Danniel lay awake in bed. In the dark, he could hear the soft lapping of the waves on the shore. Off in the distance, calling horns announced the arrival of the day's first ships. He didn't know what time it was but figured his alarm hadn't gone off yet. His phone screen read, '5:30 a.m.' Thirty minutes before he needed to be up. Since it wasn't likely Danniel wasn't going back to sleep, he disabled the alarm and started his day. 

Today was special, hence why sleep didn't come easily last night. Lily made good on her promise that night at the train station a year ago. Starlight seemed to be a natural fit despite her lack of magical ability. She wasn't always on time, and her work ethic could use some improvement, yet she had found a pretty welcoming environment. Her co-workers decided to have a get-together after work to say thanks for sticking around for an entire year.

After washing down a quick breakfast of fried eggs and toast with cold green tea, Danniel hopped into the shower. Now fully awake, the wolf stood in front of his steam-covered mirror. As he ran his hand across it, Lily's most recent critique of his hair played in his head. One of the things Danniel learned about her over the last year was that she was persistent. Persistent to the point of madness in some cases. One of those was his hair. Though it came up a lot, he had learned how to talk her off the point. A piece of candy usually did the trick, but a steady stream of 'drop it' would suffice if he lacked sweets.  

"Maybe today?" Danniel thought as he pulled his hair from in front of his eyes. In the mirror, he imagined his friend's reaction to seeing what lay underneath. With a groan of uncertainty, the wolf dropped his dreads back down. "Nope, not today." 

Back into his bedroom, the wolf threw on a white button-up shirt and black jeans while glancing at his phone. Seeing that he was making good time, Danniel walked into his living room and up to his couch. There, in the dark, lay the real reason for today's party. It was a black, mostly featureless box that took up most of the couch. Along the bottom, in a swishy cursive font, the words' Impact Burning V Custom' were spelled out in silver. 

Despite her best efforts, Lily found her beloved Songbird was beyond repair. Getting anything close to Songbird's quality and craftsmanship was well outside her budget. Due to the lack of an instrument, the rabbit had taken to moping over open guitar magazines during the workday. Lily's whining about her inability to do her favorite thing had worn on the nerves of everyone. So, when Danny pitched the idea of surprising Lily with this guitar, their agreement was both instant and unanimous.

While looking down at the box, A faint tune caused Danniel's ears to perk up. He couldn't make out the sound, but he figured it was his phone since it was coming from his bedroom. Returning to his nightstand, the name flashing across the screen drew a groan. 'XI - Headache' was listed on the screen, the words appearing over a purple kite. The sound he heard was a delicate classical piece filled with harps and flutes, which served as a ringtone.   

"Morning, father," Danniel answered. 

"Son." A voice spoke, burly and deep. "How nice of you to be up early on the day of the ritual. Certainly a first. You have completed the rites, correct? We don't want a repeat of last year." 

"Yes, for the millionth time. Everything else is done short of the seal. On schedule, might I add? Your reminders are unneeded." 

"They clearly are, Twelve. Last year reminded me of that. You’ve grown complacent."

Danniel closed his eyes tight, letting out a low groan. "Wonderful chat, father. I will let Gonzi know you called. Elder's blessings." 

With that, Danniel immediately hung up the phone and barked a few wolven profanities to his now-absent father. A heavy sigh slipped from his maw while he reexamined the screen. It was now a quarter past seven and close enough to Danniel's usual departure time. Dropping the phone into his pocket, he grabbed his security jacket and headed out the front door. 

Then, as his feet crossed the threshold, Danniel paused as a thought struck him. There was one thing Danny had forgotten, distracted by his father's call. Turning around, he made a beeline back to his bedroom. The wolf retrieved a plain metal case from the single drawer of his nightstand. A crest was emblazoned on the surface. A purple kite was the base, and on it, a clawed hand reached up to a string of three stars. The words ‘We'll have peace, or we'll bring oblivion' were written on the ribbon that ran along the bottom.

He popped it open and revealed the ringed gauntlet sitting inside. Danniel removed it and affixed it to his right hand. Once on, each ring began to emit a soft purple light as they locked into place. When the light faded, each pristine gold band sported a unique rune. With everything in place, Danniel finally left his home and made his way to work. 

