Recipe Witch: Couverture

This land was a quiet, peaceful, serene, silent, pure, simple, clean, a land that didn't make you dizzy or nauseous. This was a land of no rules, no limits, no laws, no government, no police, no one to save you if you got in trouble. But just as well, there was little trouble to find you should you decide to stay.

This was the world that the women now lived in. No more the world of man, which made you weak, scared, unsure, and confused. No longer the dirty, noisy, messy, noisy, dirty world that the man made. For the tyranny and commands of Whiteheed had forbidden such things. A world with no men, only their wives, sisters, friends, and lovers, with whom they shared and lived the rest of their lives together.

But this world wasn't one to thrive in or rejoice. From sunset to sundown, a thick silver mist, like pewter set to vapor drifted around the valley and around the elevated knoll. Although it rose high from the swamps, great lilypads and neon green fields around it, it was still caught in the shadow of the stalks around it, often casting shade from many miles away. The village was built around all sides of the middling and bottom most layers of this extolled pike upon the land, its high elevation often resulting in the trudging of its inhabitants on an incline across its many slopes, cliffs and roads. The middle portion was carved thru manmade-processes to give a suitable flat space where intertwined cobblestones, brick arches and bridges and compact houses could be built block to block in a dense patchwork of monotony. In the streets, houses were a mixture of color, from shades of white, cream and pale blue to deep reds and greens, a banquet of color for the idle to gaze upon.

Atop the stone ledge, the inhabitants saw a thin mist forming in the sky, and then a cloud, and then a face on a building ledge. It was that of a child, and she looked directly down. Climbing over these arches, and sneaking between alleyway to street and underway, a young ingenue would often turn her ear to hear the gossip of the wind, but would find  frighteningly little spoken back. The village's inhabitants would walk in groups and pairs and trios, speaking in tongues they had once learned but spoke them as if they had forgotten their meanings. There was nothing to speak of except the mist, and that was the same for everyone. Everyone did their duties. Everyone knew their place, and did it without purpose or question on this knoll they called Choclatown. This immense feature of the earth held many secrets, and many towns. One town, Noirfolk ran from nearly top to bottom on the knoll. At the highest point of the mountainous structure, a large red dome could be seen build at the tip, with a huge disc structure built beneath it deep into the side.

This girl for the first time in her life, she was scared of someone, so she hid in a bush. Her name was Lily. She was a little girl, barely 7. A girl with green leafy hair and a pair of sparkling blue eyes full of anger and sadness, which seemed to be in tune with her own. She was alone. These streets, so full of steam and fog always sounded as quiet as the swollen moon, its townfolk saying nothing as they passed anonymously.

She was here for no reason.

A child without a place. A world without a pulse.

It was not just the soft cry of a man but also the crying of a beast, her whole body was shaking and she was even shaking. The Beast held a series of papers in her hands, the furry behemoth protecting them with her life.

The beast did not pay her any heed. Her body was shaking, her face was contorted with fear. It was a state of extreme tension as if she were about to collapse at any moment, but she could not escape. The Beast looked at her, its eyes boring into the girl's mind.

“Who are you?”

He told her. “I am the Beast of Darkness. My name is Ralgernon. I am a Guardian, and it’s my job to watch over this book."

"What book?" The girl asked. There were no covers or bindings, only slipping pages. She saw the scars on the beast's arms and chest, the wounds still cut up with freshly dried blood. Those arms started to tremble and slip from their own last grasp. Ralgernon coughed a stream of blood from its gigantic fangs.

It did not need to talk, to reason, to question her further. No. It did not need anything. It was done talking.

The young girl, now as if possessed by a trance, was no longer able to speak anything. Which was just as well, since no one in the village had any time to listen.

The Beast finally gave into fatigue and dropped what it coveted for so long, letting them spill onto the streets. Lily started to pick them up. She smiled at the beast. It was her first smile. It was the first sign of hope she had found. And it was Ral's last. She fell back with an exhausted groan, and never got up again.

She was walking the streets of Noirfolk carrying those papers she had held in her hands, for the whole town was aware of the beast that was roaming freely inside its walls. In fact there was nothing here, just herself, on the streets of this strange town where she grew up. A twig on the back of her head twitched. She was a Dryad.

The was trying to understand what had happened. When she was being born from the soil, when she took her first steps, when she learned to talk, she had lost all of it.

She found out too late that her parents were not her real ones, they had found her in a bush one time attacked by a Lynx. The Dryads were a strange race of little elf-like creatures who grew by absorbing the life out of a plant. Most of them would be born and would be kept by the parents until their magic would be ready to be used. But her parents had no interest in cultivating her magic, they merely saw her as an orphan daughter.

And what was so strange? The Dryads were not native to the town of Noirfolk. Their ancestors used to wander around the lands of the this Earth. Then one day they were simply abandoned. She didn't ask questions, she let herself in the hands of fate. The other townsfolk did little but keep their head down and occupy their quiet jobs. Running springs, quiet factories, occupying windmills and sailboats. They had no life in them, and the one who looked like her could have lost it in this place as well.

She walked thru the streets and saw a large line ahead, the waiting line where the people would wait to get their cards in order to live. Each card would go to a separate line on the opposite side of town, where a month's food, supplies and rations would be provided for them. Twenty tokens would be given exactly. The town had no money and no other currency. The tokens could be exchanged in shops, or used for basic services from the Maintence Unit, be it a tailored suit or repaired sink. Every other month, all tokens were collected, a newly dated, colored token was issued out and the previous tokens were invalid and worthless. At the end of the month, a total sum was given out and that was what the towns people were living on for the rest of their monthly stay.

She walked until she reached the large waiting line. There were hundreds of people there, and they were waiting for their turn, but none of them cared. They stood in line, waited patiently for their turn, and then waited another turn for their turn. A girl in her early twenties looked at her. "Why are you here?" She asked.

