Once upon a time in The Kingdom of Slumberland (which was far away), there were three beautiful Cookie princesses. Their names were Leah, Jessie, and Skye.

The three princesses were not only beautiful, charming, and well-mannered, but they had also been endowed at their birth with particular talents by the Good Fairies. Princess Leah was given special talent in spelling. Not a decree went out of the castle without an examination beforehand by Princess Leah. Princess Jessie was renowned for weather forecasting skills. Before any major event, from a garden party to a parade of the troops, Princess Jessie was called on to let everyone know what the weather would be and how they should dress. Princess Skye was gifted with the skill to locate lost items. She was called on whenever an item was misplaced or lost, and was a big help to the police whenever there was a robbery. However, the kingdom was very peaceful and content and robberies were extremely rare, so Princess Skye did not have much call for her talents, except when the King misplaced his glasses (though even Princesses Leah and Jessie know they would generally be on the top of his head).
One day the three princesses were sitting in the garden, enjoying the sunny weather. ("Bright sunshine with patchy clouds and a high of 70 degrees," Princess Jessie had predicted). Jessie and Leah were working on their embroidery and Skye was reading to them as they sewed. "Here is a story about the Star of Tamsen," said Skye. "Evidently it was stolen. 'It was recovered by the pulcky detectives who form the C & D Detective Agency," Skye read. "I wonder what they mean by 'pulcky.'"

"I think it must be "plucky," said Leah, resolving to herself to visit the newspaper printers and offer her assistance. "You would need pulck, I mean pluck to be a detective."
"I would like to be a detective," sighed Skye. "Not that I am not enjoying being a princess, but I just feel as if my skills are being wasted here."
"You did find Flufferina's catnip mouse," pointed out Jessie.
"Yes, but I am sure she would have gone under the bed and found it herself eventually," Skye replied. "I wonder where that agency is and whether they would take a princess as a member."
"If you want to write to them, I will check your letter before you send it," offered Leah.
"And I will make sure that there will be good weather on the day you send it out, so the ink doesn't run," Jessie added, "Though I would be sorry to have you leave us, Skye."
"I would certainly stay in touch and come back for visits," Skye said, twirling a strand of her long black hair. "I couldn't forget my sisters. And if you ever lost anything I would be back as soon as I could come and help you find it."

The kingdom of Slumberland where the Cookie Princesses lived was famous for their pajamas. Designers from many far-away kingdoms would come once a year for the annual Pajama Festival and Exposition. They would vie for the rights to design the pajamas for the upcoming year for the kingdom. It happened that the festival was scheduled later in the week.
"I wonder whether anyone from the Sultanate of Tamsen will be at the Festival," mused Skye. "Maybe I could talk to them and see how they got in touch with the C & D Agency. They might have an address."
"Good thought," said Leah, "and while you are over there, make sure the signs don't say 'Eksposition' again this year."
"The weather is going to be gloomy for the first couple of days but then it will be fine," said Jessie. "I think they have already started setting up, Skye. And the girls from the Sultanate are all Caities so they won't steer you wrong. You know that Caities like to be helpful."
"Yes. I have always heard good things about Caities. I will get dressed in more casual attire and go over there," Skye said firmly. "My future career may be at stake."

Skye dressed in one of her favorite royal purple dresses and headed for the Exposition Hall. Once inside, she wandered around the large industrial complex, looking at the displays and the beautiful pajama models from many different lands.
"Hello," said a Madison to Skye. "Did you by chance see a pair of slippers? I seem to have mislaid mine and my boss is going to be very upset."

Skye thought for a moment. "They are in the refreshment booth, third table from the front."
"Oh wow, I had lunch there. Thanks!" The Madison dashed off, not pausing even to wonder how Skye had known about her missing slippers.
Skye smiled to herself and continued down the hall. Finally she came to the table of the Sultanate of Tamsen. Sure enough, two Caities were unloading a big cardboard carton filled to the brim with pajamas. They were wearing name tags. "Hello, my name is Wendy," said one tag, while the other proclaimed its wearer to be Isabelle. The two were muttering to each other as they worked, "Here is another one without buttons. I don’t know what happened. Where could it be?"
"Hello, Isabelle and Wendy," said Skye, a bit shyly. "My name is Skye."
"Pleased to meet you,." said Wendy.

