Episode VI Justyne's Birthday

It was Justyne's birthday. Isilwen rushed into the living room and declared to her brothers, "We need to make a cake!"

Kantare looked up from his writing. "What?"

"Today is Justyne's birthday! We need to make a cake for her!"

"What if I don't know how to bake?" Kantare grinned.

"You can't be any worse then me!" Isilwen laughed and Theynore grinned and said, "I think it is a good idea!" They hurried into the kitchen and dug through Justyne's recipe books until they found a good one. "We need flour," Isilwen said as she read off the ingredients. "Sugar, eggs, butter, and milk..." her voice trailed off as her brothers rumaged through the kitchen. Once they had them all they set to work. Very soon Justyne's nice kitchen was the epitome of messiness. Kantare was using Justyne's cookbook, Joshuel, Maddock, and Theynore were getting the oven ready, and Jonathan was up on the roof: still. When no one was looking, Thoene added a dash of tabasmo sauce into the batter, and into the oven the mixture went.

***Thirty Minutes Later***

*Ding* "YAY! IT'S DONE!" Thoene yelled to the others.

"What a strange smell," Kantare said as he sniffed the air, "I can't put my finger on it." They all filed into the kitchen and removed the cake from the oven.

"Is it supposed to smell like that?" Isilwen asked.

 "Or look like that?" added Ninwaii.

"I...I don't know. It isn't the way the cake looks in the book." Theynore said.

"We could try it." Thoene suggested, fork at the ready.

"Guess it wouldn't hurt," Joshuel said as he also grabbed a fork. Just then, the door opened. And Justyne entered. "Everybody hide!" Jordaan said in a whisper. They all ducked down behind the counter and heard her walk into the living room. "Hello?" she said, "Anybody home?" They waited until she was just in front of the counter, and then they all jumped up and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!!!" They all broke into that melodious chime of "Happy Birthday" and watched as Justyne blushed and smiled. "You guys! Aw, that was so sweet of you all!" she said, a small tear of joy trickling down her cheek, "But what is that smell?"

"Um, well," Theynore started to say, "it's the cake we were making for you." She looked at the brown square in the pan behind all of them. She took the fork out of Joshuel's hand and took a bite. "Blech!" she said as she spat the piece of "food" she had taken into her hankerchief. "What did you guys put in this?" she asked as she wiped her mouth.

"We followed the recipe." Joshuel said.

"Almost." Thoene said, eyes downcast.

"Let me guess," Justyne said, "You put tabasco sauce in." Thoene only nodded his head solemnly. Justyne laughed and said, "Well, it's a good thing you did ruin this one, because I baked one already before you guys got up!" They all looked at her and smiled. Justyne got the cake out and she had one of the best birthdays she ever experienced.