It was Crystal’s favourite time of year. It was a time of brisk air, a time of change, and, most importantly, a time of thanks. The Faerie Xweetok loved the gratitude celebrated by many Neopians during this time. Not to mention - it was almost Xweetok Day too.

Ring, ring. Ring, ring.

Crystal sauntered over to her antique rotary dial phone and brought it to her ear.

“Hello?” she purred, her good mood infectious.

A familiar voice responded, “Good morning, lovely. Do you have plans this weekend?”

It was Crystal’s best friend, Clementine. Clementine was a Camouflage Lupe who had been with the Faerie Xweetok through many ups and downs in her life. She was a true friend.

“Clementine, you know that whatever my plans are, they’d be rearranged in a heartbeat for you!” Crystal answered in a sing-song voice.

“Well, that’s good to hear because I’d love for you to host Friendsgiving with me at my house!” Clementine said excitedly.

“No way! That sounds like so much fun. I’d love to! How can I help?”

“You’re an amazing cook, so I’d love for you to help me plan and make a lot of the spread. Is that okay?”

“Absolutely! Let me brainstorm and get back to you.”

“Sounds good. Love you! Byeeee,” Clementine cooed in response before hanging up.

Crystal jumped up from her seat in excitement. She knew just where to get her cooking inspiration from. She reached for a book on her shelf…

In fact, the last time this book had been taken off the shelf was by her mother, Jewel, a Pink Xweetok who was known in her day as one of the finest chefs in their little village on the outskirts of Neopia Central.

Crystal held the book in both paws, blowing gently at the dust and revealing the title: Jewel's Delectable Delights. Inside, carefully opening the roughly bound cover, were pages and pages of her handwritten recipes, and even drawings of the various foods.

Without warning, Crystal let out a gasp as the emotion of what she was seeing threatened to overwhelm her. Her mother had been gone for almost five years now, but every day she still thought of her, and the lessons she taught her daughter: kindness, compassion, forgiveness and gratitude.

Well, Friendsgiving was the perfect opportunity to follow through with her lessons of gratitude. She remembered the last time her mother had used this book -- it wasn't a real published recipe book, not like professional chefs like Bonju; instead, Jewel had created the book herself and celebrated its "publication" with a small dinner with Crystal where they joked that she was now an author -- taking it off the shelf and telling Crystal, because she knew her time was ending soon, that it was hers now.

"Anytime you need my recipes," she said. "They'll be here for you."

"Mama, I'm not a chef!" Crystal had replied, not knowing what a precious gift her mother was giving her. "I won't need that."

Now, Crystal flicked through the pages until she reached the very last. At the bottom, scribbled in the spydery scrawl her mother always wrote in, was a message. No, a dedication.

To my daughter, Crystal - this is for you.

Crystal wiped tears from her eyes and knew that this was going to be the book she'd use. She had become an amazing cook in recent years, gaining something of the same reputation her mother had, and now finally, she would use her mother's recipes and make sure her legacy lasted forever.

She dialled Clementine's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Yessss?" Clementine said. "Who is it?"

"It's Crystal," she answered. "I think I know what I want to do. But I'm going to need some help..."

"I got here as fast as I could," Clementine said, stepping in and rubbing her paws on the mat. "What do you need?"

"I wanted to use some of my mother's recipes," Crystal replied, waving a hand at the open cookbook. "But I know that she usually used exotic and harder to find ingredients. That's why you're here, to help me find them."

"How hard can it..." Clementine started, before she got a look at the list. "Oh...oh, my...this won't be easy."

Crystal tore a piece of paper out of a nearby notebook and handed it to her. She had an identical piece of paper clutched in her own paw.

"I wrote down what we need to make the recipes, and I figured we'll cover more ground if we split up," Crystal said. "Now, the first ingredient we need is..."

"Um, I hate to bring this up, but do you think that some of these might be out of our budget?" Clementine asked hesitantly.

Crystal's face blanched. She had been so focused on recreating her mother's recipes she hadn't stopped to think about the details.

Clementine saw the look on her friend's face and immediately tried to lighten the mood. "Let's not worry until we need to worry. Who knows, maybe we'll be surprised, or find some good deals!"

Crystal still looked unconvinced. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try... but... what if we can't find everything we need at a price we can afford?" Suddenly Crystal wondered to herself, how did her mother afford some of these ingredients. Surely inflation couldn't make that much difference in so short a time? Her mother had only been gone five years after all.

Clementine had been looking at her own list. "Cactus Apple is kind of rare, but I think I might be able to ask Bart to just give us some from his stash. There are a few other things here I think I can find around Haunted Woods."

She looked up at her friend. "Are you going all the way to the Lost Desert for the Geopeppers, or do you want me to go with you to look around the Marketplace first and see if anyone's imported some recently?"

Crystal took in a deep shaky breath, which seemed to calm her a bit. She stiffened her posture and tilted her chin resolutely down. "I'll fly you to the Haunted Woods and drop you off, and then continue down to the Lost Desert. We can meet back up at the Neopia Central Marketplace to touch base and see what else we still haven't found."

Clementine eyed her friendly, and then nodded in agreement. "Alright! Let's do this!"

---

Having dropped Clementine off, as promised, on the edge of the Haunted Woods, Crystal was now winging her way down to the Lost Desert with only her own thoughts for company. What was she going to do if she couldn't find all the ingredients? She had become a good cook, yes, but there were many ingredients in her mother's recipes which she wasn't familiar with, not having worked with them before. She wouldn't even know the first place to start if she had to make substitutions.

