Final preparations for the Von Esterheim soirée

Riley, Augustus and Bard rode by carriage to the cafe on the harbourside.

Riley was excited to see how the cafe looked with a fresh coat of paint, cleaned, polished, and with a neat garden. Over the past few days Bard had gone to the cafe to supervise the recreation and promised that she wouldn't be disappointed, so she couldn't stop herself from tapping her boot on the base of the carriage with anxious excitement and holding Sophie tightly in her arms, this cafe was something that she was doing with her own money, it was her idea and she really wanted it to do well.

When the building finally came into view she was overjoyed. It looked so beautiful with a pastel pink coat of paint with white finishings. The garden looked beautiful as well, Bard must have planted the bushels of gorgeous flowers that lined the edges of the garden.

"It's perfect!" She exclaimed as she looked at it all.

"That's not all Milady, come and take a look inside." Said Bard proudly as he got off the carriage and secured the horses there. Sophie jumped straight for the green grass then Riley jumped off the carriage eagerly and made her way inside with Augustus. When she opened the door, she heard a small flame candle burst out into flames and then quickly go out. She giggled as she realized that it was the other world equivalent of a doorbell.

Her eyes widened at the completely redone interior of the building: the floor had been retiled with white and grey marble, the inside was painted with only white paint but there were golden finishings that decorated the walls and the counters, the room also had about ten small dainty wooden tables with up to two to three chairs around each, wonderful pastel pink curtains were tied up by the windows and there stood Matilda, Briony and the three men Bard employed to redo the place, were all smiling at me brightly.

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"Isn't Wonderful Milady?" Asked Briony looking around proudly.

"It's beautiful. I see that you have all worked hard." Then Bard stepped forward and paid the three men their silver coins, which they accepted gratefully and bowed to me before they left the shop.

"It's truly a sight to behold Milady!" Said Matilda as she looked around the cafe.

"But what are you going to call it Milady?" Asked Briony.

I hadn't actually thought of a name, but I noticed that most people named their shops after themselves, such as the two fashion boutiques that I had gone to.

Bard hmphed from behind me which made me turn around to him. "Perhaps we should go with tradition and call it 'Lady Delton's cafe'?" He suggested. Since I didn't have any other ideas I was just going to go with that, until I remembered something else that I could name the shop after...

"How about calling it 'Sophie's cafe'?" I asked smiling, I loved the idea of naming it after the precious cat that I found here. Sophie must have sensed that we were talking about her because she happily made her way over to me and nuzzled against my skirt.

"An excellent choice Milady!" Exclaimed Bard.

"Who is Sophie, Milady?" Asked Briony confused.

"It's the name I gave this stray cat that I found here last time." I explained, pointing down at Sophie.

"Oh, that's a sweet idea Milady." Matilda smiled contently.

Sophie purred at my skirt seeming to be liking the thought of having a cafe named after her.

"I'll go and get the painter to paint the name of the shop on the front wall." Said Bard and he bowed to me and left to go and find someone.

"Well then let us begin our training!" Pronounced Augustus with a flamboyant flourish of his hand.

"All the ingredients have already been delivered?" I asked.

"Yes Milady, earlier this morning." Replied Matilda. They then led me and Augustus into the kitchen.

I handed them all the recipes for cakes and sweet treats that I wanted to sell there and we worked on perfecting all the desserts and teaching Matilda and Briony how to make them. After a few hours, we already made quite a spread: strawberry and chocolate/Gocan bean cake, smaller tarts and pastries and of course iced cream - which we could now make in a variety of different flavours thanks to fruit that we had bought from the Frobisher farm. Donuts, cheesecake and Korean rice cakes. It all looked so beautiful, so we decided to display them by the large shopfront windows so that we could attract some customers.

We hadn't officially opened the shop yet, but I thought it was still a good idea to create some hype.

Briony and Matilda set up a display stand by the front window and covered the stand in a light blue satin and then placed some of the cakes and tarts on the stand. The rest we put on the counters inside the shop. Briony and Matilda also went to pick some of the flowers from the garden so that we could have some small bouquets inside the shop. It was all looking so beautiful.

