Welcome to Gaia! ::

Arahad nodded. He had suspected as much.

"Well, after the garden," he suggested, "we could look for him. Mother would know where he is, though I wouldn't have the faintest clue."

Having been stuck in the house for already several weeks, he really didn't know much of where anyone was, except for what his parents and older brother discussed over breakfast each morning.

Arahad shrugged his good shoulder. It sounded ominous, and it made him curious, but it wasn't any of his business and he knew it.

"As you wish," he smiled easily at her. "Actually, I don't mind that at all, he sort of creeps me out sometimes. I prefer to avoid him when I can ... ascendant or no."

He waved to his mother, who straightened up and dusted her hands off, then started towards them.

Haradhel smiled brightly at Lin. "Hello," she said warmly as she drew near the two of them. "Welcome back. Is your father here as well? The men are all here, so a hunt can be organized for tomorrow, if that's what he wants ..."

She trailed off, seeing Arahad shaking his head at her, and then her expression changed to one of curiosity and she looked back down at Lin quizzically.

Haradhel giggled. "How well I remember that ... near the end of my pregnancy with Arwen, the day Aliya found out she was pregnant with Adanedhel. Kind of hard to forget that day."

She motioned towards the others who were working in the garden, a handful of men and women. "I'm sure they could all use a break."

"Well," Haradhel grinned, "you were small ... actually it was kind of cute, watching you riding on Wish." She laughed. "Ah, that was such a long time ago ... so much has happened since then."

Vanya was the nearest to them and she straightened up as they approached. Her skirt and hands were dirty, but she simply brushed her hands off on her blouse and smiled warmly at them all.

"Hello," she said softly.

"Ah, from the celebration that your country has," Vanya nodded, smiling widely. "Thank you very much, Lin. You are alwyas so thoughtful of us all."

Haradhel nodded. "She is," she agreed. "Come Vanya, let everyone have a break for a while, it is a warm day and they have been working hard."

"As you wish, my Lady," Vanya smiled, bowing her head respectfully; and then she turned and headed back into the garden towards the other workers.

Haradhel smiled and motioned towards the shade of the barracks, which was nearby. "Winter was winter," she replied, heading towards the cooler area to rest a bit. "It wasn't a bad one, which was nice, though with so many unexpected mouths to feed we had to send the hunters out more than usual. The children behaved wonderfully ... they were so sweet, all of them. I think the death of their friend helped some of them to realize that they needed to treasure their time with others ... so by the time they left they were inseparable."

She laughed softly. "I can imagine their parents must be having to allow their children to visit quite often now. Still, I'm glad they're all home safely. Elros returned only last week from bringing them back."

"You might want to talk to him before you leave today," Haradhel warned Lin softly. "I don't know how much longer he'll be here ... and he's been more distant than usual lately."

Which was saying something.

Arahad on the other hand was eying the cookie in Lin's hand. He had never seen cookies shaped like that before, or with blue icing ... it was very pretty, and looked delicious.