Welcome to Gaia! ::

Corazin was not far behind his sister in welcoming the woman, and very quickly Lara was there to push them all out of the way.

"Welcome back," she greeted the woman warmly, kissing her on both cheeks. "By the Valar, Kyrie, it's been two centuries since we've heard from you. We didn't know what had happened!"

The woman grinned and winked. "Took a break from traveling. The rest of the family's doing great, by the way, though Gwen and Khetal are both still living at home."

"Did you get my message?" Lily asked her anxiously.

The woman blinked at Lily. "Message?"

Lara laughed and took the woman by the arm. "Come this way. We have people for you to meet." She ushered the woman into the dining room. "Prince Earendil Aldrich, his wife Lin, their daughter Miyuki and their son, Andarien. Everyone, this is my sister, Kyrie."

"My aunt," Lily added with a grin, "the traveler."

"A pleasure," Earendil said, bowing his head respectfully, though he still wasn't quite recovered from the shock of seeing someone quite like her.

"Thank you," Kyrie smiled back warmly. "It's lovely to meet all of you."

Andarien was still staring at her unblinkingly. "Where's your clothes?" he asked in a hushed tone. He had seen scars before, and they didn't bother him - if they did, Halmir and Arthael would terrify him - but this woman looked like she was in her underclothes!

Earendil was appalled by Andarien's comment, but Kyrie just laughed, not at all taken aback by the question.

"This is it," she grinned, holding her hands up as if showing him. "This is me." She winked. "I know, it's not exactly conventional. But hey, I never have to worry about wearing the same thing as anyone else."

Andarien blinked. "Huh?" He didn't get it.

"Ohhhh," Andarien nodded. "Okay. I get it." He grinned at Kyrie. "You're funny."

Earendil chuckled softly at that.

"Looks like you've got a full table," Kyrie murmured, looking over at Lara. "Are you sure there's room? I could go crash with Luk for dinner instead ..."

Cantor laughed. "Pull up a chair, Kyrie, and don't argue. Luk's place is far fuller than ours is at the moment."

Kyrie sat down at the end of the table, a look of wonder on her face. "Luk's place fuller than this?" she repeated incredulously.

Kyrie was astonished. "His family? His sister?"

She looked at Lara and Cantor. "Leontis and Elysia survived?"

The hosts seated themselves as Corazin entered the room with an extra chair from the kitchen. "A lot has happened since you were last here, Kyrie," Lara replied softly. "Leontis and Elysia are dead ... Elysia survived only long enough to give birth. But she is here now with her family."

"I'll take you to them tomorrow," Lily grinned. "It'll give me another excuse to bug Luk."

"Aunt Kyrie, the Aldriches are looking for a guide to take them around Arkandia," Corazin interrupted before his sister could go on about Luk. "We were all kind of hoping that you would be willing to help them out."

Kyrie tilted her head curiously, and the light caught a large red triangular stone that was attached to a band around her head. "Oh?"

Earendil smiled. "My great-grandmother is Queen of the Southland Elves, back in the Four Lands. I'm on royal commission to map any and all lands that we might encounter on our travels."

He hesitated, then added, "Unfortunately ... we haven't really been receiving good reports about traveling in this land ... it sounds very dangerous."

Kyrie looked at the four of them, her dark eyes thoughtful. She took a few minutes, thinking silently, then leaned forward slightly and clasped her hands on the table in front of her.

"How many of you will there be?" she asked seriously.

Earendil counted in his head. The four of them ... Shiro, Kaito, Daeron, Iorlas, Wren and Lancaeriel ...

"Ten," he said when he was sure he hadn't forgotten anyone.

Kyrie nodded. "Seasoned travelers?" she asked.

"How many can take care of themselves in a fight?" Kyrie asked, looking around at them again.

Earendil pursed his lips. He knew he and Lin were well able, and he knew Miyuki had been working on her quarterstaff skills ... and magic ... though she was still untested. Andarien of course hadn't begun his training, aside from archery, which he still wasn't good at. Wren, though, was a fantastic fighter, as was Daeron. He had no idea about Shiro, but he knew Kaito had taught River to use her bokken.

"More than half of us, anyways," he felt was a safe answer to give at last.

Kyrie nodded again. "Well, I can see you're not cowards, else you'd have already given up the idea of going," she mused. "Yeah, I think it can be done. There's no guarantee of complete safety, you realize. That being said, I've been in every country multiple times, and I'm still here."

Earendil couldn't help but stare at her scars and wonder just where she'd gotten them and how she could consider it safe to still go everywhere.

Kyrie saw where his eyes were pointing and grinned. "Nah, don't worry about my scars. Every single one of them comes from my childhood, long before I ever started traveling. Trust me. It's safe enough."

Kyrie blinked. "Are you in a rush?"

"I'm not!" Andarien piped up anxiously. "I just started learning from Corazin! And we've only been here two weeks! We can't go yet!"

"It is true that we've just recently arrived here," Earendil admitted, "and we still haven't seen all of the city or gotten all of the information that we wanted."

Kyrie nodded slowly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here a year," she requested. "I haven't seen my sister in two centuries. I'd like to spend some quality time with them if you don't mind."

Earendil looked at Lin for her response.

Earendil smiled. "Agreed. There is much here that we can learn. This is a unique place."

"You can say that again," Kyrie agreed.

Lara began to serve the meal, and there was plenty of food to go around, even with all of the extra people there. Of course, two of them had been planned for, but even with Kyrie's arrival there was more than enough to go around.

"Kyrie, forgive me for saying so," Earendil said partway through the meal, "but for you and Lara being sisters, I have to say ... you look absolutely nothing alike."

At least with Luk and Arthael, despite their different skin tones, they had some facial features that were similar; but with Kyrie and Lara they were as different as strangers.

The two women exchanged a look, and both of them grinned. "Well, I was adopted," Kyrie admitted with a chuckle. "Her parents are from the same country as my father was, not that we knew that at the time."