(back on October 23)

"Lirssa!" Raza crowed when she came from the stairs into the open expanse of the apartment. The residence was a huge area, refurbished and reconstructed from the warehouse arrangement to a home. "You made it!"

At five years old, Raza was tall and the hints of a prowling sort of grace already revealed in the way he moved. Less clumsy than his peers. But he also had more heft than the usual five year old. When Lirssa tried to pull him up into a spinning hug, she grunted and laughed. "Oh, hey, you're getting too big for me to do this anymore!"

And they hugged. They were close. They would always be close. Lirssa knew this now, though she had wondered when he was first born. Things had changed about them, but they were sister and brother. Nothing was going to change that. Lirssa would be sure.

Raza pulled back, his vibrant green eyes locked on hers. "I didn't know if you would make it."

"And miss spending my birthday with my most favorite person? Never!" She declared and then did her best superhero, power laugh. Raza did the same.

Setting him free, he instantly grabbed her hand to pull her back down the hallway. Their rooms were joined by a bathroom. Lirssa so rarely lived there anymore that she saw no reason to change that, even with their differences in age. "I got you something!"

Lirssa didn't say he didn't have to do that. He knew that. The smile he gave her, the eager bounce to his tugging, it all said that he knew it. He was excited anyway. "Don't want to save it until after?" She asked, feeling her smile slip into something secretive.

That brought him to a stop. "After?" Oh, how wide those green eyes could get.

"After. We have a flicker show to see. Then go out to eat. After that, the park."

"Play tag?"

"Absolutely."

It was Lirssa's birthday. It was Raza's day.

"What are we doing today, 'Rssa?" Raza asked, his hand in Lirssa's, swinging back and forth as they walked down the streets of Stars End.

She had flown them from RhyDin city proper over to the ever increasing sprawl of Stars End. From there, though, they would walk. It was her stomping grounds since she was a teen at school and academy. "Well, I learned about a new sport from a friend." Friend was not a lie. Aric was a friend. He was more than that, too, but it was not something she wanted to explain to her brother. Not yet.

"I know about all the sports." He said with the confidence of a near six year old.

Lirssa held back a laugh in her smile. "Oh, you do, do you? Even something called Footy?"

His noble nose crinkled up. "That sounds like something adults do under sheets."

"Raza!" Lirssa gaped. Where was he learning such things? Then again, she had not only learned but seen such things when she was his age. She'd had a different life, though.

No, she was not going to let the conversation circle around that drain. "No, this is Australian Rules Football. We are going to see a game on one of the wysescreens."

"Australian Rules Football?" He still looked skeptical. When she just gave a smile and nod, he grinned back. Spending time with his big sister was still a winning prospect at his age. "Okay. Then we'll have ice cream."

"Oh, yeah, absolutely." Lirssa nodded.

"Good."

Maybe she should try that with Aric and hockey. Ice cream makes everything better.