Everyone at Starlight was excited, Danniel more than anyone. The wolf found a fast friend in the new girl. Though unexpected, Danny found they shared common ground on multiple things. From similar tastes in movies and music to more than a few shared interests, it didn't take long before Danniel and his new co-worker spent time outside work. Be it for a couple of drinks or a live show in Aldcrest. Isabella would make it a trio fairly often, but the two were just as comfortable alone. Recently, the rabbit started crashing at his apartment beginning on a Friday and heading home the following Monday after work. Danniel only lived two blocks from Starlight, and it made hanging out over the weekends easier. As the year passed, the feelings of friendship grew into something stronger. She made him feel warmth in a way he hadn't in quite some time. 

Unfortunately, there was an obstacle. It was wolf-shaped and named Kisa. He was Lily's mate when she joined the staff of Starlight. Danniel was quite aware of how unfaithful and shifty Kisa was but never did more than show empathy for his friend. He certainly didn't like the guy, but interfering in someone else's relationship didn't sit well with Danny. Instead, he only served as a shoulder to cry on and an ear to vent to. No, Isabella served as the Kisa-bashing half of Lily's circle. Their venting sessions tended to involve far more booze, though.  

That changed about six months ago. At the same time, Kisa kicked her out of their band and broke up with her. His reasoning was, what good was a guitarist who had no guitar? Conveniently, the new guitarist would be filling in for Lily in their relationship as well. Danniel was present when this happened, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

Today marked six months after the breakup. To Danniel, it seemed like the right time to let Lily know how he felt. The risk of getting rejected was present and weighed heavily on his mind. Yet, from the wolf's perspective, the worst she could say was no. At the end of the day, he was just happy having Lily in his life. If that meant she was never more than his friend, that would be more than enough. 

Danniel turned the corner onto Gropple street and fished his keyring from inside his jacket pocket. As he reached the front door, a commotion from the other end of the street drew his attention. The sound of clattering, assorted clicks, and growls could be heard. The wolf let off an exasperated sigh as the sound of someone repeatedly saying 'Sorry' got closer and closer.

"Sorry, Mrs. Triagl! Oh, um, I'll pay for that." Lily shouted as she came, stumbling backward, into view. She stood a head shorter than the wolf and wore a black tee shirt and dark blue jeans. Her outfit was nothing out of the norm. Yet today, something stood out. Usually, Lily's black hair sported colored bangs. Now, as Lily started towards Starlight, Danniel saw a band of pink adorning her edges. The two exchanged waves as the rabbit made her way down the sidewalk.

"And she made it on time today. Looks like I owe Gonzi twenty credits." Danniel remarked as Lily strolled up. 

Lily sarcastically gasped and punched the wolf in the arm, "I can't believe you have such little faith in me. I'm hurt." 

"Sure you are. C'mon, let's get inside." 

Lily rushed past Danniel into the still-dark store. As he went to follow her, the sound of a clearing throat drew his attention behind him. There stood Isabella. She, like Lily, stood a head shorter than Danniel and was a few inches shorter than the rabbit. She wore a white long-sleeve shirt with alternating black and white stripes starting halfway down her upper arm. Navy blue slacks completed the ensemble. Her sudden appearance made Danniel jump slightly. 

"Like, where is it?" Isabella whispered before taking a sip of her coffee. 

"It's back at my place. It'd be hard to hide it when we get here at the same time." Danniel whispered back. The wolf could see his reflection in her sunglasses as she looked at him. The bat shrugged and walked inside, her white hair bouncing. 

Danniel followed her inside and up to the front counter. There, he found Lily sitting on it. Her feet swung while nonchalantly glancing around the store. When the wolf stood before her, her pale orange eyes trained on him as a smirk grew on her face. 

"Move," Danniel ordered, crossing his arms. 

"Why? Am I in the way?" 

"I need to unbind the store. Move your tail or I'll move it for you."

Lily cocked her head back slightly while raising an eyebrow. Eyeing up the wolf, she scoffed and spat back, "And I'll bite you if you try." 

Danniel sighed and rolled his eyes. The rabbit leaned forward. It was like she knew exactly what the wolf was about to say. 

"What do you want?" 

"Let me unbind the store!" Lily fired off, clearly having her request prepared. 

"Oh, absolutely not. Do you remember what happened last time you tried? I had to unlock the whole store by hand. Try again." 

"Come on, Danny, please? That was forever ago. I should totally get another chance." 

"Forever ago? That was two weeks ago. No."

Danniel waited for the rabbit to move, but instead, he watched as Lily's expression shifted from annoyed to sad. His resistance took a hit when the rabbit cast her eyes down and dropped her shoulders. Danny's defense crumbled completely when Lily let out a heavy sigh. 

