There was one thing she had to do before enjoying the luxury of her shower. She slipped on a robe and slippers and left her room, sneaking downstairs. She could hear the indignant shouts of the triplets as they were rudely woken up and had to giggle like the little co-conspirator that she was. Life was certainly always interesting in her house.

Not one stair creaked as she went down them, her steps landing light as snowflakes. She shuffled a bit more loudly down the hallway, not wanting to startle any of the servants that didn't hear her coming first; that had certainly happened before.

She poked her head into the kitchen, wearing a cheshire like grin, "Good morning Iona!"

"Morning Miss Jewell," she chimed in response over her shoulder as she whipped up something in a large ceramic mixing bowl.

"I was wondering, could you send someone with a message over to Cosmo Beach really quick? I know it's snowing and that you're all busy..."

Iona cut her off, "Of course, Miss Jewell. What sort of message do you have in mind?" Her grin was suddenly being mirrored back at her.

"Nothing to devious, I promise. If you can just have whoever relay the message to Skyler..." with a glance at the clock to note that it was still fairly early in the morning, "by way of Molly because he won't be up yet, that he is invited to our brunch this morning and to come play in the snow with us today?"

"I'll get someone to send that right over for you, now get into the shower you look awful."

She laughed, stepping back out of the kitchen with a "Thanks a lot," echoing down the hall.

Iona set aside the mixing bowl a minute and grabbed her shawl. She was just putting it on when the kitchen door opened up and her young nephew, Markus, came in stomping snow off his boots. "Ah, love I was just going to find you. I have a message Miss Jewell needs to be sent over to Cosmo Beach if you can..."

It was, in fact, Tommy Hill Figure who answered the door. A steaming cup of coffee in hand, dressed only in a black velvet bathrobe, he pulled back to the door to see who was knocking. He squinted at the bright glare of the snow as cold morning air drifted inside, swirling around his bare, hairy calves.

The Figure loomed imposingly on the threshold; enormous, forbidding, the girth of his body from one shoulder to the other nearly spanning the entire width of the doorframe. He regarded the boy with cruel eyes, his deep gravelly voice rumbling. ?Hell do you want?? Before the kid could reply, he snatched the note out of his hand and unfolded it. His expression softened only slightly when he read it. ?Molly!? he croaked, and began to wander off, the boy at the door already forgotten.

When he rolled out of bed just after daybreak to take a leak, he?d seen the blanket of snow covering the ground outside. That one glimpse was all it took to assure that there?d be no more sleep. How could anyone sleep when there was a winter wonderland right outside your front door?

Skyler had immediately begun unpacking his snow clothes ? baggy black ski pants, an expensive grey and black ski jacket, thick Gortex waterproof boots and big puffy gloves. He wore one of those thick headbands around his ears, and he tied his long pretty shiny black hair back into a ponytail to keep it from getting all wet and droopy.

Just as he finished getting dressed, he saw a younger boy running across the lawn. He looked familiar ? someone from Jewell?s household, perhaps. And that was a good thing, because that was the first place he intended to go.

Molly?s announcement at the door was not unexpected. The look of shock on the woman?s face was quite amusing, as he yanked open the door wide awake and fully dressed. He grabbed the note, read it, then grinned. Skyler shoved past her, hopped onto the banister and slid down the winding staircase.

He saw the brownies on the counter and stuffed one into his mouth, regarding Markus evenly. ?Thanks for relaying the message, dude. Why aren?t you smiling? Don?t you like snow? Come on, let?s go.?

Outside, Skyler went to the tool shed and pulled out his blue and yellow plastic sled, waving it boastfully in front of Markus. ?Yeah, see this, dude? I just waxed her. I?m gonna fly on this baby.?

Once they were out the front door and jogging toward the villa, Skyler playfully shoved Markus down into the snow and ran ahead of him. ?Haha! See you at the villa, punk!? His laughter echoed across the lush snowscape as he ran, toting his sled beside him. When the terrain sloped downward, he would sleigh down it until the hill ended, then pick up his sled and run with it until the next slope, all the way to Jewell?s.

Jewell had raced back up the stairs and past the kids rooms--cries of indignation from the triplets dodging her steps. She'd have to appease them later, maybe be on their team for a snowball fight or two.

