The Gilded Frame

2- The Calm

Dear Espresso,

I hope you're ok! I successfully avoided the storm, and as long as I take the long route back, I won't get caught in it.

I am looking forward to seeing you again! It may take a while, but I am going to get to you as soon as I can, I promise.

I miss you and I can't wait to see your beautiful face again.

Love, Madeleine

A short and sweet letter. He smiles, rereading it.

The wind picks up and tears the letter from his hands.

He gasps and tries to catch it, but it's just out of his reach.

It lands face down in a river.

Madeleine struggles to stop before falling in. He sees it starting to sink while floating away.

He finds a good spot, so he leans over and grabs the now fully soaked paper.

He looks at the front.

"It's ruined.. It's all ruined..." He walks back to his horse. It's a black horse with specks of white scattered randomly all over. Like snow.

He sighs, "Now I have to rewrite it and draw something new on the back too."

He looks around, "I should wait until I get to a town."

He mounts his horse, then continues down the road, "Don't worry, Espresso, I'll be home as soon as I can. I will stay with you. We will be together again."

*+*Meanwhile*+*

Espresso is sipping coffee, looking at the picture on his kitchen wall. It's a portrait of Madeleine, who's smiling.

Like the one in his hallway, this one has a gilded frame.

Espresso sighs, finishing his coffee. He rinses out the cup, leaves it in the sink, then grabs his keys.

He goes to the Wafflebot Hangar, stopping somewhere to get food for him and Strawberry Crepe.

When he gets to the Wafflebot Hangar, Strawberry Crepe runs up to him, "Did you get the food? I'm STARRRVINGGG!!"

Espresso smiles and nods, "I did, like always." He hands them the box with their food.

They giggle and run away with it. Espresso walks over to the section of the Hangar that was converted into his lab and sits down in his chair to eat.

Once he finishes his food, he starts setting up his next experiment.

Before he can start, Gingerbrave runs into the room, "ESPRESSOCOOKIEWENEEDYOURHELP!!"

Espresso sighs, setting down what he was holding, then asks, "Can you slow down?"

"We need your help! There's cake monsters attacking and we need your magic-"

"It's a good thing I haven't started yet. Can you lead me to them?"

Gingerbrave nods before turning around and running out, Espresso close behind him.

The cake monsters are scattered around the plaza, attacking random civilians. Some are fighting back while others are escaping.

Espresso uses his skill to gather the cake monsters in one central area before using his Magic Candy. The monsters are all severely wounded, so the other cookies can finish them off easily.

Once he's sure there aren't any more monsters, Espresso turns to go back to his lab. He's interrupted by cookies thanking him and congratulating him on the easy victory.

He politely tries to get away, but the crowd only grows larger.

He tries to keep a polite smile on his face, "Madeleine would love all this attention, wouldn't he?"

After a while, the crowd dies down enough for Espresso to get away. He grabs a coffee on his way back to his lab, "While I'm glad I could help, all that celebration was.. Unnecessary."

He sips his coffee, then begins his experiment.

After a while, Strawberry Crepe creeps over to watch.

"What are you doing, Espresso?"

Espresso yelps, nearly dropping something. He looks at them, "I- Can you not sneak up on me like that next time?"

"But what are you doing?"

Espresso turns back to his equipment, checking to make sure nothing was ruined, "I am trying to see if I can make myself more powerful Magic Candies by using more potent coffee. And for that, I need to see what the most powerful coffee I can make is."

"Woah... Sound's kinda boring. I'm gonna go check what tasks my wafflebots need to do."

"There was an attack in the plaza, which sustained some damage. They may request help repairing it soon."

"Ok!" Strawberry Crepe walks away, leaving Espresso alone.

Outside, Venti Caramel is wandering around the park. There's many secluded spots, as well as a pond. The water is so clear you can see the bottom.

She hears singing, so she follows it to find a hidden area. There's a tree that curves over itself with clovers growing around it. Sitting on the lower part of the trunk is Clover Cookie, who's singing to the animals gathered around him.

Not wanting to interrupt, Venti Caramel silently leaves, "Hmm.. Maybe I should check out the shopping area."

As she's walking there, she passes Sparkling's bar. She can hear music inside. Mint Choco is performing.

The shops are busy with cookies running between buildings with bags in their arms.

Birds fly by overhead, chirping happily.

She stops at a café, getting a latte before continuing her walk around the kingdom. There are some dark alleyways, but she avoids those.

The houses are mostly two stories tall, some with small shops on the bottom floors. The sun reflects off of the colorful windows of the castle in the distance.

A cool summer breeze blows Venti Caramel's hair into her face. She pulls her hair out of her mouth, using a small amount of magic to hold her cup while she ties her hair back in a low ponytail.

She grabs her cup and smiles, sipping more of her latte. Speaking of latte, Latte sees Venti Caramel and waves her over, "Hi! Sorry we couldn't talk more yesterday. How have you been enjoying the kingdom so far?"

"It's very nice! I might stay a few more days than I initially planned. It's one of the nicest kingdoms I've visited so far!"

Latte smiles, "That's good to hear."

"Are you busy now?"

"No. We can walk together and talk if you want?"

"Sure!"