Welcome to Gaia! ::

Elia's eyes sparkled with amusement at the look on Long's face, but she knew she would not be able to help him out. She herself had never seen snow or ice, or experienced true coldness.

"Come, Saria," she called to her niece, holding out her hand to her. "Let's find your parents."

Saria kept her eyes fixed on Long as she shuffled past him and took Elia's hand. "Okay," she murmured, pressing herself against Elia's side, looking as though she wanted to hide herself in her aunt's skirt.

Elia giggled at her, then turned back to the two men. "Go ahead, I'm sure they will be expecting you," she smiled at them.

The room to which Elia had directed Long and Daemon was a conference room. The door was open, which meant that it was allowed to be entered, but around the table, which had chairs for well over two dozen people, there were four: Estel, seated, pointing at something on a map; Lothiriel, standing behind him and leaning over his shoulder to see what he was pointing at, her raven locks tumbling about her shoulders; seated to Estel's left was a human, sandy-haired and youthful looking, also looking intently at the map; and behind the human a second human in armour, though his helmet was removed at the moment.

They were just finishing up their discussion, and just before Daemon and Long appeared in the doorway, Lothiriel blinked and turned to look at the door.

Lothiriel's eyes grew bright when she saw Daemon and Long, though the rest of the people in the room looked at both of them with a curious and confused look on their faces.

Lothiriel though smiled widely and straightened. She touched her husband lightly on the shoulder, nodded to the sandy-haired young man, and moved to join Long and Daemon at the door.

"Good morning," she greeted them warmly. Her eyes sparkled as she took Daemon's hands and clasped them together in her own. "You can't imagine how good it is to see you again," she beamed. "And out of the sword!"

For a moment it seemed as though she was trying to hold herself back, but then she gave in and threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

Lothiriel giggled, sounding more like the child she had used to be rather than the queen she had become.

"I can imagine," she grinned at him. "It must have been strange, coming out and being truly yourself for the first time. I'm sure Father must still be seeing the auras he started seeing when you were with him. It was a powerful bond you had together."

She released Daemon and smiled at his companion. "And Long. Welcome to our land. You are most welcome here."

Lothiriel smiled and took their arms so that there was one of them on each side of her, and began to walk, leading them down the corridor.

"Well, I'm so very glad you did come," she beamed. "It's so rare that we have any visitors, especially from your world. And Daemon, I haven't seen you in so long ... not since I was a teen. You have to meet the family while you're here! And tell me all about how you've been doing."

She led them into a smaller room than the one they'd come from, though it was similar in its furnishings: the table in this room was only large enough for twelve rather than several dozen, though the chairs around this table were identical to those from the larger room. Light and fresh air filtered in through the glass-less windows, and though the air was warm, there was also a slight breeze.

Lothiriel smiled and waved one hand dismissively. "Nothing important," she assured him. "Prince Reginald is here on behalf of his father so that we can work out some trade routes between our country and theirs. Honestly, I'm queen because I'm married to the king, no other reason. Estel is the one with the true authority."

Her eyes sparkled. "Besides," she added mischievously, "if it really mattered to you that I was in a meeting, you wouldn't have interrupted it."

Lothiriel laughed softly. "Well, you clearly saw enough to know that we were in a meeting. But that's all right, honestly it didn't concern me and it will be done soon."

Her eyes sparkled. "Then I can introduce you to Estel. You never did get to meet him, did you Daemon?"