"You haven't sold me on why Ginger isn't back yet," Eggy the diminutive gingerbread cookie demanded, her voice so loud that the resulting sound wave caused the nearby pond to ripple. "It's been months now, Molasses! Months! I mean, what would Mr. Theo think if he heard that you still haven't found your sister?"
It was a good question, judging by the nods that came from Reinhard the reindeer, Frostina the snowwoman, and Fennel the gingerbread man. The four were perched on a rock along the pebbled beach beside the pond, their eyes unfriendly. I couldn't help but feel that they were my jury and would be my executioners if I failed to provide satisfactory justification for my failures. It was an unreasonable thought, I knew. These cookies were Mr. Theo's chosen--his remnant!--and my friends...weren't they? They would never actually hurt me...right? Without thinking, I betrayed my discomfort by shifting dirt around along the ground in a circle. My former sins came back to me in an instant, and I wondered if the pang of them would ever truly leave, and if I was deemed untrustworthy because of my past. Once a scoundrel, always a scoundrel, I could imagine the cookies thinking. He failed to obey his maker in the past, and he fails him still.
"Are you just going to stand there in silence?" asked Frostina. If she had possessed arms, I'm certain she would have placed them...well, wherever a snowwoman's hips might be.
"I--" I could not tell if the sorrow or the lack of confidence were a larger impediment to me. My sister was missing, and that reality pained me every day. But I also wondered if my accusers would consider my account adequate. "I--" Still the words would not come. I probably would have been standing there all day, wordlessly, if I hadn't remembered how Mr. Theo forgave and redeemed me and treated me as though I had never betrayed him in the first place. His love for me would not be taken away, even if all my efforts to find my sister were fruitless, and even if my peers scorned me for my failures. I locked eyes with Eggy. "It's shameful that you would place the burden on me alone to find my sister. Every bit of intel I have points to the likelihood that both she and Klaus were abducted by an army. How am I to confront an army? And another thing--you forget that nothing escapes our maker's attention. How dare you limit his knowledge, and how dare you assume that his affection would be withdrawn from me because of momentary failings!"
Eggy almost recoiled at the words. Rightfully so. I didn't hear from her again for an hour.
"It's just not adding up, Molasses," said Fennel, his smooth baritone rounding out the light trills of the birds in the trees all around us. "I'm not saying that you're lying to us, but maybe you just haven't shared the full story. All you've told us is that you were separated from Ginger and Klaus by the Cupid cookies, that you believe them to have been abducted by some mice, and that you can't find them anywhere. There must be more to the tale."
"There is," I admitted. "Much more."
"Then tell us! We need to hear it--all of it!--from the beginning. Then we'll determine what must be done, if anything."
"The entire tale, from the beginning." I took a deep breath. "Okay. Some of this is known to the other cookies, but I guess it's time to let you in on what has happened. I'll tell you the story from the moment Ginger and Klaus left the almond orchard. Hopefully that will show you why I have been so slow, and why I need help in seeking out Ginger's location."
Valentine's Day had ended nearly four months ago, but I could remember it like it was yesterday. Limerence and his allies had explained to us that they desired to confound every creature in the valley, filling each creature with unholy affections for another; Ginger had already been struck the eve prior, and she had been acting odd all day, setting her "love" upon a mouse. I suppose I should be thankful that she did not make a shrub the object of her affections, for that, too, is a living thing! But I feared that both I and my friends would succumb to the same vice if we were to be struck by the arrows of the twisted Cupid cookies. And so I ordered Ginger to head to the top of the nearby hill--the vantage point from which we had intended to enter the back yard where Klaus's friends were being held--with our rodent ally. She protested, but she found the necessary motivation when Agapa broke the silence by using one of her arrows to destroy an enemy cookie. I joined the fray immediately thereafter, and I watched with gladness as my sister scuttled away.
If not for Agapa's skill and a timely turn of the weather, the battle would have been lost. It was a hard, glorious skirmish, the likes of which are lauded in history books and displayed in film. Arrows flew all around us, and I thought it miraculous that I was able to sidestep one after another. Agapa fared even better, using her wings and agility to flitter here and there as needed. We were able to take down four or five of the cookies at the beginning due to their pure shock over our skills and speed; after that, it became challenging for either side to neutralize a target. (To be fair, I think that our adversaries were taking caution not to release their arrows at full strength, for they wished to corrupt us rather than kill us.) So there we were for perhaps half an hour, stalemated, with no end in sight. Only two more of our enemies were felled--I jumped out from behind a rock and smashed one to bits, and Agapa struck down one clumsy cookie who collided with his companion midair. I should not feel ashamed to say so, but there were many moments when I would have found myself at the mercy of the twisted arrows were it not for Agapa's quick thinking.
