and pull the first three batches of cupcakes out of the ovens.

At three minutes past seven, bouncing on the balls of her feet, she will test them with a skewer, more out of habit than necessity. She knows they will come out clean and she will be ready to decorate them. She puts the next three batches into the oven, sighs softly and starts to mix the icing.

Cream cheese frosting for the Red Velvet cupcakes, dusted with pink confectionary sugar. Chocolate fudge frosting for the Double Chocolate cupcakes, topped with a gold chocolate rose. A dense apple cream frosting for the Cinnamon cupcakes, a slice of dried apple for the top of her speciality "Apple Pie Cupcakes".

She decorates them all, displaying them in the window at the front of the shop and in the pristine glass display cabinet she can't help but clean with her apron before she opens the oven doors on her second batch of cupcakes.

Again, she tests them with a skewer and leaves them to cool as she mixes up the toppings she needs.

A sticky sugary glaze for the Lemon cupcakes that evokes the taste of lemon meringue pie. A sweet dense toffee cream for her "Sticky Toffee Cupcakes". And finally, her own personal favourite, a vanilla marscapone cream frosting for the almond and cherry flavoured cupcakes.

At eight o'clock every day, her brother Lasiris comes into the store and, as younger brothers often do, begs and pleads for one of the cupcakes. Khana laughs, having already kept two aside, and tells him to put the kettle on for a cup of coffee for her and then maybe, just maybe, he can have a cupcake with her.

They sit chatting for a while before Lasiris has to get to school. He remarks that she doesn't look like she has slept in a while and Khana softly sighs, admitting that the bakery is keeping her awake. Lasiris nods thoughtfully before noticing that he has to run the rest of the way to school or risk being late.

Khana doesn't notice his hand whipping out to grab one of the Double Chocolate cupcakes. Or, rather, she notices but ignores it. He's her little brother after all. She'd give him the world if he asked for it.

For the rest of the day, Khana sits alone, drawing poster ideas for advertising her store, trying to come up with something special, something to help her business along.

Sometimes, Old Mr Porter comes in to the store. He buys two cupcakes, usually a Sticky Toffee Cupcake and an Apple Pie Cupcake. Other days, Miss Aldridge, the ex-headmistress spinster (who is 100 if she's a day), will pop in for a gossip and to buy herself a treat, usually a Red Velvet cupcake. And sometimes, if Khana is particularly lucky, they will come by on the same day.

On this particular day though, the bell above her door remained silent. Silent that is until four o'clock.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling!

Khana looked up from her notepad. A young boy, about six years old, stood with his mother, staring in wonder at the cupcakes. The woman looked familiar but Khana couldn't quite place where she knew her from. Khana smiled and briefly held her breath, expecting the mother to pull the child out. The lady smiled and said something Khana was sure she had misheard. She asked the lady to repeat herself.

"Do you do parties? My son wants to learn to make cakes." the woman smiled again as Khana started to grin.

This was her chance. This was what she had been waiting for. Khana nodded happily and offered to set up a date to discuss everything. Taking the woman's details she realised where she knew her from. As the woman left, Khana sent a silent prayer of thanks to her brother for stealing that cupcake that morning.

If he hadn't, his teacher may never have come into her bakery that day.

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