Welcome to Gaia! ::

Adonijah shook his head slightly, just a quick negative jerk, and then he took a deep breath and murmured, almost too quietly to hear, "That was my father ..."

Though even he would admit that, since they were immortals, they did look around the same age - like young men. Which he himself was, though his father of course was older.

Ian grinned at Adonijah. "You look a lot like your dad," he nodded wisely. "That's pretty cool."

He still thought it was neat that his youngest aunt and uncle looked so much like his grandparents - but then, he was still too young to realize that most natural babies did look like their parents.

As Adonijah murmured a very soft 'nice to meet you as well', Ian grinned up at Gaunt.

"I think that's really cool," he told him matter-of-factly. "That mean that after you and Mom are married me and Prince will have brothers or sisters that look like you?"

Serenity blushed brightly.

Ulrich just grinned, watching the whole thing. One might think he was having entirely too much fun with this. He would say just enough.

Ian looked disappointed. "So ... they won't look like you and Mom?" he asked. "Just like me and Prince don't?"

Then what was the point of getting married?

Serenity smiled at Ian and reached out to cup his chin in two of her fingers.

"We'll talk to the goddesses and see what can be done," she promised him. She had a feeling he would keep pressing until he got some sort of promise that he liked. "We can't guarantee anything, but we'll see what happens."

Ian sighed. "Fine," he said. "I'll wait."

Ulrich grinned at Gaunt. He had been enjoying himself so immensely, he had almost forgotten about the bow - despite the fact that it was in his hands.

"Here it is," he announced, holding it out to Ian. "Ash. Fitted to your size. You probably won't be able to do much with it for a while, but as much as you can, I want you to try pulling back on the string ... it will build up your muscles and someday you'll be able to shoot pretty well with it. There's really not much else that I can teach you today."

Then he pulled something else from the chest and presented it to Prince, holding it in both hands. "And this is for you," he said, almost solemnly.

It appeared to be a wooden ball, a little bigger than his larger-than-average fist, but upon closer examination it became evident that the ball was actually a puzzle made up of parts that fit together so perfectly and so smoothly that there was not even a bump on the round exterior of the sphere.

"To play with, if you like," he smiled, "but also something to exercise your brain ... help teach you logic, problem-solving, spacial reasoning ... and of course, patience."

Ulrich chuckled softly and reached down to poke at one of the pieces, sliding it out about half an inch. "This is the first piece to go out, the last piece to go in," he smiled. "If you write it down as you take it apart, it's a lot easier."

Ian was grunting and straining, trying to pull back the string of his bow and having no luck at all.

"Aw, Ulrich, this is hard," he complained, holding the bow and panting for breath.

Ulrich nodded. "Using a weapon should never be easy. But you keep working on it, and when you can pull it back you come back to see me and I'll teach you to shoot."

Serenity smiled when she felt Gaunt's arm slip around her waist, and she shifted her weight slightly to stand closer to him. "I think Celebor is the only one of our family who was ever properly taught to fight," she mused, "though I do know that Shiro knows how ... self-taught, I'm sure. And of course most of them can use magic ..."

Ulrich nodded. "This is true," he agreed. "On the other hand, if you're living out here ... fighting is necessary for survival. Not necessarily against other people, though we do on occasion get attacked ... but there are also animals to consider."

He paused and turned to Gaunt. "Until the ranch was started up," he explained, "we were attacked almost yearly by ... well, we never did figure out by whom. We lost our second son to them."

Ulrich smiled faintly at Gaunt. "Thank you," he said softly. "But it was many years ago, and we have now two more children ... and a great number of grandchildren. And we do have a hope of meeting him again someday."

Serenity smiled warmly and squeezed Gaunt's hand tightly. "The elves are reborn after they die," she explained to him quietly. "More quickly, if they led good lives, but if they were horrible people ... sometimes it's millenia, if ever. My grandfather ... Mama's father ... he was reborn."

Serenity put one finger to Gaunt's lips and shook her head. "Let's not think that far ahead yet," she murmured. "We have a lifetime to spend together ... let's not spoil it with fears and wishes."

Yes, she knew they would have to eventually face the reality of him aging while she stayed forever young ... but she didn't want to have to face it yet, not until they had to.