Gara Winter Special - Sugar And Butter

There are many scents you would expect to find in a tavern. Alcohol is one of them, from the open whiskey bottle to the freshly poured beer dancing with the pungent aroma of wood smoke. All of that mixed with the fragrance of seasoned roasts hiding the scent of aged furniture.

What you certainly wouldn't expect is the sweet smell of sugar permeating the air, and the twinkling of Christmas lights that change colour every few seconds.

But of course, Tamarant is not just any tavern. What's even stranger than all of that is seeing that there's no one around.

"Gara?" you call to the tavern keeper as you enter through the door.

You leave your coat at the entrance and remain with just the scarf on. You notice a faint scent of butter mixed with the familiar lavender incense.

A ball of fur shoots out from the arch leading to the kitchen, causing the curtain that separates the rooms to flutter. Amid sharp squeaks, Enid climbs up your body like she usually does, settling on your shoulder and rubbing her nose against your cheek in greeting.

"Hello, little one," you greet her with a petting behind the ears. "Where's your owner?"

"Back here!" Your friend's voice comes from the same place where the otter emerged. Gara peeks her head through the doorway, having to stoop a bit due to her height, and gestures for you to come in. "Come see this."

You raise an eyebrow and follow your curiosity into the kitchen.

"You don't have any customers in the tavern," you state more as an observation than a question.

Inside the kitchen, trays of freshly baked cookies line stretches of the counter, filling the room with a tempting scent of butter, vanilla, and a faint hint of lemon that makes you salivate almost instantly.

On one of the trays in the corner, you find several nibbled cookies, and you suspect that the culprit of the premature sugar feast is the creature on your shoulder.

"This time of the year is about being with the family," the keeper replies as she wipes her hands with the cloth tied to her waist, as if that were explanation enough for the empty tables. "Plus, it gave me the opportunity to prepare all of this. Here."

The woman offers you one of the cookies with a smile, unmistakably shaped like a Christmas tree. You feel the soft texture as you take it from her hand, along with a delicate smell of chocolate that encourages you to take a bite. The cookie melts in your mouth, the mix of cocoa and the sweetness of the dough melting on your tongue, creating a rich and robust flavour. It's accompanied by a pleasant and warm sensation from the freshly baked chocolate, but not hot enough to burn.

"What do you think?" she asks curiously.

"It's delicious," you reply and take another bite with a pleasurable groan that makes her laugh. "Has the Christmas spirit gotten to you too?" you joke.

"In my homeland, this custom doesn't exist," she replies and clarifies, "Celebrating Christmas. It's a beautiful tradition you have."

"You’ve never celebrated Christmas before?" you ask before taking the last bite of the cookie, feeling the urge to grab another.

Gara moves one of the trays to the side for no apparent reason, as if she wants to keep her hands busy. Her smile diminishes slightly.

"...A couple of times, on some trips I've taken to this part of the world. But I never stayed for long," she replies with a somewhat distant tone. The keeper clears her throat and widens her smile again. "But now I have the chance to experience it fully, and I want to contribute something to the community for tonight's celebration. What better way than to use my culinary skills for it?"

"After having seen them, and tasted them first hand, I can say it's a fantastic decision," you reply with a laugh, savouring the remnants of the cookie. Then you glance at the kitchen for a moment and notice the half-finished dough on the countertop. You point at it with your finger. "Need a hand with that?"

Gara raises her eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?"

"Of course," you nod with a smile. "You'll be faster with a little help."

Gara gives you a charming smile, a glow lighting up her eyes and accentuating its peculiar violet tone.

"It would be an honour."

The next few hours are spent preparing dough, shaping figures, filling trays with different flavours, and waiting with laughter and light conversations in front of the oven until the cookies are ready. You work side by side with a synergy as if you've been doing it all your life.

When you take out the last batch to cool, night has already fallen. Gara places the tray on the table and gets distracted by something. Shortly after, she rushes to the window.

"Hey, look, it's snowing!"

You catch the enthusiasm of the two-meter-tall woman and approach the window, laughing as you observe the snowflakes falling.

"You act as if you've never seen it," you joke, throwing a teasing look her way, tempting fate to see if you can extract more from her past. So far, the keeper has been reluctant to share things about her hometown, always skilfully diverting the conversation elsewhere, so you won't miss the opportunity if it presents itself.

"The snow falling? Not really. I've seen it before, but it looks slightly different from here... enchanting, perhaps," she pauses, her brows creasing slightly as she looks for the perfect word. She smiles when she finds it, momentarily averting her gaze to you. "Magical, I'd say."

As Gara turns to watch the snow outside again, your gaze lingers on her. Entranced by the charm of the moment, you observe her focused on the flakes dancing outside, as if searching for something in the gentle snowfall, her mouth slightly open and forming the ghost of a smile that blends with an expression you’d define as melancholic.

The dim light in the tavern highlights the freckles that dot her skin like constellations in the night sky of her bronze complexion, caressed by violet strands of her extremely long hair.

Feeling your gaze upon her, Gara slightly tilts her head, her silky hair brushing against her shoulders as a delicate and soothing smell of lavender wafts towards you.

"It's very beautiful, isn’t it?"

Suddenly, the falling snow is not the thing that stands out the most. You don't care about that, nor the people walking down the street. You don't even care about the otter you see from the corner of your eye, sneakily devouring the cookies you took out of the oven a few minutes ago, nor that the community celebration will start soon.

You return her smile and reply.

"Yes, it is."