Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Okay," River agreed. She held her marble the way Wren had shown them, then leaned forward and flicked it towards the marbles in the circle. At least, that was what she had tried for: the marble, though, seemed to have other ideas. Instead of hopping towards the other marbles and knocking them out of the circle, it flipped into the air and knocked River on the top of the head.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, more out of surprise than pain. She grabbed the marble before it could roll over the edge, then rubbed the top of her head. "Why did it do that?"

Wren bit her lip to hide a smile. "You need to tilt your hand forward, so that it flicks forward," she explained, demonstrating. "You had your hand upright, so that the marble went up instead."

Wren laughed. "Well, like the jacks, it takes practice," she grinned at the girls, setting her marbles down and climbing slowly to her feet. "You're welcome to take them back to the palace with you if you want, to play with them there. We'll probably have to be heading back soon, possibly once Amalirahc finds that ball."

"Not yet!" Amalirahc's muffled voice reached up to them from far below.

Amalirahc was still on his belly, but he looked up when he heard Miyuki's voice so clearly and grinned at her. He scrambled to his feet and stretched one hand upwards, going on his tiptoes to get closer to them all.

"These!" he said proudly, opening his palm and revealing three glass marbles. "But not the one I lost yet."

"I'll come down and help you look," Wren called back. She turned to the girls. "If you would like to put the rest of the toys back in the box, I have something you can use to clean it off and then you can take the whole chest back with you," she offered.

So Wren went down below (using the ladder, as a responsible adult) to help Amalirahc look for the ball he had lost, and River helped Miyuki to pack the box back up again.

"I don't think I want to touch it again until we clean it a bit first," River said with a sour look on her face. "It was yucky the first time."

She didn't understand why Wren had left it out there unattended for so long - and how long had it been there anyways?

"Maybe she didn't think of it," River suggested, heading around the flets towards the ladder again. "Maybe she didn't think she would be gone so long. Or maybe something happened."

She motioned for Miyuki to come with her. Maybe Wren would have more than one rag or whatever to clean the box.

"Well, she is a princess," River pointed out logically. "And the only one, too! Not like Earendil and his brother and all his uncles."

She paused, suddenly realizing something. "The only one ... I wonder where her mother is."

River nodded. "Her father's a prince," she reminded Miyuki. "Prince Ander, remember?"

Though to be fair, there had been a lot of people to meet the day before.

She reached the ladder and began her descent carefully.