Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shael brought the dishes to the table and set them out where Cindy could sit down.

"It's been a long time," she murmured. "Almost twelve years, isn't it?"

She lifted the lid off a large pot in the middle of the table and scooped Cindy some stew.

"It's not much," she smiled, "but it's hot and it will help us keep through winter. It seems to have come early this year ... we might have to ask Ulrich for a bit more help than usual."

"Probably a few weeks," Adonai replied, taking the ladle from Shael and motioning for her to take a seat. "We're well into winter now, but the air isn't right for a real storm. Constant snowfall, yes, but for a while yet it will either blow away or melt enough that we can still get out all right. Still, our cellar is full of food, and we have an underground passage to our wood house, so we'll be fine however it goes."

Shael surrendered the serving duty to Adonai and sat down obediently. A brief smile crossed her face at the relief of being able to relieve her leg, and she leaned her crutch against the table beside her.

"We try to have Rhea's lessons outside as much as we can," she explained to Cindy. "At least, her magic lessons. Arithmetic and letters, we do in the study. But her magic ..."

"It's too uuuun-re-li-a-bull," Rhea piped up, dipping her finger in her plate. "Big word that means I make big messes with it."

"What I said," Rhea giggled, scooping up some of her stew with her finger. "Big messes. That's what happens when it doesn't do what I want it to."

"Or sometimes when it does do what she wants," Shael smiled. "In response to your question, no. If we get snowed in, I really don't want her practicing her magic indoors. But being snowed in never lasts more than a few days, a week at most, so I'm not too worried about it. It just gives her the chance to play like a normal child once in a while."

She paused. "Oh ... and from time to time, at least during the winter, she'll be making trips to the ranch to play with the children that were rescued last week. It's the first contact she's had with others her age, and I don't want her to miss out on that."

"You're more than welcome to come along," Adonai smiled at Cindy. "Or stay or whatever you like. More than anything else, you are our guest. What you do and when you do it is entirely up to you."

"It'll be lots of fun!" Rhea beamed, her eyes filled with excitement. "The children are very nice! And they like to play dolls and make snow people outside and everything!"

Shael giggled. "I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time together," she assured Rhea. "But keep in mind, you can't keep Cindy all to yourself while she's here ... she has other things that she would like to do as well."

"I know," Rhea grinned, licking her finger. "But we're still going to have fun!"

"Well," Shael admitted, "I have to say that I don't know of any plants that grow in the winter, except the evergreen trees. Of course, there are the plants that we have here in the house ... plain ivy, for the most part ... but we do have medicinal herbs and the like, if you want to examine them. Adonai could tell you more about them."

"I've also been studying them," Adonai nodded. "Just in case we have a repeat of what nearly happened about five thousand years ago. We were almost left without magic of any sort ... and if that does happen, then most people won't know what to do."

"Oh?" Adonai raised one brow curiously. "Which plant was that?"

He didn't know which was Kara's first, second third ... or any number visit. He only knew that she had been there before he had even been born.

Which ... was a long time ago now.

"Oh I know those ones!" Rhea piped up again. "They're really pretty! They come up in stirring and they last right til autumn again! Right Papa?" She looked at her father proudly.

Adonai chuckled. "Very good, Rhea," he nodded, reaching across the table to ruffle her hair affectionately. "And I"m surprised that they didn't survive for you, Cindy," he added. "They're the most hardy of flowers, they usually grow anywhere ... I think Shael might have some indoors here as well ..."

Shael nodded. "In our bedroom," she murmured. "They're pretty, and they give off a nice smell when they're properly tended. But perhaps there's a difference in the soil between the worlds, that might explain why it died."