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Lyssan hugs him close, her eyes blazing with an inner fire. "Oh she did, did she? Well... we'll just have to see about that. We have an unwritten rule about raising a hand to a child in this keep."

Standing up she refuses to put the dragonling down, even though he says he can walk. He is getting a bit big for this. But she's far stronger than he thought, for she carries him easily down the hall towards the dreaded kitchen. OUtside the main swinging door, she sits him on the floor and tells him in no uncertain terms not to move.

"I'm serious, Kero, don't go anywhere. You are in enough trouble as it is. Don;t make it anyworse or you won't be going to Keva's party." she warns entering the kitchen with a firm decisive step.

Kero is surprised to learn his Mommy knows the words she uses as she scolds he head cook, raking her across the coals for lifting her hand against an unsuspecting child. "I don't approve of physical punishment, this much you know... but to administer it without said child knowing what you are about to do is plain and simple cruelty." she ends, winding down her long winded tirade.

"I know, m'lady..." comes Champhy's low gravelly voice in a soft reply. In fact it is pitched so soft he can barely hear her so he edges closer to the door so as to hear her words. "I... I don't know what came over me. I mean he didn't intentionally cause most of the mischief he created this day. Most of it was done out of fear... I am so very ashamed of myself. I don't know how to make it up to him..."

Lyssan grunts testily. "As I see it you are both at fault this time. Him for creating the problems which led to your unthinking response and you for even considering it. In fact I can see only one solution to the problem at hand..."

As Lyssan voice falls oddly silent, Kero edges even closer, so intent on learning of his Mommy's solution he doesn't see the hand that edges over the top of the swinging door. The silence confuses him, so he leans as far as he can towards the doorway, his ear pressed up to it. Why did she stop? What was she going to say?

Suddenly the door swings inward throwing him off balance, causing him to tumble into the brightly lit kitchen, rolling to a halt at Lyssan's feet. Sheepishly he looks up at her and swallows hard.

"I fawl..." he attempts before he sees her frown.

"Fall my foot, you were eavesdropping, weren't you?" the kitsune demands angrily.

Hanging his head he nods slowly.

"Oh go easy on the kid, he just wanted to know if you were mad at me or not." says Champhy softly, her voice oddly thick as though she was trying her best not to laugh.

"Well I am... I'm angry at both of you. Because of you two, Keveka's life day has been spoiled by negative emotions. This is a day for joyful celebration, not warfare."

"Yes Mama..."

"Yes, 'mam..."

The two voices one young and clear and the other gravelly and soft answer simultaneously.

Lyssan snorts through her nose. "Ok... here's my decree. Kero, you are on kitchen duty for the next month. Period. No arguments. Do you understand? And Champhy... you are on notice... I want you to teach him how to cook... But if we have a repeat of today, you are out the door. Is that understood? You two are to get along. Period. Or else."

Realizing she needs to get on his better side or face a month of cold shoulders and who knew what, the cook pulls forth her special jar and selects a handful of honey gold gems... not to mention she truly regrets having done what she's done and only wants to see him happy again. She carelessly scatters thema bout her work surface, then digs out a variety of ingredients for a new cake and calls him forward.

"Kero, leave the carrots for the others. We nned to make a new birthday cake. Any idea on the flavor? You've been hanging around him quite a bit lately, has he said anything to you?" she asks brusquely, pretending she really needs his help. She holds out a small white apron and chef's hat.

She nods back firmly. "And I'm sorry I took my temper out on your backside... truce?" she asks helping him put on the apron and trying, without much success to put the hat on his head. Laughing she tosses it to one side. "Heck, you don't have any hair, so what good is it anyway?" she asks kissing his nose. "Now why don't you get our spot cleaned up here, hmm... and you still haven't told me what kind of cake to bake."

Kero looks at the table and sighs. "Ms. Champhy, mam... your jar has spilled again."

Champhy looks back over her shoulder and winks. "Oh those... you could just toss them... no room...."

Champhy pretends not to see him squirrel away the gems. It was her private way of saying she was truly sorry anyway and she didn't want to upset him by asking what he was up to. Instead she helps him mix the ingredients for an enormous chocolate cake.

But instead of pouring it into many many pans to make a layered cake, she surprises him by pouring it into a long shallow baking pan. She laughs gently at his confusion and reminds him of all the chocolate and cocoa they had pout into the batter. "A cake like that won't hold up to making a stack. This one is called a "Mississippi Mud" cake. It is something the mistress loves but is usually far too rich to serve very often. Since we don't have enough time to make a spectacular cake like the first one, we are making a scrumdeliumpcious one instead."

She laughs and slips the pan into the oven to bake. "That is a cake that tastes so good it doesn't need to be fancy. We don't serve it much around here because the Lady says she wants to amintain her girlish figure and well... it is a bit fattening. But this is a special day, so for it we need a very sepcial cake. Right?"

She looks at the dragon, hands on hips, her head cocked to one side with a small smile. "And since you kind of made the first one inedible, it would be only right you help with this one. Would you not agree? Besides, do you have a life day gifting for him yet?"

Champhy smiles fondly down at him, "Well now, I know for a fact that Keveka is awfully fond of his sweets and if you make this cake for him he will be so very very happy... Which is a whole lot better than trying to pry a scale free now, isn't it? If you did that it would itch and irritate you for days. I would say you have pretty much done everything by yourself so far. Would you like to make the chocolate glaze for the top of it as well... then we can say you did make the cake for his party?"

Champhy sighs. "Dinner will be a picnic, I"m afraid. Having it outside will cover for the fact that we don't have anything fancy to serve. There are plenty of cold meats and snadwich makings in the coldroom and I have several people whipping up salads and goodie trays right now and others transforming the gardens into a so-called fairyland. The mistress is helping with that. Said she would string up some pretty lights and stuff for us. Tam has come back for the party, so he is providing the music... and we are having dinner a bit later than usual, after it grows dark outside. So ifi you are hungry go to the dining room, a few snacks have been put out there for those who are finding it hard to wait to eat. Sometimes it's not what you serve, but how you serve it that counts. Your cake is your present to Keveka, of course and I must say it smells delicious. Don't worry about how it looks. MIssissippi Mud Cake is a messy concoction, People like it for how it tastes, not how it looks. As for serving everyone, he'll share with his family, I'm sure, and Maggie has been busy making cupcakes for everyone else since the fiasco this morning. I think that about covers everything. Can you think of anything we might have missed, assistant chef in the making."