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"And this is a Violet."

The small child's voice came from the other side of the bush Aricia poked, definitely female. It appeared to belong to the dark-haired young girl of about five or six human years, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers. She was holding an intricate green wand in one hand, extremely carefully, curiously golden eyes focused between it and the purple flower in her hand as she gestured. "See? It's purple, and it looks like this. Auntie Aimee likes violets."

(*mutters* Have to put together my post again. Grrr.)

The little girl gave a rather startled squeak at Aricia's appearance - she hadn't been expecting anyone, after all, and so had let her enhanced senses fall back into human levels. Rocking back on her heels, the golden eyes flicked for a moment, pupils going vertical to look feral as a cat's. Then they were normal again - well, as normal as golden eyes could be - and she grinned down. A baby! With a wand!

Valentine may not have been good with people, but her shyness didn't usually extend to babies.

"Hello, little one. What's your name?"

Valentine held tight to the wand, looking rather startled. Her already light skin paling further, she shrank back just a bit, voice small. "I - I'm Valentine. This is Shane." Perhaps the lady wanted to know why she had the wand? "He's going to be my brother."

She would NOT tug Shane to her chest. That would mean dislodging little Aricia, and that wasn't nice, no matter how badly scared she was.

Valentine ducked her head, pale cheeks flooding with sudden color as she blushed. "Um - she's at home." The little girl giggled at Aricia's antics, tickling the baby's stomach with her own free hand, before glancing sheepishly up at Kierla. "I - I borrowed Shane to show him outside. Mama doesn't know we're gone."

Though right about now, said Water Slider was definitely noticing.

Head tilted to one side, the child considered her new 'companion.' "What's your name?"

Valentine giggled gleefully at Aricia's laughter, apparently well and truly smitten with the infant. The sound had an odd undertone to it, an odd noise similar to a purring kitten; happy and playful, to be sure, rather than anything threatening. Glancing back up at Kierla, she smiled brightly. "Kierla is a very pretty name. My Mama is Rune Traverse."

"And to answer the earlier question, no, she doesn't usually wander about by herself." A female voice interjected, wry and definitely amused. Several feet away, a short, slender young woman with thick, dark blue curls cascading down her back grinned slightly, arms folded. Deep green eyes danced from behind blue-framed spectacles. "She scared me half to death. Morgan too, for that matter."

When she saw Valentine go pale and clutch at Shane's wand, however, her smile vanished with a look of concerned reassurance. "Oh, Valen, sweetie, I'm not mad. You took Shane to come see the garden and meet people, right?"

(Poor Valentine was adopted after being a mistreated slave, so she still worries Rune's going to hurt her if she does something wrong. And Rune forgets half the time.)

Rune nodded, her smile returning as Valentine's little face brightened. "Yup, that's me." Looking down at Aricia -and the adorable puppy eyes - her own features softened. Oh, yes, Rune was very much the softy for small children, her own included. "Hello, sweetie. Yes, Val does make a pretty noise, doesn't she?"

Valentine flushed a bit, then grinned and very gently held out Shane's wand toward the baby. "You can hold him with me." She offered, gaze darting to Kierla as though to make sure it was alright. "I bet he likes you. Just be very gentle, okay?"

Valentine giggled again, gleeful, and hugged the small infant. Oddly enough, she was mindful of the baby's wings - though that was rather to be expected, since she had several winged siblings back home. "Yes, Shane is funny." Settling beside the child on the grass, she beamed as the glass orb atop Shane's wand glowed lightly. "Look, Ari, it glowed! Shane must like you."

"I believe he's supposed to be one o'the little people." Rune gave her best Irish brogue before grinning a touch shyly at Kierla. "That's what we were told, anyway. What kind of soul is Aricia?"