Welcome to Gaia! ::

To say that Miyuki was a bit upset upon the return home was like saying a dip in an ocean would get one a bit wet. One moment she was out in the open where everything was becoming green again after a long white winter, and the next thing she knew she was in a stone room with her mother, and without ‘her’ Earendil. The little kitsune girl blinked as she looked at her surroundings, it was foreign and smelled funny. Most importantly though, there was no Earendil standing with her and her mother.

“E-dil?” Miyuki wiggled to look around some more, “E-dil? Where E-dil?”

He wasn’t here? Why wasn’t he here with them? For as long as Miyuki could remember Earendil had always been with her and her mother. He was always there with her mother, they were always together except when they were sleeping which Miyuki had always found strange.

“Earendil isn’t here sweetie,” Lin murmured as she quickly made her way out of the portal room, her steps echoing upon the stone floor, “We’re home.”

Home. It was a word familiar and unfamiliar to Miyuki. She always figured home was where she was, but that wasn’t home according to her mother. This couldn’t be home though, she didn’t know this place.

“E-dil home!” Miyuki protested as she tried to get out of her mother’s grasp.
“Earendil is returning to his home.”
“No! E-dil home!”

Why wasn’t her mother going back? They needed to get Earendil, he would be alone without them! Why weren’t they with Earendil at all? That was where they should be, they were family.

“E-dil!”

Lin nearly fell over as her daughter tried to climb over her shoulder. It took quite a bit of strength to grab onto the little girl tightly. The last thing she wanted was for Miyuki to fall all the way from her shoulder. It was hard though, not just because Miyuki was wiggling but because she was crying.

“E-dil! E-dil!”
“Miyuki, Earendil has gone home now, we’re home too.”

It fell on deaf ears as Lin was forced to put Miyuki down before she dropped her. Miyuki, gripped her doll tightly to her chest as she ran back to the room that they had exited from. Unfortunately for Lin, Miyuki had become well aquatinted with opening doors. Before she could catch up with the near hysterical child, she had already slipped back into the room.
“Crap,” Lin muttered under her breath.

She dashed back only to find the door to the Borderlands opened once more. Honestly, Lin didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Miyuki seemed to know which door was the right one. Without even thinking about it she ran through the open door.

Despite the fact it had only been a few minutes at the most the landscape had changed a bit. Perhaps a bit greener, but most importantly, out in the open Miyuki was alone. There was no one there, for Earendil was no doubt all the way back in the Southland by now.

“E-dil! E-dil!” Miyuki looked around not understanding, not yet knowing that the time difference between worlds meant her Earendil had long left for home.

She sniffled and continued to call out, surely he couldn’t be gone. He wouldn’t leave them right?

“Mummi!” Miyuki caught sight of her mother and ran up to her, “Where E-dil? E-dil here?”

Lin sighed, she should have explained this before going home, but how could she explain something so complicated? How did you explain to a three year old that they lived worlds apart? Bending down, Lin once more picked Miyuki up, stroking her hair gently.

“Earendil is back at his home.”
“Left?”

The look on Miyuki’s face was one of hurt, her ears laid back as she had trouble understanding why Earendil would leave them like that. She thought he loved them. Lin, realized very quickly that Miyuki could take this the wrong way.

“Just to see his family,” Lin assured her, “Just like we’re going to see ours.”
“Fam’lee? E-dil fam’lee.”

Lin winced at that as she slowly headed back towards the portal, she should have foreseen something like this happening. How could she explain to Miyuki that Earendil was not family, and might possibly never be family?

“He’s not family, he’s a friend,” Lin murmured softly, “Maybe, in the future, but I don’t know yet.”

For a moment she hesitated, not sure if Miyuki understood what she was being told. It was so much harder to raise a child, who was that, an actual child mentally and physically. Still, Lin thought, it was worth a try, Miyuki deserved that much.

“Maybe if I love him a lot, maybe he will be, but I don’t know.”
“Mummi luffs E-dil, E-dil luffs Mummi….”
“I so wish it was that simple….”

There was a small feeling of relief the moment Lin entered back into the portal room. Miyuki, on her part didn’t look happy to be back, but Earendil wasn’t back there.

