~ Los Angeles, the Cliffside vi ~


    Friday, June 5


    10:23 AM


    The whole vi is bustling from the activity. This afternoon, Sarah and Aiden are hosting a party for their friends and family. asion: celebrating Sarah''s birthday.


    The party is today because tomorrow morning Sarah and Aiden are going to France to meet with the members of her Sigma army, how she usually does around her birthday. The small difference is in the location: instead of the Adriatic Sea, they will go to their Chateau.


    The staff and the kids are cleaning up the garden and the training ground, arranging tables and decorations. Other than sitting and eating, there will be a number of activities and games and they are setting up a stage and a dancefloor as well.


    The kitchen is full of mouthwatering aroma while Oni, Tejan, Imani, Beck, Nico, and Jamari are performing their duties under the skillful guidance of Matias (aka the cook). They will have a barbecueter in the afternoon, but the side dishes and sds as well as desserts areing from this kitchen. Also, most of the guests wille in time for lunch, and Matias will not allow anyone to go hungry, so he is working on a few dishes for lunch as well.


    Since they returned after Jasper''s and Ellie''s weddingst weekend, Aiden is busying himself with semi-secret preparations around Sarah''s birthday celebration.


    shback from Monday…


    "What should I do?", Sarah asked when she stole a nce at a very long to-do list Aiden prepared.


    Aiden hid the list from her sight and waved his hand, indicating to let him take care of the uing event. "You deal with ns for the army of Chaos and for our kids. We will be out for a month this time. Let me handle the party, please."


    "Are you sure?", Sarah had to confirm. She knows that this is more than just one afternoon (and evening), he wants to n their whole vacation which starts as soon as they head to France on June 6th, right after the party on Friday.


    "Yes, yes. We didn''t celebrate many asions. Love, let me take care of this.", Aiden showed his puppy-eyed look.


    "OK. But… promise that you will not go over the top."


    "That… depends on your opinion what going over the top is.", he grinned and ignored her protests.


    When she realized that Aiden is determined, Sarah exhaled in defeat and decided to address another point: "Are you sure we can afford a month out?"


    Aiden confirmed. "We will go to France for ten days, and spend a week in Vegas, likest year. In-between, I would like us to visit a few more ces.", he said mysteriously.


    Sarah paused. Based on his description, this is almost two weeks of <em>''visiting ces''</em>. She wanted to know more. "What ces?"


    Aiden took her hand in his and inteced their fingers. He leaned closer and whispered: "Does the word <em>''promenade''</em> mean anything?"


    Sarah inhaled sharply and her eyes sparkled from excitement. "The Adriatic Sea?"


    Aiden nodded enthusiastically, happy to see that she approves. "We will go and check Toma''s progress on histest underwater exploration and spend some time on our ind and visit a ce or two more, but don''t ask me to reveal more spoilers! This is your birthday and I want you to let me n it as part of my birthday present for you and that includes this uing party on Friday so you just focus on making arrangements to handle things during our absence so that we can minimize the need to deal with emergencies from there… and I really hope that we will not need to interrupt our vacation and return. OK?"


    Sarah smiled brightly. Aiden''s excitement was contagious. She does not remember thest time he spoke so much and so fast. How can she disagree?


    Back to the present…


    Sarah is on the rooftop terrace and observing themotion below. They are not letting her do anything. Only Kitty seems to be out of this party-preparation conspiracy because she is the only one givingpany to Sarah.


    Sarah sighed and decided to rx on the chaise. The weather is nice, sunny. The clouds and the rain are something she does not miss since moving here from Seattle.


    "Sarah, your parents entered the property.", Eve sounded in Sarah''s ear.


    "Ste and Edward?", Sarah was surprised. Aren''t they traveling and are not reachable? Did theye here for the party? Of course, they did. Ste and Edward would never miss her birthday. Part of Sarah was guilty for not checking on her parents for more than two months, even if they are in the middle of the Amazon rainforest without any signal, Eve could tell her where they are (at least approximately). But they said that they are traveling and enjoying, and she was busy… so she dispelled those thoughts. They are here now.


    She headed down to wee them and Kitty was right by her side.


    Ste and Edward greeted Sarah with big hugs.


    "You look… tired.", Sarah observed her parents.


    "Yeah. The travel is rewarding and exhausting at the same time.", Ste said with a smile.


    "I will tell Genie to prepare a room for you. There are few more hours until the party begins, you can use that time to rest.", Sarah suggested, and they didn''t object.


    They headed to the rooftop terrace and Bec (the maid) served them drinks, fruits, and fresh pastries to snack on until the room is ready.


    Ste observed the preparations below and her fatigue faded away quickly.


    "I will go and help them down there…", Ste announced and stopped her steps suddenly. She reached for her purse.


    "This belonged to your grandmother.", Ste said while giving a palm-sized jewelry box to Sarah. "Happy birthday, my dear."


    Sarah opened the box and observed a pendant: a golden kolovrat with a swan made out of sapphire in the middle.


    It isrge enough to cover almost half of her palm (fingers excluded).


    Sara took it in her hand and observed the sapphire sparkling in the sun. This is the first thing that Ste gave her that belonged to Lebedevs. A swan… symbolic. Fitting.


    "It''s beautiful.", Sarah said under her breath.


    Ste smiled. "I am d you like it. Your grandmother cherished it like a priceless treasure, saying that it can bring good luck. When the times get tough, keep it by your side."


    Sarah looked at her mother and blinked a few times. She wanted to ask if there is a hidden meaning behind her words, but then she remembered who they are. Of course, there will be tough timesing their way.


    "I will remember that. Thank you."


    Sarah hugged Ste and then Edward who was standing by Ste''s side and observing Sarah with a mix of pride and sadness.


    "Before I go down. There is one more thing.", Ste said while rummaging through her bag. A few secondster, she gave Sarah a small stic container that has an SD card with 2 GB capacity.


    "On our way here, we dropped by your gran and gramps. They sent you this as a present.", Ste exined.


    Sarah curiously observed the card for a second before asking: "How are they?"


    "Both of them are physically doing well, it''s just that because of gran''s treatments they could note here in person.", Ste responded while avoiding to bring up Mary''s mental decline. "Well, I''m going down."


    When Ste descended the stairs, Sarah turned to Edward. "What were you up to in thest two months? You probably have a lot of stories to tell."


    Edward sighed. Yup, he has a lot to tell, but he will not.


    "Baby girl, your father is tired. Is the room ready?"


    Sarah showed him to the guestroom, and he was happy to see that their things are already inside.


    Sarah stood in the hallway in front of the closed door of the guestroom where Edward is and nced down at Kitty. "It''s just the two of us again…"


    Sarah put her hands in pockets and felt the small container where the SD card is. She thought that this is a good time to go and check what is on it. She has nothing else to do anyway.


    ---


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