Trowa had delivered the strange message to Melody so she called Relena in from the back yard and they both went to meet this stranger. After giving his name and addressing Melody respectfully, the man turned to the little girl who was the image of her mother, except that she had her father’s crystal blue eyes. “Miss Relena,” he greeted his princess cordially, “how good it is to see you once again.”

“See me ‘gain?” Relena asked, quite puzzled. “I don’t ‘member seein’ you b’fore.”

“You were quite young when last I saw you,” the man explained. He had been holding a deep purple velvet-covered box tied with a gold ribbon, which was the reason for his visit. He gave it to Relena. “This is for you. You may open it now if you so choose.”

Relena pulled the end of the ribbon and let it fall to the floor. She lifted the lid and saw that inside, on a cushion of matching purple velvet, was a tiara made of pearls of various sizes set in gold. She picked it up carefully. “Ooh! Pretty!” she exclaimed, running to the large mirror to see how it looked when she placed it upon her head. She turned to face everyone with shining eyes. “It’s be-you-ti-ful!” she exclaimed. “How come you’re givin’ it to me?”

“Because it belonged to our mother,” Milliardo supplied quietly as he entered the room in a very reserved manner. “Hello, Pagan.”

“Hello, Master Milliardo,” the old servant greeted his young master with strict formality, but his shining face conveyed the happiness his words did not.

“It’s been a long time,” the young king remarked. He was as glad to see the faithful servant of the Peacecraft family as the older gentleman was to see him.

“Four years,” Pagan responded. He was pleased to see that Master Milliardo resembled his father, the shape of his face, his nose and cheekbones and his long white-blonde hair. But his ice blue eyes were his mother’s.

Relena turned to her brother and solemnly said, “Mother?” to which Milliardo nodded once.

“Yes, Miss Relena. This tiara belonged to your dear mother, the Queen,” Pagan informed her. “It was recently discovered and entrusted to my care until I could deliver it to the royal family. It is the remnant of the royal jewels, having been rescued during the fire that destroyed part of the palace as well as the rest of Her Majesty’s jewelry.”

“What’s a ‘remmant’?” Duo asked Treize for clarification from where they stood in the crowd of chibis watching from the doorway.

“It means ‘the very last’,” the oldest chibi answered without looking at him, keeping his dark blue eyes fixed upon the completely unexpected event which was unfolding before them.

“If our mother was a Queen then was our father a King?”

Milliardo nodded.

“That means I’m a princess an’ you’re a prince then!”

“He’s a king, ackshully,” Duo corrected her from his place in the doorway with an annoying air of worldly wisdom which sounded as if he had known about this all along.

Relena walked down the upstairs hallway in her lamby jammies, with one hand holding the tiara between the ears on her hood.

"What are you doin'?" Duo asked.

"I'm gonna find a pin to pin my tiara on my jammies," Relena answered.

“You can’t wear that to bed,” Trowa told her. “Melody won’t let you.”

“She will too!” Her Highness responded indignantly. “She let me wear it durin’ dinner an’ ev’rything!”

“’Cept in your bath,” Quatre reminded her. “I saw her put it in your room while you was in the tub.”

“You still can’t wear it to bed,” Wufei told her. “It’ll get all wrecked.”

“Well! I’m gonna go ask Melody! She said that I can have it till tomorrow an’ then she’s gonna keep it in a safe place 'cause she says it's precious an' 'spensive,” the little princess declared and hurried off to find her webmommie, who was in the den on the main floor with John, watching as he tried to unscramble the latest ‘adjustments’ Heero had managed to inflict upon their computer.

“Quick!” Duo whispered urgently. “Quatre, you stay at the top of the stairs an’ watch for her an’ whistle if she comes back too early.”

”But I don’t know how to whistle, 'member?” Quatre reminded him, and earnestly tried a few times but to no avail.

“Then start singin’, okay?” Trowa instructed him.

“What song?”

”Any song.”

“Okay,” Quatre agreed. “Where’s Heero?”

“He’s downstairs to keep her there as long as he can ‘stract her,” Wufei said.

Quatre nodded and took his appointed place on the top step, trying to think of which song he should sing if the necessity arose. Meanwhile, Trowa stood at the door to Relena’s room to watch Quatre for any signs of Relena coming upstairs too soon and spoiling their plan.

“This is gonna be good!” Duo declared, fishing something out of his pants pocket.

“You ready?” Wufei asked.

Their sabotage was soon finished; the plan went off without a hitch, except for poor Heero, who was stuck playing Go Fish with Relena, which he had suggested in a desperate attempt to keep her from storming upstairs. Relena had been quite unhappy when Melody told her that Trowa and Wufei were right and that she would have to put the tiara on her bedside table for the night, so it was a delightful distraction from her annoyance that Melody could still overrule her despite the fact that she was a princess when Heero had asked if she wanted to play cards with him so she had agreed enthusiastically. He hadn't even objected when she hugged the stuffing out of him, exclaiming, "Yes I do, pumpkin!". After the third hand Melody sent them off to bed, which was disappointing to Relena but was a great relief for Heero, telling them it was past their bedtime and that John needed everyone to be quiet so he could concentrate.

The next morning the inhabitants of the Nursery were all at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Relena to get dressed and come down for breakfast. Relena walked slowly and dramatically down the hallway, practicing walking as she thought a princess should walk. She was pleasantly surprised by the attention from the boys, attributing this change in their behavior toward her as their being in awe of Her Highness. Being a princess was going to be fun!

“Good mornin’,” she said graciously as she greeted her supposed admirers, bestowing upon them a beneficent smile. “It’s nice that you have all waited for me today.” She reached up to feel if her tiara was on straight.

Duo eyed her suspiciously. “Are ya feelin’ okay this mornin’?” he asked, which she was surprised to hear because it was a really strange thing for him to say.

“’Course I am,” she answered. “I’m not sick or nothin’.”

“Did ya sleep okay?” Heero asked. “No bad dreams or anythin’?”

“Yes I did. Thanks for asking, sugarplum. That’s so sweet of you,” she said with the bright smile that she reserved only for her True Love. She was sure that Heero was really going to like her now that he knew she was of royal birth! After all, he’d asked her to play cards with him, which was a first. She’d decided the night before that she would still marry him when they grew up, even though he was only a commoner. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Waffles,” Quatre answered as he examined her face closely.

“Goody!” Her Royal Highness exclaimed, clapping her hands, before she remembered that a princess was supposed to behave in a regal manner. “I mean, that will be lovely,” she corrected herself. The boys were blocking her way so she asked them nicely to move aside so she could go to the kitchen.

As soon as she was out of sight the boys all rushed upstairs, assuming their stations from the previous night, with Heero joining Duo and Wufei as they entered Relena’s room again without her permission.

"Now we know the truth," Wufei said triumphantly as he lifted the mattress just enough for Duo to slide his hand under it. "Just wait till we tell her!"

“I can’t find it,” he said as he searched all around, and then, “Ew! Gross!”

“Shhh!” Heero hissed as he helped Wufei to lift the mattress higher.

When they saw what had happened Duo said, “It didn't work 'cause it got smashed!”

"She's gonna be abom'nable now," Wufei sighed gloomily.

Duo scraped the icky stuff up with his fingernails as best he could. “I dunno,” he said, scratching his head in bewilderment. “Maybe it don’t work when you use frozen peas.”