“Listen, Earendil still loves you lots,” Lin murmured softly to her, “But we need time to spend with our family. We’re going to visit our family okay? And then after a while we’ll go see Earendil again.”
“See E-dil?” ears perked up at that, it seemed to be the magic words.
“Eventually yes, but right now, family,” Lin repeated.

This time around, Miyuki seemed to be a bit better. Lin hoped, that by visiting the members of her family, that Miyuki would at least be distracted enough not to want to go through the portal again. Until then though, she was going to have to ask her father to lock that room. Before anymore children wandered through its doors.

In all honestly Lin had purposely put off her visit to her grandmother’s home, which at the time was very reasonable. Lau Mi, was that, a Lau, which meant she was one of the few members of Lin’s family not living close by. Instead of living on Winters grounds, she lived in the manicured estate of the Lau grounds. As a child Lin liked visiting there often, though it was more to take advantage of the many training grounds rather than to see anyone in particular. When Lin grew older however, she began to go only to train with Vincent, because her grandmother had begun to bother her wayward granddaughter about finding a ‘nice young man’.

She was actually going to skip out on the visit all together, but a week after her return her father reminded her that Mi wanted to see her and Miyuki. It probably did not help that she had received an invitation (which amounted to an order) from her grandmother to join her for tea. So it was, much to Lin’s dismay that she found herself sitting across from her grandmother pouring tea for the both of them.

Miyuki was out in the few gardens the clan possessed, playing with her grandfather. The way both man and child were ushered out told Lin that Mi wasn’t as interested in seeing Miyuki as she had claimed. This in turn made Lin, very, very suspicious.

“You should visit me more often Lin,” Mi commented lightly, “You haven’t visited in months.”
“I’ve been traveling grandmother.”

Lin was more focused on trying to pour the tea without spilling and without looking like an idiot. She didn’t care how many lessons she took, she look gawky not graceful when it was her turn to pour the tea.

“Indeed, traveling with that young man, what’s his name? Earl?”
Lin looked up for a moment, “You’re doing that on purpose grandmother, it’s Earendil.”

It wasn’t like that was a secret, everyone in her family right down to the equally annoying Vincent knew about her friend and travel partner Earendil. Granted those not of the Winters clan knew very little about the elves that her whole clan were so close to. All anyone knew was that Elnara Winters had connections to them, and in turn the family as a whole were quite close to these elves from a far away place.

“Such a foreign name….”
“We live near one of the biggest trading hubs in the world, I think foreign is a bit outdated term,” Lin murmured as she handed her grandmother a tea cup.

Properly of course, with one hand around it and the other hand under the porcelain drinking vessel. Perhaps, a bit too formal, but her grandmother loved it when her granddaughter went all out for her.

“True, at least it’s pronounceable.”
“I’m probably going to regret asking this, but why are you asking this now of all times?”

Maybe it was just her, but she really didn’t want people to bring up her relationship with Earendil, especially not her grandmother of all people. Her grandmother, while she had a good heart was a Gaian. Earendil’s world was very foreign, the kind of place that could only be found in the ‘backwaters’ of Gaia.

Mi gave her ‘the look’ over her half moon glasses, “You’re not a child anymore Lin, and traveling around with a man for several months is a good reason to question.”
“I wasn’t traveling alone.”

It was a good thing Lin never mentioned how big the time difference was, she didn’t think it would go over well if Mi knew that she spent over six years traveling. Then again, if Mi knew she had been alone with Earendil for a year, she might have had a fit. Not that Lin could ever imagine her controlled grandmother having a fit.

Her grandmother waved it off, “You were traveling with your childhood friend; you must have spent time alone with him.”
“Your point being?”
“Lin, he is a man.”

Lin sipped her tea, all the while staring at her grandmother thoughtfully. Was she implying something? Obviously the lack of reaction was not what her grandmother was looking for.

