The man in white held the blade up to the light and marveled, "I've never seen its equal."

Anne beamed, "I knew you would appreciate it Chef Musta— It once belonged to the queen of Remno"

"The Queen?"

"Yes, well, former queen. She even used it to cut mushrooms when we cooked together in Remno. I mentioned that you were the one who taught me how to cook, and she wanted you to have it."

While in Remno, queen Claudia had very few possessions and even fewer that approached the quality associated with royalty. But among her royal duties was to prepare the (now-retired) king's food, and for that, no expense was spared. So, while she lacked in jewelry and fancy dresses, she may have had the best-equipped kitchen on the continent.

"You talked to the Queen— about Musta?" Chef Musta put his hand to his chest, "Miss Anne, this is really too much, I don't know how I could ever thank you for this!"

"Thank me? I am still thanking you! I would have never been able to cook with the queen or continue to protect our Princess Mia in the kitchen had you not been so kind in teaching me."

As much as Musta treasured Anne's gift, her words are what found the way to his heart. The big man began to blush, and his eyes began to turn glassy.

"I have so much more I can teach you. Will you come by soon?" He quickly added, "You can use the Queen's knife!"

"Thank you! I will most certainly take you up on your offer—but you will use the knife. It's yours."

The chef then held both of Anne's hands in his and smiled, and then let go.

Anne was wearing her own big smile as she left the kitchen. It had been a busy three days since returning from Remno—she helped settle the Virgil girls into Mia's Academy, visited her parents, unpacked Mia, and then her favorite part—distributed gifts from her visit to her family and then to her other family—the residents of Whitemoon Palace.

Anne took a selfish joy in giving gifts. Helping people was a natural thing for Anne—as natural as breathing. So, while she was surely happy when her attempt at helping someone yielded a positive result, she didn't feel especially prideful of the actual deed—she was just doing what came naturally to her. But finding the perfect gift for someone was different. Making the effort to find something personal and just seeing a smile or hearing a thank you warmed her heart. Everyone seemed so pleased with their gifts. Anne made a mental note—I have to write Queen Claudia and let her know how happy she made Chef!

Having wandered the palace halls while basking in the warmth of her gift-giving spree—Anne finally found herself in front of her own bedroom door. Her smile was quickly replaced by something far less Anne-like. She just stood there for a full minute with her back against the wall. Summoning all of her courage, she took a deep breath, turned, quickly exhaled, and finally opened the door,

"The Moons! Where do I even start? It has been three days, and I am still living out of these dreadful travel chests!"

They took up almost every open space on her bedroom floor—she could see her bed and the top of her desk, but everything else was just...chests!

Yes, Anne had become an over-packer. But she really didn't have a choice —having promised herself that she would do whatever was required to protect Mia, meant that she packed for every eventuality—which meant that eventually, she had to unpack for every eventuality!

Anne decided to start small, transferring vials of antidotes from their wooden carrying case to the storage rack mounted on her wall. She brought one vial to the window, so she could better make out its handwritten label.

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"Didn't have to use a single one of these," she laughed out loud, "Well, I guess I did a good job of keeping Mia out of the kitchen this time!"

After placing the final vial in its spot, Anne made another mental note to herself, I need to thank Citrina again for setting this up for me, and maybe I should check to see if she has a cure for whiskey for next time—yes, a whiskey antidote is VERY important. I should do that next week! Anne was very pleased—she just found an excuse to drop off some gifts at the Yellowmoon Estate next week! Now, off to something a little bigger.

Alternating her gaze between two giant trunks that stood at the foot of her bed, Anne pondered—What's next, clothes or weapons? She opened up the trunk on the left, I guess since we are back in Tearmoon clothes are the greater priority.

So she began pulling dresses out of her travel chest and hanging them up in her armoire. Sighing when she got to a beautiful green ball gown, she held it against her chest—maybe next time. The lovely dress found its place in the armoire, still awaiting the day of its debut.

"Next!" Anne shouted out loud, trying to distract herself from her own melancholy. Tugging at a big black piece of clothing, it unfolded as she pulled it out of the trunk. When it revealed itself to be her 'ninja' outfit, Anne laughed—"Well, you made a bigger impression on the Remno boys than that old ball gown would have, anyway!" She tossed the uniform onto her bed. "But I don't think I will be reprising my role as The Warrior Maid of Tearmoon any time soon. Off to storage with you!"

She had begun searching for her next item when she heard shouting echoing from the hallway.

"Anne! An-nnne! You got a package!"

It was Mia of course. She waddled through the door carrying a huge package wrapped in white fabric. She scooted over one of the larger trunks on her rear-end to make her way to the side of Anne's bed, where she found a landing place for the package. Mia quickly pulled an envelope that was wedged underneath one of the package strings and placed it in Anne's hands.

"There's a letter, too!"

It was Mia that was bubbling with excitement as Anne opened the letter.

"Well, who's it from?"

Anne smiled, "It doesn't say."

But Mia knew that Anne knew who the mysterious letter writer was—There's no way that Anne's face would glow like that if she didn't know! She's just not telling!

Anne not sharing was driving chronic over-sharer Mia crazy. There was nothing about Mia's relationship with Abel that Anne did not know—(and there were definitely parts of that relationship that Anne wished Mia would keep to herself!). Mia felt betrayed—I've earned the right to know what is in that letter!

Anne continued to smile and stare at the letter.

Mia bounced up and down on her toes behind Anne, "Arrg, at least sit down when you read! Why do you have to be so tall!"

It was pretty much impossible for Mia to look over Anne's shoulder, so she swooped in underneath Anne's arm and tried to take a peek. But Anne folded up the letter and put it back in the envelope before Mia could read it.

Mia crossed her arms and let out an audible harrumph, "Well, at least open up the package!"

After placing the note on her desk, Anne dutifully complied with Mia's request —carefully untying the string that bound the cloth to the package. She neatly rolled up the string and put it in a small decorated box that lay at her desk.

Mia groaned, "You're saving the string?"

Anne just continued to smile as she gently unfolded the white cloth to reveal a basket.

"Ugg! You can fold the cloth later! Open the basket!" Patience was never one of Mia's virtues.

After Anne finished folding the cloth and found the right drawer to store it in, she gently removed the top of the basket, revealing...

"Cookies!" Mia shouted with glee. She then gave Anne a puzzled look, "But you don't like cookies?"

Anne shook her head and replied, "No, I don't," as she removed a cookie from the basket. Her smile grew brighter as she took a bite.

"There are so many! May I have one?"

"No."

Anne giggled, as Mia let out another audible harrumph and snuck her hand in, and pulled out a cookie.

Mia took a bite, "The Moons! That's a damn good cookie!"

"It is." Anne took another bite of her cookie.

Mia grabbed another cookie from the basket and sweetly offered, "Well, if we are going to eat cookies, I guess I could grab some milk out of the kitchen."

"That would be nice. Thank you."

As Mia left for the milk, she casually lifted the note off Anne's desk. Mia had to know who sent Anne the cookies!

As soon as she had made it just outside the door, Mia immediately opened the letter and began to read it.

Thank you!

Losing all pretense of secrecy, Mia screamed, "What! Thank you?" She turned the letter around to see if there was something on the other side. She continued her tirade, "That's it? What sort of letter is that? Arrg!"

Anne ignored Mia's groans and quietly shut her door. She took another cookie from the basket as she wistfully looked at her ninja uniform lying on her bed. She then shifted her gaze to the cookie in her hand and quietly remarked, "Yes, a damn good cookie." And she took another bite.

end