When Arian first heard about the Destiny City cooking contest, he hadn't been particularly planning to enter it. Although he did bake and liked to bake, his little hobby wasn't something that he particularly broadcast and apart from the cupcakes that he'd once baked for Hafwen, the most that he tended to do in the way of baking stuff for outside the home were the treats that he baked and then dropped once a month for the bake sales of a few charities that he quietly supported, rotating around so that the treats went to a different charity each month.

A call to check up on his cousin and find out when she was coming home had changed things, the contest one of the things she had mentioned.

Arian had protested - after all although he could cook well enough not to starve - he wasn't really that interested in cooking per se, just the baking. In fact cooking as a whole was more his cousin's thing - she was the one that like experimenting with different ingredients and recipes.

Besides Arian liked to baked because he liked sweets and from what he could see the whole competition seemed to be geared around healthy eating - something not really compatible with the whole eat healthy aspect.

She'd mentioned it on a few more calls though, had pointed out that there was a section for sweets and had even done enough digging to be able point out that any sweets entered didn't necessarily have to be healthy.

Eventually Arian had given in, well kind off given in and with a caveat.

Okay Saffy I'll enter, but you have to be around to act as taster and not around around, but at home around.

He wasn't sure that she'd answer - she'd been at Uncle Phillip and Aunty Rachel's place since they had collected her from the hospital after her Shade had attacked her - Uncle Phillip and Aunty Rachel who had been trying to get her to leave Destiny City for years.

There was also the fact that she'd been dodging the question of when she was coming home each time he'd asked, changing the subject each time even though on each phone call he'd asked, however it had struck Arian that mayhaps he could use this competition as a way of finally getting some sort of definitive answer on when Saffy was coming home - or more to the point whether she was even actually planning to come home.

He'd been surprised therefore after a long moment's silence when Saffy had said quietly that she needed to speak to Uncle Phillip and Aunty Rachel and ended the call. It had been the most answer that he'd had from her, a hint of hope that mayhaps his time of being stuck in a too empty and too quiet apartment might finally come to an end although Arian tried not to read too much into the words.

And then a week later she had come back to him, had given him a date. Well okay more a time frame of mid December, but Arian wasn't going to be particularly picky even if it did he was going to be stuck hopping up and down on the train if he wanted an second opinion from Saffy on whether a combination worked. It had also meant that he had to do his part and actually enter the competition.

It had given him a challenge thinking up what to bake - Arian mindful of the fact that although the sweet section didn't require the dessert to be healty, healthier options were prefered - however he had eventually settled on not baking at all and instead making Chocolate Fudge with a twist - the fudge would have beetroot substituted in as one of the main ingredients.

It had taken more than one attempt, Arian not having taken into account just how finely the beetroot would have to be grated or how smooth the purée that he made from it needed to be. He persevered however and finally managed to get the beetroot purée to a fine and smooth consistency.

With the purée finally at the right consistency it was time to make the the fudge, mixing in the rest of the ingredients sans chocolate, the empty apartment soon filling with a warm sweet smell as the ingredients slowly mixed together, Arian carefully waiting until the last of the sugar and stevia mix that he had substituted for pure sugar (and thus allowing him to use less of it) had dissolved before adding in the next step - the chocolate.

The hardest part of the whole thing was probably the beating of the fudge to thicken it, the task seeming a herculian one as Arian first stirred, then beat and then repeated the process over and over feeling that he was developping new muscles on just this small little part of the task. Eventually however the fudge mixture was finally ready to pour in the brownie tin that he had set up at the start and left to set.

The finished fudge he neatly cut into squares, before carefully wrapping each piece and placing them in a wicker basket to display it and then it was time to take the trip to the convention centre, officially register and drop off his entry. The convention centre was a hive of activity, Arian not realising that quite so many people would also be planning to enter the competition and as Arian signed in and then moved to set up his entry he was glad that he had remembered to bring a plate to set out a few pieces of fudge for the judges to taste. He'd also carefully written on a piece of card how his fudge differed from normal chocolate fudge and after he finished setting some of the fudge out on the plate and rearranging the remaining fudge in the basket, Arian set the card up by the wicker basket.

He wasn't sure how well he'd do, was a bit nervous - well make that more than nervous on how his fudge would be received - but whether he won in his category or not to his way of thinking Arian had already won the big prize because finally, finally his cousin was coming home.

-- 1058 words --