“Lin, Lin, Lin… it is only normal that he should be interested in you after being friends for so long. Childhood friends have always looked to each other at least-“

Lin tuned out the rest in favour of resisting the urge to bash her head into the table in front of her. How in the hell did everyone, including her grandmother figure this out? She hadn’t even met the man and she figured it out. It made Lin feel like she was just bad at reading situations in general. She continued to mentally rant at herself, almost missing her grandmother’s next set of words.

“Though, I’m not so sure I approve…”
“Wait, what?”

Her head snapped back up from looking at her tea so quickly Lin swore she probably got whiplash from that. All Lin could do was blink and stare at her grandmother. Her grandmother of all people! The very person who kept telling her to settle down and get marry and have kids even though Lin wasn’t quite sure how she was supposed to get pregnant in the first place.

“I said, I’m not sure if I approve,” Mi said with audio periods between each word, “I hear he’s a much older man.”
“Grandmother… he’s immortal, old is a relative thing after sixteen. No one notices, and when both sides are immortal no one really cares.”

She didn’t know why she was quite snappy about that, maybe it was because she was just caught so completely off guard. Mi, was very open minded when it came to marriages, otherwise she would have not encouraged (threatened) her son to marry an outsider. Who was immortal, not human and pretty much had more children already without being married.

“This is true….” Mi looked thoughtful.

A thoughtful Mi, sent alarm bells off in Lin’s head for some unexplainable reason. It didn’t make any sense to her, her grandmother never second guessed something like this. The whole situation was so bizarre it was surreal to her.

“It’s just I know nothing about him!”
“Grandmother, that’s no reason to be nervous, Mom and Dad know about him.”
Mi gave her granddaughter a hard look, “Lin, when you’re as old as I am in the informant business you know that to not find a single shred of information on a person is a certain sign of trouble. Your parents know him, but do they really? Even my Van admits he had only seen the man for a short while.”
“You don’t trust Dad’s judgment in people?”

Granted, neither would Lin, but for completely different reasons. Her father was a cynical as they came, he rarely liked anyone. To know that he liked Earendil meant a lot to her.

“He indulges you, in this case I would have to say no.”
“Earendil is a foreigner Grandmother, it’s no surprise there is no information about him.”
“It doesn’t matter how far or foreign a person might be there is always information my child.”
“Not if he lives in another world there isn’t,” Lin replied back dryly.

There was a dead silence between them, and for a moment Lin wondered if she had said something wrong. Her grandmother frowned and began to stare into her teacup as if completing something.

“He lives in a different world?”
“Yes, he always has, that’s why he doesn’t visit.”
“Why not? You obviously visit him.”
Lin chewed her lower lip a bit before replying, “That’s because time goes faster in his world; it would be unreasonable to have him come here.”

Mi’s eyes snapped up from her teacup, her eyes narrowing. Now Lin had really wondered if she had stepped into it. Her family tended to leave things out, because frankly it was far too complicated to continue explaining.

“How old are you?”
“Eleven… probably soon to be twelve,” Lin admitted.

The clunk of the teacup hitting the hard wood table made Lin jump, hitting her knees upon the low table. Her Grandmother looked completely livid, which was frightening actually.

“I will not allow it!”
“Grandmother, what are you-“
“It’s bad enough you spend all your hours away from your family, away from the grounds, but to spend them years at a time in another world? With a man who probably comes from a clanless-“
“Now wait a minute! Since when has it been your business what I do away from my family?”
“I’m your grandmother! Of course it’s my business. I can’t have my granddaughter trotting around in some other world, doing who knows what, spending years at a time in a world that isn’t even her own. You use to be such a good little girl, always following your father around, but ever since you met that… that man it’s all changed.”
“Father is completely fine with the situation as it is.”

The hired help, the servants who normally manned the doors in case Mi needed anything scurried away as the tension between the two women rose. The fact the lady’s granddaughter had addressed her father formally spoke volumes of how angry the young woman was.

“Well I forbid it! That man is obviously no-“
“You will not talk about Earendil that way, whom I spend my time with is no concern of yours.”
“And your daughter? You are willing to have her influenced by foreign beliefs?”
“He’s a perfectly good role model, kind, thoughtful, responsible and intelligent.”

