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"I'll be fine, Shael," Aliya smiled reassuringly, though her voice was softer than usual. "I just had to go see Ryu, since he was outside instead of in here. Trust me, though, I'm done with the excitment for today."

Shael nodded and rose to her feet, heading over to Aliya. "Let me put Adonijah to bed for you," she offered. "He's asleep anyways, and you can rest some more, too."

She took the infant from Aliya and carried him carefully down the hall towards the bedrooms. Once she was out of sight, Aliya grinned at Feng and laughed softly.

"Sometimes she's more like Mum than a sister," she giggled. "But it feels good, having someone worrying over me like that. And I know Adonijah's in good hands."



Daeron chuckled at Triton. "Well, she was barely an adult when Uncle Elrohir met her, or so I'm told," he explained. "And of course, Earendil and I were both well into adulthood by then. But aye ... I think Uncle Elrohir's about ... maybe twenty five, thirty years older than her? Something like that. Not that it matters. Still, being gone traveling for so long, it's easy to lose track of everyone. I'm glad I decided to stay here. I don't know for how long, but as far as I know I think I may settle here permanently. I know they need me."



Haradhel shook her head. "I don't know whether he taught her anything about the medicines, but she doesn't take care of them," she replied softly. "She just didn't have the knack for it the way Adonai did ... either that or the reminder was just ..."

She sighed.

"Anyways, Ulani takes care of it now, but since she doesn't really know the medicines either, she's been using magic instead."

Aliya laughed at that. "Indeed, it does," she agreed amusedly. "I swear, if she ever runs off on us I won't be able to have any more kids, I wouldn't be able to cope with everything on my own!"

She giggled again. "At least, that's how I feel. I know Mum's right next door, and she would be more than happy to stay with us, and Amdir of course is a great help ... and now that Sir Leith is here, Amdir doesn't have to work as hard, he can be home more often, and he always likes to help out wherever he can."

A moment later, Shael returned, sitting once more on the couch across from Aliya and Feng. "He's sleeping in the middle of your bed," she murmured to Aliya. "Didn't even stir."



Daeron grinned. "Well, you'll have to come more often then," he chuckled. "Perhaps come on some of the hunts with us. I go with Elros and Celeborn now, it's easier with three. Safer."



Haradhel shook her head once more, but this time she was smiling. "No, the injuries aren't nearly as bad as they were the first time, and they've never been as bad as Shael's leg. Don't worry."

She paused.

"On the other hand ... I don't know if your medicines go bad like food ... but some of them are starting to do more harm than good ..."

"New trainer and fighter," Shael explained for Aliya. "He trained unicorns for the Southland army for several thousand years, and while he's not fond of horses he has agreed to help with the training."

"Claims that the horses here are the only ones he's ever seen that are even worth working with," Aliya said proudly.

"Considering that he's always worked with unicorns prior to this," Shael pointed out, "it would be hard for anything else to even compare. I'm not surprised that he's not fond of horses."

"But he's really nice," Aliya assured Feng, "and quite funny. He joined us last year, just before our trip to the Westland. It was a big relief, it meant that Amdir didn't have to worry so much about missing several weeks of training."



Daeron grinned and held up one finger.

"Not a problem," he chuckled. "You helped me, now its my turn to help you. I can teach you to ride, if you'd like. The horses here are tame and well-tempered, easy to handle. What do you say?"



Haradhel nodded. "To be fair, most of them simply ran out," she amended, "but some of them ... I don't know, it could just be misuse, considering that they didn't start acting strangely until after Adonai was gone ... it was one of the reasons, I think, that Shael stopped acting as healer."

Aliya giggled. "Aye, when there's excitement to be had, you're the one that bounces," she agreed with Feng. "Adan used to, but he's settling down a bit ... though Adwin's starting to. Even Alyse will when she's really excited about something, but you're not likely to see it. She's extremely shy, in case you hadn't noticed before."

Shael smiled and rose to her feet. "I should start on getting dinner ready," she murmured, stepping towards the kitchen. "Feng, do you have any requests? Any favourites?"

Aliya's eyes sparkled. "Tell her if you do," she urged Feng. "She's an amazing cook, I haven't heard of anything she can't make!"



Daeron grinned. "Maybe starting tomorrow then?" he suggested. "Not much time left for it today, or at least not enough to get to the actual riding." They could of course start on just getting used to the horses, getting to know them a bit.



Haradhel nodded. "Well, we can do that now if you'd like," she offered, rising to her feet. "Though ..."

She paused thoughtfully. "Maybe we should leave it for tonight, I should start supper soon ..."

Donovan blinked and realized it was quite late, if there was talk about making dinner and how long had he been sitting here?

"Bugger," he muttered under his breath, a replacement for swearing as he rose from his seat, "I better catch Celeborn quickly otherwise we won't be able to leave tomorrow."

With that he turned tail to head to the barracks.

Feng giggled at that, "Well.... the boys are probably still outside and I'm sure Adan is still playing with Tao."

Under Ryu's supervision of course.

Kara smiled widely, "Hello, both of you."

Triton looked up and waved a bit from where he sat in conversation with Daeron, "I'm not going to get use to the times we end up here, it's always so random to me."

Bouncing off of her seat, Feng nodded at that, it would be good to go get Ryu as well. Besides she wanted to see what the boys had been up to.

"Sure," she grinned impishly.

"Well... actually no, there was this one time, the last time I was at the castle we were there in the middle of the night, probably would have no clue what to do next if your sister had not been up and wandering the labyrinth," Triton admitted.

Though that was the only time he could really recall being there in the middle of the night. Well they had been here late in the evening but at least they hadn't woken anyone up yet.

"The trip was just fine," Kara assured her as she cast a smile at Timaeus, "And yes I have, he is adorable...."

She was glad everything was well in the world, her attention turned to Amdir.

"And I see Arwen found you too."

Ryu noticed after a while they were being watched and turned his head to see Aliya and his sister there once more. He smiled a bit and waved, Tao was being her usual loving self by indulging the boys in rides on her back.

"Time to gather up the kids?" he asked.

Triton couldn't help but wonder what Daeron felt after he and Elnara left growing up. He was painfully aware through his sister that Daeron really did not get along with Ruel, and would not put up for what his father did or had done.

"Ah... yes she was quite forward if I recall," Triton mused, "I haven't been back to the castle since then and everything I hear about there I get second hand from other people."

Kara waved as Arthael left before turning her attention fully to Amdir, "Yes, it's about a pet that I hope can stay with you and Aliya if you're willing. Her name is Tao, and she is a griffin, though admittedly a very attention speaking one at times. She was one that I trained back when I was recruited for a program, but when it closed down I kept her," Kara paused for a moment before continuing, "I heard about Adan, and since Tao is a guardian class griffin she could be of help, she loves kids the only problem is she had been trained to see monsters as a threat and not people for the most part."