Iris woke up that morning and immediately knew it was special. But why? For a long moment, her mind was blank. Then she remembered. Today was the twins' birthday! Quickly she scrambled out of bed and tried to shake Jewel- who slept on a large plush rug in one of corner of her room- awake.
"It's Nash and Marin's birthday, Jewel! Time to rise and shine!" 'Rise and shine' was a phrase Iris's teacher had introduced to her, and she loved using it. The white tiger didn't seem very interested in rising and shining yet, despite the importance of the day. She yawned, showing her gleaming white canines, stretched a bit, and then flopped right back down and went back to sleep.
Iris sighed. She would have to let Jewel sleep. If she made a great effort to rouse her, Nash might get suspicious, and Iris knew she wasn't very good at lying to him, it had felt like betrayal, almost, having to keep his surprise party a secret all this time.
Putting on a pink bathrobe over her nightgown, the young greenette skipped downstairs to the kitchen. Neither Nash nor Marin was up yet, but everyone else (minus Jewel) was wide awake. Other than Nash's surprise and all the individual gifts everyone had gotten Marin, the other ex-Barians had also planned a large breakfast. Out on the kitchen table were piles of pancakes, croissants, chocolate muffins, and fresh fruits. Chaos reigned as everyone hurried to finish preparing everything before the birthday twins woke up. Alito was busy stacking a third pyramid of pancakes, Mizar was filling pitchers with juice, Dumon was steeping a pot of tea, Girag and Ponta were folding napkins, and Ray was attempting to make every fruit cup look perfect.
"The strawberries won't stay!" he complained loudly, scowling at his uncooperative arrangement.
"Do the best you can," Dumon ordered, filling a pitcher with milk.
Too soon came the dreaded sound of footsteps on the stairs.
"Hurry!" Mizar hissed. There was a mad dash to put all the last touches on the breakfast before the table was finally ready and all the members of the extended Kastle family crouched in their hiding places.
"Stop breathing so heavily!" Alito whispered.
"What's this?" came Marin's voice from the doorway. She had planned most of the activities for the day, but the breakfast was a surprise for both of them.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled, jumping up and rushing at the twins. "Happy Birthday, Nash and Marin!" Hugs were exchanged between all parties. Even Nash, though he wasn't the type, hugged everyone close to him in turn.
"I'm so excited!" Iris squealed, grabbing Nash around the waist, as far as she could reach on him.
"I'm excited too, Iris," he said, smiling and ruffling her hair.
Breakfast was perfect, despite the fact that one of Alito's pyramids came crashing down on Mizar's plate and Marin had the nasty experience of discovering that Dumon had accidently mixed both coffee and tea into one pot. Nash, who would usually have been exasperated with such incidents, couldn't stop laughing, and everyone else soon joined in. Jewel eventually wandered in while all of them were in hysterics, eating up the pancakes that had fallen to the floor.
"By the way, Nash," Marin said when she could breathe again, "Yuma and Kite are taking you out this morning so you can do whatever you want, on them, as their birthday gift to you."
"Oh," Nash said, looking wary. Iris burst into a fit of coughing, trying to cover up her laughter. Of course, the real reason Yuma and Kite were "taking Nash out" was to get him out of the house while everyone else set up the surprise party.
The two boys arrived a little late, with Yuma complaining that he hadn't had enough time to finish breakfast and Kite looking ready to jump in the river. Hart was with them, too- he was going to stay at the house with Iris and the others.
"Kite looks way too stiff," Iris whispered to her friend.
"He's trying not to strangle Yuma," Hart whispered back. The two of them burst into giggles.
As soon as the three friends were out the door- Yuma wolfing down some extra muffins that Marin had shoved at him in frustration- the former Barians and Hart got to work. The decorations that had been hidden all over the place for weeks were dragged out and unpacked. Soon, streamers and banners hung from every doorway. Balloons filled every room. The kitchen had been transformed into a snack buffet.
When all that was done, the boys trooped outside to put the finishing touches on half of Nash's gift and Marin sent Iris, Hart, and Jewel upstairs to make themselves look presentable. Marin stayed downstairs, waiting for the delivery of the second half of Nash's birthday present.
Iris had picked out a ruffled pink dress for the occasion, along with a pair of delicate, snow-white sandals. Hart wore a blue collared shirt, short brown pants, and loafers for shoes. Even Jewel got to dress up a little- Iris had ordered a gold collar decorated with amethysts and engraved with her name, Jewel Kastle.
"What do you think Shark will say when you guys give him your gift?" Hart asked
"I don't think he'll say anything," Iris said, scratching Jewel behind the ears. "I think he'll be too moved to speak." The two of them stood at Iris's window, which looked out at the Kastles' enormous backyard, where half of Nash's gift stood. Alito and Girag had spent the most time on it, claiming that they were building a clubhouse for themselves. They had made it a point to keep everyone out of it, saying that no one could come in until they were finished. As long as they paid for it and finished it, Nash had said, it was fine with him. He had never guessed what was really going on.
