Hanna’s Baking Contest (pt 3)

With sweaty palms, Hanna was brainstorming ideas for the next contest round. She felt like she had to put in even more effort this time. She needed something truly special, a dish that would show off her skills and creativity, able to crush Bella and the other contestants. The normally cheerful Hanna looked like some evil maniac steaming up a devilish creation.

I need to have a special ingredient, the kind of ingredient that will lighten up my submission. Something magical…

Admittedly, she knew almost nothing about magic, but she felt an ingredient like such would be required to win.

Lighting up… what if I take that literally? Find some ingredients that can illuminate my submission.

“Litefairy stools…” she whispered, her eyes gloating. Hanna had heard they were edible and retained their glow for hours after being pulled out of the ground, however, she had never used them before as a cooking ingredient. Magical items like these were tricky to work with, but it would certainly help her creation stand out. And best of all, they grew in the forest just outside town, this time of year.

I need to get going.

Carrying a round wicker basket, Hanna strolled through the town gate, leading to a gravel road. From there she took a small dirty trail leading her into the dark forest.

I am sorry Mom for going here alone… but you must understand that I need to win this.

Carefully, she continued her way deeper and deeper into the forest. Then suddenly, Hanna stood still. A bush ahead of her was shaking. Silently, the girl watched it in anticipation. Two long ears popped up…

Pfff… it’s just a moonrabbit, you don’t usually see these in the daytime.

Hanna resumed the path, which became wider and wider. Soon enough, she found herself at a small clearing, where something coughed her attention. She walked up to it and crouched down.

Hello, my friend…., Hanna whispered to a glowing litefairy stool before plucking it and putting it in her basket. A whole group of mushrooms grew in the grass, illuminating the dark forest.

With a couple of stools in her basket, Hanna rushed back to the town square where she started planning her recipe. She wanted to make a statue of the three-headed dragon, Lord Cedric the First, a distant descendant of the current Lord once defeated. A well-known legend here in this town. She needed three round cakes to form the heads and then created the dragon’s fire out of the litefairy stools mixed with some oranges for the color.

Hanna started preparing the dough for the cakes, mixing all the ingredients in a big bowl and then dividing it into three round molds. After the cakes had settled, she put them into the oven. With Marzipan, she cut out round shapes for the eyes and back scales, which she prepared for later. Then her attention went to the most tricky ingredient: the litefairy stools.

She took one out of the basket and chopped it into small chunks, then proceeded to grind it to a liquid.

“How magical,” Hanna whispered, looking at the glowing mushroom sap. She peeled the oranges and squeezed out the juice, adding a flamey orange color to the batter. After that, Hanna added some flour to give it a thicker consistency. Hanna watched the concoction rise.

Wait! It isn’t supposed to do that, I didn’t add any yeast!

The mixture started expanding, rapidly becoming bigger and bigger. Like a balloon getting filled with more and more air. Hanna covered her ears and jumped under the stall.

“TAKE COVER!” she yelled, followed by a big bang.

A panicked Hanna crawled up and found herself at the center of attention. She could see the other contestants look at her with shock in their eyes. Hanna looked around the square to assess the mess she caused. The entire square was littered with blobs of ominously orange goop. Her heart started beating faster as the scale of her mess-up became clear.

“Oh dear, are you okay?” Miss Ravenshild who rushed toward her asked.

“N… no. Look at the mess I caused. I ruined the entire contest,” Hanna said while collapsing. Tears started dropping down her cheeks. She could already sense Bella judging her.

“I am not crying,” Hanna whispered to herself while wiping her tears away.

“Sweety, we will think of something to clean up this mess. Most importantly you don’t seem to have any injuries,” the lady added while reaching Hanna her hand.

She helped Hanna get up. Hanna made brief eye contact with an angry-looking Bella before she looked away at her own ingredients she was preparing.

“I will clean up this mess, I am a professional cleaner after all,” Hanna said to the members of the crowd surrounding her. She took another look at the mess, it would be a lot of trouble to get rid of all the sticky goop.

If only Miho were here with Clarice…

But that wasn’t the solution, Hanna shook her head.

“I must come up with a way to fix this myself”

X

Hanna borrowed a broom from the bakery and started frantically scrubbing the goop. To little effect, the goop stuck to the broom, clogging up the bristles. Disheartened Hanna lifted the broom and inspected the bottom, crying the pull of the nasty slime with her fingers.

A broom isn’t going to work for this.

Even worse, was the fact that the goop mixed with flour was blown further and further away by the wind, spreading it to the other parts of the square. Hanna decided that her priority would be to prevent the spread. She found a stack of leftover tarps, of the striped variety that covered the stalls and thought of a plan.

“Can you help me carry these?” she asked some bystanders.

