COF 2: The Soul Spells

9 | Lockdown (I)

Xanthy's stomach rumbled as soon as she caught the sweet smell wafting from Depandes's confectionery section. Cyrdel had led her along the array of circular houses boasting a different kind of food products displayed in windows propped open.

Xanthy's mouth dropped open when they came to a shop where the bakers tossed unkneaded dough towards the ceiling. The sticky dough would cling to the ceiling before being harvested and tossed again. Xanthy followed the dough's trajectory as the bakers tossed them at least four more times.

"This method ensures that you'd have the fluffiest variant of haagen," Cyrdel leaned in and whispered as Xanthy hunkered at the shop's open windows, mesmerized.

She watched as the bakers dressed in taupe aprons with matching hats shaped the dough into different figures faster than Xanthy's eyes could follow. The bakers laid these shapes flat on a slab before shoving it inside a forge that has a door. A few minutes later, a bell dinged and the brownies opened the door to the forge and out came the slab. On it, the dough had hardened into a crust retaining their various figures. Was that in the shape of a dagrine? Whoa.

Xanthy touched her chin partly to wipe the drool that threatened to drip from the corner of her mouth. Should she buy one? She opened the pouch Airene gave her. Hmm. Maybe not. She should save this for the journey ahead. She still has to find her parents.

Xanthy moved away from the window and resumed walking.

"Miss Vivenca," Cyrdel's arm swept past Xanthy's periphery. The prince passed her a bag of haagen with smoke still wafting from the inside. "Here."

Tears pricked Xanthy's eyes.

She reached inside and took one out. The haagen instantly melted in her mouth as she took a bite, leaving a trail of milk and sugar at the back of her throat as she swallowed. What kind of milk was used in this? She had never tasted anything like it. She shoved the rest of the haagen into her mouth and held out the bag to Cyrdel. The prince shook his head with a smile.

"Consider it a gift from me," Cyrdel chuckled. "Enjoy."

Soon, they were walking away from the confectionery section and into the parchment section. Such a shame that Xanthy wasn't even able to try much less look at the other delicacies despite their various smells turning the Depandes air in this section into a sugary goodness.

By the time they met Ravalee in front of a store for tomes, Xanthy had popped the last piece of haagen into her mouth. Ravalee smiled at them before adjusting a bag of tomes in her arms.

"Did you just over-shop again?" Cyrdel eyed the bag which Ravalee tucked away from him. She signed something to which Cyrdel translated for Xanthy as, "I finished reading everything at the Palace library, anyway."

Xanthy raised an eyebrow. Her half had read that many tomes? Whoa. In speaking of tomes...

Xanthy peered inside the shop through its glass-plated windows uncharacteristic of the buildings in Depandes. This one was still circular, though. The inside looked dreary from the outside. Xanthy spied parchment scattered around and empty bottles of ink thrown without care. Ceiling-height machines whirred and clicked as they worked, printing words on paper.