Jessy’s mouth dropped open and she stared at her little brother, not sure how to react.  Finally she managed.

“I didn't expect that . . . umm,” she began then her voice softened and her gaze swept the triplets.  “Thank you, you three.”

“Rule is,” Nicky scanned every male face in the crowd.  “You got to kiss her to eat if you are a boy!  Now in the booth, Jessy!”

Aaron planted his small hands on his big sister’s butt and pushed her toward the booth.

“Come on!” he huffed.

Nicky grabbed her hand and drew her into place at the narrow counter that fronted the structure.  Deliberately he turned to face the crowd, spotting his quarry.

“Okay, Nat, you first!” he commanded.  Then Matt and everyone else just kinda line up!”

Luthien tugged on the hem of Nat’s Hawaiian shirt and tall young man leaned over.  She cupped his ear with her little hand and whispered “You can’t!”

Nat frowned as Jessy blushed and turned her attention to her feet.  She shook her head.

“Come on, guys, we can run this booth later,” Jessy’s tone was pleading.

Nicky ignored that.

“Nope!” he announced.  “No food ‘til the icky kissing begins and we won’t make anyone spank you.

Aaron grabbed Nat’s and tugged.

“Come on, you first,” he said.  “You lost the straw pull.”

Luthien’s glare had no effect on her brother, wither one of them.

“We pulled for you!” Nicky announced.

There was a hiss from the little girl.

“Stop, Aaron!” she commanded.

The boy stuck his tongue out at her and tugged on Nat all the harder.

“No,” he replied to her.  “Come on, Nat.”

Nicky was busily pushing all the males into place, with Sean Thornton being next after Matt.

“Come on!” Nicky said.  “She waiting!”

Luthien’s raised her arms to Nat and quite naturally he lifted her up where she rested on his hip.  They vanished.

Nicky screamed “That’s no FAIR!!”

Wren Collins, who had, up until that point, been fighting a strange urge to step into the middle of the ring of people, relaxed, not sure why she was even on edge.  Into the sudden silence stepped the tall human form of the dragon.  On his arm was a beautiful young woman not more than twenty with cascades of dark red hair down to the middle of her back.

He was dressed as Wren had seen before, in a flowing robe but in this case the deep blue of the ocean.  She wore a gown that sheathed her body in swirling shades of blue, from the palest sky to the deepest indigo.  Wren was taken aback for a moment for this young girl must be the dragon’s ‘woman’, Rogue.  When she had met the fallen angel, Everith, Wren had thought there could be no more beautiful creature on the planet now she saw she was wrong.

“This will never do,” rumbled the dragon and a pair of shiny metal dice landed in the grass before the booth.  There was a ruddy flash of light and Nat reappeared with Luthien still on one hip.

“Thanks, Uncle Nick,” Nicky grinned at the dragon.  “Nat, we saved your spot.”

Wren tensed then, turned away and began making her way to the edge of the crowd so subtly few noticed her passing.  Again there was a blink of light off two objects as a new set of dice landed at the surfer’s feet.  Without a word, he let the little girl slide down his hip to the soft grass then turned to Jessy as she stood expectantly, breath held.  She swallowed hard.

“Umm,” she began as Nat leaned down toward her.  “You don’t have to . . .”

Nat touched her chin with the tips of two fingers and lifted it.  Jessy’s eyes came up to meet Nat’s but there was no recognition in them.

“Nat . . .” Jessy began then his lips touched hers and she forgot the world.

“NO!”

The toe of Luthien’s tiny foot struck the dragon in the shin as Jessy felt her blood begin to boil.  Instinctively her arms came up and wrapped around Nat’s neck as his tongue pushed into her mouth.  Nick looked down at the girl with an eyebrow lifted.

“Hey!”  Nicky tried to step between the dragon and his sister.  “Leave him alone!”

She ignored him and began pummeling Nick’s thigh with her closed fists.

“You don’t know what you have done!” the tiny girl said between gritted teeth.

Cufaen appeared behind her and scooped her up but she fought him like a wildcat, trying to renew her assault on one of the most powerful entities in the Universe.

