Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Ah, I see," Lex nodded. "Ah well, I'll see her later then ... though it's nearly dinner time, I should be getting in anyways. Why don't we all go in? It's going to be dark soon anyways."

"Yes!" Lothiriel clapped her hands together. "And we can have the cookies that me and Mama made this morning! And then Uncle Lore can tell me a bedtime story! Will you, Uncle Lore? Please?"

And she tugged on his sleeve and looked up at him, her eyes wide and pleading.

Seeker clapped her hands excitedly. "Yay!" she giggled, and then she took his hand again. "Come on, let's go back to the house!" she urged him eagerly. "I'm hungry, Nako said she was going to make a big dinner!"

Gion chuckled silently. Sorry, he signed to Lore, his eyes sparkling with amusement. She's quite excitable and bursting with energy, no matter what she does. I don't think I've ever seen her tucker herself out.

Seeker grinned up at Lore. "Celebor's my cousin, right? What's he like? Can I meet him sometime? Can you take him here the next time you come? Can you take my other cousins too? I have a bunch of cousins, but I've never met any of them, or any of my uncles or anything, but I have Mama and Papa and Galdor and Neko and Nako and Grandmother and everyone else who lives here too, and there are a lot of people that live her, so I'm not lonely or anything, but I still think it would be nice to meet some of my cousins. Are they little like me? Sometimes I think I see some of them but I never know for sure because I've never met them before so I don't know what they look like for sure ..."

Lothiriel's eyes lit up. "Or maybe if I'm bigger first then I can come and visit him!" she exclaimed. "Papa says that time goes faster here than it does in your world, so I might be grown up first!"

As they came to the river, she ducked around the bridge and slid carefully down the bank, dipping her feet in the water.

Gion frowned, but he couldn't say anything, and she wasn't looking at him so he couldn't sign or write in the air.

"Lothiriel!" Lex called out sharply in Gion's stead. "Out of the water!"

Galdor wandered across the bridge casually, his hands in his pockets. "Now you're going to have to wash before dinner," he murmured.

Lothiriel shook her head and climbed back up to the path, frowning softly. "No, thanks," she murmured. "I just wanted to cool down a bit is all ..."

Gion frowned severely at his daughter, then brought up his hands and signed, You know better than to go in the water before dinner. If you want to swim you have to make sure you don't have anything else to do first. Your brother's right, now you have to wash up before you can eat.

And of course the rest of them would wait for her, since it was only polite.

"Seeker, dear, why don't you run ahead and go wash up?" Lex suggested. "That way we won't have to wait as long for you."

Lothiriel sighed in an exaggerated manner, then nodded. "Okay," she agreed, and she ran across the bridge and towards the house. "I'll see you at dinner!" she called over her shoulder, waving at the rest of the group as she headed off.

Gion grinned, his features softening once more.

She really is quite wonderful, he assured Lore, she's just an energetic child, and sometimes she needs to be reminded of things she already knows. She's quite well behaved most of the time.