Dual Birthdays

During Lapis's first days in Jiy, she knew no one besides Patch--and Patch remained busy completing difficult stakes to earn enough silver to keep the rebel House afloat. She, with her small room above the Eaves and no friends, found life lonely.
When her birthday approached, she could not keep depression away. She chastized herself; her street guise, Lady Lanth, did not have such paltry emotions, but she failed to hide them. And a certain street rat by the name of Rin noticed.
Rin had decided that the Lady wasn't so bad a person. Despite other street rat teasing, he would hop up to her when she visited the Lells outdoor market and say hi, and ask after her current stake. On one particular day in Mid Year 4, he hopped up, smiled wide, and froze. Tears, instead of greeting, filled her eyes. He left her alone as she bade, but could not squash his curiosity about what upset her.
The next day, as she trudged through the Lells on a petty chase, Rin made up his mind to discover why. He walked on her heels and pestered her. And pestered her. And annoyed her so dreadfully she took time out from her stake to shout at him.
That's when he knew something was terribly wrong. The Lady never shouted about anything unless a rat put themselves in danger.
She ran from him and he caught up and continued to badger her until her temper frayed to the point she screamed the truth at him. Her birthday was in two days, and instead of a happy time with friends and family, it was a day of remembering those lost.
Rin knew a fire had killed her family, which made her a sympathetic ally to so many of the rats who, too, had lost their parents. He felt melancholy that a day meant for celebration was a stark reminder of loss. He left her alone and smacked heads with Scand and Lykas, wanting to come up with a way to make a sad day seem not so sad.

All artwork by Shade Melodique

Rin did not trust Lapis when he first met her. He followed her around the Lells Market, waiting for her to do something nefarious. She never did, much to his annoyance.

The rats knew Lapis was fond of sweets, but never ate them. Rin and his friend Lykas did an extra-perilous sneak to get the bits to purchase the cake.

On her birthday, Lapis was downstairs with the rats who showed up for the reading circle. She held a cup of tea and worked with the younger kids, patient yet despondent. None of the older rats had visited that night, providing fewer opportunities to distract her from life.
Patch was busy--as usual. Without his presence, her thoughts drifted to the past, her birthdays when her family still lived, the happiness and the joy that came from opening gifts and devouring sweets heaped with frosting. She sank so far into melancholy, she had not realized that the older rats showed up--carrying a cake.
She stared as Rin proudly set it before her, and, in town herald fashion, declared that, if she could not celebrate her birthday, she should celebrate his. Granted, he had no idea how old he was, but thirteen sounded about right. He designated that day as his thirteenth birthday, and he had a cake to prove it--and the Eaves' customers gave the dramatic lad a round of applause.
The cake, a donation from a Lells' merchant, was plain inside, berry-flavored icing on the outside, and large enough to share with everyone at the tavern that night. The custom wished her and Rin a Stars' luck night, and Dachs, the tavern owner, passed around sweet, fizzy Dentherion drinks to the delight of the rats. Everyone laughed, drank, told stories, and Lapis did not feel so lonely anymore.
The next year, Rin did the same thing. And the year after that. And Mid Year 4:21 became known as the Lady and Rin's birthday, a time when the street rats gathered at the Eaves, ate sweets, drank fizzy Dentherion drinks, and one-upped each other and the regulars with even more outrageous stories than the previous year.