Covered in flour, white frosting, and cake batter Noella proudly looked at her recent creation: a two tier cake with the words "Happy Birthday Yen'fay" sloppily written in blue icing on the top. The cake was covered in white frosting, a couple spots dotted with large globs while the majority of the cake had a thin layer of frosting, creating an uneven look to the cake. And while her penmanship wasn't the best; she tried her hardest to steady her hand while writing on the top of the cake. Despite her best efforts however, the H in happy looked like a slanted n and a slightly larger compared to the rest of the letters. The Y was the longest with a long, crooked tail which ran into a B in birthday. Noella had tried to make a fancy little loop with the tail, but thanks to her inexperience it ended up looking horrible and just… sloppy.
Noella sighed wistfully. Maybe it would have been a good idea to ask Olivia how to decorate a cake before attempting it herself. It was far too late to ask her now, seeing as it was Yen'fay's birthday today and she didn't have the time to bake another cake and start all over again.
Ripping off a pair of oversized oven mitts and placing them on the table, she glanced at the doorway. "Morgan, do you see your father anywhere?" Noella asked, having enlisted her son to keep a lookout for Yen'fay.
A silver haired boy with big brown eyes popped in the room. "No mother! He's not around!" There was a faint smirk upon the boy's lips. It didn't take a mage to read her son's mind; he wanted to surprise his father just as much as she did.
Her son lingered in the room for a bit, brown eyes wandering around the food covered kitchen. But he didn't seem fazed by her lack of culinary skills, and in fact, acted like it was perfectly normal she was covered in food.
"Mom you might want to clean up a bit. The cooks won't be happy if you leave a mess." The bubbly boy darted out the room, narrowly avoiding an egg covered rag Noella threw at his direction. Noella wrinkled her nose at him, feeling absolutely silly for trying to hit her son with a filthy rag. But it was a compulsive action for the silver haired woman. She just felt like throwing it at him and hopefully, cover him in food like she was currently.
Absolutely childish, yes. Necessary? Also yes.
The silver haired woman pushed the cake to the other end of the large, wooden table where she hadn't completely covered it in eggs and flour, and proceeded to clean up her mess. Despite how much she had to clean up, the walls and sink included, she was done relatively quickly and left no evidence she had used the kitchen today. Her clothes, hair, and hands were coated in baking supplies. Globs of white frosting coated the front of the apron she wore, flour and sugar stuck to her boots and under her nails. She was fairly sure her face was pale white with flour and frosting and her hair… she didn't want to think about it.
Quickly she cleaned up her hands and face the best she could. Her hair was left alone as a sink and running water weren't enough to get rid of the bits of cake batter and frosting from her silver hair. She'd need a bath and some intense scrubbing to get the sticky, clumped mess out of her hair.
From outside the kitchen window Noella spied the bright blue sky slowly shift into darknes. The sound of crickets chirping and owls hooting faintly filled her ears and confirmed the oncoming darkness.
Taking a deep breath, Noella rolled up her sleeves and grabbed the cake, trying her best to keep it balanced in her two hands. Morgan held the door for her, allowing her to walk out the doorway with relative ease. Morgan shut the door behind her, practically nipping at her heels as they walked down the hallway as quickly as their legs allowed them to move. The silver haired boy smiled to himself, humming a strange tune as they passed by a couple suits of armor in the halls. She laughed at him. Morgan continued to remind her he took so much from her. His personality, his appearance, and his affinity with magic was all her. He barely took anything from Yen'fay besides the shape of his nose and his skill with a sword.
Surprisingly, Yen'fay didn't mind Morgan being more like her than himself. He once told her, he preferred it that way.
"Do you think father will be surprised?" Morgan asked loudly, walking beside her instead of behind her. Noella wrinkled her nose at him and mouthed the words 'lower your voice'. Her adorable son got the message quickly and closed his mouth before asking anything else that could ruin the surprise.
Mother and son walked down a series of hallways, avoiding going outside and staying away from people wherever possible. The journey proved to be uneventful as they made it to one of the larger dining rooms in Ylisstol castle. It was a breath of fresh air to Noella. For the past week she fretted that something would go wrong. She thought, at first, she would burn the cake (which she almost did) or use salt instead of sugar while baking. And there was always the constant fear Yen'fay would catch on and spoil the surprise and all their hard work.
"Just a bit further Yen'fay!" A young woman's voice broke Noella's train of thought.
Quickly she beckoned Morgan to help her place the cake on the table. He grabbed the other side of the cake plate; slowly helping her lower it down on top of the table just they began to hear more voices down the hallway.
"Lissa, I see nothing wrong." Morgan beamed the moment he heard his father approach, completely unaware of what they had planned for him. Noella placed a finger to her lips to keep Morgan quiet before lighting the candle on the cake she had plopped on after icing it later this afternoon. The flame sputtered for a minute, flickering all over the place before finally settling down and casting a steady orange glow over the white and blue frosted cake.
"I'm sure I heard something! Just go look please?" Lissa's childlike voice pleaded just outside the room. Judging but the girl's tone, Noella was fairly sure the young princess was pushing her husband towards the door to help their plan succeed.
