Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ruque smiled and sat down on the floor, careful of the children who were playing.

"I have been studying with her," he said warmly. "With her and Rhea. The three of us have been studying many of the plants here, they are quite different from those in the Seconds' World. It's wonderful working with Cindy ... she really is a wonderful woman. You can be proud of her."

Ruque smiled. "Because by the time you come, you never know what might have happened since the last time you were here," he murmured. "The time here goes so quickly compared to your world ... anything could happen and you would have no idea for ... possibly decades."

He dressed like a punk, looked like a child, but had the wisdom of any adult. He was quite a young man.

He smiled warmly. "I'm sure Grandmama has the same worries about Papa and the rest of us."

Elnara smiled widely. She did. But she had faith that they would be all right. After all, this was the world in which she herself had grown up. She knew what it could be like.

Almost half an hour later, Celebor arrived with Rhea and Cindy in tow. Rhea of course would never let the opportunity pass her by to see Kara - she after all had been the one to first help Rhea control her magic, and Rhea had fond memories of the angel, even if she hadn't seen her much since then.

"Cindy look!" she squealed as they entered the playroom with everyone else. "The babies!"

Twenty five years old now, Rhea was excitable as she had ever been.

Rhea giggled at Kara, holding her staff (which she was now as tall as) in one hand. "You do realize it's been twenty years, nearly," she teased, sounding for a moment almost like her grandfather. Certainly, neither of her parents were so excitable. "But it's wonderful to see you again, Kara. Welcome back." She leaned over and hugged Kara lightly.

Rhea clapped her hands together excitedly. "You're going to have to visit us while you're here!" she beamed. "Mother and Father will be so pleased to see you all!"

Soon it was time for Celebor and Ruque to leave, and they took Corrah and Armus with them. The two would stay with Celebor's family until a cabin could be built for them. It would only be temporary, as it had been decided even before their arrival that a second barracks would be necessary, but it was the best they could do before the winter set in.

As everyone else sat down for dinner, Ahren and Arahad came home as well, and after greeting everyone the two went upstairs to wash. By this time, Ulani had also brought Donovan back inside, and headed home with Ulrich for their own dinner.

"So it looks like quite a trip this time," Elrohir commented as they began to eat. "Week and a half out, at least, and that's banking on good weather. Haradhel, what do you think?"

Haradhel looked out the window at the thin layer of snow on the ground outside. "I didn't smell anything," she said softly, "but I'll do what I can ... though there's only so much I can do."

"How many children is it this time?" Rhea asked curiously.

"Five," Ahren replied. "They don't seem to be taking as many children anymore ... I can only hope that it's a sign they're actually learning, rather than that this is a distraction of some sort to keep us from finding out about a bigger operation of some kind."

"I was thinking," Ahren spoke up hesitantly, looking at his mother, "that perhaps we should send some scouts out ... see what is going on, and find out if there is any activity that we should know about and don't. Find out if this is a diversion or what."

"Suicide mission is what you mean," Elrohir added darkly. "I don't understand these humans ... they don't even have a rebirth to look forward to."

Haradhel was looking at Ahren thoughtfully. "As much as I'm afraid for you," she said softly, "I agree with your idea ... it would be good for us to know for sure whether or not they have another plan, one intended to fool us and circumvent our involvement. And it being your idea, I'm sure you would insist on being the one to go."

"I propose that I take others with me," Ahren nodded. He turned to Donovan. "It would be best to go when you and the others are on a hunt ... though that will leave us nearly defenseless at home."

Rhea frowned at that. "I disagree. Everyone here, with the exception of Mother and the younger children is well able to fight and defend. Just because we don't have a job as a fighter doesn't mean that we can't fight."

She herself was quite proud of her abilities.

Haradhel obviously wasn't too pleased the plan either, but she would be the first to admit that it was necessary.

"So who's going with on the hunt?" she asked. "I suppose from there we can see who can go with on the scouting mission, and from there set up who's going to be defending Haven and the valley."

Since they were two separate areas that needed protecting.

"There are five children that need rescuing, but they have ten men guarding them," Elrohir mused. "So if Donovan goes with Celeborn, Celebor, Timaeus, Haldir, Caranthir and Bronwë, then Ahren can take Arthael, Leith, Boudwin, and Halmir. That leaves me, Arahad, Elberon, Haradhel, Aragost, and the rest of the fighters to split our time between here and the valley, and of course the valley has Ulrich, Ulani, Aliya, Adonijah, Ruran, Ruque, Aras, Kanis, Adanedhel, Rhea, Cindy, Ecthelion, Kadmiel, Adwin and Amdir to take care of the valley."

He paused. "Perhaps the valley can take care of itself, and we can take care of the ranch."

"And Aerin will also be around, once she's found her dragon," Rhea added.