Haley and the Miraculous Potion (Haley and Nana 5)

Two Girls, One Kitchen, and a Ton of Self-Control

After months of assigning them to other people, Haley finally lands an exciting quest for herself: to make her first potion! But her concentration is shattered when Billy Bernard's older sister shows up at the inn to apply for a job. Haley thinks of herself as a fairly forgiving person, but Jennifer is enough to test a saint's patience, much less one harried questgiver's. With the holidays approaching, can Haley juggle her questline, her Christmas preparations, and one grumpy teen baker without disaster? It might take a miracle!

Join Haley, Nana, and the people of Refuge for another quick read, just right for the holiday season! Once again, a recipe is included, because that's the kind of story this is.

Genre (setting): gamelit fantasy
Tags: cooking, baking, family, gaming, litrpg, religion, calligraphy, christmas, forgiveness, memories, giving, friendship
Rating: G

Excerpt from Haley and the Miraculous Potion

Haley set a glass of water in front of her guest and then plated the toast. Proudly, because all food in the house was excellent food. “So… do you actually want a job?”

“No.” Jennifer frowned at the bread, then broke her slice with elegant fingers. Even her nails were pretty: not painted, but filed into perfect ovals. “But there’s no school, and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be school ever again.”

—which felt like an unnecessarily dramatic statement, but Haley wasn’t going to call her on it—

“So what do I do all day? My mother won’t let me clean or cook with her. I thought about volunteering, but everyone’s turning it into… into a transaction, like paying for a lootbox.”

Haley sat on her question about how the other girl knew about lootboxes if she didn’t like games.

“I refuse to become some kind of… video game character killer/hunter/whatever. It’s wrong. So what’s left?” Jennifer looked away with a scowl that even her cute button nose couldn’t save. “I haven’t got any ideas.”

Haley poured herself a cup of coffee and used that time to summon the girl’s system profile, and even to pry a little with [See Background].

Jennifer Bernard

Level 0 Human

Skills: Unclaimed

Class: Blocked

Haley’d never seen ‘unclaimed’ or ‘blocked’ before, and was surprised at how much it distressed her. It was one thing to be too young to have access to the system (or for the system to believe you needed access to it). But ‘blocked’ felt like the worst kind of missed opportunities, the kind you defaulted on yourself. This she knew because she’d had plenty of lectures on it from her father who, as usual, turned out to be right. She joined Jennifer at the table. “So, you want to work for the inn as… what, a waitress?”

“I can cook, clean, and yes, I guess I can bring food to tables. If you ever have anyone here to serve.”

Since the house’s evolution, they’d started attracting some of the townspeople for lunch, but Haley had yet to see an afternoon that she and Nana couldn’t handle alone. “People like my grandmother’s cooking.”

Jennifer bit into the bread, wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know why if this is what you call bread. Why did you put so much flour in it? It’s too dense. And old. You should have toasted it longer.”

Haley stared at her, because this was finally rudeness on a level she had no idea how to handle. And apparently, that was good enough as a reproach, because her guest blushed brightly.

“I’m sorry. I like making bread.”

“Maybe you can make bread for us, then,” Haley said from between gritted teeth.

[Congratulations! You have leveled skill Self-Control from Passive to Competent!]

[Continue practicing this skill to increase its level.]

Thanks, she told the aliens, and meant it, because getting something out of this conversation other than a headache and tight jaw was welcome.