Noella knew from the lack of response her husband was thinking something was up. The mage couldn't hide her pride even if she wanted to and smiled; her lips curved upwards, the taste of sugar on her tongue. For the past month she planned everything carefully, sneaking out late at night to look for a suitable gift for him as well as figure out how to bake a decent cake. And yet, somehow, Yen'fay hadn't caught on. Pride swelled inside her chest because of that fact.
She wasn't a tactician for nothing after all.
The footsteps grew louder as seconds ticked by. Noella kept her eyes glued to the doorway, silently waiting to catch a glimpse of her husband. A glimpse of white caught peeked out from the doorway before the two of them saw Yen'fay walk into the dining room he thought was completely empty.
Both Morgan and Noella beamed at him, standing next to a cake lit up with a single candle the read 'Happy birthday Yen'fay' on the top.
In unison they shouted, "Happy birthday!"
Her husband stopped dead in his tracks they moment they shouted, confusion etched upon his face. He tried to open his mouth, to ask them what they were doing or get some sort of clarification, but Morgan jumped into action and hugged his father before he could say anything. Yen'fay hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to proceed with this strange situation. Noella laughed, knowing their son had never hugged him before this moment, and it just made her… extremely happy to see them together like this. Yen'fay had been accepting of his future son back during the war, and loved him greatly despite the fact he tended to favor magic over a sword. However, being a father was still new to him since their son appeared nearly a year and a half ago.
After a few confusing seconds, Yen'fay hugged his son back as well as a light pat on the back.
"Lad, I believe that is enough." Yen'fay cracked a smile when Morgan made a face at him for being called a 'lad'. Of course Yen'fay only called him a lad when he teased him, finding it oddly amusing the way his son reacted.
Quickly father and son parted, allowing Noella to come in between them and give him a hug of her own. Yen'fay had no problem reciprocating the hug, wrapping his arms around her with no hesitation like he had with Morgan. For them, this was perfectly normal and happened on a daily basis whenever possible, as embarrassing as that was to admit.
"Happy birthday Yen'fay." Noella smiled, giving him a peck on the cheek only to somehow, smear a bit of white frosting on his face. She covered her mouth and tried her best to not laugh at him, finding the sight of him covered in frosting absolutely amusing. And of course Yen'fay didn't seem all that bothered by the glob of colored sugar.
After a minute or so trying to reign in her laughter, Noella parted from Yen'fay and tried to dig through her pockets and find something to clean him up. Rummaging through all her pockets she had on her, apron included, she failed to find a napkin and instead, managed to accidentally drop a small black box from within her pants pocket. Noella tried to grab it first, only for Yen'fay to pick it up first.
"Noella, pray tell what this is?" Yen'fay stared at the box in his hand, pondering a bunch of theories as to what could be inside a tiny little thing.
Noella nervously fiddled with her hands before answering him. "It's your birthday present. I'm not sure if you'll like it or not, but you can go ahead and open it."
Noella watched and waited as her husband lifted off the lid, practically holding her breath when he revealed a silver and black ring with a crescent moon engraved into it. Yen'fay gave her a questioning look, to which she prayed she hadn't goofed up.
"Thank you for the gift, Noella. But Prithee tell me why a moon?" He questioned, rising a single white eyebrow at her.
The young woman took a deep breath and steadied her thoughts. He wasn't mad at her, just curious she reminded herself. Anyone else would have reacted the same way.
"Well…" Noella started, trying to find the right words to say to him. "I'm your sun, as you like to call me. And what is the sun without the moon? Even if I fall, you're always there to make sure I'm alright ant pick me back up again. So… I thought of you as the moon, overlooking the sun. The moon and the sun are a pair, right?" Yen'fay's confusion soon melted away the moment she finished, replaced by a sweet heartwarming smile upon his lips.
The swordsman plucked the ring out of the box, slipped it onto one of his fingers, and looked at Noella with the same sweet, endearing look he had given her moment before.
"Hey Mother and Father!" Morgan's voice forced the two parents to look at their son. The boy pointed to a messy, melted looking cake sitting atop of the dining table. Noella in a frantic fit, rushed over to the runny cake in hopes of trying to stop if from getting all over the place. She was too late however as the blue and white frosting was now a large puddle beneath the cake place.
Noella looked back at Yen'fay with an apologetic expression on her face. "Sorry… I tried baking a cake for you. But…" The woman waved a hand at the ruined cake. "…I guess I didn't do so well."
Yen'fay didn't look too hurt by the ruined cake and merely walked towards his wife, and gave her a hug. "Tis alright, Noella. I am grateful for what you've given me already." He said to her, placing a kiss on her cheek just as she did a little not too long along. And somewhere along the way, Yen'fay ended up with even more frosting on his face when he kissed her, finally figuring out she had several spots on her face covered with the stuff.
But the swordsman didn't mind it one bit. Not even when Noella giggled at him and smear him with another glob of blue icing on his opposite cheek to match the other side. And the mage would have dabbed more on if Gaius, Sumia, and Lissa didn't walk into the room and interrupt them.
The princess and Pegasus knight laughed, and the sugar thief Gaius just asked if they were going to finish off the cake or not. Overall, the night didn't go so badly. That is, besides the fact Yen'fay and herself smelt of sugar for a couple of hours.
AN:
I was feeling in the mood to write some fluff and with Yen'fay's birthday on July 23rd, this provided the perfect opportunity! Hope you all enjoyed the sugary sweet bit of fluff! Happy (early) birthday Yen'fay!