She took the quickest shower in history, tying her soaking wet hair back and laying out her snow clothes. She didn't need to dress as warm as others as it was rare that she'd let herself get wet in the snow. Still, swooshy water proof pants and a warm sweater were tugged on. She took her boots and jacket out, along with glittens and childish snow hat, and set them on a chair in the hallway. She'd finish getting dressed after they ate.

Now, it was time to get the kids all set up. The twins were easy. She moved like a whirlwind through their room, laying out their little snow suit outfits and all the accessories.

"Just put the first layer on right now, after we eat you can put your jackets, boots and hats on!" She called over her shoulder to the twins as she darted across the hall to help dress the triplets. At least she had Leena's help with them, but it took a little time. The triplets could not have any of their skin, besides their faces, exposed when they went out to play in the snow. The last thing they needed was to get wet and undergo their change in the middle of building a snowman.

When all their outfits were basically set out and everyone was almost completely ready to go out into the snow, Jewell herded them downstairs for their breakfast.

"Let's go! Let's go! I don't want you rushing through your breakfast so move down the stairs faster!" She followed after them like an army commander, shouting to be heard over their excited chatter over the plans for today.

She was just sitting down with them at the table when she heard footsteps in the hallway. "Iona, can you please tell Skyler we're in here," she didn't even need to finish that request as Io left the dining room. The kids didn't heed the interruption at all, feasting on the pancakes and french toast set before them.

It took Markus a minute or two to catch up with Skyler, water dripping down his face from his fall in the snow. He eyed the sled warily as he took it from Skyler before uttering a quiet, "Thanks man."

He waited until Skyler had got near the Villa before actually moving into action. He took a running start at the nearest decline and jumped into the air, the sled beneath him. He hit the snow and went flying.
--
Iona was just stepping out into the hall to show Skyler into the dining room when he breezed in himself. She barely gave him a nod in greeting, brown eyes focused on the trail that led down the hallway back towards the front door. A bit of an annoyed look was sent over her shoulder to Miss Jewell's beau before she moved about to make quick work of the mess.

Jewell, unaware of the minor distress Skyler was putting her main housekeeper through, tilted her head back and smiled brightly as she was wrapped up in Sky's arms. She gave an exaggerated shake at feeling how cold and wet he was, "Good morning love...get a little cold on the way over here?" His lips on the warm skin of her neck sent a little shiver over her.

All five of the kids had looked up upon Skyler's entrance and gave their own greetings, mostly waves as they were too busy eating to say much. Devyn, to his right, eyed him as he sat down, forgetting the food poised on her fork--just waiting to be devoured--for a moment.

When Sky asked where his plate was she burst out with a quick answer, sounding almost smug in her four year old 'I-know-it-all' tone, "You don't get any less you ask nice. That's the rule."

To her horror, he didn't even wait for an answer or his own plate. No, he just took the fork she had been holding right out of her hand as she was speaking. Grey eyes went wide as he devoured a piece of the pancake that had been destined for her mouth.

She really didn't know what to do. No one but her siblings had done this to her before and she knew her mother always yelled at them for it. She looked to Jewell as Skyler chewed but she just had a funny look on her face, as if she didn't know how to act either! In reality, her mother was trying very hard not to laugh and awaiting her daughter's response.

Devyn did not disappoint. As the fork was handed back she patiently took it from him and gave him a very serious look in exchange, "I'll get you later." Ominous words from the four year old before she stabbed another piece of pancake and ate it, making sure Skyler could hear her "mmm" of enjoyment as he still didn't have a plate before him.

There was a simultaneous motion from both Eva Jade, to Sky's left, and Kerrick, across from him, after Devyn's statement. They moved their plates away from their guest, coveting their pancakes. There was really no need for that as Iona chose that moment to come in and set a plate full of food--pancakes, french toast, bacon, and an assortment of fruit--before Skyler. "Sorry dear, would have been out faster but I had a bit of a mess to clean in the hallway."

In exchange for his plate she took his wet gloves off the table, "I'll go and put this out in the hallway with everyone's things for when you go out."

?J-Bug? Can you believe she expects me to ask nicely??

