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"I'm not bugging him!" Aras protested hotly, her brow furrowing as if she felt insulted. "Kanis was chasing me so I tried to hide in Ruran's vase and he got grumpy so I came out so now I'm out but he's still being grumpy!"

And she didn't want to cry and make herself look like a baby, so she was going to be righteously annoyed with him. In her eyes, she hadn't done anything wrong, and wasn't doing anything wrong.

Ruque looked down at his siblings sadly. He didn't like that they were fighting already ... it made him sad. He wanted everyone to get along nicely, to be - stereotypically - one big happy family.

"Why do they have to fight?" he asked in a small voice. "It's not nice ..."

Just then, voices in the distance could be heard drifting in from the mouth of the cave.

Aras's eyes lit up brightly, and her entire countenance shone almost as if she were a candle.

"DADDY!" she squealed, instantly forgetting all about being insulted by her brother - and she took off as fast as her little legs would carry her, out of the workroom, through the main room, and towards the grove where she could hear her father's voice.

Aras however was already outside and following the voices that her sharp elven ears were picking up. There were new voices with her daddy's, but she didn't pay any attention to them - not until she spotted them, almost to the grove already ... her daddy, whom she knew by sight despite never having seen him before, and a woman and a very small mer.

"DADDY!" she squealed, running for him as fast as she could.

Celebor's jaw dropped in shock when he saw his daughter running to meet him, but he recovered quickly and scooped her up into his arms, laughing.

"Aras!" he exclaimed excitedly, hugging her gently. "Wow! Look at you!"

Aras giggled. "I found you, Daddy!" she squealed, throwing her tiny arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Elnara, who was carrying Jair, was shocked. Celebor hadn't said anything about a child ...

Jair took it all in stride. "She's just as little as I am!" he told his mother excitedly, his tail flopping from side to side.

Ruque meanwhile was clinging to the fishnet on his mother's shirt, holding tightly so that he wouldn't fall. She was going fast, and he was a little nervous about it.

Ruque looked up at Niyana and nodded, smiling faintly. "I'm okay," he assured her softly. "But that was just kind of fast is all. It just scared me a little bit."

He grinned at her. "You're really fast, Mama!" he told her proudly.

Elnara meanwhile was gaping now at Ruque - but at Niyana's greeting she seemed to snap out of it and smiled back at her daughter-in-law.

"Hello, Niyana," she said warmly. "I'm glad to see you again, too ... but ..."

She wanted to ask about the children, ask to be introduced, how many there were, what were their names, how old were they ... but she was sidetracked by Niyana's question.

"Um ... Idhril disappeared a few days ago," she said softly, "I was hoping she was already here with you ... well, I'll look for her later if we don't see her first."

Jair's attention was on Ruque, however, his green eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Hey Celebor and Niyana are these your kids?" he asked eagerly. "What's their names? That's so cool! I'm an uncle and I'm only a few weeks old!" He laughed, his leathery wings flapping excitedly.

Celebor chuckled and held Aras close, then approached Niyana and put one arm around her shoulders.

"Are the others out as well?" he asked her softly, putting his head on her shoulder and touching his forehead against her ear.

Ruque clung even tighter to Niyana's chest, and he smiled shyly up at Celebor.

"Hi, Papa," he murmured softly, leaning his head against Niyana's collarbone.

Celebor looked into those eyes that were a mirror of his own and smiled warmly. "Hello, Ruque," he grinned back at him.

Aras giggled and reached over to poke Ruque gently on the temple. "I got you!" she squealed.

Elnara laughed. "They're so adorable!" she exclaimed. "I'm sure Ruran will be fine, he probably just needs time to adjust ... after all, it's got to be quite a shock, going from the darkness of inside a vase and going out into the wide world ..."

When Niyana offered to go look for Idhril, she smiled and shook her head slowly. "Thank you for the offer," she murmured, "but you have your own family to look after. I will look for her later, don't worry." And she smiled encouragingly at her.

Then she grimaced. "But she had better not be learning from Celebor," she muttered. "She's a child ... far ... far too young to have found a mate ..."

Celebor at least had been a teen, and an old teen at that, and now he was an adult. So that was one thing. Idhril was a child, it would be unacceptable.

Aras reached over and poked Niyana on the nose. "Mommy we should go in and get Kanis and Ruran!" she grinned excitedly. "Grandma has to meet them too! And Uncle Jair has to meet them too!"


Idhril was slowly waking from one of the best sleeps she'd had in a while - especially considering the storm of the night before. Normally she was terrified of storms, but with Joruri near her, holding her in his arms, she had felt safe, utterly fearless. Her dreams had even been sweet, something that was rare for her on a good day, especially with storms.

The sunlight that was now streaming into the cave fell across her eyes and woke her from her slumber, but she wasn't annoyed by it. She was ready to wake up, full of energy and life once more.

"Joruri?" she mumbled before she even opened her eyes, her fingers twitching a bit and taking hold of his shirt. Then her eyelids rose and her golden orbs peered first out at the sun, and then up into his face, and she smiled warmly at him.

"Good morning, Joruri," she murmured, sitting up and yawning. She put her head against his chest and smiled up at him. "Did you sleep well?"

Elnara giggled softly. "Ah, in that way yes, it does seem that she learned from him," she agreed. Then she grinned and took Celebor's arm. "Now come on, I want to meet the rest of your family!" she scolded him. "Shame on you for not saying anything yet!"

Celebor chuckled sheepishly. "Well, when I left this morning they were just reacting," he told her as he led her over to the grove, one arm still around Niyana's shoulders, "so to be fair I didn't know they were out yet either!"

Aras giggled and climbed up to ride on her father's shoulder. "We surprised you!" she announced to everyone in a sing-song sort of voice. "We surprised everyone and everyone is surprised!"

