Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I hope so," Earendil murmured worriedly. "They haven't said a word since you all arrived. But perhaps seeing Ninako and the others will help. He looked down at Lin. "Have they met Rhea yet?"

Rhea was such an interesting and unusual person, perhaps she would be able to help them ...

Earendil chuckled. "I remember," he smiled. "Starr went around telling everyone that he overheated." He glanced down the hall. "Neither of them have changed a bit since that time, either. Strange, when you think about how much you yourself have grown since then. And aren't they supposedly older than you?"

He blinked. "Ah, but I had forgotten ... with the time difference between your world and ours, and how much time you spend here, I'm sure you must be older than them, aren't you?"

"I don't know," Earendil shrugged. "I can't pretend to know anything about your race. Or any of the races from your world. Perhaps they simply won't grow, as some of the others you've told me about. Perhaps they'll just take a while to grow, like Toshiro. Who am I to say?"

He turned his head slightly as Storm and Starr came out of their room. "Ah," he smiled. "I hope everything is all right for you two."

Storm looked at Earendil emotionlessly, but Starr smiled and bowed her head slightly. "As well as it could be," she murmured, "thank you."

Starr smiled at Lin. "It has been a long time," she agreed, "but it's nice to come back again. I think I'm going to like traveling. This world is so much more peaceful than ours ..."

"Quieter," Storm murmured, rubbing his arms as if he were cold.

Shiro, Ura and Kaito joined them then, and Earendil smiled at the group. "It looks as if it's time for breakfast," he smiled. "Shall we?"

Rhea was already present when the group made their way to the dining hall, and she was chatting pleasantly with Atalya and Reave, who were also there. She brightened visibly when the others entered the room, and she stood and smiled warmly at them all.

"Welcome," she greeted them happily. "I'm glad you finally made it!"

There was no surprise in her voice, but that could be expected. She had after all grown up with Aragost, and absorbed his uncanny ability to know things.

She smiled at the twins. "Hello, Storm, Starr. I'm Rhea."

Storm just stared at her, but Starr smiled brightly and gave her a little curtsy. "It's nice to meet you, Rhea," she murmured. "How do you know who we are?"

Rhea giggled. "I just know things."

Rhea laughed at Lin's comment. "It could be worse. And yes, I've had a wonderful time waiting for you to come." She smiled and sat down, and the others did the same. As the meal was brought in, she continued. "I've had the opportunity to read through the library, explore the grounds, have some spars against some of the trainees on the mountain ... really, it's quite wonderful here."

Storm and Starr had taken the seats closest to their great-grandparents, and Starr was chatting away with them while Storm listened in, silent as he had been for a long time now.

Rhea smiled thoughtfully at Lin, drumming her fingertips lightly on the tabletop. "Well ... I've learned a lot about people in general ... society ..."

As for stories ... well, of course she had been on adventures since arriving, but what stories to tell?

"Well, there was one case where I was mistaken for someone else," she laughed. "In a manner of speaking ... it wasn't anyone specific. You know that my mother and my aunt are identical twins, yes?" She smiled at Lin.

Rhea giggled. "Once, about a year ago, I went into the city, and while I was looking around I ran into a man who seemed to know who I was. He asked me how my parents were doing, if the family was well ... well, I had been talking with him for almost a quarter of an hour before he started to get a little confusing ... asking about my aunt and uncle's inn, and how the business was ... when I told him that I didn't know, and I wasn't able to answer those questions, he gave me an odd sort of look. It was then that I wondered if perhaps I was not who he thought I was."

She cleared her throat to keep from laughing, but her eyes were sparkling brightly with amusement. "I asked him, just to make sure, and sure enough he informed me that he thought I had to be the daughter of Rayna, the innkeeper at New Kaliningrad."

She laughed then, unable to hold it in. "When I told him she was my aunt, and not my mother, he didn't believe me. It wasn't until I told him that she and my mother are identical that he would even consider what I was saying. He said that it made him feel better, as he didn't remember Aunt Rayna having a family, but still. We both felt a bit silly afterward, but it is quite funny, looking back on it."