Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nadya thought for a moment. "Then it was about five years ago that you were there," she concluded. "Perhaps the portal is fluid, and the time different is not static. I know nothing of such things."

She tugged on one of her ringlets, then tucked it behind her ear. "She has been married for a little over a year now, to Lord Elwin, who began as her trainer. No, forgive me, that's not quite correct," she corrected herself. "He joined the court as Estel's counselor, or one of them, and from there became Amora's trainer, and from there ... well, you can see where it led. They are expecting their firstborn ... any day now, actually." She smiled proudly. "It feels so strange ... I'm to be a great-grandmother soon."

Nadya smiled warmly at Lin. "He is," she agreed softly. "Though I doubt Estel will be bringing any more young lords to court for a while. Not until after Elia is grown at least. And no, no more children. They're all doing quite well. Celebrimbor has begun his studies already, a bit earlier than most children do. Pengolodh has a strange fascination for dragons ... odd, considering there haven't been any in the Eastland for over a thousand years. Elia is growing up as beautiful as her sister ... albeit quite a bit taller. Thankfully, Amora seems to be the only one who inherited Gion's stature."

"It is," Nadya agreed warmly. "In this world, so much can change so quickly."

She rose once more and continued on with her work. "So what would you like to do today?" she asked warmly. "You haven't been here before, have you?"

Nadya laughed. That was something she never would have expected to hear from Lin. She was somewhere new and didn't know what to do.

"You could just explore," she offered in amusement. "Or if you'd like I could take you around. As soon as the dishes are done, I have nothing to do until it's time to prepare lunch. At least, nothing that can't wait."

Nadya smiled. "I would like that very much," she said warmly. "Just give me a moment and I'll be ready. Do you need anything?"

She set the rest of the dishes into the basin and poured water over them from the pitcher, then dried her hands on a towel that was on the counter and watched Lin patiently.

Nadya smiled and nodded. "Then let's go," she said warmly. "You just tell me what you'd like to see first. Or, if you prefer, I could simply give you a tour ... we're bound to run into some of the others on the way."

She led Lin out of the kitchen, through the living room, and outside. From the porch, a row of houses were visible to the east, the vineyard proper to the northeast, the buildings to the north, and to the northwest were the horses. There was much more than just that, of course, but that was the basic overview.

Nadya smiled and nodded. "This way, then," she said softly, stepping off the porch. The path upon which they walked was gravel, another oddity in the desert, but a remnant of when the plantation had been built, when it had all be forest. "Those houses down there," Nadya pointed out, "are where the hired help live. Most of them, at least. There are a few that choose to sleep in the other buildings. Some choose to sleep outside. With no rain, there's no reason for them not to, really."

She led Lin down the path. Stumps at the sides of the path spoke of the size of the trees that had once grown there, but they were all gone now, and there seemed to be almost no shade in sight. They came to a bridge that went over the river, and Nadya pauses momentarily in the middle of it and looked down at the river wistfully. "When I was a child," she murmured, "we could dive into the water ... now it's barely deep enough to swim in. Its source is in the mountain to the north, which is the only reason why it still exists ..."