Lily looked down at the pages still hoarded in her hands, and walked off without a single response. She skipped off all the way back to her parent's home, the 60 year old Aoldice knitting with her wife, the 42 year Impia. Impia was a traveler once who stumbled upon this town in her twenties, found herself in love with Aoldice on a sailboat date and found she rather liked the quiet peace, and never left. They looked over at Lily. "Lil'? What do you got there seedling?" Aoldice asked. Lily squeaked, and showed her, but she didn't have her reading glasses. "Well that's beautiful honeydrop.." She patted her head, and went back to knitting a scarf with a red thread. Her parents were standing in the middle of the room on the couch, her mother's black hair was tied in a white braid, her younger mother wore a simple suit of brown and white with her hair in a ponytail.

Seeing how they paid no mind to her discovery, she quietly went upstairs to her room. Lily often came and gone, she went where here pleased. Sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for days, they saw her with all of the affection of a warm cat in their home, a stray they loved and adored. When she arrived in her bedroom she laid out all the papers on the counter and sat down in idle curiosity. The schematics on the pages were a nonsense of scribbles to her at first, but something in her head seemed to draw her in, like a gear waiting to click into place. It took her a few minutes to concentrate, even if nothing about it seemed to make sense, what was laid out on the pages seemed oddly familiar to the young girl. She spent the hour with no success but too much stubbornness to cast what seemed like a treasure map in her eyes aside, before she was called down for dinner. After bringing up a cup of hot soup, she wrapped herself in blankets and concentrated again, harder this time. Every line and diagram, each etching and technical illustration, it drew her in like a magnet. After the 5th hour, it finally clicked. She placed her hand on the page, understanding what it referenced, and a spark of electricity seemed to zap at her fingertips, pulsing through her. She couldn't quite understand why she was drawn into it, but after a few hours she was at peace with it. Now she had a job and a purpose. Lily shuffled the papers neatly in one stack, she was about to place it in her sack when someone her age appeared.

Another girl with snow white hair, a torn leathery dress and ripped shorts. No shoes, her face covered in brown stains and smudges, like she was fresh off the streets.

"Where did you come from?" Lily asked. The other girl didn't respond.

"What's your name?"

This time she walked towards the girl's stacks and took a crayon, writing 'Kmzir' on it.

"Kzmir hm? That's a very beautiful name."

Lily ran downstairs to introduce her two her two mothers, but the two seemingly couldn't see her at all nor touch her.

"Imaginary.. friend? What's that?" She asked.

Kzmir shook her head, she seemed rather angry.

Her two mothers answered her and said something but her head in the clouds. She didn't really understand the explanation and just nodded like a good little girl, before going back up and pouring over the schematics for hours, before going to bed finally.

When she woke up, for the first time in her entire life, something was different for her. The town was quiet for about six years, it had all the basics to survive, but nothing more. There was no year, months, seasons, holidays days or weeks in Noirfolk. Every single day played out exactly the same for every task and routine. And each day Lily would explore the town, walking without aim or purpose. But today she had a goal.

With Kzmir behind her, she set out to find where the mysterious papers lead her. Often when she'd show the townspeople them, they either were too busy or took one look, and told her to stop looking with a gentle pat on the head. She did this for many months, and more months still spending her days prowling the streets and the nights looking over the suspicious papers, wondering what bizarre project they proposed. By the time she had any leads and finally found where they were originally crafted, a year had passed.

The adults every morning, despite their love and support were very dismissive of the dryad'ssearch. But the children from the orphanage were always kind, and often asked where they were going. So she walked past the orphanage, the main building of the orphanage, and into the surrounding areas. With Kzmir at her side, she would try to remember things the children told her. Things like, "We call that place where you found the papers a forest" "We call it that because trees are good, and because no one knows how they can even do that, and because where else would people look?" "No one came before us, and all we had was our imagination. You're right, Kzmir." The more she asked about the forest the more things she had forgotten. She didn't feel she even knew herself anymore.

She walked for hours and hours. It wasn't even noon, but the sun was high in the sky, and the only sounds around were her footsteps and her breathing. But with the tingling electricity in her fingers and Kzmir following quietly behind, she persisted. Finally she found it, after a year of searching. Lily held up one of the papers, a large building sketched over it in highly technical illustrations and it matched the factory ahead.

She heard a strange gurgling behind her, and turned to see Kzmir was running out of the forest towards the building, with the strange liquid dripping out of her mouth, making a noise like she was crying. She stopped abruptly, and her whole body shook, and she fell to her knees. She shook from head to foot. Her lips moved, but no words came out. The liquid pooled out her mouth, as her hand went up, and she wiped it away, as if she was washing her mouth. She continued to shake, until a small chocolate puddle had formed on the ground. She stopped shaking. Slowly the rest of her hair grew out and she covered herself, not with a tree or even a shrub, but with leaves, growing from her body. Lily came to her defense, hugging her and asking what was wrong, 8 years old an extremely young age to be confiding in and comforting the 'imaginary friends' seeming flairup. Lily would wipe the liquid from the girl's mouth and chin, taking a cloth from her sack to clean Kzmir up and clear the brown syrupy stains. She offered to pluck the leaves from her body but her mute friend seemed to shake her head and refuse. After another hug, Kzmir calmed down, and they both walked into the factory holding hands.

The insides of the building had many conveyor belts, pipes leading to large vats and molds along with complex machinery that filled Lily with wonder. Kzmir seemed somewhat sheepish, folding into her knees and rocking on the factory floor. All of the complex manufacturing equipment seemed lost to time, but much of it remained for Lily to examine. She compared many visible structures and devices to those in the blueprints she held, flipping through them until she was faced with the last ones- chemical compositions, ingredients, processing notes and basic baking footnotes. Lily was fascinated, for now her obsession had paid off and she felt the tingly sparks and jolts between the tips of her fingers spread throughout her body, as if adapting to something amping through her, a few white streaks falling in back of her head.

In the factory lobby, Kzmir took a bag of chocolates, and later Lily knew she needed to go home and give to her mother. When she arrived home that night, Impia put down her clipchart of schedules and looked over at the bag in Lily's hand. "What do you got there Lily?"

