Some townsfolk lie to Wraithvine and hir friends saying there's a meeting in the big town hall. Managing to get Wraithvine and the rest into the dark hall, suddenly the torches flare and everyone jumps out and shouts "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" With gifts, food, and decorations!
No one actually knew what the real birthday was, but it was decided, because the being was so kind, to throw a birthday party anyway! -- Anon Guest
Wraithvine knew something was up in a cold second. It was the sly smirks in the adults and the outright giggling in the children. The people of Lower Petraine were friendly and not under any kind of spell, so ze let them get on with whatever they had plotted.
The people had forgotten a few key things about Elves. From their keen senses to their high perception to their ability to see in the dark. And a good thing it was too.
It's not nice to surprise a Wizard. Specifically, it's not nice for anyone inside a one hundred and twenty foot radius around the surprised Wizard. They were lucky that Wraithvine's first reaction was to cast Mage Armour. Thereafter, ze let it drop.
"I could have done so many things to the lot of you," ze chided. "Don't surprise a Wizard. It's not healthy."
The cake was tiered and enormous, containing fondant friezes and dioramas of significant events in Wraithvine's extended lifetime. They'd done their homework, beginning the events with a young Elf putting their hand to a god's heart, and then... some of the more impressive feats, spiraling upwards from the base to the peak.
The top three tiers depicted everything Wraithvine had done for Lower Petraine. From the humble to the magnificent. It bought a tear to the eye.
Especially since it was a feast for the entire town. One of the features of the party was a pastry treat folded to look like a pair of offering hands.
"That had to have taken some doing," noted Wraithvine. "Of course I want the recipe and instructions."
"Oh we know it," said Anthe. The shine of her scales was fading in her old age. "That's why one of your presents is a cookbook containing the feast."
"You know me entirely too well," ze sighed. Wraithvine tried and failed to catalogue the signs of Anthe's approaching end. That was the downside of immortality. Ze got to watch old friends fade away.
Even Marvin was walking with a cane, now. His part-dragon daughter off being an adventurer on her own now that she was fully grown and more than capable. Time changed things.
Well. Most things.
One thing didn't change, and that was Wraithvine. Caught by a vow like a fish on a hook. One more adventure, maybe two, and some of these friends would be gone. Living only in hir memories.
Better to make some good ones, then.
When the time came, ze would mourn. In the moment here and now, ze would celebrate the lives around hir.
Wraithvine sang one of the naughtier epics once ze was into hir cups, and hugged everyone at least twice. There may have been tears, but they were happy ones in gales of laughter.
It had been centuries since ze had had a birthday. The actual date was long lost to the sands of time, but that wasn't important. The important part was the friends along the way.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Elenathewise]
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