-Basilisk-

My day usually starts with me just opening the bakery, alone. I have some time to myself where I can do the things I need to do and not be interrupted. I can start the oven, set out the ingredients, and just start whatever dessert or bread that I wanted to make that particular morning. It was quiet, and I could stay completely relaxed as the sun started to rise. It was nice.

Then she started showing up.

Yes, I gave Lily a Spew Puff every morning, but I was trying to be nice. I had stormed off the first time we meet, and even though she was trying to get a reaction out of me, I didn’t think she was horrible. She may be rude, annoying, and seemingly short-tempered, but she’s a decent person. I gave her that second puff since she works early and seemed to be having a bad day. I just felt like doing it the following two weeks, but I never expected anything to come out of it.

I learned that the unexpected becomes common when Lily is involved.

“Here,” I turned to see Lily standing in front of the counter, a bag dangling from her outstretched hand.

I set down the bread that had just finished cooling. I had no idea what was happening. “What’s that?”

Lily glared daggers at me as she shook the bag. “It’s a thank you gift, dumbass,” She barked. “For the puffs you’ve been giving me even though your uncle didn’t tell you to. And…” Her eyebrow twitched and her knuckles paled. “... It’s an apology for the way I acted a couple of weeks ago.”

A gift? Why is she doing this? Is this a prank? Then again, I don’t know her this well. This may be something she does, but why would she give a stranger a gift? Should I take, or leave it? I don’t really know… Take it or refuse? Refuse? Accept! I don’t know!

Calm down…

I don’t know what to do.

Whatever you want… Tell her to leave or accept the gift… it’s a one-time thing that won’t matter tomorrow…

Right.

Do whatever you want…

Okay.

Lily’s eyes narrowed as she continued to hold out the bag. Reluctantly, I took the bag from her and looked inside. A face stared back at me. I blinked, confused. Then, I realized it was cloth. Lily had given me a fabric doll of a little Luc-Luc.

It’s an actual gift. It’s not a prank. She actually got me a gift.

I didn’t know how to react. My chest felt light, my throat twisted into a knot.

Run away!

Hug her!

Say you don’t want it!

It’s just a doll…

My throat loosened. I set the bag on the counter and said the first thing that came to mind. “That seemed like it was painful to say.”

Lily looked me over, her eyes widening a little bit. She grunted before saying, “It was. It felt like shit on my tongue. I’m done now.” She turned and made her way over to the door.

I looked at the bag, my chest still feeling light. I didn’t think she would do something like that. The only time I’ve ever gotten presents was from my family, and that hadn’t been meaningful like this. A tingling ran up my face. I… I couldn’t help it. It felt… nice.

“Thank you.”

It just came out. Without any thought, without any preplanning, I said it.

Lily stopped and faced me. Her expression was weird; I couldn't place what her look meant. Then, she smiled. “You’re welcome.” She shook her head and left.

I took the doll out of the bag and sat it upright against the breadbasket. The detail on it was well done: stitches crossing together, running from the knuckles up its arm making scales. The maker did the same thing on the legs and partially up the neck. On the underside of the arms and legs, grayish material stood out against the green-blue scales. The horns, instead of pointing up or inwards, turned outwards and dipped and rose two times to make a wavy shape. It wore a generic shirt and pants, and its hair was short and dark brown. Big, red eyes and a smile stared back at me.

It’s adorable!

I picked up the doll and rubbed it against my cheek. It’s so soft! Where did she get this? I love it! I just want to put it on my shelf! Well, after pushing something else off. I can’t believe Lily got this for me! It’s great!

I suddenly became very aware of the windows in the storefront. I placed the doll back in the bag and placed it behind the counter. That light feeling was still in my chest.

It’s just a doll…

“Yeah, it is. But I really like it. And it makes me happy that she gave it to me. Thanks, Lily.”

I didn’t know that would be the end of my solo mornings. Because from that day onward…

“What can I do to help out?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” I told her. “This isn’t your job.”

“I know this isn’t my fucking job,” She spat. “I’m just trying to be helpful, dumbass.”

“Sure, because you cussing at the slightest provocation is soooooo helpful.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Lily asked/ordered.

I leaned against the counter and pointed at one of the rare early customers who had just walked in and walked out once Lily started talking.

“Oh... meh, it’s only one guy,” She said completely unabashed.

“You are a ray of sunshine.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

When I tried to hand her a puff the other day, Lily just barged past me and into the bakery. She asked me how she could help me open up, just like today. Against my protests, Lily refused to leave until she helped out. I relented and told her some of my morning chores. She set to work without another word. Lily started the fire and started moving the tables and chairs back out onto the patio. I was able to grab the ingredients and start on the pastries right away. When my uncle came down, all I could do was shrug when he saw Lily helping to prep the bakery. He had chuckled and started guiding Lily around the rest of our morning routine. She left after a few hours, saying that she had other things to do.

Admittedly, she was a huge help. An extra worker made the day so much easier; however, it became clear that she couldn’t help with the actual baking. After an incident involving a cloud of smoke, flavorless clumps of indistinguishable dough that were both over and undercooked, and a series of events that ended with me covered in batter and a bowl dangling from one of my horns, we avoid having her near the food until after it was baked.

