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No one else there had ever met him of course.

"Why do you say that?" Haradhel asked Elnara curiously. "Who was he?"

Elnara helped Garrick to feed himself. "Ulrich and Ulani's son," she replied quietly. "He was killed ... I don't know, perhaps a few decades before the ranch was begun. I think perhaps a decade before Aliya was born. He was an assassin. He would have been the perfect one to go about on his own, taking people out without anyone else realizing they were gone. Stealing back children one at a time. He would have been excellent at that."

Elnara turned to look at Lore. "We should make sure to pay them a visit while we're here," she said softly. "It's been such a long time ..."

And perhaps they could spend a few days with Celebor's family. Sure, Celebor wouldn't be there, but that didn't make them any less family. Or they could wait until Celebor returned and then spend a few days with them.

Rhea glanced out the window. "We should be getting back, Cindy," she said softly, "it's quite dark out now, and I think it might be starting to snow ..."

Rhea stood as well and reached out to take her staff from the wall. "Thank you for dinner, Haradhel, it was lovely. I imagine I'll see you in a day or so. Good night, everyone!"

The others called out a general good night, and Rhea headed to the hall to grab her cloak from the abnormally full row of hooks.

Elnara smiled at Kara. "They've all grown so much," she murmured. "You should have seen Celebor's children when they were younger ... they've all changed so much ..."

Haradhel rose from her seat. "You all go ahead and eat your fill," she told the others. "I've got to get more food ready before the morning, now that there will be a second group heading out."

"I'll help," Arahad offered, moving to join his mother. "It's not like I'll be one of the ones going anywhere, so it's all right if I don't sleep much tonight."

Garrick and Hana thankfully were at the age where they could be put to bed, so Elnara offered to help Haradhel with the preparations once the twins had been tucked in.

Elrohir smiled at Miyu as she came in. "Welcome," he told her warmly. "It's been a while since we've seen you. Did you enjoy your afternoon with Aragost?"

Elrohir nodded and looked towards the window. "Rhea said that it was starting to snow, which was why she and Cindy had to leave," he said softly. "But hopefully it won't be much, and we won't have trouble with the hunt."

He turned towards Ahren, who was still sitting at the table. "But you should probably get to sleep," he nodded. "You're going to be leaving in the morning as well, once you gather the people you want to take with you."

Ahren nodded. "Right. Good night then." He nodded a good night to everyone, and then headed towards the stairs.

"Good night," the others replied to Donovan; and then Elrohir turned to Miyu. "There are two parties leaving tomorrow on different trips, and so there's a lot of food to prepare," he told her. "Haradhel, Arahad and Elnara will be working on that ... though I'm sure if you want to help they won't stop you."

After all, she was old enough, she had no children of her own to take care of, and she wasn't going anywhere the next day so the lack of sleep wouldn't be that big a problem for her.

"I on the other hand have the distinct pleasure of going around and telling some people that they're also going on a trip," he muttered, "even though they weren't expecting it."

He headed towards the door.