Then Bard arrived with the painter. The two went outside and used wind magic so that the Painter could levitate at the right level in order to paint on the letters. I watched very impressed as he managed to levitate and paint the name in very fancy lettering at the same time. Once he was finished Bard paid him some bronzes and then he was off.

We all went outside to the front of the shop and admired its beauty.

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Percival Peregrine was rushing around the harbour looking for a shop that sold cake, his little sister was turning seven years old today and he had completely forgotten to order a cake for her from the fanciest eatery in town. He had gone to that shop to see if he could just buy a cake off the rack, but they refused saying that they were all pre-ordered cakes for other customers. He was beginning to sweat, he wouldn't be able to take the heat of all of his family members glaring down at him because he hadn't gotten a cake for her birthday. His little sister Mariadne was his father's favourite child, and if he made her cry his father would be furious with him. In short, he had to find a cake.

He was panting as he climbed higher and higher from the harbour up the hill. Searching for a cake shop. He travelled all the twisting roads until finally, he saw a pretty pink building, with a beautiful little garden surrounding it, that was displaying a number of scrumptious looking desserts in the window.

Percival gladly bounced up the steps and opened the shop door, his heart stopped in his chest. There she was, a lady of striking beauty was sitting by herself at a small table and eating a slice of cake. He couldn't help but be completely absorbed in her striking dark hair and dark eyes. He could tell that she must be a noble because of the dress that she wore, not because it was very extravagant, but because he was a wealthy merchant's son, he could recognize the expensive materials that she was wearing.

He noticed that she was eating a slice of a delicious-looking heart fruit cake (strawberry cake), his little sister's favourite fruit was heart fruit, so he would probably purchase one of the heart fruit cakes he saw in the window.

But first, he needed to make sure the cake was good, so he first bought one slice. He sat down at one of the tables and forked a piece of the cake into his mouth.

It was pure bliss!

He had never tasted anything so wonderful in his entire life, the cake was fresh and light and had a mouthwatering sweetness to it. He knew instantly that Mariadne would love it.

"I would like to buy two of these cakes please!" He exclaimed happily to the serving woman on the other side of the counter.

"Certainly sir!" She said happily. Percival couldn't help but finish his slice quickly and tried to hush his stomach's growls for more cake. Perhaps he could also buy some of the other treats they had on display.

"Excuse me Miss. what is your bestselling item?" He asked, wanting to try more of the desserts.

"Well sir, this shop only opened up today and you are our first customer, but I have tried all of the dishes and my favourite is the iced cream." She replied enthusiastically. Percival was surprised that the shop had only opened up today, he thought that the shop must have been owned by an experienced master baker to be able to create such amazing desserts.

"Well this cake was splendid and I'm sure that this place will become very popular very soon," he assured the shop girl. "Might I ask who the owner is..." He suggested curiously, perhaps he would be able to secure a deal with the owner to distribute their food and cakes throughout the kingdom. He would surely be able to make a lot of money from a venture with this shop.

"Ah well, the owner is a noble lady of the third rank, and opened this shop so she could sell all her own recipes!" The shop girl gushed excitedly and her accent became a bit thicker. Percival was even more surprised that a noble lady owned this cake shop, this was even better, if he managed to meet this lady and secure patronage with her, his mother and father would be so proud of him and stop nagging him all the time. He told himself that he would come to the cafe often and try and get a glimpse of a said noble lady, possible start a conversation with her and then mention what he could offer her in terms of business opportunities, however since she was a third rank noble she probably had enough money already... Percival decided not to think about that, and only in securing a deal with her. He would come back tomorrow and ask more about the noble lady since he was already running late for his sisters birthday.

"Sir, we have three flavours of iced cream: gocan bean, chicory, heart fruit and korlan. Which one would you like?" Since Percival knew that his sister's favourite fruit was heart fruit he asked for a tub of heart fruit iced cream. He wouldn't taste it in the shop, he would eat it as a surprise when he got home to celebrate his sister's birthday party.

