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"Actually," Ulani replied with a short laugh, "she's always like this. It's just the way she is. I mean, yes, it's something different for her to see someone like you ... but on the other hand, she's off looking for more wood, right?"

She shrugged.

"We can only hope that someday she might settle down a bit."

"The mermaid, right?" Ulani asked curiously, moving to the chest in the corner of the room and opening it up. She started pulling out some articles of clothing and set them on the table.

"Your mother told us a bit about her, I think," she went on thoughtfully, "and Elnara and Lore as well ... I still find the concept odd, though. Fish from the waist down?"

Finally she took out a sewing kit and set that on the table as well before sitting down herself.

"I suppose it would make more sense if I'd seen her once," she concluded. "But until then ..."

She shrugged.

Ulani laughed and set out a torn tunic, then got a needle and a spool of thread and began sewing.

"Aliya would love to have visitors," she smiled. "Especially visitors as energetic as she is. Adonai? Well ... he's just shy. It looked as though the two of you two were getting along well, though. That's impressive."

"Only if you want to," Ulani replied with a smile. "I'm used to doing all of the mending. Aliya can do it when she has to, but I'm afraid it's not her forte. She's a fair cook, but when it comes to mending and cleaning?"

She shook her head.

"The biggest trouble is, she's the one that gives me the most work to do," she added with a good-humoured smile. "She's harder on her clothes than her father is, and I used to think he was bad."

"Then by all means," Ulani smiled gratefully, "go right ahead." She set down her own work and brought out a second needle and spool of thread, then set a pair of scissors onto the table next to it.

"It's mostly just holes in the seams," she said, putting the pile of attention-needing clothes between the two of them, "but if you find anything that needs patching, just toss it onto the chest. I'll worry about that sort of thing on a later date."

Ulani thought about it carefully for a few moments, then replied slowly, "I think ... two or three times a month. Depending on the month. Say ... every four weeks or so, it piles up. It's almost as bad as laundry, except that it takes so much longer to do."

She laughed softly. "Ah, well, it's nice to have more to do again. I swear, the past thousand years or so ..."

She trailed off, smiling.

"I can't say as I blame them," Ulani agreed. "For my part, it's sometimes very difficult to get Aliya to stay still while I measure her, and sometimes I wonder if it's even worth making her new clothes - she always outgrows them again in a few months."

She sighed, but it was a happy sigh. "She's growing so quickly lately ... I think she's going to end up taller than either Ulrich or I."

"Oh, I know," Ulani agreed cheerfully. "After all, I may be more Westlander than Southlander, but physically I'm a Southlander. The Westlanders are taller than us, in general, so I'm used to being shorter than almost everyone I know."

She paused. "Of course ... now that most of the people I see are from the Southland, or from your world, I suppose I was sort of getting used to not feeling short anymore." She laughed.