Which was only scratching the tip really, elves were quite good role models as long as it wasn’t one of the bad apples so speak. Though dragging Earendil and Miyuki in on this was getting onto Lin’s nerves. The whole thing was just rubbing her the wrong way, because her grandmother knew nothing about Earendil.

Mi snorted at her granddaughter, “Who lives in another world, you should be settling here, find a good husband here. I know several young men who would make much better fathers.”
“Who are probably all jackasses, I’m not interested in a good husband; I am interested in an excellent life partner.”
“And one from another world would be?”
“At least he respects me for me, and actually gives a damn about how I feel.”

There was a glint in Mi’s eyeglasses, the sort she had often seen on her father when he had caught someone in a mind trap. It was scary how alike the two were, even scarier how Lin was not scared of her. She was just down right furious, because it hurt that her grandmother didn’t approve of Earendil.

“Like what? Your love? He’s not worth that.”
She exploded on her grandmother, “Who I love or do not love is none of your damn business! He is worth more than any of those… those boys who call themselves men!”

She slammed her hands down on the table top rattling the tea in their little teacups, threatening to spill them over. Leaning over the table Lin glared at her grandmother with self righteous fury.

“This is my life, our life. As far as I’m concern, you, his father and anyone else who has an issue can go to hell for all I care. He is worth loving, worth the trouble, and sure as hell worth whatever hardship will come with it.”
“See… was that so hard to say?”

For the second time (or maybe the third) time since sitting down that day, Lin looked like she had been struck from behind. She was still leaning over the table; the palm of her hands planted firmly on the wooden surface as she stared at her grandmother.

Mi leaned over and patted Lin’s cheek, “Honestly, you and your father are so repressed sometimes!”

Her grandmother leaned back a bit taking a long sip of her tea, savouring the flavour.

“You pour a good tea, those are good skills to have for a wife,” she murmured her approval.
“Grandmother?”
“Hmmm? Oh… oh yes, of course,” she waved Lin off, “You have my blessing. I’ll be sending you some proper clothes. Can’t have you courting in your fighting gear, that’s just terrible. I suppose you’d want blue? You’re like your mother that way, always wanting blue, but you’d look so good in scarlet. Well, I suppose I could send more than one robe set, you cut your hair though. I had some hair pieces just perfect for you, and you went and cut it… tsk….”

Lin looked at her grandmother like a deer caught in headlights, one moment she was berating Lin on her choice of men, and now she was preparing for a courtship?

“Lin, sit down, and stop gapping like that. You and your father both, mention love and you look like a fish out of water. If I wasn’t around neither of you would get married, well if I wasn’t around you’d probably wouldn’t be born. I don’t care if you’re from a vase, you must have your parents’ spirits residing in you.”

Slowly, Lin eased herself back into her seat, her head spinning from all the information that was being pushed upon her.

“Just a pity you couldn’t take more after your mother. Your father was like you when he first courted your mother. Had to be bashed upon the head before he figured out he loved her,” Mi laughed, “Your poor father never looked so aggravated in his life!”

Lin couldn’t help but wonder if the real reason why her father had been so aggravated was because of her grandmother. Though as unsettling as it was (and as annoying as it was), her grandmother had gotten her to admit the one thing Lin herself wasn’t so sure about. It made her feel even more light-headed than she had been before.

Mi smiled kindly, “You’re overwhelmed, don’t worry that will pass. Love will do that to you, you know. Overwhelm you with its illogic nature. I remember the first time I giggled like a school girl, I was so disappointed in myself to act so silly at first.”
“You?” Lin remembered there were times she had felt like that, and thought she was being stupid.
“Of course, I might berate your grandfather a lot, but his silliness is what caught me to be honest.”

This was probably the most human Lin had ever seen her grandmother be. It brought a funny image to her mind, her grandmother blushing like a young girl, well she supposed the two had to have married for a reason somehow. A pat on her hand brought her out of her thoughts.

“Now, I’m glad we had this talk Lin,” her grandmother told her with a somewhat grandmother like seriousness, “You just think about it now. I’ll send the items don’t you worry, he won’t be able to resist. Now, off with you! I love your grandfather but he shouldn’t be left alone with children for long periods of time.”

