Welcome to Gaia! ::

Adonai smiled down at Cindy as he removed his boots.

"Everything is still kept in the playroom," he nodded, hanging up his cloak and holding out one hand to take hers as well.

Just at that moment, a tall, dark-haired youth passed through the hall, heading towards the stairs. "Adonai," he nodded in greeting. "Cindy, right?" He paused, grinning amiably. "Arahad. Pleased to meet you."

Arahad chuckled. "Yes, I remember seeing you off and on," he grinned. "Never had the chance to chat though ... although to be honest there were a lot of you, it was pretty much impossible to meet everyone, really."

Adonai smiled. "You did know that Cindy was going to be staying with us, yes?"

Arahad nodded. "Remember, Rhea talked about it all day, every day she was here," he reminded the older elf. "Kind of hard not to know."

Arahad laughed. "There's no 'just about' about it ... everyone knows, end of story."

"Amara and Fletcher might not," Adonai grinned, "but that would just be because they've secluded themselves up on their mountain. I've only seen them two or three times and they're my cousins."

Arahad chuckled again. "Anyways, I have to get to work - I'll see you two later." And he waved at Cindy and headed up the stairs.

Adonai beckoned for Cindy to follow him. "Come on, you might have to work around some of the children ... it is the playroom, after all. They shouldn't be too bad though, they're good kids, all of them."

He led her into the playroom, and sure enough there were three girls in there. One was playing with the toys from the toybox, and two of them were at the desks, writing or drawing.

Adonai headed over to a cupboard that took up the space of three top shelves of one of the bookcases and opened the door to reveal vials and bottles of things that had come from the other world.

"It looks as though it's been well used," he chuckled, taking down a few near-empty bottles and holding them out to show Cindy.

"Some of it might be," Adonai murmured, taking down more bottles. "There's still a few that are ... rather full ... and it's been nearly thirty years ..."

Of course, it wasn't like the herbs that he knew, that just could be used and made again as needed. These things he assumed would need a bit more preparation than usual.

Adonai nodded. "Usually it's enough just for them to have good food three times a day, and warm clothes," he murmured, "but once in a while there's a case where they need something more."

He picked out some more of the fuller ones and placed them on a lower shelf where Cindy would be able to reach them herself and inspect the ones she wanted.

Adonai nodded. "Perhaps while you're here I could also learn from you about the various medicines that you use, and how they work and why they need to be replaced ... perhaps even how they are made," he suggested. "It would be better for someone here to know as much about them as you do ..."

He paused. "Of course, when Donovan comes, they only go after slavers that are on their way north ... the kids haven't yet been in slavery. It's usually when there is no time limit for the trip that the men will go all the way to the Northland to rescue children that have actually been enslaved. They're always in much worse condition ... and need a lot more healing."