The reflection of a young woman, with wisps of hair the color of honey, dressed in a silver-embroidered white garb, from beneath which pieces of polished armor protruded, could be seen in the front window of a cake shop. She's been there for good quarter of an hour already, admiring the pastries beneath the glass and drooling at them with her palms and nose pressed to the transparent border that kept her away from them. She wanted them, she needed them, she simply had to have at least ONE! It was excruciating to just stare at them almost motionlessly, while her salivating intensified with every glance she gave the sweet cupcakes, little hard candy, wonderfully-iced cakes... Oh, Ansgar! She needed them!
But she was out of money, and she couldn't just sneak in and steal it... No... She was now a soldier of the country, a holy servant of Ansgar that had to abstain from all sin. This was gluttony, she didn't need to eat cakes all the time-
No. She had to! Sweets were the best thing that existed in all of Le'raana, and no matter for how long she waged a psychological war on her own mindset, she could NOT deny her love for them. With a deep sigh, she let her hands slide down the glass, emitting a squeaking sound as her thick leather gloves brushed against it slowly. Autumn was chilly and windy...
And as she thought of it, that was just another reason as to why to enter that one particular cake shop. It was cold. She needed to hide from the weather, no matter how well-tailored her woolen hauberk and other garments were. She was a knight of the White Lily, but that didn't mean she wasn't subject to earthly forces such as weather, the biting wind, or low temperature!
With a smile, playing on her lips, she took a few skip-like steps to the side, and with the clink of the bell that hung above the door, she entered the shop. The wonderful aroma of icing and marzipan struck her the very moment she set her foot in, and it enchanted her, leading her deeper into the premises of the shop, enamored with every single centimeter of her surroundings.
Immediately after she took in the sight of a large pink fondant cake, set on a heightened stand just a few inches to the right, she pulled her gloves off, sticking her behind her belt, and drawing closer to the cake to examine it to the last cake-crumb on the platter. Its smell reminded her of roses in her aunt's garden, which bloomed beautifully in spring, and coated all of the grass in soft petals. She loved to pick those up and toss them into the air, to spin underneath them as they slowly descended back, a rainfall of roses.
Her eyes closed softly as she leaned in towards the cake, gripping the edges of the platter with her small hands, and her lips curled upwards into a smile.
Flashing a quick look over her shoulder, she checked if no one is looking, and with her finger wiped a few crumbs from the plate, to stick it into her mouth and savor the sweet, sugary taste, which would linger on her tongue even a while after she quickly dropped her hand back down, and wiped it against the white of her garb, leaving a minute pink stain on her hip.
Taking a few steps forth, she take a liking in a different cake. This one was different; its three-sectioned base was circular, too, but it was covered in stripes of dark chocolate and mint fondant icing, here and there shaped into tiny leaves, lining the pastry's edges. It had a cool aroma, truly resembling mint, cold spring mornings when the morning dew sets onto the fresh grass and the air is still hazy from mist, rolling over the hills.
Atop the cake was set a couple of mint leaves, cut out of fondant as well, placed in a rose-like shape. She'd love to just stick her in her mouth, but instead, she just hurried, brushing the few crumbs from the table it was placed on into her palm, and quickly eating them, in fear that someone might see her scavenging on cakes like that.
Really, where was the shop's owner? When she pushed herself up to her tiptoes, to gaze over the top of the mint-and-chocolate cake, she could not see him behind the counter on the other side of the shop. She could sneak in and just nibble on one of those cupcakes, or take one of the tiny leaves of green fondant... No! That was just mean. She would never, ever, ever steal, because stealing was wrong! And so, she stayed her hand, reaching for the cupcakes, and blushing crimson only took the broken-off piece of a hear-shaped cookie, normally set in the swirl of icing atop the cupcakes, which now lay next to it.
But something, a moving shadow beneath the table, attracted her attention. She bent in, trying to examine what was there, but somehow couldn't get herself to see through the narrow crevice.
Prodded by her curiosity, she knelt at first, to then get onto all four and climb underneath the white tablecloth, covering the table, and crawl beneath the cupcakes.
And she should not have done that. Under the table was a boy! A real, living human! Good lord! She gasped, immediately slapping a hand over her mouth to stop herself from blurting something out, and attempted to stand up, completely forgetting that she was beneath a table.
The back of her head hit the table, which jumped up a little at the impact, all the cupcakes moving atop it, and a muffled 'ow' made its way out of her mouth, her eyes squinting with pain.
Was this person hiding from someone in the cake shop? Or something? But why a cake shop? She couldn't make any sense of this, it was even more of a mess than other situations, which by themselves were ridiculous enough, because she'd never even think of finding someone under the table with cupcakes!
And thus, she just gave him a very long, very blank look of her wide grey eyes, glimmering even in the shadows under the table, while her hand was still pressed onto her mouth, and she was kneeling on the floor.
