frncat

Let me help you, sweetheart.

Mummy?

W-What are you doing here? Did I wake you up?

Are you always up so early making breakfast for the others?

It's the only thing I'm good at. And I like to do it.

I never got much chance to do this at home, but it makes me happy to something I'm good at here.

Oh, sweetheart...

How far along are you? I'll help you.

It's alright, I can do it on my own.

Let's see. The dough's ready. I can help with the filling. You're using cream?

Er, yes. But mummy...

Shh, sweetheart. This is some mother and daughter time. It's been ages since we baked bread together.

Yes, mummy.

Please make the fillings then.

Mother and daughter go back and forth from the kitchen table to the oven.

There is hardly any talking. A slight gesture, a blink of the eye, is all the communication they need.

Fowlbeast eggs are broken and their contents dropped into bowls. Cream is whipped until filled with air. Syrup is brushed on the dough. Hot air seeps out of the pre-heated oven.

The sounds in the kitchen make a symphony of their own.

We did it, mummy!

Yes, sweetheart, we did.

Just in time for breakfast.

Yes, just in time for breakfast.

Maybe we can do a little more...?

Do what?

(Sprinkles a layer of icing on the bread)

Now it's perfect.

Agreed.

(Gaze at each other)

I'm proud of you, sweetheart. Very proud.

Huh...?

I've never told you that, have I?

Why? I know you're proud of Byron, of Emily, of Violet, and Carl. They're all outstanding.

But I'm just Mousse... I'm not anything.

I've got two tails, I'm bad at maths, I don't know my grammar, I have Oripathy... and my hands get itchy when I have an Oripathy attack.

I don't care about any of that.

Then what do you care about?

Mummy only cares that you're happy and doing what you love.

I fought with your father a lot over whether to send you here.

I didn't want you going to this place on your own. It wouldn't be as comfortable as home, and we couldn't be there for you if anything happened.

Before I visited, I was thinking I would bring you back if you didn't like it here, even if I had to pummel your father into it.

But you're happy here... you're not alone anymore. You have lots of friends who care for you.

But I couldn't welcome you the way Violet could.

That's rubbish, sweetheart. I've had a delightful time!

But you had tears in your eyes when you found kitty fur in your cake yesterday...

You've got it all wrong.

I was happy.

You were?

I haven't enjoyed a pastry of yours in so long. Not since you got sick.

I had an even more pleasant surprise when I walked into kitchen. You've started baking again, you're... you're still doing what you love here.

I never knew...

Mousse, my little sweetheart.

Mousse, I have a lesson this morning, so I need two to go... oh, good morning, ma'am.

Er, good morning.

Two to go, Zeiss? Here you are.

Thanks... hmm, I've never seen this kind of bread. What is it?

I just made it with the ingredients at hand. There isn't any...

'Mother's Pride.'

Huh?

The name of the bread is 'Mother's Pride.'