Jewell brought her mug of coffee up, hiding her smirk behind it as she looked over at Skyler, "Whatever was she thinking."

Eva Jade returned his stare evenly with those sometimes eerie white eyes. She was eating mechanically, not looking at her plate but somehow managing to get the food into her mouth as she watched Skyler. She only interrupted the fork from plate-to-mouth process to announce, "I'm going to be five soon."

As Skyler got his food and began eating, the rest of the occupants turned their attention to their food as well; though, Eva Jade kept sneaking glances aside at Skyler as she ate. Two of the boys--Raven and Oz--were usually ravenous eaters themselves but were distracted this morning as they made plans and boasted to each other about how great their snow fort was going to be.

Kerrick stared across at Skyler as if he was crazy when he started moaning on about needed milk. Just as a precaution, he pulled his own glass of it closer further away from Sky. When you lived in a house with six other kids, you learned to be possessive of your things.

?Hurry up, slow pokes. I got here late and I?m already almost done and you guys haven?t even made a dent. You better pick up the pace or the snow is going to melt!?

"Are you telling me to hurry up, too?" With a smile at Skyler before she took another bite of her food, winking to Kerrick as she started to chew it antagonizingly slow.

Kerrick grinned and seemed to take the hint, setting his fork aside for the moment as he looked across at Skyler again, "Snow melts...mama will make more."

Devyn was doing her best to studiously ignore Skyler and focus on her food; she had incidentally started to eat quicker when Skyler called them slow pokes.

"Jewell, tell Devyn to hurry up, she's eating slow and holding everyone up."

Jewell rolled her eyes a bit at her beau as he further antagonized her youngest, "You tell her yourself."

There was no need for that, though. Devyn's fork had clattered onto her plate as she looked to Skyler, indignation scrunching up her features. Someone had obviously gotten the bad temper of both parents, "I don't eat slow and you're not nice! Gonna use my magic 'gainst you." That last was mumbled as she stared down at her plate, pushing it away from her.

"Devyn Ravenlock, clear your plate or you're not going outside." With a smug look to her mother, the little girl took her fork and stabbed the remaining half a pancake on her plate. Lifting it up, she reached over and deposited it on Skyler's empty plate.

Devyn frowned as her pancake was consumed, that did not go at all like she planned! She eyed her family members, they were obviously all picking on her...again. Being the littlest of seven had its many disadvantages, in her eyes.

?Devyn?s gonna use her magic against me, I better watch my step.?

Jewell smiled at Skyler, "You probably should...the one time we went out and Devyn tried to use her magic, Eva got all wet. Didn't you, sweets?" Arching her head out to catch Eva Jade's eyes and smile at her. She, in turn, looked to her little sister and scowled at her, nodding her head to affirm her mother's statement.

Devyn was too busy to notice, however. As Skyler gave her that wary expression she did her best to emulate the smile her mother often wore when she was about to absolutely destroy someone verbally or physically. It wasn't a perfect rendition, but the feeling was still there. She had every intention of showing Skyler that he should be terrified--or at least trying to.

When Skyler interrupted Oz and Raven's planning with his question, Raven deferred to Oz for the answer. Oz seemed to size Skyler up from across the table before looking to his brother, "We are gonna need a bigger fort." Raven took his turn in examining Skyler, grinning, before he nodded his agreement with his brother.

Their grins gave way to indignation as Skyler told Eva Jade that he would get her a present. Naturally, what she had failed to mention was that all three of them were turning five. The gloating smirk she sent to her two brothers, after smiling brilliantly at Skyler, was an indication that this was no mistaken omission and that she had purposefully left that information out.

?Jewell, hurry! I wanna roll you around in the snow!?

Her laughter followed him out the door, only growing stronger as she saw all five sets of eyes focused on her. "How's he gonna do that?" Kerrick inquired before stuffing the remaining bit of french toast in his mouth so he could follow Skyler outside.

She grinned at the kids, "Oh...he only thinks he's gonna do that. Have you ever seen anyone beat me in a snowball fight?" Just as Oz opened his mouth Jewell cut him off, "Besides Amanda and Moradin teamed up with all of you against me?" He grinned at her and shook his head no. "Didn't think so. All right! We gotta go show Skyler what he's up against. Bring your plates into the kitchen and let's get suited up!"

