Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled as he followed after Lin.

It didn't take them long to put their things away, and then the two of them joined up with Luk once more to introduce him to Rhea. They brought him to Rhea's door, and once they were there, Earendil raised one fist and knocked.

"Come in," Rhea's voice rang out.

Earendil opened the door and motioned for Lin to lead the way inside.

Rhea giggled and hugged Lin back tightly. "I've been doing much better since they came," she told Lin, switching to the Common Tongue since that was what she was used to using whenever she could. "It feels so good to have them here, all of them!"

Then she put one finger to her lips and pointed to where there was not one, but two cribs (not cradles) next to the bed.

"They're asleep," she said softly, leading them all to the cribs to show them. The twins were much bigger now than they had been when the group had left: they were getting close to a year old, ten Gaian months, and in the time the group had been gone, the twins had begun to learn to walk already. They still looked very similar, but Rhiannon's hair was longer than Xion's, and they had different blankets on.

Rhea smiled warmly, her eyes sparkling brightly as she looked over her shoulder at Luk, who seemed hesitant to act so familiarly with her.

"Come on over and see them, Luk," she invited him. "They're our firstborn, and we're quite proud of them."

A startled look crossed Luk's face, and he stepped forward slowly. "You ... know my name," he said in a hesitant tone.

Rhea giggled softly. "Ah ... yes, I'm sorry, it seems you weren't warned about me. I have the ability to know about people before I have even laid eyes on them ... among other things."

Earendil chuckled and put one hand on Luk's shoulder. "You'll get used to it," he grinned. "Just go along with it."

Luk raised one eyebrow at Earendil, but before he could say anything, Rhea spoke again.

"So you're Arthael's half-brother," she mused, motioning for them all to sit down on the couch on the other side of the room. "That's interesting to hear."

"You say that as if we just told you," Earendil laughed.

Earendil sat down and leaned back, putting one arm around Lin's shoulders and holding her close. Luk also sat down, a bit more slowly, since he was also staring at Rhea at the same time.

"Your people ... still have use of magic," he murmured softly.

Rhea blinked. "Okay, that was a comment that I wasn't expecting," she said, surprised; and then she giggled. "So then your people don't, obviously."

Luk shook his head. "Very few. Only the full-blooded elves that are more than a few thousand years old. Since the first human-elven relationship, no one who has been born, no matter their race, has had magic."

"Now that's interesting," Rhea mused. She looked thoughtful. "I wonder why ..."

Luk shrugged. "There are theories about it, legends ... some people say that the need for magic was no longer there, others say it was a punishment from the Valar for mixing the bloodlines. No one knows for certain, and the Valar have not had dealings with our people since then either. But we really don't need it, I think. We've been getting along quite well on our own."

Luk chuckled. "I think that was more the result of us half-bloods who wanted to have the abilities of our elven forebearers and who have the immortality which gives us the time to complete such things," he quipped. "It took many times the lifetime of a normal human to come up with much of it."

"There are those who would argue that that is a magic in itself," Earendil pointed out. "But what do you mean, things that give you elven abilities?"

"Well, such as sight," Luk explained. "The elves can see much further and much clearer than humans. We can't even see a bird a league off, and you elves can not only see it, but tell what species it is. But we've invented things that ... well, even if we can't see clearly what species of bird it is, we can still see that there is one, at least."