The day was January 15th. It felt like forever since She had packed us away into her ottoman and took us to our new home. I could only imagine what was going on as it was happening- most of the other dolls drifted in and out of sleep- what else was there to do? I, Moana, was laying on the top of the pile, wide awake and listening in on the rumblings of moving furniture or the voices of She's roommates. Then, on that day, the 15th, She received her first package at the new house. It was late at night, so I didn't expect her to open it, but She did... and She needed my help.
***
"So, what is it?" I asked. Helen, the other other doll who was awake, stood quietly at my side.
She gingerly tossed the package around in both hands, feeling around for any easy place to open it. "A new friend. Someone I thought would be good at organizing things and uniting people. Something we definitely need." She looked around at the piles of boxes that surrounded the ottoman and winced.
"So it's a doll!" I exclaimed. She had expressed the desire to become more minimalist in this new year of 2022, but I knew I shouldn't have believed her. There was always so much joy in growing the doll family.
"It is. And you're the only dolls awake to help me greet them," She nodded in our direction. "Do you think you can do that?"
I thought about it. Elsa was usually the one to do these things. But I had been in She's life for about five years now. Many dolls had come and gone in those years. And I had Helen to help me. Peaceful, compassionate Helen. She was special somehow. If the new doll was like her, she could understand them. But if they were like me... I was ready!
She fumbled with the doll box for a while, being careful to keep it out of our sight until the big reveal.
"These are always the worst part," She grumbled, tossing twisty ties to the ground. "Alright. She's ready."
I clasped my hands tightly together and She turned the doll around. Straight black hair swept under a wide-brimmed hat that cast shadows on her small brown eyes. She wore a practical outfit in all the colors of the rainforest. I didn't recognize her.
"It's... Raya?" Helen whispered, reading off of the box She had set aside. It was clear Helen didn't know her, either.
Hearing the name "Raya" triggered the doll to wake. She blinked once, and blinked ahead, and swiveled her head around. Once she realized she was being held by a human, she pushed away and stood tall.
"The Code is already broken, isn't it?"
"Has been for some time," Helen giggled. She stuck out her hand for a shake. "I'm Helen. Welcome."
"Moana." I said. I told her to "feel at home" in the native language of Motunui, wondering if she knew it.
Raya frowned. Okay, maybe not.
"Make yourself at home." I said, this time in English.
"This is home?" Raya asked.
"Well, it didn't used to be," She sighed. "Call me She. The dolls and I used to live with my parents in a different house, in a different town. This is the first time I've gotten a chance alone."
"And this is the first time we've been out and about," said Helen. "We should do something to celebrate. Make all of us feel more at ease with this new place."
"I wouldn't know what to do." She said.
"What about baking?" I suggested. "You used to bake all the time. Remember how many recipes went on the blog just within the past few months?"
She shrugged. "It's become a sort of a passion."
"Well let's go then!" I insisted. I took up my oar and used it to pole vault onto the stove. I only had to press a few buttons to preheat the oven.
"I do have a recipe I'd like to try..." She let Helen and Raya step into her hands like a little elevator and carried them over to the kitchen. "Brown sugar spice muffins. Sound good?"
"Tell us about yourself, Raya."
"I don't normally bake," she confessed. "Actually, I'm a terrible cook. I can cure my own jerky, but I wouldn't say it's edible."
Helen and I laughed. Raya didn't, and I was worried we had hurt her feelings, but she just continued on with her story.
"But my Ba made the best soup. He's the chief of Kumandra, which is where I'm from. Originally it was called Heart, before the dragons were restored, and it's like a rainforest biome."
Already I was reeling.
"Then there was the snowy forests of Spine, the floating markets of Talon, the desert villages of Tail, and Fang. They used to be Heart's enemies, or at least Namaari was my enemy. She was the daughter of Chief Virana," Raya smiled coyly, the first smile she'd made since being out of her box. "Yeah. We used to be enemies. It took a lot of trust and bonding to get us into a better place."
I felt bad for not paying attention as much as Helen was. She stood gracefully by the stove's dials, nodding and acknowledging all of Raya's lore. I myself was handing She ingredients, fixing the ratios of the spices (She never made things flavorful enough for us dolls to smell) and judging her quietly for using a casserole dish for the dough instead of a mixing bowl.
"It's all we have," She said quietly, casting me a hopeless look. "I haven't even unpacked half of my boxes."
She also didn't have a muffin tin or cupcake liners. Instead, we had to substitute for a nonstick mini loaf tin. It looked brand new. She poured the mixture into each hole and wiped the sides clean with a paper towel. Into the oven they went.
"You told me something earlier. What was that about?" Raya asked me, as we peered into the oven.
"Oh, that was Tagalog. It's the language of my people. From Motunui."
"I haven't heard of it."
"I'm afraid we haven't heard of you, either." Helen stated.
"That's what I thought. My movie came out in 2021. You all seem... older. No offense."
"Yeah, we are," I admitted. "But there's nothing wrong with that. She is expecting a lot of you so that you'd be able to help us get organized. To make us feel more at home."
"That's a lot to expect," said Raya. "You're lucky I'm used to it."
The three of us went quiet. She pretended to busy herself with reading the recipe.
"You won't be alone," said Helen. "And no one is expecting you to be perfect. This is your first day, after all. You need to settle in, too."
"I know," said Raya. "I've told you about me. What about you?"
For the time the muffins (loaves) baked, Helen and I shared the stories of our movies. That's the cool thing about being a Disney doll. You knew all of it, start to finish, even the things a regular human watching might not notice. I knew exactly what kinds of fruits Moana took on her journey to find Maui, and Helen knew the exact names of all of the Northuldra people Anna met in the forest. The minutes dragged on, and I was beginning to feel like this was more of a show-and-tell session than making a new friend.
