Una tarta de naranja por la paz

Objects: orange tree, tea cup 

Appearance & Character 

Nera is a young woman, around 20 years old. She has brown curly hair and nearly always wears an apron. More often than not she has flour from the bakery sprinkled on her clothes. While she seem quite small and petite she can lift the sacks of flour or sugar without problems.

She’s always ready to lend a hand, as her parents taught her. Especially if somebody asks her something about baked goods or fruits. Nera is a joyful person, always greeting everyone with a smile. When it comes to her baked goods and tea she’s a perfectionist, because of this she spends hours in her kitchen inventing and improving new recipes.  

Background

When Nera was little her family lived in a village near the border, surrounded by orange trees. Her parents had a bakery and made the best cupcake, cookies and more. Everything was made with the oranges form around the village and Neras dream was to become a baker herself so she could take over the bakery some day. Sadly war broke out between the two neighboring countries, when she was only nine years old, so Nera and her parents had to flee. Later they found out, that there village and all the orange trees were destroyed, because the armies clashed there. Now they live in the capital, her mother works as a maid for a rich family and her father as a cook in a tavern. All while the war is still wreaking havoc at the borders. Even thou Nera could no longer  watch her parents bake in their cosy little shop, she never stopped being fascinated by baking and tried to learn as much as she could from her parents in the little time they had together. 

Motivation

As the years went by she found out that many villages at the border suffered the same fate as hers, so she decided to do something against this war. 

She applied for the bakery contest of the kingdom. Her plan is to use the wish, that the winner is granted, to compel the king to start negotiations for peace with the other country. 

Narrative Arc 

She works every day to improve her recipes and techniques. While at the castel for the competition she faces many other bakers from nobel or famous upbringing, looking down on her. But she never gives up on trying. To the surprise of many others she gets selected for the second round. While trying to come up with a dish for the next task she meets Vincent, another baker competing in the contest. They soon become friends, helping each other out, even thou they’re rivals in the competition. When he isn’t selected for the next round, he gifts Nera a tea cup decorated with oranges to remember him. Nera is more motivated then ever to win this for herself, her old village, all the other villages and for her new found friend. Every evening she drinks her tea from this special cup and somehow feels like Vincent is right beside her. In the end she loses in the final round of the competition to the son of a famous baker. But even so, in her speech at the award ceremony, she talks about her village, about her dream of her parents baker and the orange trees. Nera ends her romantic story with the fire and destruction the war brought to this paradise, moving the hearts of many. The nobels pressured the king to do something about it, so he had to start negotiations. 

Years later Nera ownes her own bakery and cafe in the capital, with orange infused goods and tea. In her little garden behind the shop stand nine proud orange trees spending shade for the customers in the summer and fruits in winter. In a display cabinet behind her counter stand a beautiful teacup decorated with oranges waiting for the evening, when Nera will take it out and drink her last cup of tea for the day. Maybe secretly hoping that on day her reputation will reach a certain baker with a love for tea and oranges.