Together they built a protective barrier, preventing the goop from blowing even further. Hanna rang many bells, collecting old blankets and towels which she soaked in water. She added those on the top of the tarps, in the hope the loose flower would stick to it.

With pride, she looked at the barrier. Aside from preventing the spread, this provided a convenient spot for the goop to collect, so it could more easily get removed.

Now I need a way to remove the goop sticking to the cobblestone.

Hanna browsed through the baking supplies, trying to find something that could help her. The goop consisted of mostly dough after all, so some kind of scoop might help her.

“Too pointy… too circular… ahhh perfect!” Hanna lifted a big rectangular scoop with one sharp side. She found a wooden broom handle and with a piece of rope, she tied the handle to the handle of the metal scoop. With this new instrument, she could easily clean up the square.

Hanna walked to the first piece of goop and with a quick motion she scooped it up and put it in a bag she carried. One by one, she scooped up the pieces of goop, cleaning up the square bit by bit. Miss Ravenshild walked up to Hanna, leading a group of villagers with their made-shift scoops.

“Please let us help, we admire your dedication, but you have a contest you need to get back to, right?” she said.

Hanna shook her head.

“I need to prove… I can do this alone. I don’t need any help,” she said while stubbornly continuing to scoop the goop.

“There is no need to keep proving yourself like this Hanna, your ingenuity already showed true and true. Please remember we Friendshainers always have each other’s backs,” the woman added.

Hanna stopped cleaning and looked the woman in her eyes.

“Do you really believe so… I messed up big-time, remember? I overstepped my boundary by trying to mix in magical ingredients I don’t have the experience with,” Hanna confessed.

“I was so focused on trying to win that I brought the whole contest in danger and littered the town square,” she added.

“I… I am so sorry…” Hanna said while bowing before Miss Ravenshild.

“You are all welcome to help, but please let me keep cleaning until it’s done!” Hanna suggested.

Together, the villagers and Hanna finished cleaning up the goop in about an hour, leaving the square sparkly clean. After admiring the cleaned square, Hanna moved back to her stall. She wiped down the surface and started mixing some dough. From the corner of her eye, she looked at Bella, who was busy decorating a castle-like structure.

I am never going to win this… but I am not going to drop out either…

According to the clock tower, there was still half an hour left. Enough to make something. After kneading her dough thoroughly, she rolled it down into a plaque and started cutting shapes out of it. She then put them in the oven, just long enough so she had some time left to decorate the cookies afterward. Reusing some marzipan she had prepared for her failed creation, she finished her submission just before the bells started ringing.

“I see you created a cat… and a girl.” the jury member spoke.

“These are the magnolia princess and her cat Silverbell,” Hanna explained, showing off her sand cookies.

Hanna looked at how the jury member took a bite of her cookie and wrote something down on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, a large crowd of villagers had appeared by Bella’s stall. Hanna stood on her toes, trying to get a better look. There was a meticulously created scale model of Cedric’s castle, complete with a figure of Cedric the First.

A true piece of art… Hanna thought while admiring Bella’s work.

After the judging round was over, the contestants were called to the stage. By now the darkness has begun to set in, the town square still illuminated by a variety of little lights. A big crowd of villagers had formed around the stage, awaiting the contest result in anticipation.

“Thank you all for coming to the award ceremony of this town's first annual baking contest! Here are our contestants, please welcome them all! Without further ado, let me announce our winner, on place three Hansell with his live-sized gnome. In second place, we have Vera with her crown made of sweet bread. And best of all, we have Bella with her replica of Friendshain castle!”

The crowd cheered on Bella, as Hanna accepted her defeat. When Hanna had the chance, she approached her rival.

“Congratulations Bella, your castle is so beautiful! If you have some real talent.”

Bella looked a bit surprised at her former classmate.

“Thank you? I was expecting you to storm off stage crying, but I sense you might have grown a bit since then,” she started laughing.

“But clearly your baking skills haven’t.”

Hanna stared Bella in the eyes.

“I can do much… much... much better! I will show you next year.”

Bella shook Hanna’s hand.

“Promised.”

Hanna returned to her stall, getting ready to clean up the leftover cookies.

“Can I have one of these?” a familiar voice asked.

Immediately, Hanna turned her head, staring into her friend's eyes.

“Miho!” she yelled, sprinting to the other side of the stall and jumping into her friend's arms.

“Stop, stop, I told you not to hug me, remember,” Miho responded while awkwardly embracing her friend.

“I am sorry, I can’t help it…. I am just so glad you are here,” Hanna said while a tear dropped from her cheek. She was crying from happiness.

Miho took a cookie and took a bite.

“You did well,” she responded.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself today, since tomorrow we will resume cleaning. You must have missed it, right?” Miho joked.

You have no idea, Hanna thought while sighing.