"Food's done!" She exclaimed, right on time. We were running out of things to say. "This is going to be a great recipe to share." She ran back into the living room, opened her laptop, and starting typing away at what I figured must be the blog.
“Welcome Home” Muffin Loaves
For new places and new faces alike.
Ingredients:
Loaves
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- sprinkle of ground ginger
- hearty sprinkle ground allspice
- 1 stick of cold butter
- 1 cup unsweetened original flavor almond milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Be aware this recipe works best using a nonstick mini loaf tin. A nonstick baking pan will not require any parchment paper or cooking spray.
- Combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl. This includes the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together with a fork. This includes the milk, egg, and vanilla. Whisk until bubbles are formed in the mixture.
- Cut the stick of butter into small pieces and toss them into the dry ingredients bowl. Mix using your hands, squeezing the butter in with the flour mixture until it feels even.
- Pour your wet ingredients in with your dry ingredients and stir well. If it’s a little lumpy, that’s okay. It will change with baking.
- Bake the muffin loaves for about 15-17 minutes.
- As soon as the loaves are out of the oven, spread the melted butter evenly over each one.
- Stir the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl or shot glass and sprinkle over the loaves. They should set and create a crisp and sweet topping.
She immediately grabbed a loaf from the pan and shoved it into her mouth. "Who wants to cut into it?"
"Let me." Said Raya. She unsheathed an elaborate sword she'd been hiding behind her back and began to divide a loaf into three equal pieces.
"A retractable sword!" Helen exclaimed. "That's amazing. Mine's made of ice."
"And it doesn't melt?" Raya marveled.
"Oh no, we have Elsa to take care of that. I would show you but it's in Gene's mouth right now, and he's sleeping."
"I can't wait for Raya to meet them. I'm sure she's gonna get along great with Jasmine," She said through a mouthful of muffin. "They have the same curly-toed shoes."
"Gene? Elsa? Jasmine? Who are these people?" Raya's voice was becoming more and more energized.
"The family," Helen beamed. "All of She's dolls, starting at the very beginning. Come on, we'll show you."
"It's about time they wake up anyways," said She, taking Helen back on her hand. "They'd better stretch their legs before my roommates get suspicious. I only have the living room to myself for so long."
Raya barely waited for me to catch my breath before grabbing me tightly and swinging us down from the stovetop, the tip of her sword stuck into the ceiling. She's landlords weren't going to be happy about that, but we were too excited for introductions to care.
"This is the ottoman," said Helen. "It's where we've been for days now, waiting to be welcomed into our new home."
"Tonight's the night to do that," I agreed. "Raya, meet your doll family!"
I jumped up and knocked the lid away. Inside were my friends and family, and they were now moving and muttering, probably waking up because of the wonderful smell of baked muffins. I grabbed my oar and started knocking it on the side.
"Wake up, everyone! A new doll is here!"
"A new doll, a new doll?" They repeated, one after another, down the line of dolls all the way to the bottom of the storage chamber where they lay. They began to yawn and stretch and form a parade out of the ottoman to greet Raya.
Everyone was thrilled to see her, or maybe just thrilled to be out of the ottoman, but they shook hands and introduced themselves and tried to hug- or at least Olaf did. And Raya wasn't a fan of hugs.
After the first few dolls, it became the same pattern. "Nice to meet you, my name's this-and-this. I'm from the movie that-and-that. What's your name? Raya? Oh, I haven't heard of that one. Are you new? Yeah? What's your movie? No, I haven't heard of that, either." Raya may have been grinning broadly, but it all looked fake. Her eyes kept darting this way and that, looking for an escape route.
"I think it's getting to be too much," said Helen to me, sadly. "We should intervene."
"How? She's in charge now." I replied.
Our human sat crouched on the ground, forcing Raya in to each introduction, pointing out little things that each of them had in common. They all felt silly and forced. "And this is Pocahontas! She lived in a forest too! Maybe not a rainforest, or a bamboo forest... but she does have a love for small creatures. Don't you, Raya? Yeah, I guess Tuk-Tuk isn't small anymore."
She was the only one out of 30 plus dolls who knew Raya's movie, or anything about her. It was kind of embarrassing.
"Well if you're not going in, I will." Said Helen. It was hard to believe someone so demure could be so stubborn.
"Wait!" I said, grabbing her wrist.
I wish I hadn't stopped her.
"I can't take it anymore!" Raya cried out. The circle of dolls that surrounded her bowed away in fear and surprise. Their eyes followed the path of her sword, which was raised high in the air. "This is too much. This is just too much. I need to go. I have to go." The princess raised her legs and stepped over the dolls that had once been vying for her attention. Her speed began to increase and we watched with horror as we realized she was running towards the back door.
"Ryan, no!" A small voice cried. Meiling was holding onto her boot.
Raya looked into She's eyes. Her expression was angry and betrayed. "You don't even know my name."
"Raya, it's not like that. Don't do this. Don't go," She begged. "You don't know what it's like out there. I don't even know my way around town yet. I won't be able to find you."
"Good." Said Raya. Her voice was hard as stone. With one swift motion she kicked Meiling away, and her sword reached out to pull open the handle to the back door. A cold and strong wind pushed all of us away, and muffled our voices and we tried to call Raya back.
It was too late.
The last we saw of Raya were her lips in a thin line, and her brows coming down over her eyes. She took off into the backyard, disappearing into the shrubs that created the border between neighborhoods.
And it was all my fault.
Ioihi makamaka,
Moana of Motunui
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