Down below, she saw the canvas awnings of the Lost Desert shops. She landed softly at the edge of the open market, and made her way quickly to the Lost Desert Foods Shop, where a robust Grarrl kept an eye over his wares.

"Anything catch your eye, young lady?" he asked gruffly.

"I'm looking for a rare ingredient..."

"We have all the best here!" the Grarrl boasted.

"I need some Geopeppers."

"Geopeppers, huh?" the Grarrl eyed her appreciatively. "The lady has a palate for the fine and rare, I see."

Crystal blushed slightly. "My mother used it one of her recipes, and I'm trying to recreate it."

The Grarrl examined her again, more closely. "Your mother... she wouldn't have been a Pink Xweetok, would she?"

Crystal met his eyes, astonished. "She was! Did you.. know her?"

The Grarrl seemed lost in thought. "Geopeppers.." he murmured to himself. "Treasure? Sparkle? Gem?" Suddenly his eyes lit up. He thumped a fist into an open palm. "Jewel! Right?" He looked at Crystal expectantly.

The Faerie Xweetok's eyes widened. "Yes! And I'm Crystal, her daughter."

"Ah," the Grarrl's eyes softened. "You've grown up, you have."

"Have we.. met?" Crystal asked, hesitantly.

"I might not say 'met'," the Grarrl hedged. "Rather...

"She gave me this, and told me that if you were to visit me, to give you it to you..... along with anything else you asked for."

Crystal took the small silken package and carefully unwrapped it, revealing a delicate golden locket. She opened it to see a photo of her mother on one side, and a baby photo of herself in the other.

.................

Crystal flew as fast as she could back to the Neopian Marketplace, but it was hard work carrying her heavy, precious load. After the Grarrl, she ended up meeting seller after seller, who all told the same story and eagerly bestowed upon Crystal every ingredient she could dream of. She actually had to stop accepting, for fear that she would never get off the ground!

Soon she saw her friend in the distance, and not a moment too soon, as her wings needed a good rest. It looked like- it couldn't be! Clementine was pulling an entire wagon full of vegetables, fruits, spices, and even a few fancy serving plates and saucers! Crystal landed heavily in front of the wagon, careful not to bruise her own wares.

"Clementine, you will hardly believe it!" Crystal gushed.

"I can take a guess," Clementine said as she eyed the wagon full of riches in disbelief herself. "Did everyone know your mom?"

"Yes, she must have made a good impression on everyone, with how kind they all were." Crystal wiped a small tear, but now was no time to get sentimental. They had a job to do! And with that, the two friends set off for the kitchen to get started.

How will this story end?

Crystal walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a set of mixing bowls, measuring cups, and pans. These were the exact utensils that her mom had used to prepare so many meals for various holidays and get-togethers. Crystal had the biggest smile running across her face.

"Clementine, I can't thank you enough for all the help you gave me. This means more to me than you will ever know," Crystal said while holding back a tear.

Clementine smiled. "Now, now, don't start tearing up on me. You know I would do this any time, any day. I'm always down for an adventure, but when you add in the fact that it is with my best friend, that is a no-brainer!"

The two best friends began mixing all of the ingredients together. They were very efficient as they produced one Delectable Delight after another. Pretty soon, Crystal's large kitchen table was covered with so many tasty treats.

"I can't believe it only took us a couple of hours!" Crystal exclaimed. As she looked up, she realised Clementine was not in the kitchen any longer. "Clementine? Where did you go?"

Right as Crystal finished her question, Clementine came walking in from one of Crystal's back rooms with a large grin across her face.

"Clementine, what did you do?" Crystal jokingly asked.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. As soon as Cyrstal opened the door, she noticed the Yellow Grarrl that she had encountered earlier in addition to several other Neopians. There were shopkeepers and some family friends that Crystal hadn't seen in ages.

"Come on in guys! We have plenty to eat!" Clementine exclaimed as she looked at her puzzled best friend. "Look, I know this was supposed to be a Friendsgiving, but after realising how loved your mom was, I figured I would invite some additional people to enjoy meals that Jewel's own daughter made using the ingredients we acquired from them."

Crystal couldn't believe what her friend had done. "You have completely outdone yourself Clementine," Crystal said as tears were pouring down her face. She didn't even care. This was the best possible moment. Not only was she able to make her mom's recipes with her best friend, but she was also able to share those recipes with several friends who all knew her mom and cherished every encounter they had with her.

As they all sat down and began eating their meals, the Yellow Grarrl walked up to Crystal with a rolled-up piece of parchment in his claws. "Right after you left, I found something else your mom had left for me to give you one day, and today seemed like the perfect moment."

Crystal took the rolled-up parchment, unravelled it, and began to read to herself:

'My sweet little girl. I hope you have found my recipes by now. I had so much fun creating these and knew one day you would be able to have just as much fun, if not more, creating them. I may be gone, but know that I am always with you no matter what. Never forget that. One last thing to remember is that you should always cherish the relationships you make throughout your life. They will help turn any dreary moment into one of your favourite memories. I love you so much!' -- Mama Jewels

Crystal wiped the tears from her face as she looked up and saw everyone laughing at each other and carrying on several conversations. Her mom was right. She had made so many friends throughout her life. Some were on purpose, while some were by accident. One thing was for sure, this Friendsgiving was going to be one to remember.

The End.