Welcome to Gaia! ::

Niyana laughed softly. "My husband, Celebor, is an elf. Ruque, who you saw a moment ago, is half elven. But those of every race are welcome here without bias or fear."

She smiled at Cindy. "Ruque tells me you are looking for some things for Vergil. What did you have in mind?"

Niyana nodded. "Well, we do have a few toys," she murmured thoughtfully, "but it's a question of if the children are willing to part with them. When Celebor and I received the vases, I made each of them a small stuffed dragon ... I think they all still have them somewhere or other." She thought for a moment again and then added, "Perhaps when the girls return I could ask them."

Niyana laughed. "Well, there's always something to do. Clothes to mend, dinner to prepare, floors to clean ... though since you live with Shael and Adonai, I suppose you would have more free time. I know Shael likes to do those sorts of things herself."

She smiled. "I can take a quick look, if you like," she offered. "I can't promise I'll find anything, but I can try."

Niyana nodded. "I'll be right back then," she smiled. She turned and headed down the hallway once more.

As she headed off, Ruque appeared once more, a small wooden bowl in hand. "Cindy," he murmured, "if you have a moment, would you mind looking at this? I've been doing a bit of experimenting with this femlas plant, and I'm not sure but I think I may have found a way to make it into a proper sleeping draft rather than needing to make tea with it all the time ..."

Ruque held the bowl out to her. It was about half full of a dark green liquid that smelled sweet and minty. "I ... I'm not sure," he admitted. "I don't know who to test it on, or how to test it. I was only working on extracting it. But how would we test it? If it's not safe to test it on people, what if it has a long-lasting effect on them?"

It was the one thing that always bothered him, testing his experiments. He couldn't bring himself to try them out on people or animals, and thus much of his work ended up going to waste.

"I tried one drop last night when I couldn't sleep," he added as an afterthought, "and it helped me to sleep, but I don't know how much more would be safe. This is about one cup, by my measurement, and it took about six whole plants - thirty six leaves - to extract that much. So it's probably very powerful."

"So what then?" Ruque asked her. "Perhaps if we dilute it in water, make it into a drink? Though despite the minty taste, I can't see that being very good ..."

He frowned. The idea of mint water didn't appeal to him. He wasn't even very fond of the tea, though he himself had needed it a time or two.

Ruque nodded throughout Cindy's explanation, and when she held up her fingers, he nodded again. "And make sure no more than a drop at a time," he chuckled. "Otherwise I'll give Mama a heart attack."

He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Do you think I should ask Adonai what he thinks?" he asked curiously. "I know he's done a bit of experimenting himself. Not that I doubt you, but it's just best to have more theories to work with - after all, you never know."

Ruque nodded. "I'll put this in a vial so that it's safe, and then I'll go ask him," he decided. "Thanks. I'll probably see you when I come, if you're going straight home after this. See you then!"

And he headed down the hall, just as Niyana was returning.

"I'm sorry," Niyana said apologetically as she came back, "but the children were all grown to child before we came here ... I'm afraid we don't have anything for a surprise. If you'd like, I can take his measurements and make some clothes for him ..."

Vergil was a little iffy about that idea. "Will they be like Ruque's?" he asked suspiciously.

Niyana laughed. "They can be like whatever you want."

Vergil thought about it a moment. "Well, I guess that doesn't sound too bad," he commented.