Disclaimer: I don't own them. There's a reason this is called a 'fanfic', I suppose.

Aphrael's Birthday Party

Chapter One: You're Invited

Eriond looked at 'his chair' and beamed. Boy oh boy, it sure was pretty! Scribbled all over it was a picture he'd given to Aunt Pol once, of him and Horse and the meadow and the rabbits and the trees and the birds...it looked loads better than Mana's weight-lifting bench-thingy. But he had to admit, Issa's La-Z boy was fun too.

They were in the Place-that-Wasn't-a-Place-But-Was-In-Fact-All-Places, which everyone else seemed to call Omniwhere; Eriond privately thought his name for it was funner. The Dragon God was getting bored in Mallorea—he had tried raising new dragons, but their eyes just weren't googly enough—when Big Brother Belar popped by and suggested he visit 'The Office'. Eriond jumped at the chance, because Zakath and Cyradis were getting too mushy again.

Belar sighed. Was he like this during his first eon? No wonder Chaldan and Nedra were always attempting to strangle him. "Yes, Eriond," the Bear God said for what must have been the third time, "This is your chair and desk."

Of course it was Eriond's. Who else would want kindergarten-sized furniture? A pity that the gods only ordered from the 'Earth' catalogue.

"Oooh! Letters!" his divine baby brother's attention was quickly diverted. He was now reaching for the stack of envelopes beside the box of crayons. Thinking he might die (albeit temporarily) of extreme exasperation, Belar took the moment to escape to his own chair—an airplane seat complete with in-flight action movies and a call button for buxom stewardesses.

Damn. That meant it was his turn to watch Eriond. Nedra folded up his daily paper and watched as the youngest god excitedly perused his mail. Most were simply of the 'Congratulations, You're A God Now' vein, including one eloquently written by his business associate Aslan.

However, there were a few exemptions. There was an amorous note from someone named Mary who claimed to be his one true love and/or the Dragon God's daughter, which was ridiculous to Nedra because of Eriond's rather...innocent (dense) perception, and the laws of genetics which would be invariably tweaked around. Furthermore, it wasn't very admirable to start aping the Olympus crowd; a pamphlet by the Valar Formerly Known as Melkor Presently Known as Morgoth, exhorting Eriond to join the Evil Guys Gets Some Alliance!; and a Howler from 'Turak4ever' threatening the Dragon Divinity to 'uphold the standard of evilry'. In postscript, she mentioned she was an avid fan of EGGSA!

Nedra was about to answer his crossword, satisfied that his brother's mail didn't contain anything that might cause small tidal upheavals (A week before Erion had the misfortune to receive Belar's Playdryad, and had to be rocked to sleep by Aldur). But there was still one letter, covered in...white feathers. Big, fluffy white dove feathers, to be exact, covered in purple glitter. Nedra realized, with a start, that all eight of them received the same letters.

Seven eyes met across the Office, each showing varying degrees of alarm, wry amusement and (in Issa's case) bleary-eyed incomprehension. All, even Chaldan, Could sense the chaos that the feather-clad missive was about to unleash—with the exception, of course, of the new god of the Angaraks.

All watched with bated breath as Eriond happily opened the letter.

Elsewhere...

To the Sorcerer Belgarion, King of Riva, Lord of the Western Sea, Overlord of the West, Godslayer, erstwhile Child of Light, from Zakath, Emperor of Boundless Mallorea, Hail:

Garion,

Eriond's behaving rather odd lately; more so than the usual Grolim-apoplexy causing activities, at any rate. Our mutual friend is up in the clouds (quite literally), crowing about some birthday party. From what I can understand from his semi-coherent babble, it's the first immortal event that he's been invited to. And since you've done some impressive work as well, you are invited to the bash too. Apparently your invitation was lost in the mail.

How do gods get their mail? I wonder.

Within a week from now, you're supposed to meet up with the other gods in the vale. Eriond says that you can bring your grandfather and Lady Polgara, but it isn't advisable for you to bring Ce'Nedra. Only a few mortals, I think.

I have to go. I'm hearing screams of pure terror again, which means that another one of Eriond's rabbit-dragon crossbreeding experiments got loose. Till we meet again, Garion.

Zakath

P.S.: Congratulations on your new daughter, by the way. What is it, the sixth this time?