The planters within the Garden dining room at Seattle's Fairmont Olympic Hotel were decorated with soft white and pastel pink flowers, which blended perfectly with the theme Alice had chosen. The Cullen family had booked the private dining hall for the night in order to host Renesmee's first birthday celebration, which was already under full swing. A full dinner buffet had been set out by the hotel staff, which was being enjoyed by the members of both Quileute wolf packs as well as the small handful of humans in attendance- Charlie, Sue, Billy, Quil Sr., Emily, Kim, Rachel and little Claire. Even the Denali Coven had traveled down to attend the celebration.
At the current time, the guest of honor was playing with Claire. The pair was being closely watched by Edward and Bella, who were sitting at the large piano that stood in the private dining room, and by Jacob and Quil, both gathered at nearby table. They had been a bit worried about how the interaction between the two would go, particularly because Quil had been waiting until Claire was older before filling her in on the truth about the wolf pack and existence of vampires. Thankfully, the two girls had bonded, and Renesmee had been doing a good job of hiding her advanced mentality from Claire as the two played with Claire's tea set. Seeing this had been a great relief, particularly for Edward, Bella and Jacob. Considering all the events that had occurred through the first few months of her life, it gave all three of them relief to see her getting a chance at having as normal a life as possible. As they had feared, Renesmee had indeed been plagued by nightmares shortly after their return to the present. No matter what they had tried, her nightmares refused to go away. After a few weeks had gone by, they discovered by chance that allowing Grimalkin to curl up at her side whenever she was having a nightmare seemed to help a great deal. This discovery had made them wonder if Vermundr had anticipated that things would happen that way and had sent the cat home with Renesmee in order to help her, or if it had simply been a lucky coincidence. Either way, the fact remained that Grimalkin's presence had helped Renesmee get over her nightmares.
Pulling his eyes away from Renesmee and Claire, Edward began to play one of his compositions on the piano. It was the same song he'd written for Renesmee just under a year ago. Upon hearing the song, Renesmee glanced up from the tea set to give her father a large smile. Shortly after Edward had reached the end of the song, Alice appeared at his side, a gigantic grin on her face.
"The party's going great! Wouldn't you say so?" she asked, practically vibrating with excitement.
"You really outdid yourself, Alice," Bella replied, smiling at her friend's enthusiasm. Edward, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow.
"What are you hiding, Alice?" he asked. "You've been keeping me out from the moment you started planning this party."
"What do you mean?" Alice inquired, her smile growing ever larger. "What would I have to hide?" Edward, instead of replying, fixed Alice with a piercing look. Upon meeting his look, Alice suddenly started to bounce on her heels, as if she could barely contain herself. "The final guests are about to arrive!" she exclaimed.
"Final guests?" Bella repeated, turning to look around the room.
"Well, I already knew they would be fashionably late," Alice commented with a shrug. "But they will be here very soon. In fact….yes, they just entered the front lobby!"
"But who else did you invite?" Bella asked, trying to think about who wasn't already present. Alice surely knew better than to invite her old friends from Forks High School, or Renee and Phil.
"Ah!" Edward suddenly exclaimed, turning his head instinctively toward the door as he began to hear the thoughts of the late arrivals. Bella took a moment to study Edward's face. Her concern dissipated when she saw there was no trace of trepidation in his expression. Instead, he turned to give her a large smile of reassurance. The reason for his smile became clear when the doors opened, revealing who Alice's surprise guests were. Bella was so pleasantly surprised to see Vermundr and Brynhildr standing there, she nearly called them by their real names, but remembered in time that they were now going by aliases in public. Even though nearly everyone in the room had been told the story of their experience in 1687, with the exception of Charlie and Claire, there was always the chance that one of the hotel staff or a random guest would overhear her using the outdated names.
"Glad you could make it, John, Bryn," Edward stated as he stepped forward to shake their hands.
"Wouldn't have missed this for anything, Edward," Vermundr replied. "It's good to see you all again."
"We're sorry we're a bit late," Brynnhildr apologized. "It was a long flight from Bangor International to Sea-Tac. And we had to switch planes in Boston and Cleveland."
"Think nothing of it," Carlisle insisted as he joined the group with Esme at his side. "We're just glad you were able to make it at all. It's been far too long since we last saw each other, hasn't it?"
"That's putting it lightly," Vermundr said, crouching down to greet Renesmee as she hurried over to hug him.
"Hello, Mr. Seward, Miss Seward," Esme greeted. "It's so nice to meet you at last." Stepping a little closer, Esme lowered her voice to the point where only those who had advanced hearing could hear what she said next. "Thank you both so much for everything you did for our family in the past and making sure they'd return home to us safely. You have no idea how grateful we all are to you." Vermundr and Brynhildr simply smiled and nodded in response before Esme led them around the Garden dining room to introduce them to the rest of the family.