This whole thing was most disconcerting to her, but Lin had to admit her grandmother was right. There was also a bit of giddiness knowing her grandmother was willing to ‘help’ her with her courting (even though that really wasn’t needed). Getting up, Lin bowed slightly.

“I’ll see you again Grandmother,” Lin murmured before leaving.

So distracted was she that Lin didn’t even notice the extra shadow in the room as she left. Once out of sight, Mi chuckled to herself picking up her tea cup again.

“What do you think?” she finally asked.

Out from the shadows stepped a dark haired man who was obviously related to Mi. He had the same dark eyes, the same set stern face and even had glasses that hide him from the outside world.

“I think I’m going to a special sort of hell for this,” Donovan replied taking a seat across from his mother.
“But this is what you wanted?”
Donovan took the tea cup that his daughter had once held, “Yes, she gets the love of her life and my granddaughter gets a father. Thank you Mother, for your help.”

With that, Donovan finished off the tea that Lin had left behind.

First Gift

Magic, was not an unusual concept in Gaia, nor was the idea of innate magical gifts. If there was anything at least remotely similar between Gaia and the Four Lands besides the frightening amount of wild life and cultural aspects in common, was the fact for some species in Gaia, innate magic was a way of life. No one knew this better than Lin, even though she was born a Second, she had the innate magic to hear voices upon the wings of butterflies. So she really shouldn’t have been surprised when it became apparent that her daughter had innate magic. Considering Miyuki was of the infamous kitsune race it really shouldn’t have surprised her.

Really, really shouldn’t have surprised her.

Yet, there she was, standing outside with a towel in hand; slightly damp and staring up at a tree where a three tailed fox was looking down at her. Lin stared in disbelief in the situation she had caught herself in.

“Any luck getting her down?”

She nearly jumped out of her skin, and mentally cursed herself for not realizing that her father was behind her. It was obvious she was quite distracted at the moment. Lin looked back up to the pacing fox. The foxy creature paced around and seemed quite agitated, which told Lin that Miyuki did want to come down but didn’t know how to.

“No… I don’t even know if she can change back.”
“I have to admit, I didn’t think we would have another shapeshifter in the family.”
Lin scratched her cheek absently, “I think Shiro said something about kitsune gifts.”

Honestly though she didn’t know how to get Miyuki down without climbing up there herself. She certainly wasn’t going to have her little girl jump down, without knowing if she could catch the child. She handed the towel to her father.

“I’m going to go up and get her,” Lin explained.

Donovan looked at the wet towel, he wondered what in Gaia’s name his daughter and granddaughter had been doing that warrant a soaked towel. He wasn’t overly worried though. The thing about Seconds was that because they started out so small they had to be really good climbers or else they wouldn’t get anywhere. Lin was proof of this as she gotten around a lot as a small child, so it wasn’t a surprise that she scampered up the tree without breaking a sweat.

Miyuki on the other hand had a lot to worry about. One moment she had been running from her Mummi in a game of catch me catch me after her bath only to find herself on all fours and up a tree. The height made her woozy and she couldn’t get back down. If she could in this form she would be crying, instead she made crying fox sounds.

Lin carefully stood on the sturdiest branch she could find, as she edged closer to where her daughter was. She folded her wings into her back so they wouldn’t get caught on anything. It wasn’t something Lin liked doing, it made her back feel so tight.

“Miyuki…” she called out softly, “It’s okay, Mummi’s here.”

She crouched down to reach out to the little girl. Up close she could see Miyuki was trembling, seeing that Lin decided she was going to have to teach Miyuki how to climb a tree. Honestly it was a good life lesson to have, she used it many times growing up.

“I just need you to come a bit closer,” Lin told her.

The claws were literary digging into the bark; if Miyuki didn’t relax it was going to hurt holding the child. Long ears twitched as Miyuki turned her head slightly to look at her Mummi, who looked so big now. She shook her head, she didn’t want to move from her spot.

“Don’t worry, Grandfather will catch you,” Donovan called up.

