Welcome to Gaia! ::

Just as the two girls were about to converge on the boy, he changed direction and just barely squeezed between their hands. His bare feet dug into the sand as he ran gleefully away.

The girls both stumbled slightly as they tried to do the same change in direction, and when they turned to chase after him again, they spotted Naida coming towards them.

"Catch him!" one of them shouted at her - the irritated one.

"If you can!" the other girl laughed, clearly enjoying herself.



River had no such sense of covering up her amusement, and she laughed aloud. Of course, she herself had been mercilessly teased about Jess - though she hadn't minded that a bit, either.

Lily was equally unembarrassed, and in fact some of the colour left her face.

"I've been waiting for this lout for nine hundred years," she grinned at Luk, "just waiting for him to notice what everyone else never seems to tire talking about."

Luk rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yes ... well ... you know how I was."

"Yes, I know how you were," Lily agreed. "Your parents vanished, and then so did you, perfectly content to ignore the world around you and the people who care for you." She turned to Arthael. "Please tell me you're here to help him change that."

The boy blinked when he realized that Naida was joining in the chase, and he faltered in his steps - which was all the girls needed to catch up to him and pounce on his back.

"Gotcha!" shouted the cheerful girl, jumping on the boy's back and knocking him face first into the sand.

The other girl scrambled forward and sat on one of the boy's arms, the one holding the shell, and pried his fingers open.

"Got it," she breathed, clutching it close to her chest. Her pale teal hair fell forward into her face as she bowed her head with relief.

The boy tried to say something, but with his face in the sand nothing could be heard but a muffled "Hmm-mmm-mmm!"


Earendil chuckled and put his free hand on Lin's arm. "Makes us look good, doesn't it?" he grinned at her. "I'm still not even a century old."

Arthael laughed. "Well, I'm sure he'll be different now," she assured Lily. "He's been nothing but cheerful since I met him."

"Good," Lily said flatly. "It's the first time since your parents vanished that I've even seen him smile." She looked up at Luk and swatted his head playfully. "Maybe now you'll listen when I tell you that you don't always have to be so gloomy."

Luk ducked. "Yes, yes, I know."

The girl who had captured the shell pushed herself to her feet, still holding the shell like it was a valuable treasure, while the boy protested with a muffled "Mmm mm MMM mmm mmm!"

The other girl laughed and climbed off his back so that the boy could get up. "Serves you right," she grinned.

The boy pushed himself to his elbows and started spitting sand. "Totally worth it," he grinned, shaking sand from his hair.

The girl laughed again and grinned at Naida. "Thanks for your help, by the way," she winked. "It's hard to catch Dwr when he gets to the water." She brushed her long hair back behind her shoulders. "I'm Aysu," she introduced herself, bowing slightly. Then she gestured towards the other girl. "This is my twin sister, Ta'neer."

Ta'neer smiled and bowed her head to Naida.


"Good, well, now that that's all settled," Lily announced, "you all make yourselves comfortable - there aren't enough chairs, sorry about that - and I'll get something for you all."

"Lily, it's my house," Luk spoke up bemusedly. "I'll serve them."

"If it was Papa who told you, he probably meant us," the boy, Dwr, admitted, pushing himself to his feet. "And if you were asking him, I'm going to guess that you were talking about playing and racing in the water."

Ta'neer rolled her eyes, and Aysu giggled. "Dwr, you always think everything is about you."

"Am I wrong?" Dwr asked, his bright turquoise eyes flashing at Naida, challenging her to contradict him.



Lily didn't miss Lin's amusement, and her green eyes sparkled brightly. "Now, Luk, I've been taking care of your house for seven years while you were gone - I'm not going to stop now that you're back."

Luk sighed, then shrugged as if to say, If you insist, and offered chairs to the others first.

River was thoroughly amused. "Uncle Luk, I think she's giving you a bit of a hint."

The boy grinned triumphantly at the girls before looking back at Naida.

"So you like to swim?" he asked casually. "You a good swimmer?"

Watch out, he's going to try trick you, Aysu mouthed to Naida from behind Dwr's back. He's a showoff!



Arthael took one of the chairs, as did Halmir, which left two others open.

"Actually, she reminds me a bit of you," she told Halmir, seemingly seriously. "Before we were married."

"Well I had to do something to convince you I wasn't completely daft," Halmir defended himself.

Timaeus laughed. "Are Alyse and I the only ones who had a normal courtship here?"

"Papa," River protested, thinking of herself and Jess.

"Even you don't," Brooke giggled at her sister. Even at only six years old, she was very astute. "Because the boy is supposed to court the girl, not the other way around!"

Lily laughed as she poured everyone some water from the running trough that ran along the wall. "Sometimes men are just too slow," she winked at Brooke.

Dwr wasn't impressed by Naida's claims. He had heard them before, many times, and he had yet to be beaten in a fair race in the water. He just smiled wider and turned towards the water.

"How's this for a race," he suggested. "We start here, race to your ship - you have to touch it - and then back here. First one to touch Ta'neer wins."

"Not me," Ta'neer protested, stepping out of the water. "The last thing I need is for you to break my song shell." She held the blue and green conch shell protectively to her chest.

"Spoilsport," Aysa snorted at her twin. "I'll do it. And I'll do the countdown, too," she added, eying Dwr. "And a false start is an automatic loss."

Dwr eyed Aysa suspiciously, then nodded. "Fine. Naida?" He turned to her to see if she agreed to the terms.



Arthael chuckled softly, but Halmir was the first to answer.

"Oh, you know, the usual," he beamed. "Flowers and sweets and preparing meals for her and-"

"Preparing meals for me?" Arthael laughed aloud. "Bringing me animals that I still had to clean myself before I could do anything else with it ... that's not preparing a meal for me. That's having me prepare a meal for you."

She turned to Lin. "But you know how he used to be, right? Sounding like he was courting pretty much every woman he came across. I didn't take him seriously until he started keeping house for me, too. Cleaning while I was asleep ... once I stopped being creeped out by it, I started to see his intentions."

"Anything goes," Dwr replied, "that's standard."

He waded out of the water and stood next to Aysu and put one hand on her shoulder. "Ready when you are," he grinned at Naida.



Arthael remembered the incident well, though her only reaction was to look coolly at her husband. Halmir rubbed his jaw and grinned. Yes, he remember, too. It was the last time he had tried to speak flippantly about the royal family.

"Candy canes ... now that was a fun story," Luk grinned as Lily brought around a tray with their drinks.

Lily looked at him curiously. "What are candy canes?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, and what happened with them?" River asked, equally curious. "I've never heard this story before!"

"Ta'neer," Aysu grinned at her sister.

Ta'neer eyed the two competitors as if making sure they were both ready, then nodded curtly.

"Three ... two ... one ... go!"

With hardly a splash, Dwr was already in the water, so fast it hardly seemed possible, though Aysu did not call foul on him. The moment he was in the water, his skin shimmered slightly as it changed texture, taking on the smoothness of scales. With powerful strokes of his arms, he pulled his way forward in the water with almost no resistance.



"Oh, like we had at that one New Year's celebration!" River beamed. "Okay, I remember those. They are good!"

"But tell us this story, Lin," Timaeus spoke up with a chuckle. "None of us have heard it, I think, aside from Mother and Father and Uncle Luk."