"In total that will cost two silvers and fifty bronzes." Percival was once again surprised. Compared to what the fancy cake shop down at the harbour centre would have costed, this was practically a steal. The shop girl packed everything nicely in pink tins for him so that he could carry them safely home to the big townhouse his merchant family lived in town at the harbour centre. He waved the shop girl goodbye and said that he would come back soon.

Riley had sat quietly in her chair, while the flustered blonde-haired young man came in and bought the desserts, she was very pleased. She knew that her little cafe would do well while she was away at the Von Esterheim soirée for three days. Since she would have to leave for their estate the day after tomorrow, she was glad that she could leave the cafe in good hands.

She had asked Briony and Matilda not to tell anyone know that she was the owner of the cafe, it wasn't because she really wanted to keep it a secret, but she felt that some people would only come to the cafe because a noble owned it and she didn't want that. She wanted people to come because they liked the desserts, not to try and get in with the noble crowd, so she wasn't very happy that Briony had gone and told the man that a noble lady owned the cafe.

"Briony..." She moaned accusingly.

"I'm truly sorry milady, but when he asked, I just felt so proud that I was working for a noble it just came spilling out of me." She explained, holding her head down regretfully.

Then Matilda spoke up, "Don't worry Milady. I will make sure that she holds her tongue while you are away." Matilda said while whacking the back of Briony's head with her hand.

"I just hope he doesn't go all over town telling everyone that a noble owns this shop." said Riley.

Riley, Augustus and Bard soon left Briony and Matilda in charge of the shop, as they travelled back to the mansion. Riley was satisfied that everything would go smoothly with the shop, their first customer seemed to really enjoy the desserts, all Briony and Matilda would have to do were sell all the things they had made and make new desserts when they ran out.

Since Riley would only be able to see them after the soirée she had asked Bard to go and check on them every day just in case they ran into some trouble. For the next few days, she would have to be getting ready for the soirée with Agnes.

For the remainder of the day, Agnes went over the proper etiquette with Riley and taught her the proper way to address her seniors at the Mage society, the right way to sip on tea, the correct form for standing and walking.

Agnes told Riley that she could wear more casual dresses during the day but in the evenings she would have to change into elaborate ball gowns for the parties.

Also on the second day of the soirée, the whole party would travel to the forest to have a hunting party and Riley would need to bring warm clothes for the cold forest night.

Since everybody would be sleeping at the Von Esterheim's castle the guests were allowed to bring one or two maids with them, but there would be maids provided from the Von Esterheim's own staff. Agnes decided that Edna and herself would accompany Lady Riley to the soirée since Mellie was still a bit too young and unrestrained to accompany her to their castle, much to Mellie's dismay.

That night Riley fell asleep dreaming about etiquette and the correct posture.

Similarly, the etiquette training continued the next morning until late that afternoon, until Agnes was completely satisfied that Riley had learned everything. Riley's bags were packed and her dress was laid out on a chair ready for the early departure for the next morning to Von Esterheim castle.

That night as she lay in bed she found that she couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was filled with all the rules she had to follow, not to mention all the nobles she probably would have to meet but at least a few people that she knew would be there such as Alice and Lucian.

From across the room, Sophie seemed to sense Riley's unrest and padded over to her bed from the windowsill she had been leaning against and nuzzled up to Sophie affectionately.

"Hello, Sophie." Riley whispered, stroking her neck. "I don't want to let my anxiety get the best of me, but it kinda is..." Riley continued, she felt a cold sweat break over her. When it came to magic she was fine, but socializing with the most influential, and probably most stuck up people of this world made her really nervous.

"Am I just overthinking this..." she sighed. "Maybe I am, I mean I've made a lot of friends, most of whom are nobles, and they were all lovely... But part of me thinks I just got lucky and met the only nice nobles out there." She chuckled and looked into Sophie's big round eyes that were twinkling up at her. Sophie let out a soft Meow before stretching out her paws and yawning.

"Okay, okay, I know I'm getting anxious for nothing. I'll just keep calm and chill like you." With that Riley placed a kiss on her white paw and then closed her eyes determined to sleep.