Isaac stared angrily at the book he held, tears flooding his baby blue eyes. He flung the book at the kitchen door and buried his face in his hands. "I'm dead. I'm so dead." he muttered to himself.

The book clobbered the Lemurian boy standing in the doorway, who up until then had been watching Isaac with great curiosity. While it knocked him nearly insensible, he nonetheless picked the book up, noted the title, and set it on the table next to Isaac. "Cooking for Venus Adepts? And why are you dead?" he asked quietly.

Isaac, startled, jumped up. The chair he'd been sitting on shot out from under him and fell over with a terrific crash. "Piers? Where'd YOU come from?"

The Mercury Adept jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Ivan says you're upset, so Felix sent me over to make sure you're okay."

Absentmindedly Isaac realized that the normally fearless Ivan must have panicked, and unable to find Garet would have run to Felix and alerted him. "Jenna's feeling really down lately, so Garet and I thought we'd throw a surprise party for her. I just don't have a dessert to bring, though."

Piers grinned. "Is that all? How about...ice cream?"

"Made that mistake once. Ice cream hypes her up so badly it's scary. I want to cheer her up, not make her hyper."

"...Brownies?"

"No chocolate."

Rolling his eyes exasperatedly, the Lemurian exclaimed "Why not go buy some then, genius?"

"She likes Hesperian chocolate, you idiot." Isaac said, bantering insults with his friend.

"Fine then." Piers shot back, deciding to end the banter before they really got going. "How about...cookies? They're easy to make, fun to eat..."

Isaac's eyes lit up. "Piers, you're a lifesaver." He immediately dove back into the cookbooks piled on the table, searching their indexes.

"If you say so." Piers remarked, reading the titles of a few of the books. Angaran Cooking, Dining in Contigo, Gondowan Meals in 15 Minutes, Indran Specialties...the blue-haired boy shook his head. "For what it's worth, Lemuria has the best cookie recipes ever."

The blond grinned, a tinge of evil in his smile.

"Oh ho, no way. No no no. Not me." Piers said, kicking himself inwardly for his big mouth.

Assuming a begging look, the Venus Adept widened his eyes and stuck his lower lip out just a little.

"AAHHH! All right. Fine. How long do I have?" Piers groaned. Nobody he knew could resist Isaac's puppy face, least of all him.

"Party's next week. If you can get me the recipe and the ingredients, I'll take care of the rest."

"Okay, okay. Why is it always me? I'm only going on the condition that Felix comes with me- and Kraden doesn't." the Lemurian said, running a hand through his hair and making it stand up in odd places.

The Mercury Adept's dislike of Kraden had increased as his bond with Felix strengthened. While he was now almost always at odds with the aged scholar, he knew that the man would want to come along with him if it involved Lemuria. On the other hand, Felix's company wouldn't bother him a bit; he enjoyed the conversations and swordfights he had with Jenna's older brother.

"Right." Isaac said, having cheered up considerably. "I'll have the arrangements made. Your ship, and Felix, should be ready to go by tomorrow."

"Oh, joy." the Mercury Adept grumbled.