William awoke. Gently stirring from his sleep and stretching.

The predawn morning was dark. William jostled his sleeping companion who woke with a serpentine hiss. A forked tongue extended glimmering with a single tiny flame.

William caught the tiny flame with a small twig and used it to light a bundle of reeds. He couldn’t afford candles, dried grass was all he had.

He rolled over and descended a small ladder into the main bakery. His reptilian companion slithered down a worn wooden pole which held the false roof up. Then directly through the firebox hatch you used to push wood into the furnace.

“You ready to start Aimuzjon?”

A gentle warmth spread through the room as the vast oven awoke. The warm glow of the oven provided a weak light illuminating the small bakery. William hurried to remove the loafs he left in the warm oven to rise overnight. Rows of baskets covered in small cloths filled the oven space. The area was saturated with a yeasty smell as the bread breathed.

Bread breathed. The same as any human. William never explained this. People would laugh at the idea.

William pinched a small piece of dough from an assorted selection of breads and tossed the tiny clumps into a jar labelled Gyst which bubbled and seethed with fermentation. He gave the blob smack as it tried to escape it’s confines.

“Can I get a bite to eat?” Aimuzjon asked from the firebox.

“Wood, charcoal, scraps or coal?”

“Scraps and a bit of Charcoal would be best.”

William walked to a filthy black barrel, filled with shards of charcoal and retrieved a particularly fragile one. He opened his door and collected a small box he had placed out front of his bakery labelled “Items to burn.” William collected clean burnables. Gave some variety from the usual charcoal and sawdust she had to eat.

There were an assortment of wood, cloth and the odd paper in the box, “ooh. Think I got a charm in here. Want me to pitch it?” Will called into the bakery.

“Naa, they have a delightful pop when I eat them”

William grabbed a worn sack, tossed the lump of charcoal inside, and smashed it against the ground. He moved the burnables to the sack and making sure everything was well coated in the black dust. Task complete he dumped the bag into the hopper leading to the firebox.

Aimuzjon squealed, “You coated it in coal for me! Shouldn’t have, I’ll get fat!” Aimuzjon never got fat, only longer. Well she had a bit of a belly in the middle, but it was hard to see unless she rolled over.

A long tongue, tipped in fire lashed out. Tasting for a particular morsel before jaws pulled that morsel into the furnace. With a flare of heat.

William returned to the chilly outdoors and grabbed his “To Be Baked” cart.  Many houses in the community didn’t have ovens. Some people made the dough and asked William to bake it for them. He rolled the rickety cart into the bakery and started unloading the loafs onto the countertops.

Aimuzjon had moved from the firebox to the baking area through the ovens chimney, William had a small metal flap custom made for her to navigate inside the old oven. She was cleaning, and pushing out the old dusty flour and bread crumbs. “Ooh you missed a pastry Will! Delicious, fatty, little stale.”

William heard the horrific sounds of burnt stale bread yielding to the creatures jaws. He chose to ignore it. While wheeling the cart back outside.  He returned to the oven, he placed his peel where he wanted it be. Preparing himself with a deep breath. he begun to sling the loafs of bread into the oven. Aimuzjon lashed her tail, nudging the positions of the bread and gently moving them with her body as needed. The two quickly filled the oven and William sat down to his meal on his only chair. 

During the preheat Aimuzjon placed two small buns on the firebox and cooked on a piece of exposed metal. William ate one, saving the second to just before he opened. Aimu looked at Will from the baking area. Her scaled body slithered between the baking bread. Her tail lashed to opening. She grasped the door and pulled the oven closed from the inside.

The heat from the oven increased. This was the second baking step for these particular breads.

William moved on to mixing more dough. Organizing the next baking run and tending to his seething jar labelled Gyst. He gave it a bit of water. Gyst was a mass of dough that he kept wet and fed. It lived and bubbled with fermentation. He broke a piece off the top and added fresh water and flour. He stirred the mixture with his hands.

Using an old cup he measured flour into a bowl and slowly dribbled water in. Willium worked the random clump of dough into the mixture and slowly formed it. He repeated the process until he had several balls of dough rising.

The firebox flew open with a flash of heat. Aimuzjon waddled out. She had a sprawling salamander like walk. She could pull her legs underneath herself, but usually preferred to slither. “Water.”

William lowered the water bucket to the floor, “It’s not fresh.”

“Not for me. For steam.” she stuck her snout in the bucket and quickly drained it, before returning to the oven. The oven rattled as she moved.  It hissed and groaned with the sounds of boiling steam. The main baking door reopened. A cloud of steam exploded. Announcing the baking had finished.

William spun his bakers peel, and slid it under each loaf, freeing it from the floured surface. Once empty the process began anew. The duo had a pattern, shuffling bread into and out of the oven. While William mixed, and Aimuzjon tended the heat.

