Kingdom for a Cookie

A cookie.

The thing that would decide wether my cruel cousin Abek, or me, Grimelda, Crown Princess of Flura, would inherit the throne after my father's untimely death.

A freaking cookie.

I stepped down the sweeping marble stairs outside the grand palace. The thing was almost entirely open-air, a bunch of round, marble rooms connected by thin opal bridges. I looked like the palace, in a way: long white-blond hair, marble-pale skin, a long, flowy white dress that radiated out to the colors of the rainbow in the train and skirts, and one blue eye and one green eye, like everyone of my family line, unlike Abek, who had one red eye and one blue eye.

Followed by my little brother Estrel and my best friend, Selena, the daughter of Duke Edward, I gracefully walked down the sage-green carpet that was rolled out for royals, and onto the grand balcony, overlooking a huge crowd. I couldn't pick out faces, but I could tell that mostly everyone was dressed in our signature colors: sage and lemon, yellow and green. The balcony was wide and round, as big as our smallest ballroom. Sashes with the family crest and kingdom's crest hung over the side. To my left was another round balcony, on which stood my mortal enemy, and his two cronies: Abek and his sister, Nori, along with my least favorite of Duke Tillinghast's eight sons: Ben, a chubby, round black-haired kid. His balcony had their family crest instead of ours, to show that he represented a different line.

Stupid Abek, I thought, clenching my white-gloved hands into fists.

In between the balconies was a thin slab of marble, barely balancing an intricately detailed podium on top of it. On top of that podium was a very thin woman in a crimson suit, holding a book as thick as her head. It's a wonder they didn't all fall over and into the crowd.

"Attention, citizens of Flura!" the thin lady shouts in a very loud voice, considering that her thin body can't hold much lung.

"Today is a WONDERFUL DAY! Why? Because today--" she gestures widely, sweeping her arm across the crowd. "-- the ruler of Flura will be DECIDED, in a competition of strength, honesty, ingenuity, and..."

the crowd is silent.

I am silent.

Even Ben, who was making fart noises the whole time, is silent.

"Cookies."

There is an instant uproar.

People screaming in the crowd, Ben laughing and making fart noises like it's some big joke, Abek letting out a squeal like a pig because the fool had never cooked a thing in his life, Selena cheering for me, Estrel singing the national anthem, pipers and drummers playing the national anthem, Ben stopping the fart noises as he realizes that this is real, and Nori fainting.

I feel faint and dizzy.

A cookie.

A cookie.

A dang cookie is all that stands between me and the throne.

Okay, there was lots of other stuff, too, but...

A cookie.

Two days later...

"A cookie!"

"Yes, Grimelda. A cookie."

"I walk down the velvet-lined hall of the palace we all were moved to overnight one night. With no warning. It's almost entirely squares and rectangles, except for a few towers. No tall, thin poles supporting the castle above the ground, like back home.

"Archery, sword fighting, etiquette, tests of intelligence, and a cookie-baking competition. Biggest cookie gets the crown," the thin woman says. She is apparently named Fildelia, and is even skinnier up closer with a long face and dull brown hair twisted into a perpetual bun. Me and Selena are walking down the hall with her, which has entirely too much gold, in my opinion. Selena likes it, because it looks like her hair, long and silky and the color of golden coins, tucked into perfect coils. We're both wearing riding outfits, instead of our usual gowns, because, considering the overnight moving that I slept through, we didn't have much time to pack. Or, like, any. I only had two gowns packed by my maid, Hetta, and one was meant for holidays. The other, I'd worn yesterday.

("I only wear green during the Snow festival!" I'd complained about it.)

"Are you ready?" Selena asked me nervously.

"Ready? I was sword-fighting in my cradle. I learned archery as a toddler. And I can climb a twenty-foot vertical wall if it had a few toeholds; I'm a princess, my manners are, like, flawless. The cookie... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

I was nervous about the baking, actually. I'd never made more than. midnight snack, never mind a gigantic cookie. We weren't even allowed recipes, according to Fidelia! At least I'd be better at it than Abek. He had a maid make his midnight snacks!

We reached a set of big, glass doors. Fidelia pushed them open with a smirk.

"Better get training, girls," she said. "Contest's tomorrow at dawn."

We stared at each other.

Then at the closing door.

"Oh, Lord, why a cookie?" I moaned.

The next day, at dawn...

"Up."

"I am."

"Act upper. Abek and his team are at the field."

I climbed out of bed and hastily dressed in a white vest over a navy-blue shirt, white pants, and black riding boots, which fit me perfectly.

I raced out of the room, down the hall, and to a door, ten soldiers, Selena, and my little brother all waiting there for me. Hetta, the maid who had woken me, was hurrying along behind. I took deep breaths. The crowd sounded restless out there.

The national anthem began to play.

"And now, Abek of House Grandal!" someone shouted. I heard applause, meaning that Abik and his team had left from behind their door. Nerves churned in my stomach like fresh butter. I took a deep breath.

"And now, daughter of the late King Herrik, Princess Grimelda of House Tourmaline!"

The doors burst open as my favorite part of the national anthem began.

