Rider, Baker, Bubbly Pie maker {Sakky!!}

It was strange to think that before standing for his first hatching his mother had been rather enthusiastic about his impressing a dragon. Following his failure she had seemed disappointed in him and tried harder to convince him baking was his future, perhaps convinced he would age out. He pushed the musings from his mind and started working harder kneading the dough.

Now that Z’is had absorbed himself in his work and just about jumped out of his skin when he found the rider, whom he had looked at before, sidling her way over to him. She had already taken up residence, as such, at his table. Brow creasing in a small frown he supposed that he could deal with another person at the bench. This was a kitchen after all. The greeting came a little late and Z’is looked up at her.

“Erm…”

But she had started speaking again. Clearly not content with a mere greeting she started asking about how things were running. He looked about the kitchens. Well, things were a little slow but going along fairly decently, or at least he thought they were.

“Umm…”

She had started speaking once more. Leave? Why would he ask her to leave? Truly baffled by now he opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again.
Z’ithMine! Thay thomething to her. Don’t be tho thared, you are one of them now. You are a rider tho you need to thart thpeaking to them! And you tell me to be leth grumpy!
Z’is nodded, determined to actually speak as Hephaeth continued to grumble in his mind. Clearing his throat he opened his mouth again.
“Ah… Well, hello, I-I wouldn’t think to ask you to move,” he replied uncertainly, “’s far as I know, things are good…”

He looked around once more, wondering whether things were indeed running smoothly. He’d never truly noticed other people all that much, usually too absorbed in concentrating on completing his own tasks than the tasks others had been assigned.

Oh shards, if things caught fire and blew up Z’is wasn’t sure how he would react. With all that could go wrong in a kitchen Z’is had been surprisingly lucky with regards to kitchen catastrophes… If ever anything had caught fire whilst he was in the kitchens he had generally stood back and watched as people set about trying to put it out as quickly as possible. He liked to think that if there was an explosion he would push someone else out of the way and be a hero but he knew he would probably just freeze up and get injured anyway. Well, that wasn’t anything they needed to worry about for even if there was a fire a bucket line could be formed in the blink of an eye to keep the fire contained.

“Y-yes,”
He listened to her speak of cooking the same old boring things. In all honesty, he had never really noticed simply because of how routine his chores and duties here were. Looking at his hands now, he stopped what he was doing. Only a moment before he hadn’t needed to think about anything, his hands were moving basically of their own accord. Instinctively. Now that she had brought it up, however, he was inclined to agree. It was a little boring making the same old things all day long.

“Well, perhaps there are some ways to mix recipes and make something new. Spice rolls and bubblies…?”

He wasn’t sure whether she meant making an entirely new recipe from scratch or mixing two together. Perhaps even merely altering an already existing recipe. He supposed that something sweet could possibly go with klah or something… Perhaps.

That thoundth dithguthting Mine. Thpithe and Bubblieth? Why not jutht meat and meat?
I can’t eat meat all the time Hephaeth…
It’th the betht though! I want to eat one now!
You just did…
Well then, we mutht go later! I’ll be waiting in the Bowl!

Watching the baker was certainly an odd thing for Z’is. She seemed thoroughly… Enthusiastic about her cooking and just about everything he said. It was so different to his own usually quiet way of doing things, moving about the Weyr as though invisible. He had always thought that a servant’s duty was to remain unseen and unheard. Even though he was a Weyrling now he certainly struggled to adjust to his new duties.

As she wandered off Z’is followed her movement across the kitchen with a somewhat confused expression on his face. What was she getting? He may have been trained as a baker but this was certainly something rather new. Baking with someone to whom he was not related… And actually interacting with her.

When she returned a smile finally cracked Z’is’ features. It was small but still a smile as he looked at the spices.
“Should I close my eyes?”
He didn’t wait for a response and just picked a spice at random and sprinkling it onto the dough and began rolling it into his bread.
“Now it’s your turn. You should pick three.”

