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Adan was eagerly explaining the rules of the game to Feng and Ryu as he sorted through the pieces.

"You have to pile up as many as you can, and make a good strong tower," he explained, "and then we take turns taking out the pieces just one at a time, but you can't take the ones from the top. If you make the tower fall, you lose! And if you can get a whole bunch of the same kind of animal then you get more points nd whoever has the most points when the tower falls, wins!"

Alyse giggled and climbed into Feng's lap. "I want to be on Feng's team!" she said brightly.

"And I want Ryu on my team!" Adwin grinned, shuffling closer to the mer boy.

"Then I can be on Mama's team," Adan concluded happily. "Soon as she comes out here."



The front door of the house opened, and Ulani stepped outside, her eyes filled with laughter as she took in the large crowd that had gathered around her front porch.

"Well, this certainly is a larger crowd than I had expected," she laughed. "Welcome back, everyone! Come on inside, Ulrich will be in shortly. Come in, come in!"

Lore chuckled at that explaination for them not being around that much, which was true, but at times could be an understatment. He helped usher the children towards the house.

"MAMA!" Adan called loudly. "YOU'RE GOING TO BE ON MY TEAM, OKAY?"

"SHH!" Adwin hushed his older brother vehemently. "A'nijah's sleepin'!"

Aliya appeared a moment later, one finger to her lips. "He's just fallen asleep, don't wake him up," she whispered. "Now, what are we playing?"

Adan grinned. "Towers," he told her impishly, "and you're on my team because you're the best at this game!"

Aliya grinned and picked him up, hugging him before sitting with the others again. "Well, then, we have to start by building the tower, don't we?" she giggled, tickling him a bit. Then she reached for the pieces and began to stack them carefully.



"Hello, Cindy!" Ulani called back brightly, stepping out of the way so that everyone could come in. "Everyone come into the living room, I'm sure there's enough seating ... Elnara ... Lore ... Kara ... and a whole bunch of ... wow, so many new faces to meet." She laughed.

Ryu watched with interest, he as well had never played such game, but it sounded interesting, and something the younger siblings could play if they couldn't go outdoors or anything of the like.

"You play this often?"

Kara looked up from where she was scratching Tao behind the ear, "Yes, there is also a lot of new people now isn't there?"

She giggled from where she was, before stopping and telling Tao to stay as she joined the others to go inside.

Miyu smiled shyly as she carried Toshiro inside with the others, she didn't know whether or not Ulani had met Toshi or not. After all this was not Toshiro's first time here.

"There are a lot of people isn't there?" Cindy asked with a smile, "Ulrich will be surprised."

Aliya grinned at Ryu. "Often enough," she agreed. "Adan invented this game ... almost two years ago, but I have to admit it's good for the kids, and for me. We all get to spend time together, and it keeps Adan home more than he used to be ... not that it was entirely his fault."

She smiled brightly. "When the twins were born, he spent a lot of time with Aragost. Aragost has always been so helpful."

"Help build," Adwin pouted from where he sat next to Ryu. "We can't play until the tower's done!"




Ulani smiled at Cindy as everyone moved to take a seat. "Indeed he will," she agreed cheerfully. "He shouldn't be gone too long, he just went to check on a few things in the forest nearby."

"And handling twins can be a bit more difficult," Ryu added.

At Adwin's prodding to help as well, Ryu began to help build the blocks carefully. He was use to doing something like this, though often he had built towers for them to be knocked down, or chewed on if you were Jin.


Miyu padded over to a couch and set Toshiro down on it, before climbing up beside him. These people at least she was use to, and she had gotten better about being shy since this was a place she went to often enough.

Aliya nodded at Ryu. "It was," she agreed, "much more difficult. I was quite grateful for his help - and Shael's of course," she added, her smile growing brighter.

"Almost ready," Alyse giggled, stacking up more of the few remaining animal carvings.

Shael came out of the kitchen just then, brushing her hands together.

"Everything's ready for now," she said. "If there's nothing else, I'll be back in time to make lunch." She smiled at everyone. "Anything else?"



"It's been far too long since you've been here," Ulani smiled at Lore and Elnara, motioning for them to sit and taking a seat in one of the few remaining available places. "So much has happened since you left ... so many things ... obviously you know about the ranch, and Haradhel ... and I'm sure they've told you about Aliya and Adonai and Shael and the others ..."