This process continued for about a week. Today, things went a little differently. Near the end of Lily’s self-assigned shift, Cobalt came rushing through the door, clutching a scarf to her chest. Out of breath, she sagged against the counter, gasping, “Lily… you… left your… scarf… at the tavern… I’m out of shape… Damn sweets…”

Lily had popped over to her side with visible signs of concern, which slide right off to be replaced by annoyance. “I don’t own a scarf.”

“What…” Cobalt panted.

“I don’t have a scarf, and that has a Harpy insignia on it,” She pointed out. “That’s from a messenger.”

“Oh… well… too late now…” Cobalt swallowed dryly, pounding her fist on the counter.

“Water?” I offered her a cup.

“Thanks,” Cobalt took the cup and drained it of its contents. When she was done, she hopped up and clapped. “Alright! I’m good to go!” She placed an energetic hand on Lily’s shoulder that caused the younger Naiad to take a step back. “So you weren’t kidding when you said that you were helping out here. What are they paying you?”

“They aren’t paying me,” Lily replied as she tried to free herself from Cobalt’s iron grip.

“You’re not?” Cobalt asked me.

I shrugged. “We tried, but the most she would take is more Spew Puffs.”

Cobalt turned on Lily. “You work all night, used to sleep the rest of the day away, but now you’re working here for free? What’s wrong with you?”

Lily’s purple eyes flashed. Her fingers twitched. “I’m just helping out, that’s all.”

“Reeeeally?” Cobalt sang. “Or do you actually like hanging around here? Maybe you want to spend more time here?”

“You make it sound like I should be working here,” Lily said

Cobalt was making a face as if she had just won some sort of game. Where’s my uncle? I think he’s in the storeroom. Based on what I knew about Cobalt and the conversation taking place, I had a decent idea of how the next few seconds were about to go.

“That’s a great idea! Ripple!” Cobalt called. “Is it okay if Lily got an official job in your bakery?”

“Cobalt!” Lily piped, too surprised to draw any of her usual annoyance into her words.

“Of course!” My uncle called back from the storeroom. “The more the merrier! She’s been a joy to have around so we would love to have her on board! That is,” Ripple poked his head into the main room. “If my nephew doesn’t have a problem with that.”

Cobalt and Lily turned to me: one pair of eyes merry and light, the other as if they were scanning for cracks in a sheet of ice. My head exploded.

You won’t have any time to yourself in the morning!

What if the two of you don’t get along?

Come on, it would be fun to have someone else around!

There’s no reason to have her around…

This is my place in the morning!

It would be nice to have someone else helping out!

Why would I want to be close to her…

She’s been so nice to me!

It’ll just fall apart…

No, it won’t!

I’ll just end up in an awkward place with Lily around…

But-

She’ll act nice and then it won’t matter if I’m here or not…

She’s a good person!

What does that matter… I know what’ll happen… Turn her away…

Let her join!

Keep her away…

There’s a chance that we’ll be friends!

There’s not…

Take a chance!

Say no…

Just say-

“Sure,” I finally said. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

I did it!

This was a mistake…

My uncle nodded his approval. Cobalt’s smile somehow grew even wider. Lily shook her head, but she didn’t insult me. Instead, she said to Cobalt, “But I already have a job. I only help here for an hour or two. I don’t want to go from one all-night shift at the tavern to a daytime shift here.”

“Right,” Cobalt tapped her chin. She gave Lily a stern look and said in an authoritative tone, “You’re fired.”

“What was that?”

“You’re fired.”

“You can’t fucking do that!”

“I can because I already asked Snapper,” Cobalt said as if she were explaining this to a small child. Lily tried to snap back, but Cobalt talked over her. “I asked him after that incident. He gave me permission to fire you if I thought the time was right. And,” She gestured to the windows, the ovens, the baskets of baked goods, and finally on me. “I believe this is the right time.”

And that’s how Lily started working at Tidepool. We quickly fell into a routine: Lily waited for me to unlock the door; I gather the ingredients while Lily started the stove; I started to bake, and Lily prepared the bakery for customers; we traded off taking orders from customers and cleaning the floor. With an extra person, my uncle started taking to the streets and handing out fliers while promoting the bakery to anyone who would talk to him. Like I’ve said before, my uncle could talk to about anyone. It worked; he sent customers directly to us, and we managed to help them. At some points, I had to bake more food while Lily dealt with the customers, and she managed to keep her swearing to a minimum.

At the end of the first week, Lily and I were wiping down the tables after pulling them inside for the evening. The sun was starting to set when my uncle returned. He looked around the room, which was cleaned much faster than it used to be with only two workers around. Ripple chuckled happily and said, “You two should head out for the evening, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Lily and I looked up. We usually didn’t leave for another hour or so. “Are you sure, Ripple?” I asked. “We could finish up here.”

“I insist. Besides,” he chuckled again. “You two seem to have finished almost everything, so the least I could do is let you leave and have some fun before the sun goes down.”

“Ripple,” Lily started. “It’s no problem-”

“That’s enough,” He persisted. “Just get out of here already. Go, be young and have fun!”

After another few minutes, Lily and I were standing outside the bakery as the door locked behind us. We looked at each other. Lily and I hadn’t done anything after work together, so we would probably just end up saying goodbye and heading home. I was about to do just that, but Lily asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”