The city of Fintan was active at the first sight of the sun. Using magic stones they were able to build clocks that would vibrate at a certain time, alerting those next to them. Basically, Fishy made an alarm clock. Thanks to these clocks, production in the city skyrocketed. Builders were up at the earliest signs of light and all the shops knew when to open and close. The days were perfectly measured and everyone quickly made their own schedule thanks to it.
One of the first buildings to open, in the morning, is a tiny bakery, called Tiny Tin. It's wooden hanging sign blew about in the early morning wind as the bell rang signalling the swinging doors. The owner of this building, one of the city's executives, Tin, opened the shop at 6 am. This was after preparing for an hour as she started making her first batch of fresh bread, cakes, cupcakes, biscuits and more wonderful sweets that enchanted the residence.
Of course, all of this was Fishy's idea. He introduced all these wonders to Tin and even designed the shop after the old British tea shops he'd always enjoy travelling to when he was back home. It was him trying to bring part of his old life with him.
The smell of fresh bread swarmed over the city and its first customers were always the building team. They would stop by to pick up their lunch and breakfast that they always have, meat sandwiches for lunch with a heartfelt scone on the side, and various meats and eggs for breakfast.
Tin would prance around her tiny shop, cleaning and brushing around the countertop to make sure it was spotless as the clumsy building team, led by another executive, Silmor, walked in.
But for once, Silmor wasn't the first to walk in, as a young girl pushed open the door with all her might. The sound of the bell ringing enchanted her as she stepped into a world she hadn't seen before. One that illuminated her dark hair with the building's bright colour scheme.
"Callie!" Tin screamed as she ran around to the front to squeeze the cute 12-year-old in front of her. "I'm so glad you decided to come…"
Callie didn't reply as she hid her head behind her light clothing that was given to her by Clara. Getting rid of her dirty old jumper and replacing it with clothes that showed off her smooth skin and utilised her cuteness.
Callie's smile was shaky as she didn't know what to feel. It was a lot for her to take in, but looking at the mature women in front of her, she felt as if she would be brave and try.
"So, we have some time before the builders arrive. Your sister is with Fishy today so we can do whatever we want! What do you want to do?"
"I want to bake…"
"Perfect! But first…" Tin ran into the back room and came out with a plate covered in a tiny tea towel. She put it close to Callie as she unveiled the creation underneath. A perfectly cut slice of banana bread.
"This is Fishy's favourite. Don't tell him I gave you some."
The smell was enough for Callie to already want to eat it. She gently picked it up with her pale hands that carefully ripped it apart as if she was rationing. She took one bite of the tiny sample she ripped herself and ate it like a chipmunk, small adorable bites.
Her face lit up as it touched her taste buds, she wanted to have more but couldn't. Part of her was unsure if she could have it. To her, it seemed as if this was the only slice, as she felt that she didn't deserve it.
"Please, have it all." Tin smiled calmly as if she was looking at her own child. She placed her hand on Callie's silky hair and watched as she continued to devour the remaining slice of banana bread.
"Ok, Callie!" After eating the bread and putting on a pink apron that was too big for her, and tying her graceful hair in a ponytail, showing just how similar she was to her older sister. Callie and Tin moved to the kitchen area where they started to prepare a loaf of bread. Tin had made the dough but it still needed to be kneaded, and Tin thought Callie could do it.
"You ready?"
Tin wasn't expecting Callie to be any good at it. It required a fierce action that a shy 12-year-old may not have possessed, but to Tin's surprise, Callie was fully involved. She kneaded the dough, throwing it about. She used all the strength, arms and elbows, to knead the dough until it gently bounced her finger back. As she was doing so, she didn't notice how engrossed she had become in the process. Her tiny red tongue sticking out the side of her mouth and her eyes wide open as a smile quickly took over her entire face. The smile she held was contagious and quickly spread over to Tin who had to resist her motherly urges to hug any random adorable child. But luckily for her, the sound of the bell chiming as the door opened brought her out of the infectiousness.
"That must be Silmor's crew. Come on, Callie, let's go see them!"
Tin led Callie out by the hand to greet Silmor who stood in Tin's shop while the rest of the builders waited outside. Silmor looked up to Tin who stood on the other end of her oak counter, as Silmor was just unable to see over it.
"Morning, Tin." Silmor, the head builder and raggedy dwarf said.
"Morning Silmor, nice day today."
"Sure is, love the smell of this place in the morning."
Callie hid behind the counter as Silmor spoke. His deep voice was a bit too much for her, but she couldn't help but poke her head round to see what he looked like. With his tools wrapped around his waist and large beard, Silmor looked just like Callie expected.
"Well, who do we have here. You must be Callie."
Silmor noticed the timid girl cowering away, but with Callie being spotted, she stepped out. And the first thing that Tin noticed, was how the two of them were almost the same height. (Callie is just shorter.)
"You've come to a good place. Tin'll teach you all that you need to know about baking."
Silmor's smile was just as bright as everyone else's in the town. Callie had noticed the smiles when they first saw everyone at the pool and was quickly understanding why.
"Well, I should be off." Silmor was handed several boxes that stacked over him. He stumbled his way to the door being unable to see. The other workers all laughed at him and refused to help as he almost ruined their breakfast by crashing into the door.
"We have all sorts of characters here. Come on, let's go back to your bread."
The two of them went back to making bread. Callie spent the entire day with Tin and never dropped her smile. The anticipation she had as her loaf was pulled out the boiling oven was something she'll never forget, and the first bite was something that made her melt away into a world of bliss that she would never want to end.