"I, found these!" She opened the bag slowly to reveal dark brown cubes, and placed one in her mother's palms. Impia took a look

"Where did this come from?" She sat back down at the clipchart and went over the day's events. Kzmir watched quietly and listened to her mother talk. Impia's eyes got big and she turned around. "Where is Kzmir?" Impia asked in

Lily turned her head and pointed behind her.

"She was shaking and crying earlier. I had to comfort her!" She nodded.

"My my.." Impia pinched Lily's cheek. "That was very kind of you Lily. You did a very good thing."

"I guess.. but I didn't know how to remove the leaves from her body."

"Leaves?"

Impia had her hand on her head and thought about what her daughter had said. She placed the chocolate cube in her mouth, and everything for her seemed to shake inside like the perfect storm of nostalgia and dopamine. She didn't feel merely like Lily's mother anymore. She felt more like her savior, her protector, an existential switch turned within her and she knew for herself what was truly important. Impia pulled her in her arms and hugged her tightly. She cried until she ran out of tears and she could no longer feel the weight of her daughter's body against her, and in her mind, she was at peace.  It was too much for her at first, but after some time she felt it., but she grew to embrace it. And the most perfect girl in the whole world in its very beginning of thought and creation, was making its way to her. This was truly the happiest moment of her life. Impia turned back to her child.

She rubbed her daughter's soft back and leaned in to kiss her head. "I've never tasted anything like this before.."

Lily pulled out a tissue and handed it to Impia. They both sat in silence.

The next morning, after sleeping past noon, Lily had the chance to think about her situation as she took lunch with her mothers. She knew the blueprints held more for her to discover, but she wasn't ready to develop whatever they held next. Kzmir never left her side and seemed to remind her by her presence what promises her investigations held. That afternoon she headed to the town's library, and started to research basic topics. She came home that night with a dozen books on cooking, manufacturing, production and industry. Although she was still very new, she didn't feel deterred from learning all she could and trying to understand the papers. It was the best and only way to understand the blueprints, but the information was very disheartening. It seemed, even to her, that the townspeople didn't know much of the production processes involved with the strange treats.

She knew they came from factory outside the town and she wondered how such a factory was run, that seemed like a side of life not meant for her. She was very discouraged by that. Despite this, Kzmir seemed to be on her side and ready to teach her as much as she could, although she could not speak or communicate, she seemed to know the right books to guide Lily and drew doodles of machines and supplies. Each day Lily would wake up and head to the library, then went to her mother's to get the afternoon meal and stay for tea, then stay in her room with the papers, books and whatever Kzmir was drawing next. The girl who started with virgin knowledge, began reading how everyday objects were created.

As she ate dinner she read about the world's largest manufacturer of shoes, a company that was so large that her mother didn't even know the company existed. The process involved started with the tanning of old leather to rid it of its grease and other impurities. This was followed by dyeing, and then stamping and finally finishing. The tannery itself was a complex and large series of rooms with a lot of equipment, the other rooms were where the dye and finish were applied.. The company existed in a city far on the other side of the world, and a decent amount of such companies existed there.

Lily continued to teach herself all she could for many months. The young dryad didn't really know how to fix many things when she started with the factory. She quickly learned though, that when she was around Kzmir, she was capable of doing just about anything. As the months went by, Lily saw more and more, and learned more and more. The factory became a place of work and play, as she'd often find herself there lost in working on things, talking to Kzmir one-sidedly or watching Kzmir demonstrate how parts worked with hand gestures and drawings. Kzmir seemed to be able to do everything there was, even though she was at times very stubborn. Once she had a very basic knowledge of the process, she started to look into the factory itself, and what she needed. While the factory itself was intact, many parts were out dated or outright missing. With Kzmir's guidance, she started to save up tokens month to month, and used them for whatever supplies or equipment she could get, Kzmir seemingly able to do a degree of heavy lifting that she thought shouldn't be possible. During the first few months she had to get the furnace and oven working alongside the watermill generator in back. Patching and polishing the assembly track required weeks of ironing, and leathery patches along the belts. The process to repair the refiner, crusher and cutters took around 8 months to properly setup the mechanics. Lily spent her every waking hour outside her mother's house collecting and constructing parts, benefited greatly by how mechanically inclined the town truly was and how many spare parts were left around the knoll. The mixer and machine handling from there took less time after she gained the right experience, but many parts still had to be setup exactly right. Though she still felt like a child learning a trade, the iron mold Lily forged was of the best quality, with exceptional skill and handiwork, a large sheet where ingredients could be poured in and heated. When many circuits and pipes needed fixing to get the belts, gearworks and pistons running, Kzmir carefully taught her how to use a blowtorch, to weld and build, and fix up every single plate and piece. Even with not a word of communication, Kzmir could be very persuasive, practically taking over the workshop by seeming to possess Lily at times. After a few years, Kzmir began to realize that Lily was slowly turning into a bit of a genius. She had a far deeper understanding of the factory than she would have ever guessed.The few years had slipped by unnoticed by her, as she had been working nonstop.

Eventually she had it all to her liking. Though the workshop was far from being ready to produce any of the items the factory had been designed to produce, Lily had to give up the name of her workshop to be called "The Forge."  It was after many years that she finally saw Kzmir's true self, now a grown woman, although one that had seemingly taken on many Dryad traits, from the wooden horns atop her head to the endless leaves, grass and plant-material growing around her body into lavish dresses and accessories, all the way to the oak seed across her forehead. Lily was fifth-teen. She'd spent so long working on the devices and machinations of Kzmir's, that her fingers practically shocked others when she touched them from time to time, her hair stark white and eyes now a shade of emerald green.

The blueprints had lead to the completion of the factory, although it needed materials and ingredients. They were a bit like the design of a beautiful drawing of a flower, the artist who created it now a spirit of nature herself. Lily also had a gift. The gift of understanding when an item needed to be designed, and when it needed to be fixed.

