Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jasmine nodded shyly and shuffled deeper into Alyse's side. "Saki pway lots wif me," she murmured.

Alyse smiled. "We don't often make it over to the ranch," she explained to Kara, "but when we do, she usually always plays with Saki while I do whatever it is that I'm there for."

"Tao?" Jasmine looked up at Alyse. "Who Tao, Mama?"

Alyse smiled sadly and shook her head. "She had been old for as long as I could remember," she said softly. "By the time Adonijah grew up, she was ... beyond old. I'm sorry."

Jasmine pouted. "Who Tao, Mama?" she asked again, more insistently.

Jasmine looked at Kara curiously. "G'iff ... in?"

Alyse smiled and patted her daughter gently on the head. "I'll tell you all about her when you're older," she murmured. Jasmine was just too young to understand right now the concept of an animal she had never seen before, and Alyse lacked the magic of the Wishsong, so she couldn't show her.

Elrohir sat forward and cleared his throat. "Though that does bring us to the reason why I came alone," he said softly. "Alyse, there's been a bit of a change to the regular routine of hunting."

Alyse blinked at Elrohir. "Did something happen?"

Elrohir shook his head. "Ahren was worried about the size of the group of slavers and the number of children they've been having lately," he explained. "That's all. There are a lot of slavers, but not many children, and he was thinking that maybe they were a diversion ... so a second group has been sent out to see if that is indeed the case. The only catch is, it's left us rather more undefended than ever."

Alyse's brow furrowed worriedly. She understood what that meant. They were open to attack ... and she was by far the most isolated.

"I would ask Mother if I could stay with her until Timaeus comes back," she murmured, "but I don't want to leave the house alone ..."

"We could get someone else to stay with you," Elrohir offered. "Aerin is still in the area, I was going to ask her to stay with you once she caught her dragon, but if you want someone else until then ..."

Alyse nodded. "I would appreciate that," she said softly.

Alyse nodded. "I'll be fine for the day," she assured Kara, "it's just the night I'm worried about. When I would be taken by surprise."

"Well, we're hoping it doesn't come to that," Elrohir smiled, "but I'll send someone over by tonight at the latest. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Do you have a preference as to who I send?"

Alyse shook her head. "I don't know who all is left," she reminded him. "And I trust your judgment - and I trust all of the men you've hired. Thank you, though."

Elrohir nodded. "The least we can do."

Kaito shivered a bit as he stepped into the world after Lin, and he wrapped his wings about his body. They were quite large - and very warm.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered, looking at the snow around them. "But I guess in the desert we didn't really worry about what season it was." He shook his head violently to shake the snow from his ears, where it had already begun to collect. "Which way are we going first? Uncle Elrohir's or straight to Rhea's place?"

"Okay," Kaito nodded. "Maybe once we talk to Rhea, we can see Celebor and Niyana and see if it's all right if we stay there. Then at least we'll be set for now."

He rubbed his arms, then rummaged through his bag for his cloak. "At least it's not a blizzard," he muttered as they set out. "And you should put your cloak on, too. Immortal or not, wings or not, you'll still catch a cold if you let your body temperature go down."