Late in the spring, as my birthday approached, I began to feel a little apprehensive. I was worried that both Cam and Mikhail would want to spend the evening alone with me, and I didn't want the occasion to refuel their rivalry. I wondered if I should invite them both over, but I wasn't sure that would be any improvement. As it happened, a week or so beforehand, Georgia asked if I could join her, Laney, and Eileen after work on my birthday for a picnic supper. I accepted, feeling partly relieved to avoid any conflict but also partly disappointed that I wouldn't be spending my birthday with either Cam or Mikhail, let alone both. I shrugged it off, though, and went about my business as usual. After all, I could see them just as easily the day before or after.

The day of my twenty-fourth birthday dawned bright and clear, the promise of a hot, sunny day seconded by the early weather report. I went about my morning routine as usual, breakfasting and tending to my household and farm chores before heading out to check the message boards and visit the villagers in both towns. To my surprise, both towns seemed empty. I couldn't imagine where everyone could be as it wasn't a festival day, and I felt a little sad and left out as I wondered where they had all gone.

I slowly ambled along the path from Bluebell up towards the mountain, but before I could get past the river shallows, Grady came hurrying down the mountain path towards me, huffing and puffing from the effort of chasing me down. After catching his breath, he said he'd been looking for me and asked if I could please come with him as he needed my help. As we headed back towards Bluebell, he explained that he was far behind in his chores—Ash had been helping, but things had been extra busy at his farm recently so he hadn't had much time to spare. Could I please help him out by taking each of the horses for a gallop and then brushing them? He'd appreciate it so much.

I agreed, and we returned to his barn. He had a half dozen horses at the time, so starting with Cowboy, the gelding Cam usually borrowed, I saddled each of them up and galloped around his field a few times. Then once I was done with that, I brushed each one. After I had finished, he thanked me and asked if I could keep my eyes open for some moonflowers for him—he needed them for some medicinal recipe.

I agreed and again started up the mountain path, my eyes scanning the ground for the flowers as I slowly strolled along. I found a couple of the brilliant golden lilies as well as a variety of other wildflowers, herbs, and mushrooms. By the time I was crossing the bridge past the waterfall, it was late afternoon, and I still needed to shower, dress, and meet up with the girls for the picnic. I was feeling tired, but I hurried all the same. As I headed down towards the shallows, Rahi came running up the trail, shouting to ask me to hurry back to Konohana with him. He needed something right away, and his mom wasn't around to help him. I hurried back to town, helped him reach down a few things that he needed from the topmost shelves in their apartment above the town hall, then headed back to my farm to shower.

I threw on my bikini, then pulled on cut off jeans shorts and grabbed a light cardigan, in case it got cool later on. I slipped into a pair of sandals, packed my towel and some sunscreen into my tote bag, and headed off. The girls had assured me that as it was my birthday, I didn't need to bring anything but myself.

I hurried up the path towards the river shallows where we were to meet. I was afraid I'd be late, but when I arrived, no one was there yet. I dropped my tote bag under a tree and paced around for a minute, wondering if my timing was off or if they'd gone on ahead. Or maybe I'd misremembered where we were supposed to meet? I couldn't see any sign of them, whatever the reason. I stood looking around for them, uncertain what to do.

Suddenly, bunches of people jumped out from behind trees and bushes all around me, making me nearly jump out of my skin. "Surprise!" everyone shouted as with one voice as I shrieked in surprise. I stumbled and almost fell on my backside, but quick-thinking Dirk leapt forward and caught me.

Leaning on him for support, I looked around in amazement—everyone from both villages was crowding around me there by the river. How did I not see any of them hiding there? I'd just been through there not that long ago and I hadn't seen any a single soul—then I remembered how Rahi had rushed me through the river area, distracting me with his chatter as we hurried. I grinned, then giggled, and finally began to laugh, collapsing helplessly against Dirk as everyone else joined in. Finally catching my breath and wiping a tear from my eye, I looked around, saying, "Well! You all certainly did surprise me! And here I've been wondering all day where everyone had vanished to!"

Ina and Rutger looked at each other, still chuckling, and Ina said, "Well, you know, you are in a rather unique position, in that you are a citizen of both villages. And you've befriended everyone—and I do mean everyone—in both Bluebell and Konohana. So we got together and decided that since we all wanted to celebrate your birthday with you, we'd join forces and throw one big surprise party for you!"

With a smile, Rutger added, "Laney, Georgia, and Eileen offered to make plans for tonight with you, to keep you from making plans of your own that might have conflicted." I looked around in surprise, then saw the three girls laughing where they stood in the middle of the crowd to my right. I laughed again, shaking my head. They'd certainly fooled me, I had to admit.