The last thing to bake was the fancy sweets for the day, “Dragon Pastries! Dragon Pastries!” Aimuzjon chanted.

Dragon Pastries were what Aimuzjon called croissants. Delicate bread and butter pastries. William shook his head, “No I don’t have the right butter, and it’s not cold enough to do it. And it takes three days!”

Aimuzjon groaned.

“Sweet rolls,”

Aimuzjon groaned again.

“You can try to make them look like dragons?”

Her emotions changed, and she squeaked a tiny pip of happiness. William placed a bowl of water on the floor. A quick slip and a splash she washed her body. William rubbed her over with a wet towel, then a dry towel. Removing the ash, soot and flour from the oven.

She hopped up on the counter while William rolled out the dough for her to work. She began by The reptiles deft claws sliced and maneuvered the pieces. “That butter looks plenty cold for pastries!” The reptile side eyed William. Her expressive tongue lulled to the side in an attempt to pout.

“It’s not. We make sweet rolls.”

During the preparation, the dragon grew quieter and more sullen, with the odd huff, “What’s on your mind Aimu?” William known her long enough to guess she’s in a bad mood. Her tail lashed. Rather then wagging like a dog, or swaying like a cat. It twitched and spasmmed with a mind if it’s own.

The dragon patted the mixture of sweet herbs and butter into the roll.

“We’ve been together for a long time.” Aimu turned and looked at Will.

“Since we were children.”

“Well,” the scales on her face flared showing their red layer underneath giving the appearence of a blush, “I want to raise a family.”

William froze in confusion. His hands stilled as the dough slithered away in a gravity assisted escape. The dough nudged towards the edge of the counter in a bid for freedom.

“What brought this on?” William gathered the escaping dough and put it under his control.

“Dunno, but I want to do it. Can I do it with you? I mean we’ve been together since we were kids right?”

“No.” William blurted out. “We will need to find another of your kind.” He breathed slowly. “Do you have any in mind?”

“Well I figured I’d ask the nice purple one from across the way, but I think she won’t work for having eggs?”

“Okey, let me think.”

There was a rap on the door and William moved a tray of the personal loafs then checked the door. His crude sign had a slogan, “The only bakery with a dragon in the oven.”

There was a knock and he opened the door. William had a massive line of people, “What’s going on?”

A friendly nieghbour Chris had been knocking on the door, “Figured I’d warn ya Will. You have a big crowd.” he returned to a different place in line. 

“Okey. We are opening early! Pickups and bread on the left” William waved his hands, not everyone in the audience might understand Left and Right. “Pastries on the right”

The pickup crowd was usually well behaved. They dropped a copper, took their loaf, and that was that. William was only watching today for one particular hand.

William reached out and firmly grasped the elderly wrist, slender with age. It’s owner was attempting to make off without paying. “Mrs. Nathew, I fear you forgot your copper yesterday.”

“Oh, well you know in my old age...” she droned on, “I could be forgetful...”

“Mhmm, so I need two coppers today.”

“Highway robbery.”

“One for yesterday, and one for today.” William held up two thick fingers. He was convinced she was playing senile.

“well I never...” she gently pulled on the basket as if moving to leave.

Aimuzjon rose over the counter, and coiled around the woman’s food. “I do enjoy free bread.”

“Well I-”

The crowd’s temper rose, “Come-on old lady! I’m hungry!”

Her eyes darted like an animal in a trap. Will’s hand wouldn’t let her take the loaf. Defeated, her hands quickly dropped two coppers on the counter. Will released her hand and she scurried away from the public shaming.

The rest of the crowd moved smoothly, everyone quietly paid, grabbed their bread and left

A man dressed in a fine suit, broke from the plebeian's line. He rapped the counter with a silver coin, expecting prompt service. For a silver, Will relented and gestured, “Pickup and Bread Left, Sweets Right” William pointed at his unlucky draconian assistant.

A small group disengaged from the main mob and drifted towards the side counter. Aimuzjon’s dangerous appearance kept the rich crowd under control. They demanded service, and Will’s was the only bakery where a dragon served you.

The morning rush gradually tapered off. When all the pickups were retrieved William closed the door to setup baking for the lunch rush.

“I need to run an errand, can you handle the lunch rush?”

“Yes but I need water!”

William ran an extra bucket of water from the town pump dragon before heading up the ladder to change into his nice clothes. He needed to enter a more affluent part of town and his baking outfit wouldn’t cut it. On the way out he gently wrapped some sweet rolls in fabric to form a simple bindle. Walking like he was making a delivery always reduced problems.

“I’m off.”

Aimuzjon cooed, a soft throaty rattle, a sound William only heard when she was happy.

He smiled and walked out.