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Ellandra and Rhian were out in one of the Garden's beautiful floral areas, sitting on a sort of bench, while Ellandra closed her eyes and relaxed. The little proto had finally talked her mother into going outside for a while, and was hugging her around her neck, humming softly and doing her best to soothe her, to keep any and all bad feelings at bay. She'd been doing so during the entire time the two had come to stay at the Gardens, only stopping for periods when Ellandra slept - which was usually when Rhian herself slept.

The flutterby hadn't had much time to have fun or revert to her childlike habits, and it was possible that she was outgrowing them entirely in her efforts to help Ellandra come to terms with what had happened, and to stop her broken heart from aching so much. Rhian's atennae flicked once, twice, three times as she sat on Ellandra's belly and hugged her, loking around and through the foliage, trying to see the source of the essence she knew she'd felt. What was Ziazan doing here? Quietly, so as not to disturb Ellandra overmuch - the woman was awake, but was still in need of a great deal of peace and quiet - she called out a soft, "Sibling. . ." She paused a moment, then called again, using and correctly pronouncing the older Essentic's name for the first time, with no hesitation. "Ziazan, this way."

That soft call was enough to make Ellandra open her eyes, and look around. "Ziazan? Ziazan's here? But why?" Immediately, worry leapt into her eyes even as Rhian resumed her humming. "Something. . . something must be wrong. . ." She peered around the immediate vicinity, trying to get a glimpse of the short, rainbow-eyed Alter.

Rhian didn't answer Ziazan, having gone back to her soothing humming, but she did give him a little wave with one hand and a nod of her head. Ellandra, however, was more vocal as her grey eyes widened, and she half reached a hand out to Ziazan, before pulling it back hesitantly.

"Ziazan? What? Is - is something the matter? Why are you here?" The brunette paused and chewed her lip for a moment, while Rhian's humming increased in volume, receding back to barely-audible only when Ellandra opened her mouth to speak again. "Not that you're unwelcome, but. . . this - this isn't normal . . . what's going on?"

Rhian, too, watched Ziazan with a worried gaze. Even humming, she could pick up the distressing feelings radiating from her sibling, and increased her humming a bit again, hoping to soothe the Alter as well as Ellandra, at least a little.

Ellandra bit her lip and tilted her head. "Elst and Aoi. . . well, they went out a short while ago, I believe. I'm not sure where, I didn't ask." She paused a moment and closed her eyes, opening them again before she took a breath and resumed speaking. "The twins are fine, though it's getting rather hard to carry them around all the time. . ." She trailed off again, Rhian's humming increasing as the brunette gazed at Ziazan, worry streaking her face. "But what's wrong? Why did you come here by yourself?"

"Not too long, no," Ellandra said quietly, reaching out and placing her hand over Ziazan's. Her gaze was still troubled, though she wasn't sure why. She could just. . . tell that something was amiss, at the moment, and her eys had almost visibly darkened from their usual light grey to a darker, stormcloud grey. "Something. . . something is wrong, Ziazan. Please. . . why did you come to speak with Elst and Aoi? Was it just for a visit? Or - or is something wrong at Farstep?" Had there been an accident? Had Faolan had another attack, maybe a truly dangerous one this time? There was something going on, almost certainly. . . but what? And why wasn't Ziazan wanting to tell her?

The comment about Rags was completely lost on Ellandra. she'd stopped hearing anything upon Ziazan's statement that Faolan had moved in with Keagan. She was no fool. She knew that would never happen under normal circumstances. But . . . what was going on. Unaware of the drastically-increasing volume of Rhian's humming, Ellandra grabbed Ziazan's hand as hers rested on it's, and, biting her lip, she spoke.

"Ziazan. Why would Faolan move back in with his father? Something's going on that you're not telling me. Please, Ziazan. . . . please tell me. . . or - or something, please - did something happen? Is - is Faolan all right? Did he have an attack? Was there an accident?" All the love she still felt for her husband bubbled to the surface in the form of complete, outright fear, and even Rhian's humming was only holding back so much of the pain and terror that had enveloped the short woman.

Ellandra gasped, her brain going into full-blown shut-down, need to reboot mode. "I - what?!?" What? She didn't understand - what - what was going wrong? She'd - she'd thought her leaving would be the best thing - was - had it really hurt Faolan that much? Her eyes widened to a nearly-impossible state, her face waxing pale as the hand that held Ziazan's started shaking. Rhian's humming increased to the limits of her vocal strength as the butterfly proto tried desperately to keep Ellandra calm enough to remain n this side of fainting. "I - Z-zia - zan - what - I - I - w-what?!?"

Ellandra shook her head, releasing her hold on Ziazan and dropping her head into her hands, Rhian carefully circling around to capelet-hugging even as she did. "I - I . . . .this - I - thought I - I thought this was - was b-best. . . .. B-but . . . Ohhh, F-Faolan . . . ." The brunette shuddered, too distraught to even cry, as Rhian desperately tried to keep her calm. The flutterby was only able to keep her from being entirely overwhelmed, but it, perhaps, was enough - enough to keep Ellandra listening to Ziazan, at least, if it chose to continue speaking.