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"It does," Adonai agreed, "but it would be even better if we knew the rest of it. I don't know. Mother left with my aunt for three years, and all I know after that is that it took still another two years for them to get married. Doesn't make much sense in my mind, but ..."

He shrugged.

"Maybe it's just me."

"Of course," Adonai added, sipping his ale once more, "I never did ask them. Odd, considering how many other questions I ask, about everything."

Suddenly the door to the other room burst open and Rhea ran in, her hair in two long braids and wearing nothing but her nightdress. Her hair was still dripping water, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I'm all clean!" she cried gleefully. "And nice and warm, too!"

She ran around the table and crawled up into Adonai's lap, then grinned across at Cindy. "You going to get all warmed up too?" she asked brightly. "With a nice hot bath?"

"I sure did!" Rhea beamed. "And Mama even let me use just a tiny bit of magic and she let me make it rain in the tub!"

She giggled and raised her hands, fingers dangling to show Cindy. "Just like this! Not a whole lot, just a sprinkle!"

Rhea giggled. "Maybe sometime in the summer we can go swimming in the river," she suggested eagerly, "and then I can show you there! Because the bathtub isn't big enough for both of us to take a bath together," she added seriously. "Otherwise I could show you in there ..."

She was still an innocent child, after all, and to her there was nothing wrong with taking a bath with other girls.

"We're not very big, neither of us," Rhea agreed, "but it's not a very big tub."

"And speaking of little," Adonai put in, poking Rhea on the nose, "you're supposed to be doing your studies now that you're all warmed up."

Rhea giggled and looked up at her father. "Can I have some of your drink first?" she asked innocently.

With a chuckle, Adonai held the cup for her to take a sip. Once she'd had enough, Rhea slipped off his lap and ran down the hall towards the study.

Adonai raised one eyebrow at Cindy.

"You've been with us for a few weeks already," he chuckled, "and you still think that this will tire her out ... well, I can only hope that you are right."

Just then, Shael came out of the next room, her clothes just as wet as Rhea's hair.

"One of these days she'll have a bath where the water actually stays in the tub," she laughed good-naturedly as she moved to join Adonai and Cindy at the table. She had a towel in hand and was trying to dry herself off with it, though she wasn't having much luck at the moment.

Shael grinned at Cindy. "Give me a few minutes to get some energy back and then I will," she chuckled softly. "I think she steals her energy from me - every time I try to give her a bath or teach her or something, I end up exhausted and she has even more energy than when we started."

Adonai looked thoughtful at the suggestion. "You know," he murmured softly, looking intently at his wife, "you just might have something there ..."

Adonai leaned forward and held his hands around his mug, looking at Shael and Cindy seriously.

"Cindy," he said quietly, "Rhea told me that when you showed her your potions on the first day you were here, she shook one up and it made a bright light ... and when she touched it she could make light, too. When your mother was here, when she taught Rhea how to make her magic take a visible form even when it wasn't doing anything or being used for anything, Rhea had no trouble with it. She speaks as many languages as Shael, studies as much as I do, has more energy than anyone around her ..."

Shael was startled. "Do you think she might be an empath?" she asked.

Adonai nodded. "When the group of hunters returned with the children, she caught only a glimpse of Timaeus, yet she knew more clearly than anyone else exactly how he felt and what he was thinking. She's six years old, Shael, children that young can't understand that much of other peoples' emotions, especially after only a brief glance at them."