Spock was just solving the last layer of his mother's Rubik's cube when Michael burst into the room. I-Chaya, on whom Spock was leaning, jumped up in surprise, yelping and knocking Spock over. "What is it?", Spock asked, now laying flat on the floor, cube still in hand and solving it. "Amanda and I are making cookies. Do you want to help?", Michael asked, a little amused about her little brother's current position. Turning the last corner into place, Spock nodded and jumped up, eager to join.

Down in the kitchen, Amanda was already in the middle of mixing the dough. The flour was made out of dried and grounded plomeek, making the mixture faintly orange. The children came running into the room. "What should we do?", Spock asked immediately. "Can you measure up twenty grams of bakar?", she asked and pointed to where the scale and the green spice stood. Spock nodded and went to work. In the meantime, Michael put a plastic cloth over the table in the eating area.

Spock emptied the bowl he had used to measure the bakar into the big mixing bowl. "What is next?", he asked. Amanda smiled. "Next we need ten grams of sem'ba-kas.", she advised. Spock looked around the spice cupboard. "Which one is it?", he asked his mother. "The yellow one. Up there." Spock stretched himself upwards, but couldn't reach it. "Mother?", he asked, a bit upset about his small size. Amanda stopped mixing the dough and gave the spice glass to him.

Before she could advise him to pay attention however, Spock had already pulled on the wooden plug, resulting in yellow spice all over his face. It was really hard for Amanda not to laugh. Michael, who had just entered the kitchen, had no such inhibitions. Amanda shot her a severe glance, making her stop. Taking the spice container from her son, she grabbed a cloth. A few wiping movements later, Spock's face had its original color again. "Ten grams.", Amanda repeated.

With the sem'ba-kas added, the dough only lacked some ted-kem. This time, Michael opened the container, very carefully. "It's blue.", she commented, her surprise obvious. Amanda nodded. "Try some, if you like.", she offered. Both children put a finger into the blue powder and licked them. Amanda watched as the children both made a face. "It's sour.", Michael said. "And it burns.", Spock added. "That's why we only use a tiny bit.", Amanda replied and added a pinch of the blue spice.

"Now comes the fun part.", Amanda said as she put the bowl on the table with the plastic tablecloth on it. From somewhere behind her, she took a few cookie cutters. Spock lifted a tiny eyebrow. "What are those?", he asked. "We use them to make the cookies. You see how they have different shapes?", Michael excitedly explained. "I do not understand.", Spock replied. "First, we need to flatten the dough.", Amanda told him and lifted the dough onto the table. Using a rolling pin (Vulcan style, meaning that it lacked the handles), she worked the now greenish dough while the children watched.

Michael pushed one of the cutters, the one formed like a house, down on the dough. "This is how it's done.", she explained for Spock. With a knife, she lifted the cookie off the table and onto a nearby baking tray. Spock choose a cutter formed like a flower and imitated Michael. Soon, the trays were filled with little flowers, houses, stars, triangles and moons. Amanda allowed the children to eat the tiny rest of dough that was left, but Spock refused, watching horrified how his sister ate it all and seemed to enjoy it.

The cookies were in the oven, and the children on the outside, watching them bake into perfection. "Is there a reason why we made cookies?", Michael asked. Spock looked at her like she was crazy. "They are for ha-gad.", he said. "For what?", Michael asked, slightly confused. "The day of light. It's a solar event in which the risings of Vulcan's suns alam'ak, behr'ak and czar'ak are so far apart that darkness never falls. It only occurs approximately every ten years.", Amanda explained. "And that's soon?", Michael asked, confused why she hadn't heard of it. "The day after tomorrow.", Spock said. "We're going to have a few guests, like Soran and Telah.", Amanda chimed in. "And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about it, I thought you knew.", she added.

In the evening, the cookies were both finished and cooled down, so Amanda put them in a box to keep them fresh. "What are those?", Sarek suddenly asked next to her left ear. Surprised, Amanda turned to him. "I haven't heard you come in.", she said, silently ordering her husband not to move that silently all the time. Sarek seemed to ignore her.

"Those are not very traditional shapes.", he commented instead. 'Vulcans and their stubborn sense for tradition!', Amanda thought and laughed. "We made some very traditional triangles too.", she replied and pointed to the associated cookies. "I see. And the other shapes?", Sarek wanted to know. "Are fun.", Amanda answered. Sarek lifted an eyebrow. "We have stars, moons, flowers and even some houses.", she enumerated. "Indeed.", Sarek said, not quite following his wife, but realizing that she seemed happy. Amanda laughed again and stepped a little further into Sarek's personal space. "You will just have to deal with it.", she whispered, earning an eyebrow that was raised even higher.