"You just have to know how to make that little gnome smile." Tauriell replies with a broad smile submerging her hair into the water stretching her slim neck.
"Then you are wiser than I am." Niamh determines and sighs. "Abomentolor and I were playing catch. Do you want to guess how that ended?"
As the cake is all eaten and the cup of tea is almost empty Gwenhwyfar notices that she doesn't know what to talk about with Randolf Burston III if no business subject is on topic.
"As you're here and 'grumpy' Abomentolor not I guess it wasn't as funny as you imagined it to be?" Tauriell asks.
"First we ran to the gate for breakfast and after that we played catch. Abomentolor made himself invisible and I told Brutus to catch him. He did and Abomentolor shocked him. Then Brutus ran away and Abomentolor also ran away and told me I can have his stupid dog. He doesn't want him anymore!" Niamh depicts the situation and then looks at Tauriell for her reaction.
Brutus tries to find a more comfortable position on the chair. Shuffling around he pushes Niamh off the chair. As she disappears under the grass he starts moaning.
Niamh stands up. "I'm still here." She sits down onto the chair again.
"It was really nice being here again. But I think we should leave now. As you noticed we need to get out of our dungeon crawling clothes."
"But there is one thing you need to tell me first. Where do you get that cake?" Gwenhwyfar asks.
"Poor Abomentolor. Betrayed by his own dog. And poor Brutus. How did he shock him?" Tauriell asks.
"I think he used a spell. Brutus' fur was burned at one spot."
"I don't want to hold you back if you have things to do." Burston replies. "But I can't tell you where I get the cake. You have to come visit me if you want more of it." he adds with a smile.
"I guess you two are lucky that Abomentolor only burnt him a little and then cast him out. Brutus is no match for Abomentolor's fiery fury."
Tauriell then changes the illusion so that a large orchid with lots of blossoms grow between her and Niamh. As it it is dense enough to be opaque she gets up and out of her tub. Groping around she searches for a towel and dries herself off.
She fishes some fresh clothes out of the pond and dresses up. Taking a last look at the scene she drops the illusion. "Welcome back to reality."
Gwenhwyfar is disappointed. "We will." she replies as she gets up.
"Don't be sad. It's a niece of me who bakes it and she doesn't sell. And she won't tell you the recipe." Burston explains. "But you really are welcome here."
Burston accompanies the two to the door and bids them farewell.
"Thank you very much. We'll visit you again once we're back from our trip." Gwenhwyfar says her good bye.
As Randolf Burston III is inside again and out of sight Gwenhwyfar asks Jimmy "What are we going to do now?"
"Shall we head home?" Jimmy asks
"We could. At least this clothes could really use some cleaning." Gwenhwyfar replies sniffing at the sleeve of her dress. "But we have to find someone able to spy on Burston to find his niece. Do you think Tauriell could do that?"
"If you asked her nicely I am sure she could. Couldn't one of the others cast prestidigitation to clean it?"
"Yes. Probably this will be the way to clean them. But for me it has to be a bath. And cleaning the sheets of the bed and the room. Let's see who we can persuade to be our magical maid to do that."
"Do you think Tauriell could find that out or would we need to infiltrate the circles in which these cakes circulate?
"I didn't think you were serious Gwen." Jimmy says somewhat taken aback. "Perhaps you could ask Burston to meet her."
"He didn't want to tell me even her name. Probably she is some noble, important person who doesn't speak with 'normal' people like we are." Gwenhwyfar replies.
"There is a bakery over there, perhaps they have some cake that is just as good." Jimmy suggests
Gwenhwyfar draws in air and opens her mouth as if to disagree but then she thinks again. "It might be worth a try."
She takes Jimmy's hand and with a fast pace walks to the shop "If you're right this approach is much easier. That I haven't thought of that myself!?!"
"What flavor was that cake?" Jimmy asks Gwen on their way
The bakery is a rather small shop. Behind the entrance to the left are about a dozen different fancy cakes draped on lace doilies in a glass cabinet. At the side of the cabinet is a counter behind which a kindly smiling woman waits.
The walls of the room are covered with teak up to 4 feet. To the right are three tables with three chairs each.
"It was creamy and fruity and melted on the tongue in an explosion of flavour." Gwenhwyfar waxes lyrical about the cake.
"Did it look like any of those?"
"Hello. May I help you?" the woman asks.
"We ate some delicious cake and now we search if we can find that kind." Gwenhwyfar replies.
"We have only delicious cakes here." The woman says with a smile.
"Then there is only one solution! We have to try them all!" Gwenhwyfar declares triumphantly "Please serve us one piece of every cake you have."
"And some tea." With that she turns towards the tables and pulls Jimmy along to take a seat.
"I can honestly say I have never met a woman who can eat as much as you."
"Why is that? I won't eat all that myself. You have to try them too!" Gwenhwyfar replies.
"Well even if we split them all half and half, it is a huge amount of cake."
The woman comes to the table with a plate with cake and a cup of tea. "Will that be one piece of every cake for each?"
"No. Only one piece of cake for us both. Please bring us a second fork." Gwenhwyfar answers.
Jimmy looks at the lady apologetically
"As you wish." The woman walks back behind her counter and comes back with a second cup of tea and a second fork. "Enjoy your cake."
She then waits behind the counter until Jimmy and Gwenhwyfar have finished a piece to bring the next.
"Am I embarrassing you?" Gwenhwyfar asks Jimmy as she starts sampling the cake.
"Not at all, it's not embarrassing so much as I am not quite sure what to do. It just feels strange saying 'Bring me one of everything!'" Jimmy says with a chuckle and a kind smile at Gwen
"Oh yay. Reality." Niamh says with a bored face.
"This cake is not bad. But it is not as good as the one from Randolf Burston III." Gwenhwyfar muses. "I guess you have to get used to being rich yet. I'm sure rich people do that all the time."
Turning to the woman she calls "Please keep them coming. You don't have to wait until we finish one."
"We can do that every day. And every time with a different scenery. Want to join me tomorrow on that?" Tauriell asks Niamh.
The woman brings the next plate with a piece of cake and then walks back cutting a piece of the next one bringing that too and so on until the table is full of plates.
"Sure. What are we going to do now?" Niamh asks and then suggests "I could show you how to play the violin. Even when it's a bit small for you. Or we could play a game. Or we could also go for a walk."
"I suppose so. And nobody is being hurt by it, or anything else like that. So I suppose I am just not used to it."
"You sit there as if you're on a diet. Help me find the right cake." Gwenhwyfar prompts Jimmy and samples through all cakes on the table.
Jimmy sticks his fork into a piece of cake Gwen has tried, picking up the entire thing and cramming as much of it into his mouth as he can. "Vhish 'ns nish"