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a cook's guide to magic

vol. 1, revised

When Vera came of age and was finally allowed to join a coven, there wasn't any semblance of doubt as to which she would apply to. Generation upon generation of Lindt witches had stood in line to defend Sundial and its citizens as Helios Knights. Except for Uncle Rudy, of course, whose name was struck from the family tree after he decided to follow his best friend—boyfriend, she'd learn to read between lines—into Jester's Den.

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That was beside the point.

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Eighteen-year-old Vera had no intention of breaking tradition. She would become a Knight, as her father and mother had in their time, and her uncles and aunts, and her grandparents before them. She would make her mother, may her soul roam the spirit realm in peace, proud.

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A different scenario was presented when it came down to the affinity she would choose to specialize in. Alchemy was the most common (read: least prestigious) affinity to pursue known to witchcraft. On top of that, Vera didn't have a natural affinity to it. The Lindt family was known for their innate affinity to Enchantment. Her father, her late mother, her siblings, as well as her long string of uncles and aunts and cousins; they were all innate enchanters. So was she.

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Rudolph Lindt, after whom her renegade uncle Rudy was named, was born an alchemist. Grandfather Rudolph, or Opa to Vera, the first and only alchemist to be born in the Lindt family in the last hundred years, was Vera's role model and hero. He died before he could consummate his research on the culinary applications of Alchemy. He died before he could accomplish his dreams, but not before he passed them on to his progeny.

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Vera was determined to see that her beloved Opa's work wasn't lost to the sands of time.

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companion handbook

advance reader's edition

When she was small, really small, Vera found a bucket of mud sitting daintily in her kitchen. Of course, the door leading straight into the house's small garden would have warned any other passerby as to the true nature of its contents. Not Vera. Excited, she hopped onto the closest wooden chair, and gleefully shoved her little, round, button-nosed face inside.

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For the next half hour, the sounds of her vomiting filled her nanna with dread.

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Mrs. Maria Lindt passed away a week later, consumed by a crippling depression, exactly nine days, six hours, and fifty-one minutes after her falcon familiar was taken from the outer strata by an explosion.

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Ever since his beloved wife fell victim to the dangers of using her non-elemental affinity in battle, Mr. David Lindt has been reluctant to allow his baby girl to pursue a similar career to hers, to his own. The news that Vera wanted to study Alchemy instead came as both a blessing and a curse.

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Despite her noble motivations, Vera isn't at all good at any field of study that requires sitting still and memorizing an infinity of ingredients and formulas. Still, she tries. She's trying.