Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lothiriel laughed and rose slowly to her feet, still holding Miyu's hand and reaching out for Lin's.

"It is a good habit to have," she smiled at Lin. "Don't let anyone stop you. Ever."

She grinned at the girls. "Now, which of you young ladies would like to escort me inside to meet my aunt and cousins?"

"Sounds like a plan," Lin agreed, "Besides, it's too late to go anywhere else, we wouldn't be out for that long anyhow."

She opened the door that led inside and motioned for the others to go in ahead of her.

Miyu followed, she was sure everyone should be in the living room unless dinner was being prepared. She knew that her grandfather had returned earlier from talking with Celeborn, so he should be here.

It had been a while since they came here.

Almost immediately there was the pitter-patter of tiny feet as a very small, two-year-old Arahad skittered out of the playroom to meet their guests. Young though he was, he already had Haradhel's tall characteristics and thin features.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" he giggled, bouncing off one of the walls and falling to his bottom. "Hi!"

"Arahad!" Arwen's voice rang out from the playroom. "Be careful! You're going to hurt yourself!"

And then she emerged from the playroom, smiling at their guests. "Welcome back," she said warmly to all three of them. "It's been a while."

She had also grown quite a bit during Lin's absence, and had inherited her parents' height. Now twelve years old, she was taller than Lothiriel, and her hair fell in loose waves to her knees. She was also beginning to fill out in her chest, looking more mature than she had used to. She was far calmer than she had used to be as well - walking normally instead of bouncing everywhere, speaking calmly instead of just about shouting everything she said.

Lin looked up at Arwen, which she always had to do before, but now it was even more so. She grinned, Arwen had grown big, naturally, but so had her hair in length. If Feng saw that hair... she would squeal, Lin was sure of it.

"Hi Arwen."

"Arahad," Arwen frowned, bending over to pick up her little brother, "stop it! You're scaring Miyu!"

He held him with her arm round his stomach, balancing him on her hip.

"Come on," she grinned at the others as he brother tried to wiggle out of her grasp. "Dinner's just about ready, everyone else is getting ready to sit down."

She motioned for them to follow her to the dining room.

Since lunch was more of a snack, Lin was hungry, which was good because it was always akward to be hungry when everyone else was. Besides her Daddy really did not like her playing with her food.

"Yay! Okay," she followed after Arwen into the dining room.

Sure enough people were already taking a seat, Donovan had finished talking to Celeborn and was at the moment listening to what the women were chatting about. He wasn't much of a talker to begin with, and he was just as happy to let Kara talk.

Haradhel, looking once again as she always had, very tall and overly thin, was chatting happily with Kara, finding out all the news of what had been happening in Gaia and in return telling Kara about all of the many more things that had been happening there at the ranch.

Always the proud mother, she had already bragged about Arahad for a while, and then she had proceeded to give her view on the matter of Adonai and Haradhel (happy but as surprised as everyone else), and now they were just talking about life in general.

When the others entered the dining room, she looked up from her conversation and smiled warmly at the three girls.

"Welcome back, Miyu and Lin," she said cheerfully. Then she turned her attention to the older woman. "And you must be Lothiriel ... welcome. I'm your Aunt Haradhel."

Adan and Ahren were sitting at the table, already starting to reach for the food that had been set in the middle.

Elrohir walked in just then from the direction of the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks the moment he saw Lothiriel, his eyes wide, and his jaw dropped in shock.

"By the Valar," he breathed. "You look exactly like your mother ..."