Meanwhile, in a town very very far away, Dawn was tiptoeing past the door of the C & D Detective Agency. The door was closed but Dawn was not in the mood to have anyone inside hear her. As soon as she had gone past, she hurried down the hall and knocked on the door of "The Astonishing Brenda. Fortunes Told and Palms Read"
"Come in, Dawn," called Brenda. It still surprised Dawn that Brenda knew it was her even with the door closed. Dawn came inside. Brenda was busy making candles for her meditation area. She usually melted the wax in her spare teapot and put scented oil in it and poured the candles into small tumblers or any old teacups that she got at the thrift store.

"Those look like cupcakes," Dawn said, going behind the desk to take a look at what Brenda was doing.
"Everything reminds you of sweets," chuckled Brenda. "The biscuit tin is in my top left drawer. Help yourself." She peeled off a drip of wax which had gotten on the wooden surface of her table.
"No thanks," sighed Dawn.
"What’s the matter?" Brenda asked. "Trouble? it's not like you to miss out on a chocolate chip."
"It’s that Heather," Dawn complained. "Brenda, she is driving me crazy." Heather was Caitlyn’s cousin who had recently moved to town from Alabama and been hired by Caitlyn as the receptionist for the C & D Agency.
"She seems nice enough to me," said Brenda, who had met Heather on several occasions and even gone out to lunch with her one day.

"Ever since she started to work for us, she is taking new clients with stupid jobs. I thought after we found the Star of Tamsen and got the key to the city I would never have to track down things like lost umbrellas and budgies again. Lately she has been getting calls from a lady whose poodle keeps getting lost. And she never sends Cait out after him, just me. She is so sweet and uses her southern accent when she talks to people on the phone." Dawn sat at Brenda’s desk and pretended to be Heather. "Oh, sugar, I am so sorry to hear that Towser got out again. We will send our very best detective right on over there to find the poor little angel."
Brenda had to laugh at the imitation. "Someone named her poodle Towser?"
"Not only that, Towser is old and fat and snaps at people and has bad breath," Dawn said angrily. "He digs holes under the fence around his yard and crawls out, and then when I find him he is usually all dirty, and the lady who owns him is always very snotty about the ‘condition’ I return him in. She could go out and find him herself. He usually goes to visit the schnauzer down the block."
"Have you tried telling Heather you don’t enjoy finding Towser?" asked Brenda.
"Yes," Dawn snorted. "But she never listens to me. She thinks I’m joking. Yesterday I said that I would answer the phone and SHE could find Towser and she thought it was hysterical. I don’t know if I should complain to Cait because Heather is her cousin. And ever since you read Heather’s tea leaves and told her she would become an actress she is always practicing lines from Shakespeare in case an agent might stop by our office. I walk in the door and she will say "Forsooth, who goes there," and the next minute she is answering the phone and saying, "Oh, honey child, don’t worry, the C & D agency will find that umbrella quicker than a hog rolling in a mud puddle."
"Well, the tea leaves don’t lie," said Brenda somewhat defensively. "I would have kept it to myself, though, if I thought it was going to cause trouble."
"I know you weren’t wanting to cause trouble, Bren, don’t worry. It isn’t your fault. I just wish I knew an agent so I could have him hire Heather and I could go back to reading my comic books in peace! I almost wish I had my old office in the broom closet back!"
"Why don’t you call Sarah and see whether she would reinforce Towser’s fence so he doesn’t get out?" suggested Brenda.
Just then there was a knock on Brenda’s door. "I’m not here!" Dawn dived under Brenda’s desk.
Brenda rolled her eyes as she opened the door. "Come in, Cait."

"Hi Brenda," said Caitlyn, coming in with some faxes in her hands. "Have you by any chance seen Dawn?"
"No," said Brenda, trying not to look at Dawn’s clogs which were sticking out from under her desk, and trying not to laugh. "I don’t know where she could be."
Caitlyn saw Dawn’s feet with their unmistakable clogs.

"That is too bad," said Caitlyn, stifling a giggle. "I had something important I wanted to talk to her about. We have had several faxes from the Sultanate of Tamsen and Dawn’s friend Princess Tammara, and a fax from the Kingdom of Slumberland."
"Oh, that is where they have the Pajama Festival," Brenda interrupted. "I wish I could have gone. I could use some new PJ’s."
"Me too," said Caitlyn. "I do like my heart pajamas but that velcro is so hard on my skin. Anyway, if Dawn were here," she added loudly, "I would tell her that we have had an application from Princess Skye of Slumberland to work for the C & D Agency. Princess Tammara sent a fax of recommendation. I checked Princess Skye’s credentials and evidently she is excellent at finding things, like lost poodles and umbrellas. However, seeing as Dawn is not around I cannot approve her application so I guess we will just have to send her a rejection slip."
"Hi Cait, fancy seeing you here." said Dawn, nonchalantly emerging from under the desk, "Let’s hire her! But can we afford to pay a princess, Cait?"
"Well, hello, Dawn," said Caitlyn with a smile, "What a surprise to find you here too."
"Uh, one of Brenda’s candles fell on the floor and I was just getting it for her, you know, brushing up on my detecting skills." Said Dawn, dusting herself off. "I think we need to talk to the cleaning people again, Brenda. But tell me about this princess."
"According to the information I have here, she received a gift from the good fairies when she was born and it is the gift of locating lost items. I think she would be perfect for our agency. And she has offered to work for minimum wage during her internship and until she can be registered with the Dolly Detective Board. She would need a place to stay but I believe Jenni has been looking for a roommate to share expenses." Caitlyn handed the faxes to Dawn, who read them quickly.
"Wow, she sounds like just what we need," said Dawn. "Go ahead and fax back that we want her to come."
"OK, I will," said Caitlyn. "I know you haven’t been happy about Brutus."
"Brutus? I thought his name was Towser." Brenda said, slightly confused.
"Brutus, Towser, its the same mutt with delusions of escapeology. Brenda had a good suggestion about getting Sarah Willow to fix his fence. And maybe we could get Sarah Willow Sr. to come and scare him so he wouldn’t dig anymore," said Dawn, feeling very relieved. "No more budgies! No more umbrellas! How soon can that princess get here?!"
"Well, you know yourself how long these trips take, but once she has the go ahead I hope that she will be here within 2 weeks."
"Assuming she doesn't detour somewhere along the way." Brenda reminded everybody.
"Cait, do you think I could take the next 2 weeks off?" Dawn asked, "You know, until she puts in an appearance?"
"Not so fast my Caitie friend, I need you to undertake a few more mundane missions between then and now."
"Missions? Brenda, you better pass me one of those biscuits, I don't do missions on an empty stomache."