Before too long, Vermundr and Brynhildr had been fully integrated among the rest of the party guests. Much to everyone's amusement, Emmett had wasted no time in challenging Vermundr to a friendly match, which would take place at Mt. Rainer after the party was over. After some time had passed, Bella found herself and Brynhildr sitting alone at a table located by the floor to ceiling window that took up an entire wall of the private dining room.
"You really seem to have clicked with the Denali sisters," Bella stated. Indeed, shortly after they had been formally introduced, Brynhildr had seemingly bonded with Tanya and Kate, and the three women had spent nearly an hour sharing stories on their own struggles with becoming 'vegetarian.'
"Indeed," Brynhildr confirmed. "I'm not sure you've had many opportunities to really get to know them yet, but they have lived very interesting lives. In fact, they were even on first name terms with George Steller, who was one of the two men credited with the discovery of Alaska. That was how they ended up settling in what is now called Denali."
"What about you?" Bella asked. "Have you had the opportunity to meet any historical figures?"
"Well," Brynhildr said, speaking slowly as if choosing her words carefully. "We didn't have much opportunity to do so. Even though the Volturi still believe he's dead, the fact remains that my brother is still a fugitive. So we have to be very careful to avoid appearing in photographs that might be preserved due to historical significance." Bella bit her lower lip, contemplating this information, but her thoughts were interrupted when a coy smile appeared on Brynhildr's face.
"Between you and me," she whispered, "we did cheat a few times throughout the years. Spent some time in Chicago, Biloxi, and various other American cities. Watched a few certain humans growing up." Smiling at Bella's wide-eyed expression at this news, Brynhildr continued. "Never said 'hello,' of course. We didn't dare risk altering the events of their lives. And of course, we couldn't venture up to check on Jacob. Doing so would undoubtedly risk triggering the wolf gene a generation too early, and it was seriously doubtful that they would believe us if we told them that we would one day be their friends and allies."
"No," Bella agreed, shaking her head almost reluctantly. "They probably wouldn't have." For a brief moment, Bella almost asked Brynhildr if Phoenix had been among the cities the siblings had visited throughout the years, but soon decided it probably didn't matter. After a pause, Bella glanced over her shoulder to look at Vermundr, who was across the room talking with Jasper and Garrett.
"Bryn?" Bella began. "How… how's he been doing since that night?" It was clear from Brynhildr's expression that she knew exactly what Bella was asking, as she bowed her head for a few seconds before answering.
"For the most part, he's doing quite well," she stated. "Months can go by, and you never would guess he'd lost someone. But sometimes, I'll see that look in his eyes. Every so often, you'd catch him looking like he's a million miles away and seeing something no one else can see. Of course, he'll always snap out of it when he realizes I'm looking and pretend it never happened. To be honest, Bella, I don't think he'll ever completely get over loosing Abraham." Bella, feeling a fresh wave of sympathy, glanced over at Vermundr once again. This time, he seemed to sense Bella and Brynhildr's stares and turned to flash them both a brief smile. If he was at all aware that they had been discussing him, he showed no indication of it.
It was a short time later that Alice decided to round everyone up for the group photograph she'd previously arranged.
"After all," she announced. "It's getting late. I'm sure it'll be Claire and Nessie's bedtime soon. This may be the only time to ensure we'll have a picture with everyone in it." Upon looking around the room, Bella noticed she was not the only one in the room whose smile did not quite reach their eyes. Most of the people in the room knew that Alice's words were true in more ways than one. The Cullen family would soon have to seriously talk about relocating somewhere else, and once that day came, they might never get the chance to get everyone together like this again. It was for that reason that Alice had made sure to arrange for a photographer to take a picture of everyone, so everyone could have a memento of this day.
As everyone began to gather together for the photographer, Alice turned to see Vermundr and Brynhildr stepping aside. Without hesitation, she pranced over to them and began to pull them forward.
"Where do you think you two are going?" she demanded.
"I was under the impression that this was really supposed to be a family picture," Vermundr explained.
"And what made you think you weren't considered a part of it?" For a brief second, Vermundr and Brynhildr seemed too stunned to speak.
"Thank you for that, Alice," Brynhildr said, visibly touched. With that, Vermundr and Brynhildr allowed Alice to place them into the large group consisting of the Cullens, the Denali clan, Charlie and the Quiluetes. However, Bella couldn't help but notice that Alice refused to allow Vermundr and Brynhildr to stand on the edge of the group when they tried. Instead, she seemed to make an effort to place them next to the Denali clan, positioning Vermundr right next to Tanya.
"What are you planning, Alice?" Bella whispered when she stepped over to her side after finishing the task of positioning everyone.
"Nothing," Alice insisted a bit too innocently. "I just think those two getting to know each other will be good for them both."
Very briefly, Bella and Edward shared a bemused look, but then they simply shrugged in unison and began to pose for the photographer to take the picture. They had both learned that there was very little point in questioning Alice.
AN: And that concludes Carnival of Darkness. I hope you enjoyed it. A huge thank you to everyone who has read this story to then end, especially those who left reviews. They mean a lot to me. If anyone has any further questions about the story, please don't hesitate to PM me.