By the time the last screw was twisted in, Lily was an absolute mess. The girl's hair was full of bits of dust and grit. She had a black, streaky smudge covering her right eye. Her body was filthy, her clothes were torn, tattered and dirty. Her skin was stained with gross oil and chemicals from many of the machines she worked with, practically dyeing into her skin.  The girl's body was coated with the remnants of a mixture of oil and dirt. She had been covered with such a substance for the past two years and had never been able to wash it off. She never had the opportunity to do so because she was too occupied working on setting up a production line.

The gathering of ingredients and actual cooking materials wasn't nearly as labour intensive, more of an easteregg hunt really. Although it took many months, Lily, now 16 manages to find substitutes for cocoa beans, the right kinds of sugar, dairy and various delectable chemicals. Some she had to venture out for, going away from the Moll and far into trips within the magical cities that surrounded their valley a few dozen miles off. But her accumulation was worth it, and so, when they became available to her, she quickly filled up her inventory.

But as time ticked by, the illusion of the girl she knew herself to be was fading and she found herself staring into the mirror, a girl she hardly recognized looking back. 'What do you think of me now, Lily?' she would ask herself, not sure if it was her asking that, eyes gazing into her reflection.  Her white hair, the green , the larger breasts and hips weren't her. She ran her greasy hands along her curves and cheeks, feeling them uncomfortably mature and sultry, legs as thick as a model's. Lily clutched her head, feeling as if some other force was taking control, electricity dancing along her legs and shoulders and compelling her to obey. Even the way she walked, it had changed, her limbs appeared full and heavy , like a well-endowed damsel yet more feminine than that.

Her heart leapt and stuttered when she looked at her reflection, she knew that she was not the Lily of her childhood memories.

She was someone else, perhaps the same someone else that resided within her; only she didn't know who she was anymore, and how she had become such a strange creature. She had become accustomed to the pleasures and needs of the body. The lust was a part of her now, and she could see that it was a part of this girl too, and she had to fight against it for control. She felt like she wanted to run and throw herself into the void to stop this unwanted attraction to the body she had to fight against her hunger. She could feel it, the changes that had come over her. She felt like a different person, one she didn't know and certainly had no familiarity with.  Yet, beneath the thick fur of hair and the heavy breasts and hips lay the girl she was. The girl who had loved running in the tall grass and the tall trees, who adored bumping through the villagers who paid her no mind, no nothing. She felt an instinctive need to keep all the little revelations about herself secret, for to tell someone about them could mean they would think her stupid or perhaps that she was crazy.

She didn't know why she thought that now, perhaps her memories were clouded, too.

Lily couldn't help thinking of the old fairy tale and the stories she had read, and how this kind of transformation was not something that just happened and her reflection was not just an illusion. Maybe her life was not the story her mother had told her of the kind and honest Dryad girl who found love and lost her prince. She picked up the blueprints and parched pages, while they had mostly served their purpose, the last few on the ingredients were still essential. She'd collected what she needed, and tomorrow she figured she'd start the factory up fully.

The next day Lily awoke to the sun's rays. It was still early, but already her family was up. She got out of bed and took the blueprints from the stack of papers on the dining room table.

Lily went to her mother's and sat with her as she ate her breakfast and discussed with her the plans for the day. "What's with that rubber glove?" She asked her older mother, who seemed to be holding it, and a necktag of some sort with fondness. Aoldice smiled at her, and put the necktag down.

"Ah, just an old story, lost to time." The expression on her face seemed to muse for better times.

"Lost to time? Could you share?" Lily pulled her seat in and listened attentively.

Aoldice nodded. "Well, once upon a time there was a girl who gazed upon the stars. She wondered what it would be like to walk among them.  She looked up and into Lily's eyes. "As she gazed upon the stars, her mind wandered a little and then some. One time a storm appeared from above." Her hand shot up and into the air in a fist, and a tear leaked from her eye. "This wind that blew over the girl, wrapped around her. She was engulfed in flames. She stood there, in a daze, as the wind beat her with its might, then, for a moment she felt safe and warm. As she sat there, all the stars went out. And her heart felt nothing. It just felt empty and cold."

Aoldice leaned back. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes staring ahead. She sighed, "She would have had to be a cold person not to have felt the warmth of the sun. A warm heart always feels the warmth of the sun." She sighed and her mother continued.

"But it was too late for her. The wind had taken away the fire of her heart and the warmth of her soul."

"That's... weird. So what is the story with this rubber glove?" Lily asked looking down. Aoldice sighed again.

"That IS this story. That little girl, with her black heart would plant her feet right where she stood and start to build whatever she could. She created things to sell things, and sold things to buy more things which she could create with. As time went on she needed more people to help her build, and a lair to build them. She'd often tell her work force how it was the stars themselves that chose her, and the wind of this valley had tried to snuff her out of envy and bitterness. These workers were all identical and loyal. She didn't enjoy inflicting pain on the world, it was merely a means to take what she wanted. Her plan one day was to make all that ever was hers, and capture the power that she desperately  sought. However when a woman bearing the cross on her street flew down, this girl introduced herself as Whiteh-"

The wind blew, as if fated to, and slammed the household's back and forth loudly, shutting and closing. Lily smiled. "That's an interesting story mom! I should get ready however, gotta go. Tell me the rest someday." Aoldice merely chuckled, and patted her on the head. "Someday.."

As she started to get ready, Lily began to wonder if her own little dream was really any more possible than the one her mother had told her of the old fairy tale, she hadn't the time to think that far ahead.

When she opened the door to leave the factory and go home, she noticed the water running down the watermill to the stone walls and onto the grass and garden beds below. Had someone turned it on? She saw muddy footprints that went out into the forest, but disappeared as they hit a dirt trail.

Not one part of it was broken or missing, though the room was still dark. She smiled as she set the blueprint down onto the table by the back work area.

She went into the production area. After double checking everything, wasted no more time and started up the power, then went to pull a lever. From there she began sliding in all the chocolate ingredients into vats as she worked the mixer. Within moments she had it mixed and pouring into various molds and containers. She kept her eyes trained on the mixer so she could time when to pull the lever to the next mix. She then did that with the rest of the ingredients.

"There." she said looking at the mixer for a moment, "I'm done. Let's see what our new factory makes, Kzmir..." She wondered where was Kzmir?