It took them a few more minutes to get outside, plenty of time to Skyler to make enough snowballs to last a good part of the morning, probably. Jewell helped zip the kids up in their little snow suits, wrapping scarves around their necks and pulling their gloves on for them. She pulled a snow hat, with one of those silly pom-poms, over her own blue locks before looking them over. "Everyone ready?" With muffled shouts of excitement--maybe the scarves were a bit much--Jewell took the first step outside into the snow ball barrage.

"I've been hit!" She shouted, grasping at her chest and letting herself fall to her side in the fresh snow. This had a two-fold purpose: it had the kids laughing at the display and opened them up to a similar attack.

Skyler did not disappoint.

The kids stood there, dumbfounded for a moment, as they were attacked. It was Devyn and Kerrick that took the initiative, after Sky's little victory dance, diving forward into the snow and packing snowballs to send back Skyler's way. The triplets followed quickly, although the twins had a greater affinity for snowball making from their watery-fae nature.

"Snowball king? Hah! Get him, guys!" Jewell sat up, snow clinging to her hair and took a brief assessment of the area. This was war. Grinning, she made a gesture at the roof. With a little application of magic, she brought a big hunk of snow crashing down towards Skyler.

All snowball throwing and general motion stopped as the snow came down and covered Skyler. The triplets immediately looked to the twins--who were looking at each other--in accusation. It was Jewell's laughter, as she fell back into the snow, that alerted them to the real culprit.

"Mama...you cheat!"

Still laughing, Jewell gasped out, "Oh quiet! You..always cheat." Cheating included the use of powers, especially those which the triplets did not have. She sat up, her laughter tapering off when she noticed that there was no apparent movement from under the Sky-snow-pile, "Go dig him out, guys."

"I got it!"

"No, me," Kerrick said, pushing his sister out of the way. He raised his hands and told the snow to move off of Skyler. Now, Kerrick is still very young and barely proficient at the easiest uses of magic. The snow certainly moved when he told it to--it exploded off of Skyler and into the sky to come falling down on all of them again in flurries.

Devyn danced around under this fresh snowfall while Eva Jade ran over to Skyler's prone form, peering down at him. "Maaaama--you killed him!" She cried out, dismayed, nudging him a little with her boot.

"I seriously doubt that," she responded, joining her daughter at his side. She had risen from the snow right before Kerrick's little display of magic, in case she had to do any damage control.

"Fix him!" Eva demanded of her mother, sounding mildly panicked. Her tone drew the attention of the others.

"Fine, fine...calm down." Trying to pacify the girl, she knelt down at Skyler's side. It was obvious, at least to her eyes, that he was still breathing so she made a show of poking him a few times before standing, shaking her head sadly. "You're right...I killed him."

Five sets of eyes stared at her, horrified, before looking down at Skyler.

"Guess we'll just have to pick him up and throw him into the ocean, then."

This idea didn't seem to bode too well for most of them, except Devyn who leaned down to pick up his arm in order to help.

Devyn was not the only one to scream when Skyler miraculously came back to life. Her little high-pitched shout was echoed by most of the kids while Jewell tossed her head back, laughing. Oz shouted something about "zombies," pulling Raven--Eva Jade was out of reach and would just have to be sacrificed--into the safety of the bushes besides the door.

Devyn stared at Skyler, scared motionless even as she started to laugh against her will at the tickling. It took a few moments for her shocked brain to process the idea that she was not being eaten by a "zombie" but was being tickled.

Eva Jade, after her initial fright had her running away, had crept back while the Skyler-monster attacked her sister. It was that desire to watch the gruesome, the feeling that made people stick their heads out of their carriages to see a wreck on the side of the road, that edged her closer than she deemed safe. It was her funeral as the monster turned on her and tried to tickle her to death!

She gasped out little "No no no"s between peels of laughter until Skyler called off the attack. Holding her stomach, Eva fell against her little sister and brought them, both laughing, crashing into the snow. They only laughed harder as Skyler got up, covered in snow as he was, and attacked their mother.

Jewell, laughing as she was, was taken by surprise. She gave a surprised squeak of indignation as she was lifted up, her laughter starting again as he started to spin her around. Her eyes were closed shut against the dizziness, so she also missed the next attack aimed her way.

