Pilika had almost entirely forgotten the situation by now though, and was bouncing around on her parents' bed as Joanna attempted to calm her down.

"Pilika, sweetie, can you stop for a minute a listen to me?"

The small girl smiled and nodded calming down-- somewhat.

Joanna laughed at her daughter's nonending energy despite herself, and pointed at the calender residing above their heads, Pilika's gaze intently following her. "Do you know what day is coming up? It's a very very important day."

She shook her head. "Pilika don't know."

Her mother nodded, expecting her answer. "Well, Pilika, Daddy's birthday is very soon and you have to think of what present you have to get for him. I might take you down to the shop later and show you what you might want to buy. But Daddy will be thirty-one years old in just fifteen days, and I want to plan a really nice party for him, like yours that we had a while ago."

"Really? Really? Pilika didn't know."

"I know, honey. So that's why you need to think about it for a bit."

Pilika was marched outside again when Mommy decided it was time to start cleaning. This time she didn't have anything with her, but there were a lot of her friends outside today. She wondered vaguely if the sticky heat would be ending anytime soon. She certainly wasn't enjoying it herself. But she tried not to focus on that and instead wondered what to get her Daddy for his birthday. What would he like? Pilika didn't really think he'd enjoy Mister Kethran's candy as much as she did. Maybe he would like some flowers. She loved daisies. She was pretty sure Mommy liked lilacs, but she didn't know what Daddy liked.

Some of her friends were approaching her now, one of them holding a pad of paper and most had pencils in their hands. They waved as they walked toward her. "Pilika, come and play with us. We're writing stories. Come and help us?"

She smiled. She loved writing stories.

"Pilika's comin'," she obliged, standing up from her seat on the walkway leading to Daddy's shrine. "Pilika's comin'."

"Tell us a fairy tale, Pilika!!"

She thought for a minute, and just when she opened her mouth to begin when some girl whose name she didn't know called out from somewhere in the southern part of the village.

"Oh! Oh! He's here! He's here!!!"

"Who's here?" Pilika asked, puzzled and a bit irritated at being cut off before she had even begun.

The girl who had shouted waved from a distance. "-niichan!!"Jowy

Squeals of delight and cries of the name "Jowy-niichan!" quickly echoed through the street, one of the cheerers Pilika herself. The pad of paper and the pencils were immediately forgotten on the ground as they stampeded toward where the boy who had identified thier beloved Uncle Jowy. And as soon as they identified that familiar face with that familiar long blone hair, they all but ambushed him.

There were a few other people with him, but they might as well have not existed, as mixed shrieks of "Jowy-niichan!" "Uncle Jowy!" lit up the village of Toto.

"Yay, yay, yay! You're here Uncle Jowy, you're here! Pilika's so happy..." at least, that was what Pilika thought she said, but whatever it was, it was immediately drowned out by the other shoutings. One of Uncle Jowy's companions remarked, "You sure are popular around here, aren't you? Why, who are all these nice kids?"

Pilika barely heard Jowy-niichan's muffled reply, and she definetely couldn't interpret it. But she didn't really care; she was too busy trying to break through the crowd.

Mothers and fathers were emerging from their places of employment and their houses to see what all the commotion was about. But when they did, nothing but warm smiles alit their faces as the mothers reluctantly called out mealtime. It took quite a bit for all the children to be willing to detach from the young man, and most stalled for as long as they could before trailing back toward their houses.

Pilika rushed past her mother into the house just as her 'uncle's' eyes began to trail toward the direction of Daddy's shrine, almost omniously.

They waited for Uncle Jowy outside of Daddy's shrine. Someone had sworn that they had seen him go in there, so after supper the horde of children were piled around the entrance. Pilika at first was puzzled at the broken lock, before shrugging it off and figuring she would tell Daddy about it later. She wondered if Uncle Jowy might have any idea what to give Daddy for his birthday.

"Jowy-niichan just missed his brother, you know. He came in here the other day."

Pilika stared. "Pilika didn't know. Why didn't anyone tell Pilika?"

"Sorry, Pilika-chan..."

They weren't disappointed, Jowy-niichan came out eventually, followed by his three friends. He was ambushed for the second time that day.

"Joooooey-niichan! Come and play with us! Come and play!"

"Tell us stories! Tell us stories!!"

The demands went on so much that Jowy didn't actually get to do much of anything. But he didn't really seem to care; his eyes kept trailing, outside the notice of the kids, toward his right hand. Eventually when everyone had to return to their houses for the night, Pilika invited Jowy and his friends to stay over at her house.

"I think Mommy and Daddy missed you, Jowy-niichan! Come and stay with us! We won't mind! And Pilika will be very happy."

Jowy smiled. "You don't have to, Pilika. We can--"

Pilika shook her head and snatched Jowy's hand. "No no no no! Pilika will be very very happy, and Jowy-niichan will be happy too, right, right?"

The young man turned toward his companions. "Well, what do you guys say?"

"Free room and board? I'm there."

This response only excited the hyped Pilika even more. "Yaaaaaaaaaay! Come on, come on, Pilika take Uncle Jowy and his friends right now, okay?"

Uncle Jowy chuckled, just slightly. "Okay, Pilika."

"Jowy, we certainly haven't seen your face around here for a while! Where have you been?" Joanna ruffled up his hair, much to the young man's embarrassment.

"Oh, around," Jowy replied.

"Well, Marx is out fixing up the lock to that shrine.. I wonder how it got broken, anyhow? Well, in the meantime, can you introduce me to your friend there?" Joanna glanced pointedly at the boy behind him who looked about Jowy's age.

"Oh, of course, Ms. Joanna," Jowy obliged. "There are two more, but they're outside buying some supplies right now. This is Young Master McDohl."

Joanna nodded. "Very pleased to meet you, young McDohl. Toto isn't a very prosperous village but it's a nice place anyway. And the children are very pleasant to be around."

McDohl nodded. "Thank you, miss."

"So polite, too. Jowy, I must say I approve of your choice of friends."

"Thank you, Ms. Joanna..."

When Uncle Jowy had finally fallen asleep, Pilika went back to wondering what to buy Daddy for his upcoming birthday. There wasn't anything in Mister Kethran's shop she could think, of though. Maybe she could...

She paused for a minute, when it came to her.

The amulet she had seen when she went with Mommy and Daddy to Muse!

She didn't want to tell Mommy OR Daddy... it would ruin the surprise. But she couldn't go to Muse by herself. Maybe she could ask Uncle Jowy to go to Muse for her?