Owning your own little publishing house could be as hard as it gets.

He had spent the last nine years dedicated to making it work and prosper the best he could. He had started as an assistant editor with
another company (bigger than his own) and those couple of years made him decide to risk it all and start a publishing house of his own.

Two years into the business his wife passed away in a car accident.

She left him alone not only with the new wavering company, but with their three year-old little girl as well.

To say it was devastating would be an understatement.

Since then, he turned into a workaholic trying to make the little publishing house rise so he could give his daughter the life he wanted
her to have. Finally, his dedication and hard work began to pay off.

He could have bought another bigger house with more luxuries but that would have required him to sell their old house, the one with all
their memories in it. Even if Seraphine didn't remember much about her mother, he still felt the house was a living reminder of his wife.

So they stayed in their little house (with just three rooms and a little garden in the back) and there they lived: just he, little Seraphine and their old cat, Meme.

Their home, usually quiet and calm for he spent a lot of time at work, was now filled with activity.

Children with balloons ran wild through the house. Some of them tried to sneak into the kitchen. Parents chatted cheerfully in the garden.
A couple of waiters entered and exited the kitchen while Meme, the cat, ran from one place to another every two or three minutes to hide.

Even if the house was filled with noise and bustle, Kozmotis was happy to see his daughter so animated for this was her first birthday party
and the first time she had ever invited friends to their home. Normally she was the one visiting them since he was almost always too busy with his company.

When he once again entered the kitchen, with a tray full of empty glasses in his hands, he took a moment to observe the... chaos. Where did all these people come from? He had invited very few of his employees and those he had he did so because they had children (which
added to the commotion). Just a couple of them (the ones that had stayed at the publishing house the longest) were invited because he
referred to them as his friends.

He left the tray on one of the tables in the kitchen. One of his friends, a woman about his age with long copper hair and a calm face, approached him with a jar of fruit flavored water and began to refill the glasses.

"What a nice party, Kozmotis!", she grinned. "And here all of us at the office were saying you couldn't put the word 'fun' in anything other than a book."

"Ha, ha. How very funny." He commented in a monotone voice. However, he returned the smile before glancing at the clock. "Has the
catering arrived yet?"

"Um, no it hasn't." Florence, a woman he had known since the start of his career, finished filling the glasses and took one of the bowls of
chips that was waiting to be taken out to the garden. "Which bakery did you hire to cater this?"

He sighed a little. "I...can't remember too well. It was my daughter that chose it and made a lot of fuss about it."

Florence arched an eyebrow. She was about to say something when Seraphine ran into the kitchen with an enormous gift in her arms.

"Katherine and Nightlight are here! Come! Come! You have to meet their dad!", she raised the gift up as high as she could to show
Kozmotis.

He looked intently at it and smiled down at her. "Is that from them? It looks promising." He took the gift and put it above the fridge for
the meantime. Then he smiled over at Florence before tilting his head towards the door. He took his daughter's little hand in his and exited the room.

"Aren't your friends adopted?", he asked her in a whisper.

She pulled him to bend down slightly and cupped her hand to her mouth to whisper back. "Yes, but he is their dad nonetheless!"

He opened his mouth in a silent and exaggerated "OHH!" She just pulled harder, making him smile again.

Her friends were waiting for them in the living room. Both the girl and the boy he knew already. They were Seraphine's best friends and
he had met them a couple of times before. The girl was the same height as his daughter, but had bright chestnut-colored hair that came
down to her shoulders. She was wearing a yellow dress with a blue belt at the waist. Although he didn't know her well, he was fond of
her for being so nice to Seraphine.

The boy he knew even less and had always appeared to him to be a bit odd. He didn't talk much but instead, seemed to watch everything with a calm wonder. He had pale blond hair and was pretty thin for a boy his age.

The two stood up when they arrived and ran to greet their friend. Kozmotis looked at the two men that had also stood. One looked pretty
old, but still had a juvenile aura about him. He wore an old, camel corduroy blazer and dark blue jeans. What really got his attention,
was the long white beard and mustache the man was proudly wearing.

The other fellow made him a little anxious. He looked younger than him and was about the same height. He had a beard and mustache too, just like the old man, but his was black and not as long. He also wore a pair of dark blue jeans along with a black leather jacket pulled over a simple red t-shirt and military-styled boots completed the outfit. A wide proud smile adorned his face.

Kozmotis gulped and gave them the best smile he could muster.

"Ah! You must be Seraphine's father!", the younger one exclaimed cheerfully as he advanced to take the man's hand. He shook it with
all his strength. "Nicholas St. North at your service! What a pleasure it is to meet you. Congratulations on having such a lovely daughter!" The stranger smiled at the girl. "She truly is a fine lady."

Seraphine gave a wide smile back. Kozmotis felt, for some strange reason, a bit uneasy.

"Kozmotis Pitchiner, and the pleasure is mine." he tried to widen his smile. "Thank you. You are very kind to my little Sera and for that, I am deeply grateful."

"No need!", the man said enthusiastically. His voice was deep and Kozmotis thought his accent sounded foreign. "Let me introduce you to
our official grandpa, Doctor Ombric Shalazar."

The older man took a step forward and shook his hand smiling.

"I'm not really their grandpa. I'm not old enough for that. A pleasure to be at your home today, Mr. Pitchiner." he told them sounding collected and amused at the same time.

Kozmotis shook his hand in return thinking that the man looked less wild than Mr. St. North. He smiled again at the both of them as he showed them the way to the garden. He excused himself a moment to re-enter the house and search for some more chairs, since there
weren't any empty ones left.

When he once again returned to the garden with two small benches for his guests (he apologized for not having enough furniture, for he hadn't thought so many people would actually come), he offered them all something to drink.

"I'm sorry that we don't have any food or snacks other than potato chips. The catering we hired hasn't arrived yet." He put two beers upon the table nearby.

"HA! Yes!" exclaimed an, apparently, always cheerful St. North. "Katherine told us you were hiring Sandy for the party! A most excellent choice!"

Kozmotis just stared blankly at him. "Sorry, who?"

Ombric was the first to answer. "Sanderson Mansnoozie, the baker from Star Bakery downtown." He smiled broadly. "Oh he is surely a star
among us, indeed, what with that magical ability he has with his cakes and famous pastries."

So that's why that single cake had cost me an arm and a leg, he thought, but decided against saying the words out loud. "Oh, yes. Sera made it impossible for me to buy a cake from anywhere but there."

"I'm sure she did." St. North smiled proudly taking a sip of his beer.

Kozmotis felt at a loss, and frankly just wanted to run away. Luckily, Florence came in just at the right moment and called for him. He apologized to both men and went off with her. It seemed that the so-called Star of Baking had finally arrived.

.

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I'm sticking with the book names and also with Young!North. The cat's name is "Meme" because that's how they named Sandy in the latin version.

Again, thanks to Mysteria388 for proofread and fix this.