"Fine..." 

Lily laughed and hopped off the counter. She thanked Danniel with a hug around the torso while Isabella shook her head. "You won't regret this, man." 

"Did you, like, leave your spine back at your apartment too?" Isabella teased as she walked behind the pair. Now out of the direct sunlight, Isabella removed her sunglasses and hung them on the collar of her sweater.  

"Shut up." Danniel hissed as he moved beside Lily. "Focus and take your time. You have been practicing with those puzzle boxes, right?

"Yeah, of course I have," Lily said proudly. Her claim was valid, technically. The whole truth was that she had only practiced the night before. Lily hadn't touched them since overloading the binding lock two weeks prior. That was until she hatched the plan for this morning. Getting Danny to do what she said was the easy part. The actual lock was another, more concerning issue. To prepare, Lily practiced late into the night and managed to solve a single one. All failures were subsequently pitched at walls after having to restart them one too many times. 

She cracked her knuckles and positioned her hand over the counter. Before she could focus on the lock, Danniel grabbed Lily's wrist. 

"Excuse you?" Lily growled. 

"This goes wrong, and you are unlocking everything. Got it?" 

"Got it."  

Danniel's grasp lingered for a bit before he released her. She closed her eyes and focused. As her mind settled, Lily could feel faint wisps of invisible energy rise from beneath the mahogany. The wisps, once unseen, ignited and formed visible bands of pale orange light around her knuckles. They shimmered and crackled as Lily focused on the warm sensation flowing through her hand. 

Lily took one last deep breath before speaking the words she had heard Danniel recite every morning for the past year.

"Breath zayfv hent lon mornri blonf. Sien lon blessid slumbill ailn unnbind starlight, brysh vi harmonva."

Behind her closed eyes formed the image of a large metallic cube floating in a starry void. The box clicked and buzzed before it split into two halves. Another round of noises and the two halves split equally again. After dividing one last time, the final count of cubes was eight. On each side of each cube were patterns carved into them. 

She spun the eight almost identical cubes in the void until she found matching sides. Once a matching pair was found, they slammed together and formed new bands of grooves and designs. Eventually, after a bit of shifting and turning, all eight were one smooth and pristine cube once more. 

Gripping her hand tightly, the bands of light shattered, and the store remained silent for a moment. A pit of dread began to form in Lily's stomach before, in a flash, the store sprung to life. Starlight clicked and popped and shook awake; a very proud and happy rabbit was the reason for it. 

With saxophone music playing through the store speakers, Lily spun around on her heel to face her co-workers. Isabella was clapping softly on the heel of her hand while Danniel looked at her with his arms crossed. He smiled warmly while Lily bounced on her toes and smiled from ear to ear. 

"Good job, Lily. I shouldn't have doubted you." spoke the wolf. 

"You're damn right you shouldn't have. Maybe you'll teach me some actual magic, now." 

"We'll see. I'm going on patrol." Danniel said while walking away from his co-workers.

"Oh, I've heard that before! I'll break you soon, Fila." Lily called after him, watching him turn the corner while waving her off. 

The ringing of the bell above the front door marked the next arrival. An older female bear stepped through the doorway, holding multiple paper bags in either hand. Her fur was a faded brown, barely lighter than gingerbread. She wore a pair of black pants and a forest green blouse. Her face, like every morning, was curled up into a room-warming smile. It only got brighter when her one good eye fell upon Lily. Her other eye, or where it should be, was covered by a leather eyepatch. 

"G'Mornin', ladies." Sandra sang as she stepped inside.

"And good morning to you, mama bear." Lily sang back in return. Isabella didn't say anything to Sandra. Instead, she gave a polite wave while shipping her cooling coffee. 

As Sandra hustled inside, someone was following close behind. It was another bear. He stood taller than Sandra but only a negligible amount. The bear shared fur color with the woman in front of him, yet he was a few shades darker. Dark brown hair stuck out of a gray flat cap atop his head. A pair of thin-rimmed glasses sat on his nose, allowing his hazel eyes to examine the store. His clothing was slightly more professional looking than those already there. He wore an open navy blue chef's coat, a clean white tee shirt underneath, and navy blue slacks on his legs. In his hands was a large white cake box. The front panel had 'For Lily. Don't let her near this before closing!!!" written on it in black marker. A little rabbit head had been drawn beside the three exclamation points.

"Like, um, Sandra, who's that?" Isabella asked while gesturing at the person behind her. 

