Chapter Text
I wake up with a start. Eugh… not again. I groan, and rub my forehead. Another nightmare. Memories of the recent battle have been haunting my dreams, causing me to lose sleep over the events. I sigh and open my eyes before looking around the room.
The rising sun pierces through the window by my bed, the silver walls glittering in the rays. We’ve been in the Faerie Kingdom for the past four days, recovering from war. We have finally defeated Dark Enchantress Cookie and the darkness with her. White Lily Cookie almost crumbled in the process, but I was able to save her at the last moment. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost her again…
I try to push away the memory of her crumbling dough as I get out of bed. She had offered us a place to stay until we were ready to return to our own kingdoms. Though some cookies left soon after the battle, the badly injured stayed behind to recover. She was working hard these past few days, making sure everyone was comfortable and had a place to stay. Her generosity and kindness shown through her impressive work. I wonder what White Lily is up to today.
I get dressed and step out into the main foyer, taking a deep breath of the chilly morning air. What a wonderful day it is!
As I make my way to the dining area, I hear a familiar voice behind me. “Greetings, Pure Vanilla Cookie! You’re up early,” calls Hollyberry Cookie.
“Oh! Hello, Hollyberry Cookie, it’s nice to see you. I do hope you slept well,” I reply, turning around to face her. She has a few more scars from the battle, but she seems as energetic as ever, even at 6:00 in the morning. “You haven’t seen White Lily Cookie yet, have you?” I inquire.
“Unfortunately, no, I haven’t. I was just about to head over to the dining hall for breakfast, though. Why don’t you come with me? We’ll possibly see her there!”
I know there’s no way to avoid breakfast with Hollyberry around, so I agree, and we head over there together. To our shock, there’s already quite a lot of cookies enjoying a fresh meal.
“Wow! What a turnout,” Hollyberry exclaims. “Seems like quite a lot of cookies have recovered since the battle.”
I nod in agreement, though my mind was elsewhere. I scour the crowd, looking for the familiar white braid I’ve been searching for. No signs of White Lily Cookie here.
“Come on, Pure Vanilla!” Hollyberry pulls me out of my thoughts. “Let's go get some food before all the good jellies are taken.”
I follow her, and get a small plate of jellies, some toast, and a warm cup of tea. It’s a special brew that you can only find in the Faerie Kingdom. A delicious floral blend with a subtle sweetness. It reminds me of a tea I once shared with White Lily Cookie back at the Academy. Maybe she had a part in making this signature blend.
As we sit down, Golden Cheese Cookie and Dark Cacao Cookie walk in. Golden Cheese still seems half asleep while Dark Cacao is his regular attentive self. Once they get their own plates of food, I call them over to our table, and they both sit down.
“Good morning!” I greet at their arrival. “How are you guys doing on this great morning?”
“I’m doing fine, thank you,” Dark Cacao replies. Gold Cheese responds with a grunt, laying her head on the table. I stifle a laugh; she never was much of a morning person.
After a few minutes of calm banter, shouts suddenly come from the kitchen, and a few fairies rush out; a dark cloud of smoke following them.
Everyone starts panicking, and I rush over to make sure everyone’s okay. As I stride into the kitchen, the smoke starts to subside, and I hear a cookie sobbing.
“I’m so sorry, your majesty. I was so busy, I forgot about the jellies in the oven!” The fretful cookie cries.
“It’s alright, we all make mistakes. We’ll just have to throw this batch out. But thankfully, no one got hurt,” a soft voice reassures the remorseful faerie. A voice that I recognize very well.
“Is everything okay in here?” I ask, peering in through the door.
“Oh! Hello, Pure Vanilla Cookie,” White Lily Cookie turns, seeming startled by my sudden appearance, “We’re all okay, just some jellies got left in the oven a bit too long. Has your morning been going well?” She replies, staring at me with those eyes that are always shining with curiosity.
“I-It’s been good! Uhm, the other ancients and I are enjoying breakfast outside. I was hoping you could join us, if you’d like, of course,” I ramble, and I step into the kitchen.
A look of hesitance crosses her face, but disappears almost as fast as it appeared. “I might be able to join, but I need to clean up here and restart this batch beforehand,” she responds. The cookie next to her seems to break out in tears again, clearly feeling guilty about causing the whole catastrophe. We both glance at them empathetically.
After a little contemplation, I got an idea, “How about I help you in here? I’m not much of a cook, but I can help clean, and I’m great at following instructions!”
White Lily’s eyes widen in surprise for a second before her face melts into a grateful smile. “That would be amazing, Pure Vanilla, thank you.”
We quickly get to work. I scrub down the tray with the burnt jellies and some other dishes, while White Lily and the other fairies start working on cooking up another batch. Soon enough, everything is in order once more, and the Dining Hall was packed with cookies who had just awoken.
“Well, I think I have a little extra time to come chat with you guys,” White Lily says, looking around at the, now tidy, kitchen. She instructs the other cookies on what to keep an eye on, as well as some timers, and then joins me by the door. I offer her my arm to hold, which she happily takes.
We stroll over to the table where the other ancients are chatting, our arms looped together. White Lily Cookie seems to fall slightly behind me, as if hoping to be able to hide from their eyes.
“Took you long enough!” Hollyberry exclaims, “What happened back there?”
“Just a little accident, nothing to worry about. We got it all figured out,” I reassure her, “I also found White Lily Cookie!”
She steps out from behind me, waving a greeting and smiling sheepishly.
“That’s great! It’s nice to see you, White Lily Cookie. Come join us, it’s been a while since we’ve been able to have a chat together,” Hollyberry offers cheerfully. Hollyberry, always making every cookie feel welcome.
We both sit down and start talking with the group, while enjoying this perfect morning.