Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nadya leaned against the side of the bridge and looked down with Lin. "I hope so," she smiled wistfully. "I cannot see that far ahead. And what I see does not always come to pass. But I hope so. It is beautiful here, but ... in comparison with the paradise that this place once was, this is a wasteland."

She pushed off from the bridge and began to move forward again. "Come, we're nearly there," she smiled.

Up the river, behind the row of houses for the hired help, a handful of children were playing in the water. Their laughter could be heard softly from where Lin and Nadya were.

"It was very different," Nadya began. "It rained quite often, though not enough to dampen the spirits ... it was perfect. The trees were enormous ... lush and green ... our trouble with the vineyard back then was simply that it was sometimes too wet, and some of the vines would drown. The desert is ironically better for them."

She paused as they reached the edge of the vineyard. "I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the animals, or what kinds of trees," she said apologetically, "but I was very young when the world changed. My parents could tell you more, perhaps at dinner tonight, if you would like."

"We make sure they get water once a day," Nadya replied, "but only in small amounts. What they need most is the sun and heat ... the hotter, the better the yield. Just enough water to keep them from drying out is the best. Come, we can walk through if you'd like."

She started leading Lin between two rows of vines. The vines were growing on a latticework fence in straight rows, and hanging from the vines were bunches of enormous grapes.

"This row is only green grapes," Nadya explained, plucking a few and holding them out to Lin, "but we have rows of red, purple, blue and black grapes as well. They make different kinds of wines. It helps us to keep on top of the market."

Nadya smiled amusedly. "If they're not good to eat, they're not good for wine," she answered. "Go ahead and try them. They're quite sweet." And she herself plucked another grape from the vine and popped it into her mouth. She was fond of grapes (which was fortunate, considering it was almost the only fruit they could get out there). The green weren't her first choice, but she would snack on any of them.

Nadya nodded. "We only sell a small fraction of our wines immediately," she explained. "Most of them are kept for ... sometimes a decade, sometimes two, sometimes longer. Our oldest wine is from the first year after we rebuilt, when I was young. The older the wine, the more it's worth."

She smiled at Senka, then continued on down the row. "The vineyard itself encompasses as much land as the entire city of Tor Karad, if that gives you an idea of how big we are."

Nadya nodded. "I'm the one who keeps track of all that sort of stuff, but it helps that every cask is labeled as soon as it's finished. The type and date when it's made, as well as the date it's to be sold. And we have enough hired help to make sure it all goes smoothly, that's a big help. And thankfully we haven't had any incidents with workers in decades."

She winked at Lin. "Having the entire place run by one of the Princes is a great help, I have to admit."

"Father and Mother are the ones who take the wine out," Nadya replied, "and they're gone quite often. Only now, since it's picking season, will they be home a bit more often. But they go with five or six wagons of wine, depending on where they're going. They take some of the hired help with them of course. The wagons won't drive themselves." She laughed.

Nadya's eyes sparkled. "Is it not always by chance that you come when you do?" she pointed out. "Chance that you are here during picking season, chance that you are here in the winter, and not the summer, when the heat would have been much worse ... there is just as much chance of you meeting them in the Borderlands when you visit there as there is of you meeting them here. Or of missing them all the time, as you do Gion's parents. Every time they come here they mention that they missed another visit from you, either in the Borderlands or in the Eastland."