Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Leyenda would probably be the best person to ask," River grinned. "She's gone through it already, and she's the only other one with a mark. Well, the only woman, I mean."

And about to go through it again. Amalirahc was so excited, knowing that he was (finally) going to be a big brother.

River nodded as they approached a large barn. "True. And when they did go other places, Kelirahc flew them on his dragon, since Leyenda's dragon is so small."

The barn door was wide open, and River wandered inside, expecting that Miyuki would follow her. It was a horse barn, but since the upper half of the walls were open, it hardly smelled at all. There were no horses in the stalls: she guessed that they would be outside somewhere; but there were a few wagons, carts, and buggies on the far side of the barn. A ladder on one wall led up to a loft filled with hay.

River nodded. "Okay."

They wandered around the outside of the barn, further away from the house. There, there was a large garden, or a small field, however one decided to look at it, and in it was growing all manner of vegetables, as well as some berries.

"Strawberries and raspberries and gooseberries and huckleberries and blackberries and blueberries," River exclaimed, astonished. "How do they get them to grow out here where it's always so hot? Wouldn't they dry up?"

She giggled and looked over at Miyuki. "Pity we don't have some kind of guide with us to answer questions," she quipped. "I know I'd be asking questions non-stop right about now!"

River paused to think about that. "You're right," she murmured. "That's why we followed it here. I wonder where it is, though, I haven't seen it since we arrived ..."

And it wasn't like it was a terribly small river, either, despite being in the desert.

She smiled at Miyuki. "Well, I guess we'll find out. Come on, let's keep going." She started off again, heading past the field and towards a row of large buildings.

"Probably working," River decided. "It's the middle of the afternoon. And this is different from home, this place is a real business, not just a home for many people. They can't stop everything just because there are visitors."

The buildings ahead of them were all the same: as large as any of the old barracks had been on the ranch, three closed walls, and the wall facing the main house with an enormous door that was wide open. River could see, even from this distance, that there were lots of people inside; windows let light in, and she could see that they were working, though she wasn't sure what they were doing exactly. Something to do with wine, she assumed.

"See?" she grinned, pointing ahead. "There's some people."

River had no idea. She didn't know anything about wine-making. "Why don't we go in and find out?" she suggested.

The air here had a very sweet smell to it, sweeter than even the apple trees in bloom back home. She wondered why that was.

"I'm sure they''ll tell us if we can't be in there," River shrugged, stepping inside and taking a good look around.

There were a lot of men in the building, some with baskets of grapes, others sorting and organizing, some with buckets and others with different types of tools. There was a large vat in the middle of the room, and there were half a dozen women in the vat, walking around gingerly.

The girls attracted some glances as they entered, but no one paid them any more attention than that.