Goodbye to the Knight✔️

41. A challenge

All day we have been working tirelessly. There are nine of us, including both Gisela and I, covering the entire festivals food, of course other villagers do bake a few things themselves and bring them to us, but we are still making the main bulk of the food.

Everything seems to be happening at once, currently I am rolling out dough and forming intricate shapes to take outside to the oven. I've been doing this for a while and have mastered the knack of weaving the dough. To my right is a lady called Breena who has been making miniature apple pies the entire time whilst sharing words with me.

"So you look after the children in the village?" I ask.

"That is right," she starts forming little shapes out of pastry to put on top of the pies, "when the parents go out to work on the land I often have them over, gotta keep an eye on the rascals."

"They must be a handful." I laugh.

"You cannot even imagine, but they keep me entertained so it balances out."

"How many do you have at one time?"

"I have around ten most days,"

My eyes widen, I am not used to being around many children, "Wow, that must be so chaotic keeping track of all of them."

"Trust me it is, but I try to give them something to do, keep 'em occupied." She explains.

I finish the last dough plait of this round and place it onto the tray next to me.

"I shall be back shortly!" I say, picking up the tray and walking outside, admiring Gisela's fruit platters on the other side of the room.

I make my way to the oven out behind the kitchen and slide the tray of dough rolls onto the long handled paddle beside the oven and they place it slowly in. I also then take out the previous lot after checking that they are done, which they are, their smell wafting out into the air. I ease the rolls out and place them on the stand by the oven to cool down and do a little dance, they came out perfectly with the bottom barely burnt.

"Ell, can you go on a little errand for me?" Gisela comes out and catches the end of my dance.

I spin around, "Of course, where do you need me to go?"

"Can you run back to the house and pick up some baskets and trays that I accidentally left there?"

"Sure, where in the house are they?" I ask.

"They should be just out in the hallway, somehow I completely missed them when we were leaving." She laughs at herself.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No, that shall be all, thank you dearie."

I give her a wave and start wandering back through the village, Gisela's house being on the opposite side of the village to the kitchen. I can't help but be in awe as I walk along the streets that are being transformed.

Blue and white bunting line the streets, dancing in the light breeze whilst people are taking the time to splash buckets of water over cobbles and scrub them, narrowly avoid people walking by. The sconces lining the street are being polished by the children until they shine, ready to hold torches to light up the dark night. In the village square, people are on their hands and knees weeding out the little plants growing in the cracks of the slightly uneven ground.

This must also be the village's annual clean I realise.

Back at Gisela's home, I easily spot the baskets and trays in the hallway, to be honest they are pretty hard to miss as they are stacked high. I inwardly groan, they are going to be a challenge to carry all at once.