Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Hmm?" Julien blinked, drawn out of his inner musings by Chath's question. He blinked again at the boy, then blushed a little, laughing at himself. "I was just thinking. We all need to find our place in this world, right?"

Julien nodded slowly. "I think I was placed with Mir because she needed me," he offered, his voice quiet. "Perhaps it's the same with you and Michael. The two of you may connect somewhere that he couldn't, otherwise." He reached out, scooping up a bunch of dirt and helping Chath to put out the fire. "And maybe, through Michael's guidance, you'll find your own place in the world... and what you're meant to do here."

"Not completely," Julien shook his head. "But I'm beginning to have an idea, at the least. In part, it's because of you, actually," he added, chuckling as he watched Chath. "So thank you." Reaching for the stick that Chath had used to first light the fire, he drew a little sun-symbol in the dirt. "Do you want me to walk you home? You might have a bit better time of it if your guardian knows you were with someone safe."

Julien smiled, setting the stick aside and standing to brush himself off. It only helped so much, dirt still clinging to him, but he wasn't afraid of a bit of dirt, really. "Shall we head back? We can talk on the way, and I suspect Michael will feel a bit better knowing exactly where you are," he smiled to Chath, stamping out the last of the glowing embers with his shoes.

As Julien fell into step beside Chath, he laughed again. "If he's anything like Mir, he'll worry no matter how old you get," he offered. "But I don't think that's a bad thing. It's part of caring for people, that you worry about them." He sounded utterly confident in that thought, the smile still on his face as he considered. "Do you ever worry about him?"

Slipping his hands into his pockets, Julien considered. His head tilted up, eyes watching the way the leaves shifted above him for a time before answering. "I think it's okay to worry about someone else. Worry is a byproduct of caring, and I think locking yourself away from caring would be nothing but misery."

Looking down at Chath after a moment, he added, "But it's also good to accept that the other person can handle themselves. When you're watching over a very young child, you wouldn't let him cook, right? He might burn himself or cut himself. But eventually he'll stop being a very young child, and when he's grown enough to handle a knife without cutting himself, or a pot without burning himself... you have to be ready to accept that he's also grown enough to cook without you right there to help him. However, we Ashes grow so quickly that it's hard for our guardians to really easily accept that we're grown."

Julien shook his head slowly. "Perhaps it's the magic in our bodies," he suggested quietly. "Maybe it forces them to grow fast, and the rest of us - our minds - have to keep up."

Julien just smiled, shaking Michael's hand with a firm grip. His hands weren't soft or flawless - too many hours of working with them in the kitchen, of sewing with them, and tending to animals and cleaning up after them - had turned his hands from something beautiful to something worn and a touch rough. But the rough looks were belied by the gentle touch. "Not at all. He's a smart Ashe, and a good listener," he said, grinning over at Chath.

Somehow, Michael reminded Julien just a bit of Mireille. Perhaps it was the way he seemed to accept Julien's arrival so easily, or the way he didn't blink or look surprised at the thought of another Ashe. Whatever it was, it made him feel a little more comfortable. "I hope we didn't make you worry much?"