"Hmm?" the bear glanced over her shoulder at her follower. The two stopped walking once inside. Her eyes lit up as she looked back at the counter. "Ope, rose petals, I must have forgotten. Ladies, this is my pride and joy. Introduce yourself, honeycomb."   

He cleared his throat before speaking, his brogue accent similar to the person who introduced him. "No, yeah. I'm Bastion. I'll be joinin' my ma at the Cafe. I'm excited to work with all of ya." 

As he finished talking, Bastion noticed something had changed. When he came in, he saw a rabbit and a bat standing behind the counter. Now there was only the bat. He scanned the room and couldn't find the missing employee. That was until he heard soft sniffing by his side.

"Bastion, ten o'clock," Sandra spoke while pointing at the box. He panned down and found the missing rabbit. She had taken an interest in the box he was carrying. 

Lily's eyes were locked on the container since Bastion had walked in the door. She hoped that Sandra would make something special for her one-year anniversary, seeing as the party was initially the bear's idea. The rabbit barely registered the holder's name, with her focus giving her tunnel vision. As Bastion introduced himself, Lily moved quickly towards the box and almost immediately caught a whiff of cinnamon and carrots. 

Following the 'Lily Defense plan’ the Shinecrests' had formulated the night prior, Bastion simply hoisted the box high over his head. Standing just over six feet tall, he could easily keep it out of the rabbit's reach. 

"Sorry, Lily, but you are goin' to have to wait until tonight for it." The older Shinecrest while moving closer to the rabbit. 

"Come on, Sandra. It smells delicious. Let me get a taste." Lily's eyes stay fixed on the out-of-reach box. 

"Oh my, no. Though, I do have something to tide ya over." Sandra put one of the handfuls of bags down and dug around in one of the bags in her other hand. She pulled her hand out and provided something attached to a lollipop stick to the rabbit. Said offering was wrapped in parchment paper. "Courtesy of my baby boy." 

Lily eyed the treat while glancing at the box Bastion kept out of her grasp. While whatever was inside the box was tempting, Sandra's offering would require much less work, and her sweet tooth was already calling to her. The rabbit agreed and took the candy from Sandra. Removing the paper, she saw that the stick led to what looked like a crystal carrot. Giving it a quick sniff, Lily found that it smelled of cinnamon too. Immediately curious, Lily shoved the candy into her mouth. 

"Hmm, it tastes like honey carrot pie," Lily remarked after pulling the candy out of her mouth. She points the lollipop at Sandra's son, eyes taking one last look at the box. "I'll leave you alone for now, but I'll want more of these. Later." The rabbit turned on her heel, shoving the candy back into her maw, and hurried after Isabella, who was heading back to the supply closet. 

Bastion lowered the box as his mother retrieved her bags. He kept locked step with Sandra as they headed through the Cafe and into the kitchen. "So, that rabbit. Lily, right? Scary little thing." 

"Aye, but only when you get between her and anythin' sweet. She's plenty harmless otherwise." Sandra put down the bags and quickly made her way to a door towards the back of her kitchen. Past a pair of standing freezers sat a metal door with a blank name plate slot near the top. She touched it and, around her finger, formed a circle of green light. Sliding her finger up to the top of the ring, the door chimed, and a card slid into the empty slot. It read, 'Store room' and was immediately replaced with 'Oven room' while her finger moved a quarter to the right. "Pay her no mind. Though keep an eye on the door, she doesn't give up easy." 

Bastion nodded and turned back to the box only to see Lily. She had crept into the kitchen and was just shy of lifting the lid. The rabbit flinched and stared daggers at the bear as he lifted the hidden treat out of reach yet again. 

"On with you, now," Bastion ordered. Lily could only huff in frustration before retreating out of the kitchen. Quickly he moved to Sandra, the box still held slightly above his head in case the rabbit changed her mind. "Little terror she is." 

"Oh, stop." Sandra laughed as the card for 'Dry storage' slid into place. Pulling her hand away, the circle of light vanished, and the metal door fell into the floor. It opened to a room with walls lined with wooden shelves. On them were jars containing jellies and jams from countless fruits. "You can leave it here. When you put that down, grab me a few jars of Mudberry and Fireberry. Goin' to make some jelly muffins." 

And with that, Sandra returned to the bags. From which she pulled multiple tubs of chilled dough she had made the night before. The bear smiled as she got to work prepping food for her hungry customers and co-workers. 

"It's goin' to be a good day," Sandra thought as her work day began.