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Shael smiled faintly at Kara.

"I would say that it was more than a close call," she murmured softly. "I died ... there simply is no other way to say it." She shook her head slowly. "I died ... I was never meant to have children. Something happened to me when I was with the dwarfs ... Aragost knows what it was, naturally, but he will not tell me, and for that I am grateful. Unfortunately, I was so desperate for a child that I did not care what happened to me. Aragost said he might have a way for me to conceive ... and I went with him."

She bit her lip softly. "I do not know about your world," she said, looking at Kara once more, "but I do know that in the Seconds world, your world," she turned her gaze to Feng and Ryu, "you have beings called goddesses ... that is as far as I know the nearest equivalent to our Valar. Aragost took me to meet with the Valie Yavanna, who is ..." She trailed off, trying to think of the English.

"She is the Giver of Fruits," Haradhel finished for Shael. "The fruit of the field, the fruit of the earth, and the fruit of the womb."

Shael nodded. "She it was who gave me the ability to have a child," she said quietly, "and she it was who saved me from death ..."

"And thus it is that Rhea is the way she is," Aliya concluded. "She has the gift of flight, the beautiful wings of the Valar, and like Lady Yavanna she can make spring no matter where she goes ... and these are only in addition to the gifts of magic she inherited from both Adonai and Shael."

"I only wish she knew more how to control her magics," Shael frowned. "She is extremely intelligent, but working magic is difficult for anyone ... and she has more than I have ever heard of anyone having."



Adonai smiled back at Miyu and then, still keeping an eye on the children, he returned to his work.

Rhea sighed and returned to her note taking, though she would still occasionally glance over her shoulder at her father to see if he was still watching her. Once she had finished writing what she wanted, she looked curiously at Miyu and Toshiro.

"Can you two fly with your wings?" she asked them quietly, her tone a little wistful. "Or Kara? Can she?"

"I wish I could help her," Shael smiled faintly, "but I haven't got the faintest idea where to begin."

"Kara's a teacher of magic," Aliya winked. "What do you think, Kara? Maybe spend a bit of time with Rhea while you're here? Help her out if you can?"

Shael's eyes grew excited and she turned to Kara eagerly. "Will you? I know she's capable of more magic than anyone else I've ever met - with the possible exception of Aragost of course - but I fear she will never be able to use it all if she doesn't have someone to help her ..."



Rhea smiled at Toshiro and Miyu, but her smile was a sad one.

"I wish I could," she murmured wistfully. "Papa says maybe someday, but I don't know. It's really hard ..."

Adonai looked over at the children, then set his pen down and rose from his seat. He padded softly over to Rhea, then put one hand on her head and knelt down beside her.

"I'm sure of it," he murmured with a warm smile. "Someday, Rhea, you will fly beautifully. It will just take practice and hard work." He slipped his arms around her and drew her close for a tight hug. "You'll see."

Shael smiled widely. "I would be very grateful," she said softly. "Anything to help her ... she finds it so difficult sometimes, to know that she is capable of so much and yet able to do so little ... growing flowers is all that she can do so far, though other things like her wings have manifested as well."

The girl grew more frustrated by the day, and Shael wished more than anything that she could help her daughter. Even Adonai, with all of his knowledge, could do nothing for her.

"Shall we ask her if she's interested?" she smiled at Kara. "I think she and the other children went to visit Adonai."


Rhea hugged her father back and snuggled into his chest, then looked over at Miyu again.

"Then I'll just have to work hard at it," she nodded. "And someday my wings won't disappear without me wanting them to ... sometimes they do that, so I guess it wouldn't be good for me to fly right now anyways."

Shael nodded and rose from her seat again, then beckoned to Kara. "This way," she motioned, heading towards the doorway in the back of the room.


Adonai chuckled softly. "Well, you don't have to fly high when you're learning how," he reminded them. "You could simply be a few feet above the ground, and then if anything happens it's no worse than falling off a swing."

"And yet the smaller you are," Adonai challenged Toshiro, "the further you can fall without getting hurt. Think of it this way: if an ant falls from a tree - even if it were to fall from the sky - it would not be hurt at all. It would simply hit the ground and walk away. And yet if you were to drop a horse from the same height - or a person - they would likely break every bone in their body, and almost certainly die. I'm not saying that surprise seconds would be fine after a long fall, but a few feet certainly wouldn't hurt them, I'm sure."

Rhea blinked. "What's a surprise second?"

Shael led Kara over to the other room, pausing only momentarily in the doorway. She smiled softly, seeing Adonai hugging Rhea - she wouldn't be surprised if Rhea wasn't letting go of him, she did seem to love hugs from her father.

"Rhea," she called, "can you come here a moment?"

Rhea looked up, surprised at her mother's presence, then hopped off her father's lap and ran over to her and Kara. "Yes, Mama?"

Shael put one hand on Rhea's shoulder and looked at Kara, nodding for her to go ahead.

Adonai smiled at Toshiro. "Everything in moderation," he murmured. "And you will continue to learn as you grow older. If it were so easy to learn all that there is to know, what would be the point in living? Life is for learning new things, for meeting new people."

Rhea's hazel eyes grew wide with awe, and her jaw dropped wide open.

"Really?" she squealed, clapping her hands together. "You can do that for me?" She threw her arms around Kara's waist and hugged her tightly. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Once again, the blue sparkles began to appear and congregate around her back.

Adonai raised one eyebrow at Toshiro.

"Do you believe that even Shiro can learn everything that there is to know?" he asked. "He can read every book there is, but there are many things in every world that have not yet been discovered, or explained, and he will never lose the opportunity to learn and grow, just like anyone else. The only difference with him is that he has been blessed with the opportunity to remember the things that he learns, while everyone else will forget most of what they learn."

Rhea blinked and looked over her shoulder, and she was entirely surprised to see the sparkles just before they vanished once more.

"So that's how they come out when they're not supposed to!" she exclaimed. She grinned sheepishly up at Kara. "It's a good thing for me to know, because I'm not allowed to let them out in the house, I knock too many things over and then they break and then Mama and Papa get upset sometimes ..."

She paused. "Well ... depending on what it is," she amended.