While they watched, Marin came out into the yard, leading the second half of the surprise behind her. "There he is, Hart!" Iris exclaimed. "Isn't he a beauty? The closest we could find to Nash's old one."
The next half hour sped by. The others all had to shower, to get the smell of sawdust paint off of them, and in the meantime, guests started to arrive, piling presents on the designated tables and finding hiding spots. Everyone was coming- Yuma's family, Kite's family, Quattro and his family, Nistro, Dextra, Tori, Caswell, Bronk, Flip, and Cathy, as well as Mr. Kay.
Then, from his perch by the window, Hart shouted, "They're coming!"
"When the three boys entered, Shark and Kite were arguing about who was to blame for something and Yuma was guzzling a milkshake.
"Typical," Tori groaned.
"SURPRISE!" For the second time, people jumped out of their hiding places and ran to congratulate Shark on being 15. The party took a while to get going, since Shark wasn't exactly the partying type, but Yuma more than made up for that, and Iris made sure to stick my Nash's side so he wouldn't feel alone. Jewel didn't like all the strange people in the house and retreated off to a private room.
Then it was time for presents. The guests went first- both Shark and Rio got dueling cards from Yuma, naturally. Nistro presented them with autographed pictures of himself in his Nistromo costume, but Dextra made up for that by giving them gift cards to a great restaurant in Spartan City.
Then it was time for the other Emperors' gifts to the twins. Marin got an inflatable pool bed from Alito, a wreath of fake blue and white flowers and a bouquet of real ones from Girag and Ponta, a painting of a majestic unicorn inn a snowy background from Mizar (his art lessons were paying off) a nose ring from Ray (She laughed at that one) a blue journal from Dumon (To write down your thoughts in, he said) and the snowflake necklace from Nash and Iris.
"Oh, Nash," She gasped, holding up the necklace so it gleamed in the light, "It's beautiful!"
"It's not just from me," he said. "Iris was the one who convinced me to buy you a necklace."
"Thank you, both of you," Marin said, her eyes shining. "I will cherish it always." She put it around her neck right then and went to look at in the mirror.
"Isn't it time for Shark's presents now?" Yuma asked when she returned. HE had noticed a serious lack of boxes now that Rio was finished.
"That's right!" Alito said jumping up. "Let's take him outside and show him!"
"He needs the blindfold first," Ray said, pulling the black scarf out from behind the couch cushion where he'd hidden it. Led by Marin on one side and Dumon on the other, a blindfolded Nash stepped out into the backyard, followed by his curious guests. There were gasps of surprise as they saw what awaited him. Marin pulled off the blindfold.
"Happy Birthday, brother," she said proudly. "From all of us."
Nash stared. In his backyard there stood a stable, solidly built, and next to it, tied to a post that Girag had said was going to hold a mail box, there stood a magnificent black horse.
"He's a stallion," Iris said excitedly. The stallion was strong and muscular with a fine head and a sleek coat. He was just like Nash's old horse, the one he had rode into battle against Vector, the one Iris herself had ridden all that time ago.
"You… bought this… for me?" Nash asked slowly.
"That's right," Marin beamed. All of them were beaming.
"Rio, how could you do something that harebrained?" Nash demanded, whirling on his twin. "Do you have any idea what it costs to keep one of these things? What am I going to do with him? I don't know how to ride a horse, and it's not like I have a buggy or something to harness him to!"
Rio laughed. "Oh, come on, Reginald. You can ride him for recreational purposes. What do you mean, you don't know how? You used to ride a horse all the time. And of course, we know what it costs to keep one. That's why we set up an account for you, compounded annually." She handed him the account number. "Now go over there and say hi," she said, pushing him towards the stallion. "You don't want to hurt his feelings."
"She's right, Nash," Dumon spoke up. "Horses are very sensitive. Besides, you used to love riding for fun, back before the war."
"That was a long time ago," Nash muttered. Slowly, he approached the stallion, who watched him with sparkling black eyes. Following his instinct, Nash slowly put out his hand and allowed the stallion to sniff him. "Hey, boy," Nash murmured. "What do you think? Can we be friends?" The horse stepped closer to him, stretching out his neck to snuffle his face and hair. Then, he nickered, and sidled right up to Nash, encouraging the gentle stroking on his neck.
"He likes you, your majesty!" Iris called to him.
The horse whinnied, as if in conformation.
"I knew he hadn't lost his way with horses," Dumon said.
"Shark's good with horses?" Yuma asked, his mouth full of Twizlers.
Dumon nodded. "Yes. Nash was one of the few people other than me whom Mach would let near him."
"What are you going to call him, brother?" Rio asked. "We can't go around calling him Black Stallion. That name's taken."
"I'm going to call him Black Ray Lancer," Shark said decisively. "Lancer for short."