"Yun and Howard have set up tables of food up in the grove there, and Sheng has been setting up some stereo system or another," Rutger said, then he gave an ear-splitting whistle, and everyone gathered around. "Okay, people! We're all here to celebrate Alice's birthday! So let's get down to the business of having a good time!" Everyone cheered loudly, and Ina broke in, saying, "Okay, now let's all sing! On the count of three. One... two... three!" And everyone shouted in a somewhat discordant chorus, singing "Happy Birthday" loudly to me.

The next moment, I found myself caught up in an embrace from Ina, followed by Rutger and Dirk, then Cam and Mikhail, and then Laney, continuing on until I'd been passed around for everyone to hug. Afterwards, I collapsed on the ground, laughing as I looked up at Cam and Mikhail, who stood grinning down at me. I looked around, seeing that some people were gathered into small groups, chatting away, others were splashing around in the river, still others were starting up games of various sorts, and up the hill in the clearing by the bamboo grove, I could see more people clustered around tables of food. I sighed, then took the hands that both men offered and let them pull me back up to my feet.

"What would you like to do first?" Cam asked as the three of us strolled along the path by the river.

"Well," I slowly replied, "in spite of a shower, I still feel kind of hot and dusty. So I think I'd really like to go for a swim." I looked at the two of them dubiously, adding, "I don't suppose the two of you brought your swimsuits?"

Both shook their heads no, but Cam quickly added, "But you go right on ahead. Don't let that stop you." I hesitated for a moment, then decided that the river looked just too deliciously cool as it sparkled in the afternoon sun. So I nodded, stripped my shorts off, and kicked off my sandals, leaving my things with the guys, who sat down to watch and wait for me.

I waded through the shallows to the deeper part of the river, crouched down and pushed off, swimming briskly downstream, going around the bend and out of their sight. Reaching an area where the river again grew wide and shallow, I rolled onto my back and floated, eyes half closed against the sun, until the current bumped me into the shallows on the far side of the river where the water wasn't deep enough even for floating. I turned and swam back, more slowly this time as I was going against the lazy current. I stood up when I neared the shore where Cam and Mikhail sat waiting, the water deep enough that it reached to just above my bust. I ducked down under the surface, swam a little farther underwater, and then rose back up out of the water just a few yards away from them. I waded back out of the water and up to them, flipping my dripping hair out of my face as I walked. I pulled out my towel and dried off, gently squeezing the water from my hair before spreading the towel on the grass between the two men and lying down on my back to finish drying as I soaked up the warm sun.

As I lay there sunning myself, the three of us chatted about the upcoming summer: festivals, work plans, opportunities for recreation, and the flora and fauna we might find on the mountain during the summer months. Cam asked about my experiences with bears and other wild animals, the bear story from the girls' night out camping trip having already become all but legendary. He shook his head after my story, unable to comprehend a desire to befriend wild animals—he loved cats, but he could take or leave most other animals, and was nervous around large animals, wild or domestic.

Mikhail contributed some of his own experiences with wild animals. He described playing music with the birds, and I related my own experience with improvisation. Mikhail turned to Cam, and asked if he played any instrument. Cam looked away for a minute, then replied, "I guess, sort of. My mother used to give me both flute and guitar lessons. She loved music," he added softly. I sat up and gently rubbed his shoulder, knowing how much he missed his family.

After a few minutes of silence, I stood up, and pulling my shorts back on, said, "Well, I don't know about you two, but I've eaten hardly anything today, and I'm starving!" Then as if to prove my statement, my stomach suddenly growled quite audibly, eliciting grins from my companions while my face turned bright red. "Well, then," Mikhail said with a laugh as they rose to their feet, "by all means, let us go find something to eat!" Leaving my things under the tree on the river bank, we headed up the hill to where the food was set out.

Yun, Howard, Rose, and Hiro had done most of the cooking, except that Laney made the massive cake set aside on a table of its own, surrounded by bunches of spring blooms. It was quite a spread, and we quickly filled our plates before returning to our spot by the river. We sat and ate and drank and talked, and just as we were finishing, Rutger again called for everyone's attention with another piercing whistle. It was two tiers high, snowy white and garnished with beautiful icing flowers. On the top, she had written "Happy 24th Birthday, Alice" and twenty-four candles were placed in a ring around the delicate script.

Rutger called me to step up to the table, then he lit the candles and bade me make a wish and blow them out. I didn't need to think twice about my wish, as it was for the one thing foremost on my mind these days. I blew all the candles out in one great puff of air. Everyone cheered, and a few begged me to tell my wish, although I steadfastly refused. Laney and Howard sliced the cake, and Hiro and Nori passed the slices around. We ate our cake gathered together in the bamboo grove, then again dispersed into small groups. Cam, Mikhail, and I started back towards the river, when Ina called to Mikhail and waved him over. Seizing the opportunity, Cam grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me a little farther up the path and off into a secluded clearing near the bridge.

"I haven't had a chance to wish you a happy birthday, Alice," he said softly, pulling me closer to him, "or to give you this." And then he handed me a small package.

