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"A long time," Wren smiled at Miyuki. "But the more you practice, the better you get."

"Can I try?" Amalirahc asked eagerly.

Wren laughed. "Sure. Here." She put the jacks back on the floor with the others, and handed Amalirahc the ball.

Amalirahc held the ball up and dropped it, and he managed to grab a few jacks, but when the ball started going down again for a second bounce, he dropped the jacks and dove for the ball - which he missed, and ended up knocking it over the edge into the grass below.

"Oops ..."

"One of us better stay here to watch the spot," River suggested wisely. "Then we won't have to look for exactly where it went over."

"Good idea," Wren agreed. "And while you three are doing that, I'll go back down and talk with Miyuki's parents. If you don't have any more questions for me, that is."

"I'll get it!" Amalirahc offered eagerly, scrambling to his feet before Wren could move. He moved towards the edge of the flet, turned around, and got to his knees.

"Be careful," Wren warned him. "It's a drop of more than ten feet."

"If I hang first, it'll only be five feet," Amalirahc grinned, not at all worried. He gripped the bar at the edge of the flet and let himself down, then let go. The grass was tall and thick, and he didn't even flinch as he landed on the ground. He started looking around right away for the lost ball.

Wren sighed, then smiled and turned back to the girls. "So what else did you want to ask about?"

"Those aren't stones," Wren said, picking up the pouch and opening it. She pulled out a few of the spheres. "They're marbles. Made out of glass, not marble, so don't ask about the name. They're fun to collect, they've got all different patterns and stuff ... but you can play with them too."

She handed the marbles to River, and leaned forward and rummaged through the box again. "Where is it ..." she murmured as she searched.

"Chalk," Wren murmured, her brow furrowed slightly. She snatched something up out of the box triumphantly. "Aha! There it is!"

She used the piece of chalk (half the size of her pinky by this time) and drew a white circle on the floor. She eyed it, then shrugged and put the chalk back in the box. "Not perfect, but it will work. Anyways, put the marbles into the circle, all together in the middle if you can."

River dumped the marbles slowly, carefully, onto the floor, guiding them to the circle obediently.

Currently, Amalirahc was on his belly in the long grass, though visible from above, searching through it almost blade by blade, and murmuring quietly to himself, "Here, bally bally bally ... here, bally bally bally ..." as he searched.

"Ready," River said as she managed to get the marbles into the circle without them rolling away on her.

"For this game it's better to be inside, or at least somewhere where the marbles can't get lost," Wren admitted, "because they're dreadfully difficult to find in the grass. I'm certain that there are still some down there that I lost decades ago. But anyways, you each start with one ..."

She picked out three marbles from the circle and handed one to each of the girls, keeping the third for herself.

"And you want to hold it like this ... and flick it at the ones left in the circle, and try to knock them out. If they get knocked out of the circle, you get to keep them. You take turns until they're all out of the circle, and whoever has the most at the end wins."

River smiled. "That sounds simple enough," she grinned.

"Certainly," Wren agreed. She flicked the marble in her hand towards the ones in the circle, and with a click click click five of the marbles rolled out of the circle. She collected them before they could roll away and smiled at the children. "See? Not so hard."