Everything whirred to life. The factory machines began working, one after another, and she watched them work as if in trance, hypnotized by the synchronicity of every vat, presser, belt, mechanical mixer and mold starting to carry the maroon-shaded liquid along the track, first in beans, sugar and milk, then in melted piles of big sticky liquid, and soon poured into iron molds meant to chill in the cooler.

The devices she had built herself began to make a loud hum. She didn't care. It was working. She began to hear faint clacks. Looking into the container that was half-full of the newly made chocolate, she thought she saw a person. A tiny little figure looking at her and the mixer. "Kzmir? Is that you?" Then the figure was gone. She looked into the final mixing vat meant to pour into the mold container.

"No no no!"

The next thing she noticed was that all the molds and containers had filled up and overflowed. Everything shook and smoke rose everywhere, the tiny clicks turning to a scratchy screech and everything crashed in a horrific single wave like motion. Lily rushed to pull the lever back and stop the entire production line. When she finished there was a flooded pool of liquid chocolate surrounding her in a big gooey mess between her toes and ankles. The smell was intoxicating.

Lily was devastated. She'd failed to make chocolate again. Her dream, her life's dream, was now a failure.

She was lost in despair when something hit her on the head, prompting a catch.

A tiny, palm sized cube. For the first time ever she enjoyed the smell of sweetness drifting under her nose, making her mouth water.

There was chocolate on her hands. Chocolate.

She basked in the triumph, letting in a ray of light that illuminated her hands as she stared down at her handiwork.

With lingering suspicion, she inspected it, Lily wanting every single side and angle to be crafted as a masterpiece. She examined the texture and how much it weighed even as her mouth felt moist, resisting the urge to consume it on the spot. After ample inspection she was pleased. It was just right, it was creamy, it was firm, it had a perfect, light, fudge-like color. Her eyes were practically transfixed, not noticing the golden glow that was briefly shimmering in her eyes. She didn't realize she'd been standing there for a long time. Time must have passed, but she had no memory of that.

All she knew was that she had succeeded.

Lily wrapped the precious chocolate cube like a gift, putting it in shiny golden foil she'd had prepared and then put it in a tin.

Holding it within her hands, Lily cleaned up the mess, which took hours of wiping but felt good to be bathed in her handiwork. She could swear at times the liquid chocolate she wiped up seemed to soak into her hands, making her feel more sturdy and smooth like silk at times. She kept going at her tasks until she noticed the sun was slowly starting to set. Leaving the chocolate factory finally, the girl was super excited to showcase her handiwork for the world. The girl, walking home with tin in hand, saw a series of teenagers a few years younger than her kicking a soccer ball. With a smile on her face, Lily approached them courteously and bent over.

"Try this." She propped over the tin to reveal the chocolate cube inside.

The teenagers looked up to see a lovely young girl giving them the chocolate. The first kid smiled up at her.

"Are you serious?" She laughed.

The other teens laughed a bit and the first kid smiled.

She could see the girls eyes grow wide, one in particular, and she seemed to be the only one who didn't make a comment. Taking a step closer, she then said, "It's from a special factory that creates the finest chocolate, with a secret recipe for good flavor and aroma. Please try one and give your opinion."

For a moment, the girl's eyes looked a bit hesitant, not because they didn't trust her or anything, but because she'd never seen anything like this before.

"I'm sure you'll love it.

Finally overcoming her hesitation, she took the chocolate in her mouth and began to chew, feeling the flavor spread inside her mouth as it melted softly. The flavor was not bitter or overly sweet, but rather balanced, neither sweet nor tart. And at that moment, there was something else, something she didn't really understand. It felt...warm.

After a moment, her tongue began to tingle, and she tried to focus on her thoughts. Why was her tongue tingling? It wasn't hurting, or even anything unusual, but it made her mind feel... busy. Full of strange ideas.

"Wow, that's amazing." She told her. 

"Yeah, it is." 

"Where'd you get it?" 

"I made it!" Lily ran her hands through the girl's hair and gave a gentle firm shake. "You were the first to try it. Congratulations."

The small crowd of teens seemed amazed, and rounded around the girl as Lily started to close the tin and stroll away peacefully. "Wait!" The girl said, walking back up to her and rushing from behind. She grabbed from her pockets a single token, and handed it to Lily. "For your hard work!"

The girl stared at the token, giving a shrug, but not denying the compensation felt powerfully symbolic.

She went home shortly after, her parents turning to her as she went up to bed.

"What's.. that smell?" Impia said, taking a waft. "So wonderfully sweet.."

Weeks followed, as rote and incremental as the factory's processes itself. Each day she'd go back to the factory to bake more chocolates, having less incidents than before and refining her process. The swelling of her chest or way she felt taller when she walked along the belt tracks seemed to escape her at times, nor the golden glow in her eyes. Sometimes Kzmir would appear and often linger, but she was more passive this time around. With the factory now essentially built, she seemed content to watch, sticking around for shorter periods of time.

Lily would often distribute more chocolates, now finding among the children, even the Orphans that had showed her the way through the forest, that accumulating tokens was an easy boon. She'd use these to bargain for more supplies and better ingredients, the concept of exchange starting to become gradually ingrained and imprinted in her mind.

At the dinner table one day, her mothers seem astounded by everything she had to describe and share with them. "I've been keeping track of the different combinations," Lily told them. "Tomorrow, when you and my mother are both out for the day, I'll shall take a trip to Sundew to go and buy all the necessary ingredients and start making potions."

"That sounds great, dear," her mother said. "I hope you have complete success!"

After dinner, Lily went to her bedroom. She sat down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. The mocha flavored stains from the haywire factory seemed to sink deeper into her hair, and as she closed her eyes, her body would grow gradually. She heard voices and found herself in a field of cocoa beans. Kzmir was standing there, she seemed very frail. "Kzmir!" she shouted. "Kzmir! Are you alright?" Kzmir opened her arms to embrace her. Lily smiled again. She felt the warmth of Kzmir's skin, her touch, her body. Kzmir was so light, she hardly even existed.