"Hello, Skye," said Isabelle. "That is an unusual name."
"Yes, my parents are nature lovers and wanted to express their admiration for our natural resources," explained Skye. "Those are very nice pajamas," she added. "I like the ones with the crocodiles." Skye was momentarily distracted to see orange crocs on pajamas.
"They represent the brave crocodile who rescued our Star of Tamsen," Isabelle said proudly. "And notice how the rick-rack trim carries out the crocodile theme, representing sharp teeth."
"Very clever," Skye agreed, nodding, wondering if this was a good time to ask about the C & D agency.
"They are very nice," Wendy said with a sigh, "but we are in a real jam because some of the buttons have fallen off and we can’t seem to locate our scissors."
"They are in your truck," said Skye. Then she thought the Caties might think she was showing off, being so confident about where the scissors had gotten to. "I mean, I’ll bet they fell out of this hole in the box and ended up in your truck."
"Yeah, and our truck is speeding back to the Sultanate to get a big load of knitted slippers," replied Isabelle. "Are you from around here, Skye? Do you know if there is a store nearby where we can buy a replacement scissors?"
"Yes, I am a native of Slumberland," Skye replied, "but I am sorry to say that the nearest store is miles away. Maybe I can help you, though. My sisters and I love to sew and embroider and I would be happy to take the pajamas and buttons home and fix them for you. It looks like you still have a lot of unpacking and arranging to do."
"That is very kind of you," said Wendy, "but I think we’d better do them ourselves." She was picturing crooked buttons and messy stitching.
"I understand," said Skye, "that you would not want to trust your pajamas to a stranger. I have done a lot of sewing - in fact, I made my dress myself. Look at my buttonholes." She lifted her hair to show the two girls her handiwork. "I could ask my sisters to come by and help you right here so you could be sure we were doing the buttons the way you want them."
"Well, OK, if you don’t mind," said Wendy, thinking of all the cartons of pajamas that still had to be opened and arranged. "We would appreciate it, but if you don’t want to go to all that trouble, maybe we could just borrow your scissors?"
"It’s no trouble at all," said Skye. "We will be happy to help. I will be back soon."
She was halfway out of the main hall before she remembered she hadn’t asked about the C & D agency. "Oh, darn," said Skye to herself. "Well, I will be sure to ask them when I return."

Skye hurried to the palace and collected Jessie and Leah and their sewing kits along with several pairs of sturdy scissors. Soon the girls were back at the Exposition Hall. Most of the booths had emptied out as the vendors usually went back to the Slumberland Inn for the night so that they could get an early start on opening day. A few people were still there, putting the finishing touches on their designs. Wendy and Isabelle had finished unpacking the cartons, and were pulling off the packing tape and flattening the empty cartons in a neat pile by jumping on them.
"Hello," said Skye. "These are my sisters, Leah and Jessie. We are ready to help you with the buttons."
"Thanks," said Wendy, "We appreciate your help." Just then the lights overhead blinked several times.
"Oh rats," said Isabelle, who had been at the show in previous years, "That is the warning that they are going to close the hall and lock up. Everybody is supposed to leave for the night."
"Why don’t we take the pajamas that need buttons along with us and work outside?" Leah suggested. "That way you can take them to the inn and then bring them back in the morning."
"Good idea," said Wendy, picking up the pile of PJ’s which needed to be fixed. "Isabelle, bring the buttons and our sewing stuff."
"It is partly cloudy but warm with a northeast breeze. Perfect sewing weather," Jessie commented.
"Are you a weather person?" asked Isabelle, impressed, as they trooped outside.
"No, it is just a hobby of mine," Jessie replied modestly. "I sometimes do some free-lance forecasting."
On the way out, Leah corrected the spelling on two of the signs with a marker she kept stashed in her sewing kit. "People are just so careless," she commented to Skye, who chuckled.
Outdoors the girls set up their equipment at one of the picnic tables and began work, chatting away on all sorts of subjects as girls will do. Wendy and Isabelle discovered that Skye, Jessie, and Leah were the princesses of Slumberland and they were quite impressed that the princesses would take the time to help them. The princesses told Wendy and Isabelle about the gifts that they had been given at birth by the good fairies.

"I would really like to get in touch with the people who helped find the Star of Tamsen," Skye confided, "because I would love to be a detective."
"We can find that out for you," said Wendy. "I am the second cousin of Princess Tammara. I will phone her tonight and get the information on the C & D Agency. I know she has stayed in touch with Detective Dawn and they are good friends. I think if I tell her how nice you girls have been to us she won’t mind faxing a recommendation for you, Skye, to join the agency."
"That would be wonderful," said Skye. "Thank you so much. I will come to the show tomorrow and check with you."
"And I am going to come to the show to buy some of these pajamas," said Leah. "I especially like the ones with all the shoes."
"Me, too," said Jessie. "I really like the ones with moons and clouds. I have been wanting some meteorological pajamas!"
Wendy and Isabelle asked the princesses to pose with them for a photo so they could remember the day they received royal assistance. The princesses were happy to do so and after the pajamas were safely put away, they all went to the Inn together for supper.