Marlen's Bakery

Summary
A glimpse into the Greyhart family's daily life before their world was turned upside down. Content warning: mentions of Rhamiel.

Characters

 * Marlen Greyhart
 * Emrys Alderson

Marlen's Bakery
Marlen Greyhart smiled up at the brand new sign above his bakery. It had taken a good number of years, but the Gilnean baker had finally got around to replacing it. The old one still bore his mother’s name– Mabel’s Bakery, it had read– but the thirty years or so since it had come into Marlen’s possession had weathered the old sign terribly. Now it simply read “Marlen’s Bakery”, and someday he imagined one of his three children would be chipping his name away to replace it with theirs.

Perhaps Magwen would be the one, he thought, as from a young age she had enjoyed helping him run the shopfront, covered in flour with fresh little pastries carefully hidden in her apron pocket. His second daughter, Awryn, would be the least likely to take the old place over in his stead. She never much liked people, and on the rare occasions Marlen could convince her to lend a hand she would always shape the breads and cakes into screaming faces or glaring skulls. He soon got the message. Arric, his youngest child and only son, was still a shy young thing and more interested in his apprenticeship with the priesthood than anything else. He was but a boy of nine, though his small size and big grey eyes made him seem younger still. It was hard to tell with him at this stage in life, as it had been when his daughters were Arric’s age too.

Marlen examined the shiny new sign a moment longer before unlocking the front doors, and headed behind the counter into the kitchen to prepare the place for another day of business. His bakery was reasonably popular, and he knew it would not be long before the first customer of the day would come to browse his wares.

He did not have to wait long at all for the little chime of the door that heralded the arrival of a potential customer, and poked his head out from the kitchen to greet a familiar face– Emrys, the Alderson’s boy, who would be looking to grab something small and sweet before his blacksmithing apprenticeship started for the day. Marlen smiled at him, disappearing back behind the kitchen door to quickly pop a kneaded tray of dough into the oven, reappearing a moment later to properly serve his customer.

“Mornin’, Emrys,” Marlen said, having to crane his head quite far up to meet his gaze. “What’ll it be today, then? I’ve got some sweet little jam-filled buns that might take your fancy.”

The younger man hummed in thought, eyes trailing over the treats on offer behind the glass of the counter. They settled on a plate of chocolate-covered eclairs– not the usual choice for Emrys, Marlen noted, inwardly slightly amused at how well he had come to know is customers’ tastes.

Emrys tapped the glass by the eclairs, indicating them. “I’ll take two of them, thanks.”

Marlen nodded and picked the soft pastries up with a pair of tongs, depositing them in a brown paper bag. This was making more sense to him now– if Emrys was buying two, that would likely mean that he intended to give one to his partner, a pleasant young priest named Rhamiel. If memory served, poor Rhamiel had taken quite ill recently, but the priesthood were confident the Light would save him.

“That’ll be six copper,” Marlen said as he handed the bag over. Emrys had the exact change in his hand already, passing it to Marlen. He hesitated as he took the bag, as though he had something to say.

“Heard from your wife recently?” Emrys eventually asked. Marlen could tell he was trying his hardest to act casual, but there was a strain in his voice.

Nonetheless, Marlen smiled as he shook his head. “Not for a couple weeks, but that sometimes happens. Yreine’s so busy up in Northrend, must be hard to find the time to write home. Last I heard she took down a frostwyrm, would you believe!”

Emrys smiled politely and raised his eyebrows at that. “Wow, that must’ve been tough. I heard those things were huge.” He paused a moment before continuing. “So… you said before that Yreine did a lot of really experimental magic, right? Said one time she somehow healed a soldier by pumpin’ him full of arcane magic?”

Marlen nodded. “Aye, that she did. Said it was somethin’ like… let me remember… turnin’ the time back on the wound and his organs to a point where there wasn’t any damage. Quite amazing, that. Why do you ask?”

There was another moment of hesitation before Emrys replied. “The, uh, the Light’s not really doing Rhamiel much good at the moment. I was wonderin’ if maybe Yreine could take a look at him if she gets back soon. I just figured that perhaps a different kind of magic might be better at fightin’ this… whatever it is that’s afflictin’ him so.”

Marlen didn’t need to think twice about that question. He smiled kindly at Emrys. “Course she will, lad. I’ll write to her about it tonight if you like.”

A look of relief crossed Emrys’ face. “Thank you. I’d be happy to pay her for the trouble– don’t really have much in the way of money but I could probably smith something nice as a thanks.”

“I’m sure that won’t be needed. I know my Yreine– she’s a kind soul, always happy to help others.” He reached out with his tongs to pick up a third eclair, wrapping it in a napkin and holding it out to Emrys. “Pop this in the bag, lad. And give Rhamiel our well wishes, would you?”

Emrys took the proffered treat and added it to his bag, thanking Marlen again before leaving for work. He was shortly followed by more customers seeking all manner of baked goods and hearty chats, all of which Marlen provided with fervour.

—

The last customer of the day left the shop, the door chime sounding behind them. Marlen packed up and mopped the place until it shone, heading next door to his home once everything was locked up safely. His children were in and they dined together before going their separate ways: Magwen to her boyfriend’s house, Awryn to a night class and Arric up to his room to read before getting an early night. As Awryn left, she chucked a bundle of letters to Marlen.

“These came earlier,” she said, strapping her boots and coat on tightly. It was another cold and wet Gilnean evening, and Marlen insisted she wrap up warm.

“Oh?” he said, sorting through them carefully. Of the four letters in his hands, three were addressed to Yreine, and one bore his name, scrawled in the familiar writing of his sister. That was odd– Renna almost never wrote back since she left Gilneas. By the Light, that must have been twenty years ago now!

As Awryn headed out to face the elements, Marlen settled in his armchair and peeled the envelope open. As his eyes skimmed the page, his heart fell more and more. Renna was not writing to him because she wanted to– it was purely out of necessity. She was out of money after spending it all on turning her daughter’s room (she had a daughter? This was the first Marlen heard about it!) into a second lounge and losing the rest to a bunch of goblins at Booty Bay.

Marlen sighed and set the letter down, mentally calculating whether it would even be possible to send over the amount of money Renna was asking for and still provide for three children. He eventually surmised that yes, he could do it, but not easily. He’d probably have to sell some heirlooms to temporarily cover the cost. There was a necklace in a locked box upstairs that was worth a few pennies, though Mabel had given him strict instructions to give that to Magwen on her wedding day. Magwen had no idea it even existed, so he could feasibly sell it without upsetting anyone. Anyone alive, anyway.

But no, he couldn’t do that. The thought of going against a wish from his now-deceased mother was too much to bear. The necklace would stay put until Magwen could have it. He would find some other way to help his sister.