When Lily woke up, she saw her fingertips were painted and sharp, like pure red daggers. The girl examined them curiously for a while, but soon strapped her backpack and set out for a far off trip to Sundew.

After taking a sailboat, towards the magical city, the only sound came from Lily's boots clattering against the stone bridges over watery springs that made up the ground.

The city's architecture looked like a glorious waterwork of platforms in a wide open swampy range frozen in time. Leafy towers with high pointed roofs hovered over the trees. It was like she was following the roots of a living tree, which was, in a sense, the case. Lily walked along the street, noticing the architecture and noticing the way the sunlight made everything sparkle. On either side of her, there was a garden of bright, red flowers, and it was the first time she had ever seen flowers so radiant. A a giant cluster of large berry stalks bloomed in every direction.

She went into the city with only chocolate cubes in her pack. Most shops and stores weren't too willing to sell for candy, but when she found some appreciative owners who were willing to taste what she offered, she relished the opportunity. They seemed overcome by the desire to eat as many chocolates as she could offer, and thus her handiwork became a rare valuable currency. She soon brought home special molasses, milk from different mammals, sweeteners enchanted with magic. One vial she bought contained a slick, oily frosted gloss, which Lily could easily rub between her fingertips. The girl had a feeling it would make her snacks even smoother to the touch. The girl would go home before long, and bake powerfully enhanced, sweetened fantastical treats. As she grew more successful, her skills became a source of pride for Lily. 

One day, when she was selling to the local children, some of them seemed oddly fixated on her process. Lily was faced with questions about how she made her treats, and where she made them less they starve. Lily, who constantly felt like her boots were getting higher and sometimes her own clothes were growing tighter and taking over, started to involve her community. Originally she had been creating all the treats on her own, and when she started to sell, she was the only one who was doing it. The very teens who were her first customers, soon became her first employees once she showed them the inns and outs of her factory. They all worked together, and they became successful. Within a month, they had over 500 customers each week, and Lily's small empire took off. The community embraced her not only for the treats but also for the work she had accomplished in a matter of mere weeks. Word of her chocolates started to grow widespread, and when she could not sell them by word of mouth anymore, some of the teens started to draw signs to place around town. She found an abandoned building by the center of town and stocking it with shelves, using many of the tokens she'd acquired at this point to get the help of handymen and carpenters to build her store.

People started asking her if they could have a taste of her work, which she had now gotten the children to give to their mothers. Lily was forced to start to source suppliers, as the demand from the public was greater than the supply, requiring her to make more trips with larger boats, sometimes when she came back from the magical city, the sellers themselves came with her after being convinced to work for her. The dryad had no idea why everyone was so willing to help her enterprise, she figured it was something to do with the positive and charitable feeling the chocolates gave off however. It was only until she started to make it on a large scale in the Sundew city itself, that she started to investigate into the reason she was getting so much support. Many of the magic scholars and researchers there had taken interest in what the girl was baking. She soon found out that she was creating magic within her treats, and the magic within them was causing miracles to happen for everyone who ate the treats.

Lily had thought that her treats were the key to a happier life for her community, but she never suspected that those treats could become the source of miracles herself. The dryad was also having issues with the kids, and how people saw her. Her name was Lily, but when the children heard her name, they saw her as a magical princess, they believed they were the ones holding the power, the power to affect anything, and anything at all, they treated her less like a teen selling candy and more some kind of mythical figure or supernatural mother. She didn't feel like a teenage girl anymore, rarely leaving her 6" heels or able to suppress how large her hips, rack, shoulders and legs had become, or how voluptuous she was becoming. Lily now had short, mocha red-brown hair, golden yellow eyes, and pale skin along her face, as if it was made of creme, the rest of her surface growing darker and more deliciously tanned. Her bosom was ever growing larger, while her waist and hips were constantly shrinking. Everything she wore seemed to grow more affected by the magic, turning to some type of edible and having a consistency of latex to stretch over her ridiculously lush, gorgeous form. There was no way that she could look at herself in the mirror with the way she looked now, she felt like a goddess. She started to become something of a public figure, taking part in small ceremonies and formalities. It was her own delegation and influence that, against all reason seemed to entrance the town commissar, in a long hall meeting into abolishing the Token-system altogether.

Instead, golden coins were issued and a monetary currency with Lily's face on it was printed on it, the deep eyeshadow and sultry look of her eyes captured on mint coin. Every transaction of money that was now being processed in the magical city was being transferred over to Lily's company that was now taking advantage of all the extra power, and was beginning to be able to afford their own research laboratory to create better and more delicious chocolates. With the world shifted virtually overnight, her chocolates brought in tourism and new businesses, beyond the hum and drum of the usual town's quiet meaningless existence. Singers, bakers, architects, brewers, investors and inventors began to move into the city, her chocolate factory, having been upgraded substantially beyond what it had been when lily first turned it on. employed a fraction of the entire town now and had improved its livelihood immensely. Rather than giving out chocolate cakes to orphan nuns and Sundew sellers, she now hung out in fancy clubs built along these streets with neon signs and offering chocolate-whisky.

Lily, by her 18th birthday also started to make friends in the Sundew city, but she wasn't interested in dating any of the other magical teens she met there. Many took an exotic interest in her role as a dryad, as they weren't known for their entrepreneurship. But she would rarely do more than flirt or tease these questions, each advance appearing like an attempt to grovel at her boots at times. She just wanted to focus on her work. The only one who was able to see her true form were her customers and her staff, and they loved her, she had no idea why. She just was lucky, and everywhere she went now, she realized her wardrobe was made of chocolate. Everything around her changed to reflect that. Everything did change in the town. Chocolate trees, gardens, local houses becoming highrises, and even her own wardrobe were constantly changing to better reflect her form. The whoel town was being transformed miraculously, becoming thriving with new businesses and culture, all dominated by her sweet grip and pulse. Every month, she would look at herself in the mirror and see something new and marvelous and she thought it would never end.

