smallestopener | Ingress' 10th Birthday Party Extravaganza!

Out by the lake, there is a large construction dedicated to the 10th birthday of Lady Ingress of the House of Arch. Ingress has had birthday parties on this site before - there was a birthday princess ball her 7th year, a playground party for her 6th.

This party is different from either of those. Tom, Door, and Ingress worked on the design for months.

There are three ways to get into the birthday party.

Guests can go through the hedge maze. It's enchanted, of course, but the walls shift places at a docile rate. The path is wide and firm, so this is the easiest way to enter the party.

Guests might also try the obstacle course of tubes to crawl through, walls to climb, ropes to swing over deep ball pits, curly slides to fling themselves down. The only enchantment on this entrance are anti-falling charms.

Or guests can bounce through the giant bouncy castle!

Once they've passed through either of the three entrances,they will enter the clearing for the birthday party proper. Picnic blankets are spread out over the grass, and there are plenty of chairs scattered about. Paper lanterns float above people's heads with purple and green streamers linking them together.

A long table overflows with plenty of cold water, birthday treats, and other refreshments. There is a cake with lots of icing roses, of course, and ice cream. Each guest may help him or herself to a Wizarding cracker in a large basket at one end of the table, and there is space beside it for gifts, should guests wish to bring one. Gifts are not expected, however.

Most importantly, there is Ingress, a little girl in the comfortable gray uniform of a Herald-in-training, who is not so little anymore.

Come and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kitchen_maid

Amy came in through the hedge maze. (She is expecting twins in the fall. She doesn't want to imagine what Perry would have to say to her about bouncy houses or obstacle courses.)

But she wouldn't miss this.

"Happy Birthday, darling."

From:

smallestopener

"Hi Amy," Ingress beams. She scrambles up from the picnic where she is eating a mid-party snack of pistachio ice cream. Obstacle courses are hot work! She does manage to wipe her hands on her tunic before she wraps her arms around Amy for a big hug.

"I'm so glad you came."

Ingress knows grown ups tend to prefer chairs, but you never know.

From:

kitchen_maid

Amy, under ordinary circumstances, would plop down on the grass without a second thought.

But that works less well with the whole pregnant thing.

"Susan and Merry and Perry send their love."

From:

smallestopener

"Were they too busy? We'll make sure you can take home some cake for them."

She tugs over a chair for Amy. "Here you are, Queen Amy. Your dress might get dirty on the grass."

From:

kitchen_maid

"Why thank you, Princess Ingress," says Amy, taking the chair.

"Frightfully busy," Amy says. "But I'm sure they'd love to have cake. Do you have icing roses this year?"

Amy cannot imagine a cake for Ingress without them, but one never knows.

From:

smallestopener

"I have a zillion icing roses. Door said I could have extra since it was my birthday."

She pulls up a chair for herself, too. Then she remembers her manners, what with being a big ten-year-old and all.

"May I get you something to drink? We have water and punch."

From:

kitchen_maid

"Only a zillion?" Amy asked, smile bright.

She agrees with Door. Ingress could have a zillion and one icing roses as far as Amy is concerned.

"Punch would be lovely, dear. Thank you."

From:

smallestopener

"I'll be right back."

She scurries away to the table of refreshments and then returns with a glass of golden punch for Amy. It's made with pineapple sherbet and fizzy lemon drink. Delicious!

"Here you are."

From:

kitchen_maid

Amy accepts the glass. "Oh, that's fabulous," she says, after her first sip.

"You have the best birthday parties," she tells Ingress.

From:

smallestopener

"Tom and Door and I planned this one for a long time. I wanted to do the bouncy castle but then we kept going with ideas."

From:

kitchen_maid

"Sometimes, the more ideas the merrier," Amy says.

"The castle is very impressive, I must say."

And Amy? Knows a thing or two about castles.

From:

smallestopener

"There's a little one at the May Fair, but this one is lots better. I can do flips in it. Like, ones where you flip in the air!"

From:

kitchen_maid

"Goodness!"

Amy wonders, briefly, if Tom put anti-broken-bone charms on the castle.

(Mothers fret about these things.)

"Well, every princess needs a castle," Amy says. "And I could not be prouder of this particular princess."

From:

smallestopener

There are so many safety charms on this party that it's a wonder people aren't choking on the magic in the air.

"Thanks, Amy. I'm going to go to Valdemar for the whole of July, and I've already gotten to go for a couple of weeks."

Her summer holidays there are getting longer. Soon enough, it will be her summer holidays back home that are too short.

From:

kitchen_maid

Except, of course, that choking (on magic or anything else) would not be safe, so presumably some sort of anti-choking charm takes care of that.

"And what will you get to do on your next visit?"

From:

smallestopener

"Oh, I'll work on my studies of Valdemar and practice my fighting and visit with the Heralds and the older kids when I can. I'll probably serve as a page again, too, but I'm not worried about the mean girls at court. They're not worth the effort."

From:

kitchen_maid

"That sounds a very sensible approach," Amy agrees.

Fully two thirds of what goes on at court isn't worth the effort, though Amy doesn't always have the option of avoiding it.

Then again, you don't get far in Ambergeldar if you tick off Her Majesty, so people tend not to be mean to her.

(At least, not to her face.)

From:

smallestopener

"I think so. So far it's been okay."

She licks some errant icing off of her finger.

"I've already met some new friends today. I knew if there was a big bunch of stuff then more people would come."