"Your Grace!"Launcekrona entered Ceres's boudoir and curtseyed. "Your Grace looks very lovely."
"I know you will make a great impression on all your new staff."said Minako.
"Did you make a good impression when you received your own household, Mama?"she asked.
"How could she not? You know whenever your mother walks into a room, she brightens it."said Kunzite.
"I hope I brighten rooms, as well, Papa."
"You're both even on that. It's a surprise I'm not blind."
"And this will be the last time my hairdresser does your hair."Minako told her. "You'll have a new hairdresser among your new staff."
"I hope she knows to tie hair ribbons and hair bows well."
Hair bows and ribbons were something popular at Minako's court. And ribbons not only in hair, but on dresses, as well as girdles.
"I'm sure she does."
"Do you think the person who wins the prize will be happy?"she asked excitedly.
"They'll be so surprised, that's for sure!"said Kunzite. "I don't want to hear this happening often, however."
Although he played cards occasionally, he was not particularly fond of games of chance. One of the things Ceres loved most was finding rings, beans, or things in her cakes or desserts. The Duchy of Ceres was known throughout the galaxy for its grains, rices, nuts, and honey. And with the grains, of course, meant there was always cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. It was always fun to find something while digging through them.
"If your niece doesn't get it Launcekrona, I will give her something else."she promised.
"You shouldn't give out favors so easily. Now this time, really, no running."Minako told her. "You know your new staff expects you to behave like a royal duchess on such occasions."
Ceres nodded.
"Do they always serve in these quantities here?"asked Fayruza.
"I don't know. But it's a feast fit for Ceres! Didn't you go to events or banquets at Lord Kunzite's court?"asked Malwina.
Fayruza shook her head.
"Hare!"Malwina exclaimed. "When you eat hare, it's supposed to make you beautiful for nine days."
"I thought hares were on the Moon."
"That's rabbits, not hares. Selene had a rabbit and Aphrodite and a hare. At least the history books say."
Fayruza saw she had more to learn than she thought.
"There's so much, how will we ever save room for dessert!"exclaimed Malwina. "You really do want to save room for dessert. With the best grains and cereals in the galaxy, the cakes and cookies in the duchy are the best, imagine what the ones served here must be! We should try at least one of each."
"What are you doing? Aren't we a little too old to be playing with our food?"Fayruza asked as Malwina took especial care to choose the oysters and mussels, and other shellfish cooked or served in its shell.
"No. I've heard a game played at court here is that you can find something in what is served. My aunt says the duchess loves it."
Fayruza noticed that several of the other girls were also picking at the food before eating it.
"In the food?"
"Some people say the duchess got her name because of a pearl the princess found in an oyster in the kakavia she was sharing with the groom. When opening it, to get the oyster out, she found a pearl inside with the oyster. Supposedly, the oyster sat on Aphrodite's Rock, and washed away. And ended up on Her Royal Highness's table, fancy that."
"I never heard that."
"That's what some people say, but my aunt says it's not true. But Aphrodite came out of a shell, and pearls are found in oysters. Some oysters. You will find only one pearl among hundreds of oysters. She's the pearl of a special oyster, like Aphrodite, so that's why they named her Shinju, or Pearl."
Although it is only a game Ceres likes to play, there really is something to finding prizes in food. Besides, there's something to searching with Ceres.
The Epiphany is one of my favorite and for me saddest holidays. I love eating the rosca and finding the figure in my piece. It makes me sad because it signals the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and you have to put everything away, and I love Christmas. I've been lucky enough to have found the figure about some four or five years in a row! In some cultures people put beans or rings in the cake instead of figures.
There's a similar story in Greece, I think, where a city in siege had to pay a ransom in order for the siege to be lifted. Everyone contributed, but the enemy decided to not accept the ransom and left. As no one knew what belonged to who, baked everything into loaves of bread and distributed them everywhere in the city.
The one about finding the pearl in a stew, however, I heard from someone who claimed they knew someone who'd found a very expensive pearl in an oyster in their stew. I think they might have been making it up, however.
Here, what could the prize be? Who will find it? Or what if someone ends up swallowing it?