Lin honestly didn’t know if that was helpful or not, instead she went one branch up, and skittered side ways until she was standing over Miyuki. This was a bit difficult because there was no guarantee that she would end up low enough to grab her. In fact, Lin was doing quite the balancing act, trying to stay on the tree branch. She chewed her lower lip, this was going to be risky, and Lin could only hope she didn’t hurt herself or traumatize Miyuki in the process.
Taking a hold of a slightly lower branch, Lin took a deep breath before bending over and scooping up the small fox with her free arm. Standing straight quickly, she wobbled a bit to catch her balance. All the while Miyuki’s claws were digging into her because the little girl was trying to cuddle close.

“Okay now, I’m going to jump, I promise we’ll land safely,” Lin murmured into Miyuki’s ear very softly.

Letting her wings out, she leaped from the tree using it to keep her from falling too fast. Landing on her feet, she could feel the shocks travel up her legs from the landing. That was going to ache a bit later, she thought to herself. Since she had expected a bit of extra weight from jumping, Lin didn’t notice Miyuki had turned back until she heard her childish voice.

“That was fun! Let’s do it again!”

Lin blinked and looked at her now very naked daughter who was smiling brightly, as if she hadn’t just been stuck in a tree for about half an hour.

Donovan laughed at that, “How about you get dressed first?”

He handed Lin his overcoat to use instead of the damp towel. There was oblivious amusement in his eyes as he did so.

“At least you know things won’t be boring when you go off again,” he told her.

What I Did Today

Mommy said that it was time for me to write my own journal. She said it is like writing a letter to a pretend person. I don't get that, but everyone back in Gaia does that. So I'm doing that too.

We went to see Rhea and the babies today. They are very cute when they are not crying. When they cry I hide under Mommy's wing to sleep because they are too noisy. They are very small, I don't know how small babies can make so much noise.

Aethos-sola came to visit too, but he wasn't happy looking. Rhea said that he was uptight. I bet he is like that because he does not get to play that much or have fun. Aethos-sola is really nice but he is a bit weird.

After we saw Rhea and the babies (the babies had to take a nap) we went to see Ada. Ada was working but Rhea needed someone to watch the babies so Alena did. Queen Aerin gave Ada the rest of the day off. She is very, very nice.

We went into the city and got candy. I like candy a lot because it is sweet and colourful. I got candy that looked like flowers. I like pretty things.

Mommy said I am more girly than she was a kid.

I don't know what that means.

I like it when I spend time with my Ada and my Mommy, because it is a lot of fun.

By: Miyuki Winters

Amon Darthir is a small island with a mild climate, and is the home of the Sky Elves.

Mommy says that it has a mild climate because it only snows very little and isn’t very cold. I’m not sure how mommy knows it isn’t really cold because we have to wear boots and cloak in the winter time, but she says it isn’t as cold as it could be. So it has mild weather.

Sky Elves speak Common Elvish, one of the two languages spoken after the Light Elves and the Dark Elves separated. I’m not sure why the two separated, mommy said they didn’t agree with each other because they looked different, but that didn’t make sense at all. The Sky Elves were once Light Elves who left the Four Lands because the two people separated (I’m not sure why they didn’t join the other Dark Elves but that’s how the story goes). The Sky Elves had blond hair at one time, but now it is fire colour because of their gift.

I think this means many, many, many, many years from now King Caranthir’s and Elros’ hair will turn fire colour too. I’m not sure though because mommy said the fire colour is their gift and I don’t know what Elros’ gift is, but it isn’t fire and I know King Caranthir can use water. So maybe they’ll be the only blond haired elves on the island.

The other unique (that means special) thing about the Sky Elves is that they ride these giant birds called rocs. Rocs are huge birds that can fit many people at once and could probably eat a person in one gulp. They’re really well trained though, they wouldn’t eat you. Unless you attacked them, or their trainer, or anything like that, then you’re safe.

Amon Darthir is ruled by Queen Aerin, this means they are a monarchy, because they are ruled by one person. Queen Aerin makes sure everyone is safe and happy. Like having new buildings built so everyone has their own home! Queen Aerin is married to King Caranthir, and one day they might have kids. On Amon Darthir, princes are known as ‘sola’ and princesses are known as ‘sol’. It’s like Japanese, so instead of people saying Miyuki-hime, they say Miyuki-sol, but I don’t like it when people use ‘sol’, they make a big deal out of it.

