Welcome to Gaia! ::

For the first time since Cindy had begun teaching Rhea, the girl was not paying close attention to what her teacher was saying. She was simply too distracted by the myriad of magicks that she could feel coursing through her body and being absorbed into her. Whisper rebuked her several times, as had Cindy, but at the most Rhea could only appear to pay attention, hearing only about half of what she was being told.

"This is the reason you have your staff, you know," Whisper reminded Rhea, licking one paw. "So that you don't absorb too much. Who knows what else you're taking in besides just abilities?"

Caranthir looked around the inn as he and Triton arrived back, his eyes scanning the guests anxiously, searching for his partner. He didn't see her, however, and though his smile remained, his eyes reflected his disappointment - and even anxiety.

Caranthir stood next to Cindy and smiled down at her. "I beg your pardon," he said politely, "but ... do you know if Aerin has returned yet?"

If not, he wasn't sure if he would be able to wait around. His worry was evident in his tone, and he didn't even try to hide it, even though his smile never wavered.

Rhea looked at Caranthir intently. "Did she go somewhere dangerous?" she asked quietly, settling down for quite possibly the first time that day.

Caranthir nodded, his smile lessening slightly.

"Thank you," he said softly, "I'll leave you alone."

He glanced at Rhea, almost as if he were trying to gauge her and figure out just how much she knew and about what, then headed off towards the corner table where Aerin had been sitting when they group had first been introduced to the two.

Rhea looked over at Cindy and blinked. "It was just a question ..."

"He's worried about her," Rhea replied softly, staring across the room at the man. "Not like how Mama worries when I go outside to play, but ... how she worries when Papa goes out into the mountains all by himself. Like ... like he's expecting something bad to happen to her."

She turned to Cindy, her eyes anxious. "Do you think she went somewhere bad?"

Rhea wasn't sure that made any sense at all. "It was just a question," she pointed out, confused. "What's wrong with asking a question?"

Of course, she was used to being around people who not only understood her, but who had known her for her whole life (or a good part of it, in Cindy's case), and so her incredible understandings rarely confused them.

Rhea shrugged. "Maybe. He looked worried. And he sounded worried too. And he kept looking around for her even though he was asking you if you saw her."

Perhaps she would not have noticed so much without her gift, knowing already how he was feeling, but still, the clues had been there, even if they had been subtle.

Rhea blushed and lowered her eyes, feeling rather self-conscious for the first time in her life. She had never thought about the idea that she might make people feel a bit uneasy ... but what else could she do? She wanted to know where Aerin was ...

"Maybe I should have waited until she got back and then asked her instead," she mumbled, feeling bad now for upsetting Caranthir.

Rhea smiled up at Cindy, her cheeks still a light shade of red. "So I have to be careful what kinds of questions I ask?" she asked hesitantly. But how would she know what questions were safe, and which ones weren't? After all, she was just a child ... growing up, certainly, but still a child.