#slide 93

Artist: @joyfullynervouscreator (here on AO3)

Author: @middleearthpixie (here on AO3)

A collaboration for TRSB 2022 (@tolkienrsb)

Art: Here (Slide #93)

Ratings: Art: G, Fic: G (here once reveals have passed!)

Warnings: No archive warnings apply.

Relationships: Bard x ofc Aislinn Dale

Characters:

Our Judges - Elrond Rivendell, Gandalf Grey

Our Hosts - Radagast Brown, Saruman White

Our Finalists - Aislinn Dale, Thranduíl Greenleaf, Bard Bowman 

Additional Tags: Fluff, Friendly Competition, Bake Off, Romance, Alternate Timeline, Alternate Universe, Modern Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, Thranduíl of Mirkwood, Bard the Bowman, Radagast the Brown, Saruman, Gandalf the Grey, Elrond,

Word Count: 13k

Summary: Only three remain. Aislinn Dale, Thranduíl Greenleaf, and Bard Bowman are the last bakers standing in the Great Middle Earth Bakeoff, with three challenges left and the title of Middle Earth’s Best Baker on the line. 

All three have proven themselves worthy and skilled, but in the time they’ve spent together, both in the tent and out, they’ve become friends as well. And for two, something even larger may loom on the horizon, something that might be just as wonderful as the crystal plate proclaiming them the winner of the Great Middle Earth Bake-Off…

Excerpt from Chapter One:

The absolute worst thing about being in the tent was just how damn hot it was in there. Aislinn Dale exhaled harder than she meant to and sent her too-long bangs straight up for a brief moment. 

Still, she had to admit, she’d rather be sweating her ass off in the tent than be at home watching others sweat their asses off on the Great Middle Earth Bake-Off on television. Even so, she picked up her recipe card to fan herself—for all the good it did—and looked around at the now-mostly empty tent. 

What had begun as a field of twelve bakers had been whittled down to three. And Aislinn kept pinching herself, trying to convince herself she was actually one of the finalists. Over the last few weeks, she’d watched as her fellow competitors fell when their bakes betrayed them by being either over-or-underdone, or by not quite reaching the taste standards the judges had come to expect. The most bizarre dismissal had to be Nori, who’d been voted off the previous week when he’d been caught trying to steal his Kitchen-Aid mixer and several whisks. When pressed, he confessed he’d been swiping things almost since the first day and had amassed quite the collection of mixing bowls and spatulas. It was only because he promised to return every single item, and actually did so, that no charges were pressed against him. All in all, it made for a very interesting week...