Inbetween the glamour, the rising profits and unparalleled success, Lily would take moments alone in her bedroom, sometimes in her factory office looking over the pages she'd found so long ago. The last page read for some kind of beastly summoning ritual, a magical incantation that seemed to explain where that beast had arrived from. Whoever had these pages last must've used it to protect them by summoning it before they departed. But how could she understand her own vixen transformation? Did Kzmir's disappearance have something to do with it? Every night she would get migraines and strange memories flooding in of another life, another girl. In her waking hours she'd do her best to avoid thinking of this, and succeeded for the most part, but those cracks often remained at the corner of her mind. Her dreams were a constant battle with these new memories that were flooding into her.  It seemed to be rather absurd, had she really been someone else? That she'd once been human? It made no sense! She was a dryad, and a wealthy business owner on her way to stardom. But Lily loved her job, she loved her suited staff as rubbery masked vixens, she loved her success, she loved the power that came with it, and she loved the power it gave her to protect these girls and keep them safe.

There were times she got lost in her own thoughts and went days without being able to remember her full name. She wasn't one to wallow in self-pity, she hated those days. The name 'Lily' would sputter in and out, but it seemed to belong less to her with each passing day, even as the pinup looks she presented as a professional felt more natural over time. She tried to remember that day when Kzmir had appeared, but she couldn't remember it. She was still searching for that girl, but as weeks and months had passed since Kzmir had vanished the girl couldn't hold onto her. It was hard to let her go, emotional ties still reigning even through the indulgences and successes that her chocolate miracles had brought her. Couverture, the name she felt comfortable with now, couldn't even remember a life not-like this, a life devoid of money, of decadent dinners and decadent nights, with decadent servants. There wasn't any more of her old life that she could cling to, that was all fickle as air and scattered with the wind like a gentle passing melody. Even now her life was changing and she couldn't be certain she knew her true self any more.

She'd often lie down on her balcony in her office, watching the night sky for long stretches with her binoculars. The night sky was the only time she could be herself, she needed some time to herself. It was an hour or two before sunset, and during those few moments between twilight and night she'd watch the stars shine brighter than they had before she'd been born. She remembered the story her mother told about Whiteheed, the fairy tail that Whiteheed told herself about being the envy among the stars, or something of the sort.

As she watched the stars she'd dream of her old life, of her family, of her home. But she would never find that. No matter how much time passed in this strange land it seemed, that old life seemed to drift away like a fading dream. Only who she was now felt present and real.

The year had come around and she was nearing her 19th birthday. The kids that she first hired were finally becoming suited adults now and her chocolates were being sold as far as they could, having been sold in a large ferry to the magical city and the surrounding areas, even reaching over the world. The standard for her employees had grown to an almost zealot-like loyalty, most of them wearing industrial catsuits and masks as they toiled in the factory she built, now 5x its size with many expansions since. The majority of the original, listless population that she'd grown up with now stood in assembly lines behind huffing rubber breathing masks, tending to her production lines and making all her recipes into valuable commodities. Although they didn't possess the same level of magic as when she crafted them personally or firsthand in the factory, they brought the town obscene wealth and raised a standard of living never thought possible when the folk relied on dainty tokens for meager scraps.

The Couverture as she went by now got out of bed. Far from the child's room when she first built the factory, she now lived in a rather luxurious mansion that had been built over her family's old apartment. Both her mothers would sit reading the newspaper by the pool and lounge rooms, like quiet and welcome guests that she paid no mind to. There were so many other party guests and figures often living here with her that they passed by virtually unnoticed at times. Her room had a large vanity and a walk-in closet, and downstairs housed a large dining hall connected to a full bar and an lounge room, as well as several gaming tables. The Couverture often loved to gamble at the slots and fancy crap tables, and whenever she won, the bar would be emptied of drinks as she bought rounds for everyone. This morning however, the home was quiet. She combed her hair on her favorite couch and felt the smooth fudge around her hips, fluffy white stockings and truffle-boots. The bun atop her head held a scoop of solid icecream that never melted, and her entire getup and presentation often made her out to be more of a supernatural figure than a dryad buried in confectioneries. While doing her makeup, she swore she saw the faded image of a young girl on the other side. Who was that? She hadn't seen Kzmir in ages, in fact the girl had more or less escaped her memory most times.

The name briefly occurred to her, but something about it rubbed her the wrong way. When she stepped her 8" heels outside, she saw some odd smoke at the top of the knoll. The factory ran practically day and night uninterrupted now, and she was looking into building many more to keep up sales, but Couverture knew this was from no factory. She whistled and a servant in a sweet, neat brown suit came along to carry a vintage buggy. She propped in, crossing her legs around the leather seats. "Drive up to that smog, if you would." Her delectable voice commanded.

The buggy started to drive up the slopes, inclines and hills towards the highest road on the Knoll, leading up to the red dome built on the side. "Thank you beige." She flipped the driver a coin as tip and walked forward, until she came across white entrance. Pressing a red button, Couverture waited almost a full minute, and she hardly waited on everyone. "A disgraceful waste of my time. Insolent." She started to turn around, only for the white door to slowly raise open. "Hmpff." The woman rolled her eyes and walked inside, seeing a large lab. Her first thought was a mad scientist's home, as surely no lab could be this large. She walked further inside, and her sight changed from a room to the wall, where the lab had an image of a large round window, almost as big as her own and with a huge camera. She walked a bit closer, and the giant lens started to focus on her, like it wanted to eat her up, "Odd. Is this the time for a photoshoot? I've hardly dawned my Friday best" she asked herself.

In the exact moment, she heard a loud clap behind her, then watched as a lady in a suit with a strange visor and antennas on her head walked up to her. "Are you alright ma'am?" She said in a calm, but firm voice.

The lady nodded.

"Perhaps. My name is Anella, and I was the assistant to the leader of all beings who exist. Or, I'm sure that's what she'd like to tell herself." She introduced herself as if she was a doctor or something. Anella walked up to Couverture and placed both her hands on her, feeling her cheeks. "Affectionate are we- Oooo?"

"I wonder if she's still in there, seeing your confetti brained dingdong."

