Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ulani laughed. "Aren't we just special?" she grinned.

While Aurin and Aerin were reuniting, Earendil edged up to Lin and nudged her gently. "Hey, um ... who are all these people?" he asked her, eying Ulani curiously.

Once everyone had been introduced and/or reunited, the group split up: Aurin, Rhea and Aerin stayed with Shael and Adonai while the rest of them (Earendil, Lin, Leyenda, Kelirahc, Amalirahc, and Haldia) headed off towards the ranch to meet the rest of the people.

On the way of course was Timaeus and Alyse's house. It had changed since the last time anyone from Gaia had visited: instead of being completely surrounded by woods, a large clearing had been made, and now there was a large garden. There were two girls working in the garden, both with light chocolate skin, one with black hair, the smaller one blond.

"Who is that?" Earendil asked as they passed, nodding in their direction.

Almost as if she had heard her name, Jasmine looked up and spotted the group of visitors. She was about to return to her work when suddenly she realized two things: first, that she had never seen most of those people before, and second, that three of them had skin darker than hers.

She stared, then said something to the smaller girl, and the smaller girl looked up at them and grinned and waved.

Earendil and the others waved back. "Should we stop and say hello?" he asked Lin.

"I have to admit, I'm curious as to why they look the way they do," Earendil chuckled. "And unless I'm quite mistaken, Kelirahc and Haldia will be curious as well. I've never seen anyone else in our land with skin like theirs."

While they hesitated, the smaller girl came towards them, leaving the older girl behind. Her eyes, which they could see as she came closer, were a brilliant violet, just like her father's, if anyone knew him.

"Hello!" she beamed at everyone. "Who are you?"

The girl smiled brightly at everyone.

"I'm River," she told them. She pointed in the direction of her sister. "And that's Jasmine, she's my big sister. She doesn't like strangers very much, so she probably won't come over here."

She clapped her hands together. "You should visit Mama and Papa!" she beamed. "They're at Haven right now, visiting Grandmama and Grandpapa, but you'll see them there if that's where you're going!"

"It is," Earendil nodded.

"Oh, before you go though," River added, darting forward. She grabbed Haldia's hand (poor Haldia couldn't understand most of what was going on, and she looked very lost indeed) and held her own hand up to it. She giggled.

"You're darker than me!" she grinned up at Haldia.

Earendil laughed and translated for Haldia, and Haldia giggled softly. She was amused, somehow.

"Okay," River beamed at them. "I'll see you again!"

And with another quick wave, she skipped off back to work.

As they started off towards the ranch again, Earendil leaned over to Lin and murmured, "I thought you said that security was such an issue here that no one was ever left alone ... and with the slavery being such a problem, I wouldn't expect to see two children out here alone ..."

"We should have asked her while we were there," Earendil mused. "Though I suppose Uncle Elrohir would know about it just as well."

Since after all his uncle was the overseer of the ranch, he would be the one to know what was going on and how the missions had gone. He was sure they could get the information they wanted from him: that was, after everyone had been introduced and everything.

"And I'm also looking forward to meeting your mysterious friend," Earendil added, arching one eyebrow at Lin. "The one that everyone seems so afraid of?"