Barnaby and Beatrice, twin apprentices in the municipal bakery, discover that the ceremonial gingerbread men are vibrating uncontrollably due to a fine, shimmering dust coating the conveyor belt. Beatrice uses a strip of untreated birch wood to temporarily buffer the energy drain, stabilizing the cookies. They realize the underlying issue is resonance interference, similar to problems reported elsewhere in town. They connect the failure of the cookie icing to the imminent failure of the Star Seed stabilizing wreath, whose crystallized ginger pieces are cracking. The baker reveals the wreath must be set before the lighting ceremony. Beatrice and Barnaby deduce they need a non-conductive binding agent, specifically the Grotto Paste, which they recall being used to stabilize moss cores, to repair the wreath before it is too late to secure the Star Seed's light.