Chapter 16 : The Bakery Trip
If Ashvale had a scent, Elias decided, it would be damp leaves and half-regret. But today, the town smelled like cinnamon.
That should've been his first warning.
The second was Rhea stopping dead in her tracks mid-rant about why fire-resistant socks were clearly a scam.
She tilted her head. Sniffed. Then turned to him with wide, glowing eyes.
"You smell that?"
He didn't even have time to answer before she grabbed his sleeve and pulled.
"Rhea—potion ingredients! We're on a mission!"
"We can mission later. Something divine is baking."
They skidded to a stop outside a new storefront: Auntie Grumm's Hearth & Crust. The windowpane was fogged from the warmth inside, but through the haze, trays of golden bread and sugar-glazed pastries beckoned like sirens. The wooden sign creaked overhead, enchanted with a charm that sang softly, "Where bread meets soul, and butter reigns whole."
Elias blinked. "...That's unnecessarily poetic."
Rhea didn't answer. She was already inside.