"Whose there?" Couverture asked, trailing her eyes away as if not to make eyecontact.

The woman brought out a tome, and showed her the chapter where the Couverture was recorded. The industrial chocolate baroness flipped through the pages in disbelief.
"You've been writing memoirs about me?"

"Not memoirs. That book keeps its own recordings it seems. Please, watch this."

She smiled, and her hand reached into the visor for a hair tie, pulling it out with ease. She then ran her fingers through her hair, her hands slipping into her hair, before pulling out a small marble-sized button. The projector nearby started to focus again, and a screen flickered to life.

The projector's screen showed a beautiful young woman with blond hair and a sweet smile with her arms outstretched. Her beautiful, pale skin held the same shade of chocolate that the factory made. She was wearing an outfit just absolutely beautiful and immaculate, a black dress with white frills and stockings that matched her heels, which also matched her hair, a red bow in her hair next to thick goggles, and even her eyes, the same ones she held right now. She had a sweet, but mischievous smile, and her hair flowed around her as if she was about to embrace another woman. The other woman was in shoulderpads and a white rubber suit, her hair was as white as that of a new born baby, and it swayed every time she spoke in the footage.

"That's me." The lady said, with a sweet smile. She sighed.

"And that's Whiteheed. My boss. Lover.. maker and destroyer of worlds.

Couverture rolled her eyes, seeing the collar around Whiteheed's neck and how she grabbed her rubber hands together towards the younger Anella. "Your run of the mill dictator." She had no desire to know more of that book, and handed it back to the woman.

"Yes well, you're certainly on parity." Anella folded her arms. There was a long silence. "My daughter, found this book. She started to make recipes with it and work on that factory. She went mad.. I wanted to help her, I tried and did all I could but, I couldn't save her. When she ripped out those pages you found from it's binder, that was the end for her."

Couverture looked again at her chapter, and realized the schematics that she'd found so long ago, were now copied over in her own handwriting within the book itself. Like they'd been reprinted or something.

"Why didn't you ever come to me before? Why start up this lab now?" She asked.

Couverture walked up to Anella and helped her sit down. "My only child is gone. I'll be damned if I'd let something like you get away that easily."

"You have to be quiet." Anella said to the Couverture. She shook her head and then stood up to go around her. "What am I going to do?" She thought for a moment, her dark, blue eyes looking ahead.

"Did you come just for closure? To get revenge?"

Anella shook her head and shrugged. "No. To thank you. When Whiteheed was captured, I worried this land would become a ghost town without drive or purpose. You've brought us back to life in a lot of way.. you've brought her back to life."

The chocolate woman looked down at her hands. "I remember when I was a teen, my mother spoke about how everyone in town used to work for Whiteheed, in dark identityless masks. It seems once she was defeated, they never found a new goal or way of being since." She clutched her head, from time to time she'd get these headaches she couldn't explain.

"..Brought her? Who?"

Anella smiled.

"You've got a bit of a memory problem, ma'am, do you know what it's called or who its from?" She looked almost in too much pain to say it. "They're from my daughter. From the day you picked up her chapter, her pages, you started to merge with her. Your souls, both occupying a single body. Together the two of you make up who are now, so I wanted to thank you for giving my daughter, and this town another chance."

Anella smiled and held out her hand. Couverture took it reluctantly. She pressed the marble again and a metal closet opened up, revealing a white latex suit with shoulderpads. "Whiteheed's old uniform. I figured since you took my daughter's soul into you, you might want to take my old boss's wardrobe."

Couverture scowled. "Whiteheed was a dictator, not a creator."

"She was many things. And well, you don't have to wear it. You're free to be you."

She felt her lips chilled by the lab's cold air. "Thank you." She said softly, and turned her face towards Anella, whose cheek brushed against her own. Anella had some tears dripping down her eyes. "I know I'm a terrible person for what I've done. I was only a teen when I served Whiteheed, and I pushed my daughter to read that tome after hearing what it could do. I thought making her a 'Witch' could bring us magnificence! I failed as a mother.. Please let me make it right."

She stepped back and smiled. "I know I'm nothing, but you are something. I'll do everything I can to make this town a successful place again." She hugged the Couverture. Everything started rushing back at once, the girl she'd merged with surging all at once within her. Couverture's mind started to run through her memories of her life, she recalled baking in this very lab once, she remembered studying that tome for hours, she even had a few faint feelings of anger as she ripped its pages out and started to fade.

"Quite the tea time we had.." Couverture smiled, and then pulled back and held her cheeks with both of her hands. "Look. We all have our past my darling. You seem like an honest person, and I guess what you did had to be done to find closure. I do believe that's what you wanted. I hope even if I am formed from your daughter, you can accept the world moving forward as it is now. I'll never try to be anyone other than I am to this town. Even if who that is, is absolutely fabulous." She looked at Whiteheed's uniform.

"Then again, someone has to step and bring glamour back to this land." She went over and put her hands on it, the material magically changing to a combination of rubber, white chocolate and solid-creme, then began to undress right in front of her host and place it on. "My business is taking off. Why shouldn't I take the position of a woman whose ambitions couldn't match her temper or impulses?"

"Well I guess you'd be good at it." Anella folded her hands submissively in front of her lap.

Couverture grinned. "Then we'll call this chapter a success? I'll convert this lab into my base of operations and rue any doubt that my industry, ChocoaMaestro will flourish." She asked Anella. She took a step towards her and wrapped both her arms around her. "To the future.. to my creations.. we'll work on making this world loving and sweet forever.."

She then closed her eyes and allowed her head to kiss Anella on the forehead.

The Baroness of the ChocoaMaestro opened her eyes and smiled. She then stood up, smoothing out her new white-chocolate coated dress and bodysuit as she did so. She looked down at the ground and then looked into Anella's eyes. "But I promise, in all my creations I will always hold you in my heart, and never lose you. Thank you for this gift, I must be off to run an empire dear. This town won't feed and employ itself." She walked past Anella, towards the door of the lab, opened it and waved ta-ta before stepping outside, the Chocolate witch ready to melt all into her embrace.