The boys, watching from the safety of the bushes, discovered a few of Skyler's remaining snowballs. Gathering those, and more, they took the opportunity to pelt Jewell as Skyler spun her around. She sputtered as one of the first ones was lucky enough to catch her in the face.

"Gah..ahh..help! I'm being attacked!" The girls were laughing too hard, tears forming in their eyes, to be of any use and the boys just kept up their onslaught, aiming for Skyler now too.

"Oomph," was all she got out as they went down, at least she had Skyler to break her fall. Guys were good for that. She kept her eyes closed tightly, not feeling the need to see the whole white world spinning around and rolled onto her back in the snow as Skyler crawled away.

Skyler suddenly became the boys' main target as he started to move--he had made himself a little more of a challenge and therefore more fun to hit. They had a nice system going: Kerrick was kneeling in the snow and making the snowballs (he was better at that because of his fae-nature) while Oz and Raven, being older and having more accurate aim, threw the snowballs at their target. They were unstoppable and only laughed as Skyler attempted to return their fire.

The little girls shrieked as they suddenly found themselves subject to the snowball brigade; the boys, unable to hit Skyler as he chose to hide behind their sisters, just attacked the next best thing. Eva Jade launched into a counter-attack of her own, rapidly making and throwing the snowballs back at her brothers. Devyn was too indignant at being used as a shield, stomping her little snow boots and looking behind her at Skyler, "You're supposed to help!"

"You help!" Her sister yelled, forcing a snowball into her hand before going back to throwing them at her brothers.

Devyn certainly helped. As Skyler looked away towards Jewell, she threw the snowball down at him, "Girls 'gainst boys!"

Jewell, who was still lying in the snow and occasionally moving her arms and legs to make snow-faeries, sat up at the mention of girls versus boys. "Ooooh, we're sooo gonna beat you!" That got her a snowball in the face which she just laughed off as she stood. "Come on girlies, we're gonna build the best snow fort ever."

The two girls abandoned Skyler to his fate and went after their mother to one side of the yard.

Devyn frowned as Skyler teamed up with them but Eva Jade seemed to accept it and just started to build up the snow around him. She seemed to be going for aesthetics more than actual defense, shaping little snow-towers and whatnot; Devyn provided the menial labor, piling up the snow in order to Eva to shape it.

Jewell tried to gauge how fast the boys were moving, throwing in a helping hand with the girls without giving them too much of an advantage against their siblings. Seeing Skyler just sitting in the snow looking all cold and wet, she paused in making the flurries dance about the little girls to lean over and give him a little kiss.

Then she went back to work, laughing with her girls as she formed a little princess figure with the snow and made it dance ontop of their fort's wall. "Make a prince, make a prince!" They insisted and she complied, a prince rising up out of the snow to embrace the princess. He lifted her up into his arms and started to run off along the wall with her. Eva Jade nailed the running couple with a snowball, dispersing them into a little pile, which had all three of them laughing.

They were distracted from their game by the indignant cries of the boys as their snow fort was totally destroyed. Jewell frowned the tiniest bit at seeing the destruction and Skyler walking away proudly from it. Oz lobbed a snowball after Skyler in annoyance. Jewell opened her mouth to say something to Sky when Marcus suddenly appeared, carrying Skyler's sled and wearing a huge grin on his face.

The boys forgot their dismay over their hard work being ruined and eagerly waved Marcus over to help start over. "Thanks, man." Marcus handed over the sled to Skyler before running over to join the younger boys and help them build a bigger, even better fort. Jewell even lent a hand, discretely, building up their walls a bit with a little waggle of her fingers.

By the time they were done building their forts, they were tired of the prospect of a snowball fight. Devyn and Eva Jade plopped down on the snow besides Skyler, looking up at both him and their mother in appeal. "We wanna go sled riding instead," Eva stated, Devyn nodding her agreement.

"All right...go run and ask the boys and we can go get all the sleds out." Both little girls were up in a second, running across the battlefield to their brothers. Jewell leaned down, pressing a kiss to Sky's cheek, "You want to go sleigh riding now or go inside and warm up first?"