I looked curiously at him, then opened it. Inside the layers of tissue paper lay a slender gold chain and a small pendant of some soft pinkish stone, probably coral, delicately carved into a rose. I gasped at its perfection, amazed by the detailed work. I looked up at him, astonished by such a lovely gift. "Cam, I... I don't know what to say! Thank you, it's beautiful!"

He took it from me and fastened it around my neck. He smiled at me, saying, "I'm glad you like it. It isn't half as beautiful as you, though."

He leaned down for a kiss, and wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him closer to me, drawing us firmly together. He backed up against a birch tree behind him and slid to the ground, pulling me with him, his back against the tree trunk. I sat straddling his lap, kissing him with my arms still around him, feeling flushed with a sudden heat rising in me. He gently stroked his hands up and down my back, slowly moving farther and farther down over my shorts until he held me by my hips, pulling me closer to him with a passion that was usually much more subdued in him. Without breaking our kiss, I leaned back slightly, one hand braced against the tree trunk for support as I ran the other through his hair, over his shoulder, and down his torso, reaching up under his shirt to run my fingertips over his smooth chest, tracing circles on his skin. A soft groan escaped his lips, and he began to kiss my face, my throat, my shoulders, and finally down my chest to my bikini-clad cleavage. Rubbing his cheek against the softness of my skin, he had just reached a tentative hand up to my breast when suddenly an angry voice behind me snapped, "What the hell is going on here?"

Badly startled by the sudden intrusion, I jumped up and whirled around, my heart racing. I found myself facing Mikhail, his face white with fury as he glared at Cam. I sank back down to the ground next to the birch tree, shaking and gasping from the shock. Cam slowly rose to his feet, calm in the face of Mikhail's rage.

"I thought we had an arrangement," Mikhail seethed between clenched teeth.

"And so we do," Cam replied, surprised by the question.

"And I believed that as a part of that arrangement, neither of us would do anything with Alice that we wouldn't want the other doing with her, too."

"Yes," Cam agreed, "that's right. So...?"

Mikhail narrowed his eyes as he stared at him. "Do you mean to tell me in all seriousness that you'd be perfectly fine with me kissing and pawing at her the way you just were?"

Cam shrugged, saying evenly, "Well, I can't say I'd love it, of course. But Alice is her own person, and she can do whatever she pleases with whomever she pleases. If she chooses to kiss you, that's her decision and I won't begrudge her that choice. Even if she asked you to go for a roll in the hay, while I wouldn't like the thought of her doing that sort of thing with anyone besides than me, still, it's her body and her decision. So yes, anything she chooses to do with you is acceptable to me, because it's her choice to make, not mine."

Mikhail snorted in disbelief, then said, "So you expect me to believe that you're really just fine if I do this?"

He grabbed my hands and hauled me roughly to my feet, kissing me with all the pent-up frustration not just of the past few months, but of the past several years, forcing my lips apart with his tongue and roughly probing my mouth before I finally recovered enough from the shock to break free and shove him away.

Ignoring me completely, he looked again at Cam, saying, "And what about this? Tell me just how 'fine' you are with this!" as he pulled me back to him again, biting hungrily at my neck as he gripped my lower back tightly with one hand and roughly grabbed a breast with the other as he nipped his way down to the tender flesh just above my bikini top.

Crying out in pain and anger, I jerked free and slapped him hard across the face, just as Cam flew at him, hauling back and punching him in the gut, shouting, "Back off! She isn't willing, you ass!"

Mikhail shoved him, and as he prepared to spring at Cam with his cat-like reflexes, I jumped between them, screaming with all my might, "STOP IT!"

As my voice echoed across the valley, both men stopped and turned startled faces to me. I was furious, and my cheeks were hot with anger and humiliation and wet with tears of rage. I glared at both of them, shouting, "Stop it right now! Stop fighting over me like I'm a toy!"

Stunned, they both relaxed their defenses and protested that they didn't think of me that way at all. I cut them off, my voice shaking with anger, "Laney was right. I do need a break from 'those crazy boys'. So I'm taking one. I don't want to see either one of you, do you hear me? Not until I say otherwise. Just leave me alone!" And with that, I turned and fled swiftly down the hill, pausing only to grab my tote bag and towel and ignoring the startled looks and questions of the villagers who'd begun to hurry up the path in response to my screams.

Cam and Mikhail were fast, both of them, but I was faster by far, accustomed as I was to running all over the mountain. I ran as fast as my feet would carry me all the way back to my farmhouse, slamming and locking the door behind me and drawing all the curtains tightly closed. I stripped off my shorts and swimsuit, still shaking from the reaction to the evening's events, took off Cam's necklace and flung it angrily into a small dish on my dresser, pulled on my pajamas, and slipped into bed, ignoring all the pounding and pleading at my door for the rest of the night.

"So much for their truce," I thought bitterly as I pulled the blankets over my head to muffle the clamor from outside. Finally as it grew dark outside, the knocking and voices slowed and finally ceased all together, and at long last I slept.