“Okay, Nat!”  Nicky announced, trying to distract the party from his sister’s outburst.  “That’s a 9.6 . . .  Next!”

Luthien suddenly relented and buried her face in her father’s chest, her body wrecked with sobs.

Jessy’s hearing began to return about the time Nat’s lips left hers.  For a moment she couldn’t figure out where she was or what was going on around her, then she heard her father’s voice.

“Luthien,” he said softly.  “What is it?”

Her hands fell to her side as Matt stepped up in front of her, but she didn’t notice as she watched Nat’s broad back disappear into the darkness.

“My turn!” Matt said.

She made no effort to return his kiss as the anger radiating from her father became a physical force that froze the party.

“What did you do,” Cufaen growled, his green eyes ablaze as he confronted the dragon.

“I simply gave your daughter her birthday present,” he replied calmly.

Cufaen was gone and Ghost Archer stood in his place, his right hand already reaching for the katana strapped across his back.

Nick held up a hand.

“I will go,” he said offering his arm to his Lady.

“DADDY!”  Jessy tried to break the tension.  “Not on my birthday!”

The dragon was gone and with him, the woman on his arm.

“Don't go Uncle Nick,” Jessy called after him but Sean was before her gazing at her sympathetically.  He kissed her very lightly, a token only and received a hoot of derision from Nicky.

“Two point zero,” the boy crowed.  “NEXT!”

Her father turned away carrying her sister and settled in the grass just outside the radius of the lights, whispering intensely with the girl and the next few minutes blurred past as every male stepped up to the little booth and receive a kiss until only Aaron and Nicky remained.  She gave Aaron a kiss on the forehead then turned her attention to Nicky.  He was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

“See,” he said, “Now you won't be an old maid.”

“Thank you, Nicky,” she said ruffling his hair.  “But I gotta go.”

The pounding of the surf against the distance cliffs to the west of the party could not be heard even during the most violent storms but some sound had reached Jessy’s ear from the west and she knew it could only be one thing.  As the music and general chaos of the party began to build, Jessy slipped off and headed for the sea. 

Moonlight caught the tops of the waves creating an endless line of white that rolled into shore with the regularity of metronome but the boom of the surf crashing against the rocks at the base of the cliff was broken, interrupted by the unnatural thunder of rock striking rock.  Jessy stood at the top of the escarpment and watched the figure below pull massive boulders from the sucking sand and hurl them into the face of the cliff below, each splintering hundreds of shards.  Through the bottoms of her feet she felt the earth tremble with each impact.

She rose from the sand and touched him on the arm.

“Nat,” she whispered.  “You okay?”

His hands sank into the surface of a boulder the size of a bus, his muscles tensed and it came free leaving a depression to be swallowed by the sea then as if he flung a pillow, rock shattered against rock.

“No!”  He didn’t look at her.  “Go AWAY, Jessy!”

“What happened?” she said, not really wanting to hear the answer.  “Your eyes didn't look right.”

“You know!” he snapped, “Your dear ‘Uncle’!”

Without looking at her he stalked toward the ocean, wading into the surf.

“NAT!  I didn’t ask him to do that!” she pleaded.  “Honest!  I wanted a real kiss from you not just a . . .”

Tears blurred her vision and her feet began to sink into the sand as Nat dove into the face of a wave and disappeared.  She fell to her knees, hands covering her face.

“This is the worst day of my life,” she whispered.

Luthien touched her shoulder.

“I tried,” she said. “but daddy was right . . . you can’t stop it.  Now it’s all bad.”

“Go away,” Jessy said.

“I hate Nic . . . Tsarsaidor,” the little girl hissed.

“I want to die,” Jessy moaned.

“You aren’t the one,” Luthien said in a monotone.

Jessy rose to her feet and turned toward the face of the cliff.

“Fuck off,” she said and disappeared into the earth.

Luthien closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“It’s too late,” she whispered and disappeared.

Atop the cliff Wren selected a rock and sat her mind a tumult.