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"Don't say it like that, Mother," Haradhel laughed. "I'm not that bad. I told them about Adonijah, they obviously know about me, they've met Arwen, they'll meet Ahren as soon as he and Elrohir come home for dinner ... what else is there?"

She paused, suddenly thinking of something. She glanced over at the others. "Did I mention about Adonai?"

"Adonai," Elnara murmured softly, thoughtfully. "Ulani and Ulrich's son ... right? I haven't met him ..."

Then again, there were probably dozens of people here that she hadn't met. He was probably just the only one (other than Aliya's family and of course Ahren, who just hadn't come inside yet) that she hadn't yet met and was related to.

"Well ... it's not that something happened to him," Haradhel murmured evasively, "it's just that ... he left. No warning, just up and left one day. No one knows where he went or why, or when he might be back ... apparently all he told Shael was that there was something he needed to do and that he was leaving her in charge of his duties here."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "A little ... callous, if you ask me, but ... he's been acting quite strangely for a long time already."

Aliya nodded and smiled faintly, her cheeks slightly pale.

"Yes ... a week yesterday, so he's seven days old," she agreed softly. "I guess I just felt so good after my nap this afternoon that I thought I was ready for more ... he was my easiest delivery, so I've been feeling stronger in general ... but still, it's very easy to overdo it ..."

Her hand was beginning to get a little tired from patting Adonijah on the back for so long, and she peered down at him to see what was taking so long for him to burp. She giggled softly when she saw - he was fast asleep once more.

Suddenly the front door opened and Shael stepped in silently, her long hair flowing freely today, swishing around her long skirt, and nearly the same length. She smiled when she saw Feng, closing the door softly behind herself, then moved to join the two women on the couch.

"Hello, Feng," she smiled warmly, taking a seat across from the two of them. "It's good to see you again. How have you been?"




Daeron chuckled. "Well, we neither of us are much for the palace, I think," he smiled. "I find myself much more comfortable in the woods, though I think I've had enough of travel for a while. I thought about settling down with a wife, but the trouble is that despite my wide travels, I haven't found anyone I wanted to settle down with. Then the last time I was home, I heard about what your father was doing here, and I decided that I would join."

He paused thoughtfully. "Exactly ... how long ago was it for you, that I last saw you? I was what, four years old? How long ago has it been for you?"

Feng squealed and leaped forward to hug Shael, she had grown up so much since the last time she saw the girl! Well, no longer a girl Feng thought to herself as she wrapped her arms around Shael's shoulders. Shael was a woman now, and where had the time gone?

"Shael!"

Triton thought about it, it had been long but he knew no where near as long as it had been for Daeron, which was the very strange thing about all of this.

"Well over a year now," Triton replied with a pause, "Yes.. it had been, because we came back shortly before Celebor was born and Celebor is over a year old now."

"I've... never met her, but I've been told about her," Cindy replied.

Since she did keep track of things with her mother, as best as she could at any rate.

"I know how she ended up here, and what happened after wards, but I do not know her as a person."

Haradhel nodded, but she wasn't smiling.

"Shael is a wonderful young woman," she murmured. "When she first arrived, she was a wreck ... and having nowhere to go, Ulani and Ulrich adopted her. It was a chance thing, really, considering that Elrohir and I could have taken her in just as easily, but ... anyways, at first, she and Adonai got along excellently. For many years, as a matter of fact. Adonai ... truly treated her like a younger sister, he taught her to read and write, the history of our land, how to shoot, how to identify plants, different kinds of rocks ..."

She sighed. "They really were inseparable. But over the past few years, Adonai ... seems to have been pushing her away, trying to avoid her sometimes, being short tempered with her ... no one knows what's going on, but Shael would just take it all in stride, say that that's just the way he is, even when it seemed he would no longer accept her as his sister. Ulani and Ulrich spoke to him about his actions, but nothing changed. If anything, it grew worse, until finally one day, he just announced that he was going to leave for a while, do a bit of traveling. He didn't say where, or why, or what he was doing, or how long he was going to be gone ... he just left. And of all things, he left about four weeks after Aliya discovered that she was pregnant again."

Now her annoyance was evident in both her tone and her face. "It made no difference to him. He just ... left. And no one has heard from him since."

Of course, she was willing to bet that Aragost would know where he was and what he was doing ... but he would never tell.

Shael giggled softly, though it didn't sound like a normal giggle ... it was more mature, more like a half laugh half giggle.

"Well, however old I was, it was a very long time ago," she said amusedly. "And to be fair, we still don't know exactly how old I am, do we?" She laughed again, completely unbothered by the fact.

"Good news, though," she added brightly. "No more crutches for me! I haven't used crutches in several years now, haven't gotten tired or anything at all!"

"It helps that you've been eating well and exercising it properly," Aliya put in with a smile. "The two best ingredients for recovering from injuries."

Shael smiled at Aliya, but then her smile suddenly turned into a frown. "You're pale," she said in an accusative tone. "You've been doing more than you should again, haven't you?"



Daeron chuckled again. "Well, I'm sure you didn't know that I'm four years older than Aunt Haradhel," he pointed out to Triton. "Which means that she was born the year that you rescued me from the slavers."

How was that for a twist.

"Even Earendil is older than her," he added, raising one eyebrow and glancing in his aunt's direction.

Feng looked at Aliya and realized that she indeed was paler than usual, though that's what happens when friends visited when she should be resting.

"Well.. .we had a bit of excitement today," Feng admitted, "But really I'm sure with a bit of rest Aliya-chan will be better."

At least she assumed Aliya hadn't been doing anything before she knocked on the door.

Triton looked between the two, though he had to admit after one reached a certain age it was more or less impossible to tell how old they were compared to each other.

"Really?" he mused on this, "I wouldn't have realized at all, not that I'm surprised about the not realizing part, but I didn't realize she was that young."

Cindy mused she had to admit that would be true, and yet... she had to wonder. It was a real pity Adonai was not here, otherwise she would ask him herself, but he wasn't and so she could not ask.

"Well... he had been very shy growing up and if he doesn't go to the ranch that often, I would suppose he doesn't know how to handle things like that very well along with other people. He probably just thinks differently, I'm sure it is a good reason and when he is ready he'll be back. Is Shael having any trouble with the medicines? I... taught Adonai, and I don't know if he taught her, well he must have seeing as he trusted her to help..."