Ruque grinned and watched his sister, then looked at Niyana's shoulder. It looked comfortable enough ... maybe not the safest way to ride, but Aras was doing it so it couldn't be too bad, right?

He tugged on Niyana's collar to get her attention. "Mama," he said softly, "can I ride on your shoulder like Aras is on Papa?"

Jair's tail kept flopping around in his excitement. "Dye dye dye," he sang to himself happily. "Lots and lots of dye ..."



Idhril smiled warmly up at Joruri and stretched her arms, which rose up high above her, one on each side of Joruri's head. Her back arched, then her legs - until her entire body went limp and she collapsed back into his lap.

"I slept really well," she told him happily, snuggling her face against his warm chest once more. "It's the best sleep I ever remember! You made me feel real safe, Joruri."

And she smiled warmly up at him.

Ruque climbed carefully from Niyana's hand up onto her shoulder, sitting right up close to her neck so that he could hold onto her hair to keep his balance. He tried his best not to pull on her hair and hurt her - but there was a time or two when he couldn't help it, he thought he was losing his balance ...

His heart pounded as Niyana lowered her hand. She really was letting him do this on his own ... he was proud of that, though he was also a little scared.

Jair grinned up at Niyana. "I don't know," he admitted, "because I've never coloured anything before, or painted anything ... Serenity said she would teach me last week but then when she was here all her stuff got ruined so she needs to get new supplies she says."

Elnara nodded her agreement. "She was caught in a cave near the water when the tide came in," she said softly, "so she lost everything ... all of her supplies, everything she had ever done, all of her work ... ruined by the water. But she's pressing forward, trying to be optimistic, starting fresh ... it's heartening."

Aras meanwhile had been whispering into Celebor's ear, telling him about the situation inside the cave, and Celebor was anxious to see his other two children - so he removed his arm from Niyana's and ran ahead into the cave to find them.

"Kanis?" he called out once he and Aras were safely inside. "Ruran?"

His deep voice was calm, but the excitement was also there.

Aras grinned and pointed into the work room. "They were in there when I left, Daddy!" she told him proudly.


Idhril lifted the bottom of her skirt and looked at her shins. They were a little red, still raw from the scraping, but they were clean and they didn't hurt. Her thighs however ... hadn't been cleaned, and she could still feel the bits of bark rubbing together, and that did hurt. Her hands thankfully had already been washed and had even, she noticed, begun to heal slightly overnight. But still ... her thighs ...

But her stomach rumbled then, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since the morning before.

"I'm fine, Joruri," she smiled up at him, crawling out of his lap and slowly rising to her feet. "But I need food ... and clothes ..."

She bit her lower lip and looked away thoughtfully. Where would they find food? Did Joruri need food?

"Maybe ... oh I know!" she exclaimed, her eyes suddenly lighting up as she looked at Joruri and took his hands in her own. "My brother Celebor lives here now, we can go see him together! He'll have food and maybe Niyana will have clothes that I can borrow, and then I don't have to leave you here all by yourself!"

She tugged on his hands, trying to pull Joruri to his feet. "Come on, Joruri, let's go!" she giggled.

"Down there, Daddy!" Aras tugged on his ear and pointed down at Kanis, whom she had seen darting under the bed. "She went under the bed!"

Celebor stopped in his tracks and looked down. Sure enough, he could see a bit of a tiny foot sticking out. He chuckled softly and knelt down, holding Aras in one hand so that she wouldn't fall off his shoulder.

"Sorry, Kanis," he smiled, just about laying his head on the ground so that he could see her. "I didn't think you would be on the floor."

He held his other hand out to her. "Come on out, I promise I'll be more careful," he said warmly, his eyes shining with love.

Ruque was slowly growing a little more confident, and he let go of Niyana's hair and edged a little closer to her shoulder proper, now holding onto her shirt to keep his balance.

Jair grinned at Niyana. "This is gonna be fun!" he laughed.

Elnara looked after Celebor, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"This is where you live?" she asked as they entered the grove, looking up at the trees that surrounded it. She looked into the cave. "It looks ... very homey."

She smiled. "You two have done so well ... I couldn't think of a better mate for my son." She looked at Niyana and smiled warmly at her.


Idhril smiled bravely at Joruri. She didn't want him to worry about her, and she knew that he would probably still be tired from his own experience the night before, so she shook her head.

"I'll be all right," she promised him. "I can walk. Come on, let's go look for them!"

And she began to lead him from the cave, out into the sun-filled day.

Celebor's smile grew wider upon actually seeing Kanis, and he lifted her in his hand and held her close to his chest so that he could hug her.

"My little Kanis," he breathed. "You're so wonderful ..."

He lowered Aras as well and held the two girls next to each other so that he could see them both at the same time. "Two such beautiful girls," he grinned. Then he looked around and spotted Ruran.

"And Ruran," he smiled, lifting the girls to his shoulders. "All by yourself ... don't like crowds, perhaps?"

And he headed over to kneel by his son.

Ruque's chest swelled with pride at his mother's praise, and he felt much braver immediately. He was loving this far more than he was letting on.

Elnara smiled at Niyana and stepped into the cave. "Storm and Starr are actually quite skilled in working with ... or rather, manipulating the elements," she told her, "perhaps I could ask them to come and help you? I'm sure they would love to, they don't get to use their magic very much at home."

Jair's eyes grew wide as they entered the cave, and he looked around in awe.

"IT'S SO COOL!" he exclaimed loudly.


Idhril felt his grip on her hand tightening a bit, and she stopped and looked up at him, her face filled with worry.

"Joruri?" she asked him softly. "Are you all right?"

She stroked the back of his hand with her thumb, trying to make him feel safe again. What had happened?