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"I've heard normally it's not that common, but the Winters clan is well known for being made up of mainly adopted children," Miyuki explained, "Kaito and Shiro are my cousins, because they're nephews to my mother, as they were adopted by my mother's sister."

Miyuki hesitated a bit and then added.

"However, Auntie Elnara was adopted though she still has blood family, it's a bit complicated, but by blood she's related to my father. That's how they met, she's supposed to be my father's blood aunt. So that makes them cousins to my father."

Miyuki had to count it because it could be so complicated at times.

"Five, Uncle Dareon is my father's brother, and Wren is their... great-cousin? What is the term for someone who is the granddaughter of your grandfather's sister?"

The kitsune thought about it a bit more and shrugged.

"Anyways, the point is, Uncle Dareon, Wren and ada, that is my father, are all related. Kaito and Shiro are twins, even if they don't look like it."

"Yes," Miyuki nodded, "Wren's grandparents are a light and dark elf, that's why she doesn't have dark hair like Uncle Dareon or ada."

She figured there was some confusion since the brothers were dark haired and dark hair tended to run through families. Unless you were like Wren, where there was enough blond for her to end up blonde. At least that's what Miyuki figured, but she also found elves of this world had hair colours show up in strange ways like her cousin Amir.

"Give it time, it's only been the second day and you were really tired the first day."

"In Gaia, we probably would more likely call them different ethnicities," Miyuki explained, "But here, especially on this continent, the elves consider themselves as different races. So there are the light elves, dark elves, earth elves, fire elves, water elves and white elves on this continent alone, while back in the Four Lands there are our light and dark elves. There are sky elves on the island of Amon Darthir and night elves on an island called Naros...."

Miyuki paused to mentally go through all the elves, because there was a large number of them.

"That's all of them I believe. Now on this continent, if I recall my history correctly, they were created after the elves in the Four Lands, so they're not quite the same, in addition, each deity took each race under their wing, so unlike the Four Land elves, each elven race has a type of magic or ability that is closely linked to their race, where as the elves of the Four Lands, well their Gifts, that is, magic abilities they are born with, can vary a great deal."

Miyuki nodded gravely, "You know how demon in English could mean, someone who is from a race or is of a race of people with bat like wings or it could mean a creature of darkness that is... pretty much evil? Well, here there is only one meaning and it is the second one."

The kitsune thought about her next words as she tried to recall her history lessons. She never could quite remember the names but she did know some of the history.

"A long time ago, when the First Born were created that is the first of the elves, there was age of peace, things just existed. There was no night, no day, nothing that we consider the passing of time. It was a paradise, and then one day a... I guess you could call him a dark god, an evil one, wanted to destroy everything here, and turn everything good into something twisted. It is from him that demons were created, creatures whose only purpose was to destroy and kill. When you say demon here that is the name it conjurers up, there are no bat winged people, or bird winged people, or anything like that."

Miyuki stopped for a moment and let that information sink in.

"However, there are two other races. Here, you'll find humans, and in the Four Lands there are dwarves as well as humans."

"Frankly," Miyuki replied dryly, "I don't think Kyrie cares about what people think, and Ashski being a very prominent healer probably doesn't gain as much of the heartache that comes of being a mixed race. They're the exception but not the rule, on this continent, for the most part, if you are a mixed race wishing to marry, your best bet is Caras Galadhon."

Miyuki sighed and crossed her arms as if trying to think more on the subject. While the Westland had been cold to her family, they had been polite. Granted the last Great War also did a lot to meld the two races together, and there had only been two races, which was even superficial at best, at least from Miyuki's understanding.

"In the Four Lands, the races were separate, but a Great War brought them together as they saw there were very little difference between them so mixed marriages are far more acceptable between elves, but... this could be more the result of their creation rather than an understanding," Miyuki spoke carefully, "Unlike here, Light Elves and Dark Elves are really the result of a separation of one race. There was one race of elves, in fact one of the oldest languages in this world, Ancient Tongue, was the language they both spoke, but their race had elves with light hair and elves with dark hair. The dark skin you see on ada and Uncle Dareon is actually because their people went to live far south which eventually darken their skin. When the two sides separated they created two different cultures."

She paused and then added.

"Though I'll admit, I don't know why the races here are so separate or even if they lived as one at one point. I do not believe that was the intention of the Creator or the others that gifted them their magic, to have the separate themselves so, certainly not to the point where depending on the race there is a great deal of distrust or hate."

Miyuki thought about it, and then shrugged. Exact numbers and dates weren't her forte, she was good at remember the generalized history but nothing exact.

"I use to know actually, but now I can't recall, I'm sure Lancerial knows. The world is very old, there aren't really many elves from the first few generations. Those that still are around you could probably count on one hand, even if you included those who remember their past lives."

She knew that remembering one's past life within their lifetime was rare, but it sure didn't seem like it when she was around her family!