My favourite thing about Amon Darthir is playing with all the other kids. Mommy says they have a lot of kids now because they couldn’t have too many kids before. Now there are a lot of kids, and there is a play area (mommy calls it a playground) just for all of us to climb and play in. Sometimes we play pretend, and other times we play tag. Mommy says what she likes about it the most is that no one looks at us twice for being different, but I’m not sure what she means by that.

Today is our last day on Amon Darthir, now that the city is all done mommy and ada say we need to go back to the Southland. I don’t really remember what the Southland was like, only that it was really hot, but not as hot as Nauros. We were only there for a small bit before coming here.

I kind of don’t want to go back. I do, but I don’t.

I’m going to really miss all my friends when I leave and I won’t be able to play with them anymore. It might even be years and years before I see them again and we all might be grown up the next time I come back. I don’t think I like that idea very much.

But, we’re going back to see everyone in the Southland. Aethos is coming with us so he can learn how to smile and have fun. Luk is coming with us so he can see his sister. Elro and Alena are coming with us because they’re moving to the Eastland. Best of all, mommy said after we visit grandma and grandpa for a while we’re going to take a trip all around the Four Lands!

It’s going to be really, really neat! We’re going to the Borderlands (because Luk needs to see his sister), the Eastland (that’s where all the blond haired elves live), the Human Southland (are they different from Gaian humans?) and the Eastland (where both black and blond haired elves live).

I guess thinking about it, I do want to go. I want to see all those places and the people that mommy and ada knows, but I’m going to miss everyone here. But mommy said we’ll come back some day. I hope that someday is soon. I want to tell everyone where I’ve been!

Odd Luck

Miyuki frowned as she stared at the wooden tiles before her. All of them upturned before her, revealing carefully painted animals. She sat on the floor of her temporary room paying little heed to the fact she should be in bed. Despite the excitement of the day’s event and the excitement that was to come from traveling tomorrow she couldn’t get this nagging feeling out of her head.

Now that she was alone, without her mother, or her ada, or River to keep her distracted the little kitsune’s thoughts turned to her odd luck. She had won these tiles in a game of chance. Where she had to upturn tiles just like the ones she owned in pairs. Amazingly, she managed to do this on the first try. At first, it was just an amazing thing, though a bit odd because the chances weren’t really that great. Then she played a game of chance in taking out a token, which both she and River managed to do. That too, had been incredible luck. Ulrich, who had manned that gaming booth thought someone had snuck in more tokens. When they left his booth, he was recounting them to see if someone had.

She hadn’t dared ask him what he found.

In truth, Miyuki didn’t know what possessed her to take out her tiles when she should have been sleeping. Maybe she wanted to prove to herself today had just been a wild fluke. So far, she wasn’t doing a good job proving it was. Carefully picking up a piece Miyuki studied the tile, flipping it over in her hand.

She had played five games so far and hadn’t made a mistake yet.

Her mother never mentioned a gift that could change the odds. Though she was young, she wasn’t so young that she didn’t understand what this could mean for her. In truth, it made her feel uncomfortable. When she had won that prize from Ulrich, she wanted it give it away feeling unease at winning it. For some reason or another, she didn’t dare tell Ulrich that she thought something was strange about her luck.

She didn’t want to admit she was ashamed of it.

It was a real pity though, she thought as she tapped the tile on the wood floor. Shiro had told her about memory games where you guessed, but instead of the game being over once you got a pair wrong you kept going. Trying to remember where you last uncovered a tile once you found its partner. She would never be able to play that game, or any game that required chance. Not even cards, now that she thought about it. It made her frown even more.

She thought gifts were supposed to be useful.

This was some sort of gift, she was sure of it, but not one she could be proud of. Finally, after much thought she put her tiles away one by one. Eventually she thought, she would give these tiles away, because she would never be able to play.

And that was the most disappointing thing of all.