"Oh, hello, dear!" Sabine smiled at the red-haired girl making her way to the counter. "Your molasses candies again?" she asked, already reaching for them.

But Sabrina just shook her head. "Not today, Mrs Cheng."

"Oh? You want to try something new?"

"Sort of... Today, I'd actually like a box of chocolate and strawberry macarons. And a small chocolate cake. And uh, those petit-fours right there - no, the other ones, please. And those two lollipops, and-"

"Having a party?" Mrs Cheng asked, chuckling a little.

Sabrina grinned, her cheeks turning red as she ducked into her shoulders a little. "Y-Yeah...Something like that."

Nooroo had no idea what his mistress could be up to.

She'd told him - gently and apologetically - to stay in her bag when she got out of school, an unusual occurrence. While they both knew he had to remain out of sight, Sabrina also knew he'd been a prisoner. They had an agreement - if he could stay close to her and keep out of sight, he could leave her bag if he wished, stretch his wings both figuratively and literally. He never strayed far, at most hovering a few feet above her.

But to be told not to leave the bag at all today... It was strange. For a split-second when she'd asked him to do this, his heart had clenched. For that brief, terrifying moment, he felt almost like he had when he was with Hawk Moth.

But Sabrina had smiled apologetically, said it was just for today, just til she got home.

And he trusted, loved, Sabrina.

So, even if it made him restless and anxious and he was dying of curiosity, he did as she asked.

But even when they got home, she told him to wait before leaving her bag. "Okay, uh - you probably wouldn't like a blindfold, would you?" he'd heard her mutter above him. "And I don't think I have something small enough - okay, can you promise to cover your eyes until I say it's okay?"

He'd been suspicious, but nodded slowly. And then floated out of her bag with his eyes closed and his little paws resting over his eyelids.

He'd been sitting on her bedspread for five minutes now, listening to Sabrina hurry around her room while happy, energetic pop music played faintly from her computer. There was a lot of rustling noises, the faintest of tapping sounds against the ceiling... He smelled sweets, but none of it was the molasses candy she bought him. Once or twice he heard her ask the butterflies to move over please, and he sensed several of them settle down beside him.

But he had no earthly clue what she could be up to. He didn't sense any malicious intent, though, and Sabrina was a good Chosen, so he didn't worry-

There was a small clicking noise, and he saw light on the other side of his eyelids.

"Okay, open them!"

Nooroo lowered his paws and opened his eyes. Stared. Blinked. Mouth dropping.

Sabrina stood in front of the bed, a huge smile on her face, arms flung open wide. "Surpriiiise!" she cheered.

The room behind her was absolutely cluttered. Shiny balloons - some metallic solid colors, some with the phrase 'Joyeux anniversaire!' on them - bumped against the ceiling and walls, fighting for space. Colorful, spiraling streamers and crepe paper had been taped to the walls and ceiling to descend to the floor. Shiny gold letters spelling Joyeux Anniversaire were strung up between the bedposts, and with the curtains flung open to let in the sun, the light hit all that metallic material to make colorful shapes and light dance all over the place.

On top of that, Sabrina had spread out an array of sweets in front of him. The clicking noise he'd heard, as it turned out, had been her lighting a single candle sticking out of the tiny chocolate cake directly in front of him. And on her desk, he saw a bottle of fizzy drink and two different-sized cups.

Nooroo gaped.

"It - it's a birthday party!" Sabrina hurriedly explained, bouncing on her feet. Her cheeks flushed in excitement as she watched Nooroo for any further reaction. "Because - because you didn't get a party on the actual day? Remember?"

It took a second. But he remembered.

He and Sabrina had been watching one of her cartoons, the ones with people with unusual-colored hair who could become heroes much like Ladybug, Chat Noir, and herself. On the screen, the girl with bright pink hair had been sad that nobody had remembered her birthday, only to find her teammates and kwami had been planning a party all along.

"Do kwamis have birthdays too?" Sabrina had asked out of the blue, turning to look at him.

"We do," he had said, nodding simply.

"Wow, really? How old are you? When's yours? Do you get parties? What kind of presents do kwami get?" she'd excitedly asked.

Nooroo just waved her questions away. "It passed already... My fellows and I do celebrate together when we can, but..." He had sighed, his expression neutral. "I haven't celebrated my birthday in centuries, Mistress. It's alright."

So he'd thought. But Sabrina, apparently didn't find it alright at all.

"M-Mistress, I-"

"Here. Make a wish." Sabrina interrupted him, pushing the tiny cake towards him. "And then when you do, you blow the candle out so it'll come true. And after that, we eat snacks, and dance to music, and play games, and do whatever else you want all day!"

"Mistress-" Nooroo's throat felt tight.

"And next year..." Sabrina's shoulders tensed, and her eyes grew a steely determination that Nooroo recognized. It was the look she always got, right before realizing she needed to transform into Psyche. "Next year, you'll celebrate with your friends. All of them. Even Duusu. I promise."

"Mistress-"

"Sabrina. Come on, make a wish, Nooroo." With a tiny, anxious smile, she pushed the cake a little further. "Before the wax melts all over it."

Nooroo had to swallow a few times, letting the enormity of the situation wash over him. The decorations. The colors. The light. The warmth, happiness, snacks, music, love...

"Thank you..."

The flame on the candle went out, leaving a wisp of smoke to drift to the ceiling.

He hadn't the heart to tell her that one of his biggest wishes had already come true.