Welcome to Gaia! ::

Celeb giggled as he was pulled off Kelirahc. He was covered in sand now from head to toe, though only his clothes and hair showed it, since his skin was a similar colour to the sand.

"That was fun," he grinned, watching as Leyenda helped Kelirahc to sit up and then brushed the sand off him. "And look! You can see all the sand on him!"

Celeb fidgeted, eager to eat now that his fears had been allayed.

"You know what, Lin?" he grinned at her, his brown eyes sparkling brightly. "I think maybe that guy is okay. Right?"

He could hold his own in a tickle fight, even with a broken arm, and that was something Celeb couldn't help but admire. On top of that, he knew how to have fun - not like all those boring crewmen who only did their job!

Celeb grinned. "Yeah, that was fun," he agreed. He tilted his head sideways and stuck one finger in his ear, brushing out a bit of sand that had gotten inside there. "But now I think I might need a bath, like Leyenda said," he said with a grimace.

Leyenda looked over at Celeb. "Kelirahc needs a bath now, too," she told him. "Want him to take you?"

Celeb looked at Kelirahc thoughtfully, and it appeared that he was actually considering the idea.

Celeb kept staring at Kelirahc, and finally he murmured, "What does he think?"

Leyenda smiled and put one hand on Kelirahc's arm, then asked him very slowly, "Would you like to give Celeb a bath?" She touched his chest, then made a washing motion, and then pointed at Celeb.

Kelirahc looked at Celeb, then looked back at Leyenda. He pointed at himself, then at Celeb, and then at the ocean. Leyenda nodded, and he smiled and nodded back, then looked down at Celeb and held out his hand.

Celeb looked at Leyenda hesitantly, then slowly reached out and took Kelirahc's hand.

Leyenda smiled brightly. "Now behave, Celeb," she told him firmly. "Remember, he has a broken arm, don't make any trouble for him."

"I'll be good," Celeb promised as Kelirahc started leading him off towards the water.

Leyenda grinned back at Lin. "I'm glad that Celeb is making an effort, at least," she murmured. "I think he was just afraid at first ... and I can't say that I blame him, really. I mean, even I was startled when I first found him ... and I've seen far more than he has."

Her smile grew wider. "Still, it was fun watching the two of them playing like that. Celeb obviously likes him now, and on my part ..." She hesitated a moment, and then smiled wider still. "It looks like Kelirahc is really good with kids," she murmured. "And ... I don't know, it seems a bit soon to say this, even though I know we're married, we've only been together really a few days ... but it makes me glad for the sake of any children we might have together."

She blushed a bit. "Though I'm not sure when that might happen, I don't think Papa would be very happy if we dove right in. I mean, sure we're married, but ... it's like we're still in the courtship part of our relationship ... if that makes any sense."

Leyenda nodded. "In some ways I feel as if I know him very well," she murmured softly, "but in regards to his people, his culture ... it still feels like he's something of a stranger."

She really knew nothing about his people, after all. She had been asleep the night before when Lin and Shiro and Rhea had learned about their history.

"Still," she added, smiling again, "the more I spend time with him, the more I feel for him. Perhaps this happened too quickly, but ... I'm starting to be glad that it did. If only because, if it had happened slowly, we might not have had enough time before leaving for anything to come of it, and then what? I would have regretted it, wondered about it, forever. Doubted myself."

She looked back towards the two, who were in the water by now. "And I admire him, very much," she said softly. "To be honest, I'm not sure whether I would be able to leave my family, my friends, my whole life, as quickly and unreservedly as he seems prepared to do. And to tell the truth ..." She hesitated. "It frightens me a bit ... to think that he could love me so much after only a few short days together ..."

"It's typical of our race," Leyenda smiled faintly, watching as Kelirahc chased Celeb through the water. "It's ... what we are. And I know I'm feeling the effects of it as well. I have seen how Shiro and Kaito look at me. They think I'm rushing things, even though I feel as if I'm taking it slowly. But I ... I think that I would know if it would not work out. I would have an instinct, some sort of feeling about him ... as I did with Brian. He was always my friend, but I always knew that I could never love him."

She grew quiet, thoughtful, and her eyes grew a little sad. "I wish he had not done what he had done. If he had but spoken to me, I could have ..."

She shook her head. "I can't dwell on it," she murmured. "But when I'm with Kelirahc ... it's so different. It's nothing the same. I'm comfortable with him in ways that I was never comfortable with Brian. He makes me feel as no one ever has ... and when I thought, that one day when he showed me the volcano, that I would have to return here, to the ship, and someday leave the island ... I couldn't bear the thought. I felt true pain just thinking about leaving him and never seeing him again."

She turned to Lin. "Is that what love is?" she asked quietly. "Before thinking about it?"