I walked out, trying to look like I hadn't swallowed seven snakes, a poison apple tree, and a fairy or two. I sure felt like I had.

We walked to a large, red-brick square in a big grassy field. Abik flipped his black hair out of his two-colored eyes.

"Hey, at least my heterochromia doesn't make me look like a demon!" I shouted at him.

"Yeah. More like a pixie," he said.

"I'll destroy you," I said slowly. "With a giant cookie."

Round one: Archery. It was easy as pie. I only missed the bulls eye one, and that time, I almost hit it.

Round two: swordplay. "Girls don't sword-fight," Abek said rudely. It swung my saber around and held it right by his left nostril.

"You think that was chance?" I asked him.

"Swordplay is not the sport of kings, it is the sport of nobles. Even future queens," the referee said.

I won.

Next round... Time for the teams.

My brother Estrel lost me this one when he put a bowl of potatoes on his head and dropped his pants. Then he danced on the table. It was worse than Abek mixing up salad fork and meat fork, though.

Round four: We were each given an arrow and a crossbow and shown four things to shoot: A bird's nest full of blue eggs, a kitten, bunny, and a pixie. (The pixie did have eyes like me. Abek was right.)

When Abek went to shoot the pixie, I drew my bow and shot his arrow out of his hands. It was an impressive, once-in-a-lifetime shot. I was declared the victory dn the animals got to go free. The pixie followed me around though, owing its safety to me, I guess.

Round five: History. It was declared a tie after two hours, when both teams had the same amount of points. What can I say? A girl never forgets...

And round six.

The big one.

The cookie of destiny.

I held my breath as we walked into a big room full of ingredients, baking tools, and ovens. I did not know a thing about baking, so I was winging it with this last one. Hopefully Abek's team would forget eggs, or sugar, or the entire cookie. Maybe they'd try it and make it smaller. Maybe they'd drop it and only have a crumb to present.

"Bakers, you may begin in three, two, one-- GO!"

"We'll need eggs, sugar, water, flour, and chocolate, And milk. Syrup is good, if the judges like maple." Selena was darting around in the kitchen, gathering ingredients.

"Rose water, for sweetness. No caramel if I do honey, the flavors will clash. Maybe powder sugar, not brown--"

"Selena, it's not just flavor, it's size," I said.

"Then I'll make the recipe six times bigger," she said.

She did most of the work. Elsrel did most of the eating. I did most of the sitting in the corner, feeling bad. Selena should become queen, not me. She knew how to make cookies. I was just sitting here, doing nothing--

I felt a draft of air from behind me. I turned, and found a knot in the wood of the wall. It was big enough for a pixie to fit in, maybe, or three of my fingers.I put my eye to it. It led to Abek's kitchen. I squinted,d looking at them. They were making... one little cookie? We were bad, but we weren't that bad.

"...so small!"

"But look what I..." Ben stepped on front of whatever Abek had. I didn't see it.

"...Bigger?" his sister quelled.

"But... be cheating?"

"Not if... find out..."

I couldn't really hear them, unless I put my ear to the holes nd then I'd miss out on seeing them.

"Bzz biz zz bi BI BI BI BZZZZZZZ ZZI!" somehting shreiked in my ear, It was the pixie. With emerald green skin, dressed in a dress made from a yellow glower petal, she was about three inches tall, with a head of fluffy white hair. Her green-and-blue eyes were most of her face. her dragonfly wings beat quickly as the little creature sat on my hand.

"BzzzZzz, zi," she said. All pixies were female.

"You want to..."

"She pointed at the hole with tiny hands.

"You want to go in there and spy for me?"

"BizzzZZZIII!" she said happily, flipping.

"Great. Here you go!" I held my hand to the hole. The pixie jumped away, into the kitchen.

Five mixtures later, the came back, trying to cram something into the hole. I helped her pull it out and she showed the label to me.

Growing potion

"A growing potion! Abek, that freak!"

Zi bizza zi," the pixie said.

"there's more?"

She flew over to a spilled bit of flour, and twirled a message into it, drawing with her feet.

Shrink your eat, it said.

But how could they? unless they switched out an ingredient earlier..."

Growing potions, like the one in my hand, were sky blue. Shrinking potions were clear. The activated when they were heated.

Clear.

Clear like the sugar water that Selena was about to pour into her batter.

"Selena! Don't!"

I pulled the vial from her hand. "See? It's a shrinking potion!"

"Oh, she said. "I missed that! Abek, the jerk."

"Yeah," I agreed. "He even tried to cheat with a growing potion that I stole from him!"

We put our cookie into the oven. Now all we had to do was wait...

Judging:

Abek's tiny, flavorless cookie was given a two. Our cookie, the colossally big, maple-honey flavored one with delicious caramel chunks on top, got a twelve.

I was the winner.

Me.

But when it came time to receive the crown, I told everyone about the pixie getting the bottle from them, and Selena creating the recipe, and how my brother ate most of it.

I told everyone that it wasn't just me-- it was all of us.

And so they were named my advisors, (even the pixie, for some reason) and I became the queen.

Queen Grimelda of Flura.

Sounds perfect, doesn't it?