The sky was darkening when something in the weather changed. It is known that, at times, as the clouds are thick over Sprinklevale and the night is near, powerful winds hurdle down the slopes of Mount Oniz and ruffle the valley below. Such an event occurred as though it were divinely decreed, and the branches of the almond trees--on which all of the cookies were planted at that moment--shook with tremendous force. Our foes fell to the earth like stones, and even before their fall was ended I came upon them. Without hesitation I destroyed four of them, and I would have continued had I not remembered the mercy that Ginger and Klaus--and Mr. Theo--had shown me. So I placed the end of my whisk in the cold, wet grass and looked upon my seated enemies.
"Tanas has warped your minds," I informed them. "I was in your same position not long ago. What I learned is that Tanas promises much but can deliver nothing. He promises power, but you are weakened. He promises independence, but instead he separates you from your maker. He promises liberty, but you receive shackles. And the tragic fact is that you are blind to all this until your eyes are opened."
Nothing. No response. Just a host of blank stares, most of which were aimed at the trees or the clouds or anything that was not me.
"It may irk you to heed the words of Molasses," Agapa addressed them, "but it is the truth. From creative joyfulness you sprang forth from the mind of our maker, and it should be your will to obey and please him; but so easily have you been ensnared by the envious son of Mr. Theo. I would weep for you, dear ones, had I the ability."
"What's so wrong about what we're doing?" asked one of the cookies. "Isn't romantic love the most precious thing on earth? That's what Tanas told us."
"Don't humor them, Dave!" Limerence shouted. "Don't even give them the time of day!"
Ah, so at least one of them is listening, I thought to myself. I stepped forward and said, "Romantic love is beautiful, as long as its object is proper. It is not beautiful in general, but only insofar as it obeys Mr. Theo's moral law. And Tanas...well, that rogue has been warring against his father, and everything that his father stands for, since before any of us were alive. His order was for you to do the very thing that is contrary to Mr. Theo's commands. Mr. Theo is good. Tanas is not. So be careful not to be persuaded that everything you have been told is for your benefit and the benefit of Sprinklevale."
Dave looked devastated, the same way Ginger looked when she stared into a mirror and insisted that she had gained weight. He shifted where he sat. "This--this is terrible! What am I to do?"
"Forsake your ways and return to Mr. Theo," answered Agapa. "You will find that his mercy is bountiful, if you come to him with true contrition."
"Mr. Theo is a tyrant and a fraud," Limerence told Dave. "Don't you forget that he is the enemy!"
"But--but he made us," replied Dave. "He made us, and he cared for us, and we turned away from him and listened to Tanas, whose motives were...questionable. Lim, I think Tanas is the enemy."
"Blasphemy!" Limerence's fury was so heated that I thought he might become twice-baked. "I will hear no more of these heresies. Cupid cookies--my allies--let us leave this place!"
There were still too many winged foes for us to contain, so as they began to lift off into the air, I had to think quickly. Limerence was their leader and seemed to possess more information about Tanas, the Cookies of Tanas, and the general goings-on of the vale. The other troops swiftly proceeded to fly away, but in half a second I had leapt onto Limerence and impeded his ascent. Agapa was busy firing arrows at our retreating foes, but Dave noticed my struggle and flapped his way over to us. He clutched onto Limerence's wings, and the next thing I knew, the two of us had the corrupt Cupid cookie pinned to the mud. His wings fluttered with a great frenzy, but this proved only to bring him harm, pressing him deep into a self-made quagmire. It took nearly a full minute for him to realize there was nothing to be done; he was stuck, and there was no escape. He relaxed his wings, but I could still sense a tension in every crumb of his body.
"One more enemy felled in the retreat, but no more," announced Agapa with frustration. "Surely the survivors will be a menace to us in the future."
"We did what we could," I responded, pushing Limerence's face against a pebble. "Thankfully, our efforts were not in vain."
"Indeed. The leader of the fallen Cupid cookies...and a new friend, perhaps?"
Dave appeared to brighten at that. "Y--Yes! Please! I mean--I would like to join you, if that's okay. I'm not sure where else to go. I could head back to Mount Oniz on my own, but I fear the cookies there may not trust me unless I have someone to speak for me. I will need your help with that."
I nodded at him. "You'll get it, when the time comes...friend."
Agapa gestured toward our new captive. "What are we to do with Lim?"
"Well, he's going to come with us, too, as we look for my sister. And he's going to tell us everything we need to know."
~THE END OF PART 1~
~"Slower Than Molasses, Part 2: Reconnaissance" set to release 4/1/24~
To see where this series began, please check out "Ginger & Klaus: A Christmas Adventure" on Amazon! https://a.co/d/2PkSr6p
To see the story immediately preceding this blog post, please take a look at "Ginger & Klaus: Of Mice and Love" on Amazon! https://a.co/d/2gQFZf1