Yeth! That’th right you make friendth and I will eat thome meat.
No.
But I’m hungry! Why won’t you let me eat thome food!?
Because you will become too large to fly.
Fine. I thuppothe I can thay here in the hot thun and… Oh! Hello…

Hephaeth was distracted by the green and watched her somewhat warily. He wasn’t really there to hunt but maybe…
No.
No I’m not here to hunt. Mine thayth I will get too big to fly if I eat too much meat. But it’th tathty!

He huffed quietly and watched the Green with interest. She was most certainly not a hatchling for she looked to be fully grown. He knew her name to be Gaspeth but this was all he knew. Hephaeth found himself wanting to know more for she was not one of his siblings and therefore she was no doubt much smarter than all of them.

Well, hopefully the people would like what they had created or else they would simply be in a great deal of trouble. He really didn’t want to wind up on the dead end chores that those misbehaving Weyrlings ended up with. Thankfully he had never been unfortunate enough to wind up mucking out the stalls. Well, at least this was a little more fun than sticking to the same recipe. Perhaps they would even become famous bakers…

“Well, hopefully it will be a good surprise…” Z’is mused quietly, looking at his own dough suddenly a little dubious.
What happened if it turned out disgusting and someone came to the kitchens to complain? Z’is wasn’t so sure he would be able to lie to someone to protect himself and Mizuko from the questions that would no doubt be asked of the kitchen staff in general.

“Well, if it’s good perhaps we should keep trying to perfect our spice bread…”

Hephaeth stared at the green for a moment as she seemed to completely miss the point. He watched her as she leapt gracefully over the fence and into the feeding pens.
Uhhhhh…
What? The Queens were bigger than him but they also had larger wings and not a huge belly. Except that meat did look oh so tasty. Maybe if he just ate half of one… No, he wanted to be able to fly with His. He would listen to what Z’isHis wanted.

I thuppothe I like herdbeathtth better becauthe they are nither looking. Wherrieth are thtrange.
He didn’t like the way they watched him like they were waiting for him to make a mistake where they could then peck him to pieces.

Well, if she was sure he supposed he could be sure. Briefly, the thought flickered across his mind that if they did happen to get questioned he could simply blame everything on her. However, being who he was, Z’is immediately pushed the thought from his mind with something of a mental scolding. He finished rolling his dough and placed it on a tray to be placed into the oven later. A thought then crossed his mind. A plan so amazing he was almost scared to have had it!

“Perhaps we should combine all of the spices here into one roll.” Z’is suggested mildly.
He hoped she liked his plan. If not, he had another. Perhaps they could, as Hephaeth had suggested, add some meat to their meal. Perhaps dice some wherry and place it on the top of the bread with spices. At least it would be tasty for the dragons. Come to think of it, maybe the dragons would prefer cooked meals once in a while… With sugar spice and everything nice. He would have to think about that and perhaps, if he ever worked up the courage, ask the Weyrlingmasters whether such a thought was plausible. For Z’is was certain Hephaeth would eat anything he made for the dragon.

Hephaeth settled himself down to watch the pretty green at her work. Even though she was silly and not all that… Ah… Intellectually abled he supposed he would at least be able to watch her. That was interesting enough. If he could not hunt for himself he could at least watch another hunt… No matter whether it made him want to eat more. Why had he not eaten more herdbeast earlier that day? It wasn’t so much that he was hungry but rather just wanted to eat for the sake of eating.

Listening to her next statement he tilted his great head to the side with some confusion. As far as he was aware greens could not have children… He would have asked but she seemed a little saddened by the thought of hatchlings being eaten by wherries so he decided instead to comfort her. Well, as much as he could. She didn’t seem too bright so small words would have to be used.

Their Mineth would be good to them. They wouldn’t let them get eaten becauthe they feel their dragons. Mine did not let me hunt my own wherry for a long time. His mind voice was a little slower than normal as though trying to stress the point to the green.
Be nice Hephaeth…