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"You grew!" Feng leaped forward and hugged Adan.

This time she was too quick for Ryu to stop her as she hugged the boy close to her. Though Ryu had to admit, Adan did shoot up greatly in height, though if he recalled the boy was still young. Weird way of thinking about it, but it was true.

"Feng... let him breath."


"I would like to see that," Kara smiled, "Sounds wonderful, and you never know. You might need all those things."

Things happened after all.

Adan hugged Feng back, but just a little bit before squirming out of the embrace, muttering something about being too big for hugs now.

Still, his happiness at seeing them again was clear in his eyes, and he tugged on Feng's hand, dragging her into the house.

"Come and have lunch with us!" he said eagerly. "We're just starting! You're just in time!"



"I'm sure we'll need it all," Shael laughed. "The day the house is done we'll be married and move in, and from there, who knows?" Her entire face was beaming as she looked up at Adonai.

Adonai grinned at Lin. "Sand and fire," he told her with a chuckle. "But for the details, you'll have to ask her. She won't let anyone near when she does it, apparently it gets really hot. Something about melting the sand to a liquid."

"Anyways, let's go for lunch," Shael said again, tugging Adonai forward. "Ulani and Ulrich will be glad to have you all here again, and there's lots to do afterwards!"

Lin filed that in her mind somewhere for she couldn't see how anyone could make sand liquid. As far as she knew... sand was dirt.. dirt couldn't become liquid could it? She tried to think about it again and in the end decided she didn't understand the process at all.

"I'm sure there will be plently to do," Donovan nodded.

Before they could make it to the kitchen, Aliya appeared in the doorway to see what was taking Adanedhel so long.

"Feng! Ryu!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up brightly when she saw her friends. She darted forward and pounced on both of them at the same time for a big hug, much as she had done the first time they had visited, and which she hadn't done since then.

Then again, this was also the first time since then that they were visiting and she wasn't pregnant or on bed rest.



When they entered Ulani and Ulrich's house, Adonai called out, "Mother! Ada! Guests!"

Ulani appeared from the direction of the back of the house, her still youthful features etched with surprise.

"Kara! Donovan! Celebor, Lin, Miyu ... it's been so long!" She laughed. "Welcome! Come on in, make yourselves at home. It might as well be a second home for you, for all you're here. How have you all been? It's been such a long time ..."

"It's good to see you to," Donovan murmured as he put Lin down, "How have you all been doing?"

Probably excited with Adonai and Shael moving into their own home, his mother would be.

"Far too long," Aliya agreed, leading them into the dining room to where the others were. "You've already seen how Adan's grown, but he hasn't even grown the most."

And she nodded towards the twins, who were easily almost twice the height they had been the last time Feng and Ryu had come - and of course Adonijah, a month old when they had last left, now very nearly three years old, almost the size that the twins had been the last time.

"Hello again," Amdir greeted the two with a smile and a nod. "Welcome back. It's been a bit lonesome around here without you."

"Hi!" Adwin called out, waving from his seat and leaning on the table to see them better.

Alyse however remained calmly in her seat, legs crossed in a lady-like manner, elbows politely at her sides. Her long golden hair was pinned back and braided, and her facial features had already begun to develop into those of a beautiful young woman, despite her young age.

"Hello," she smiled calmly at their guests.

Adonijah, whose long hair stuck out in every direction, just stared at them, chewing his lunch with his mouth wide open.




Ulani laughed. "Of course, of course ... they always go there first. No surprise. Anyways I was about to sit down for lunch ... though I have to admit, I wasn't expecting so many people. I hope you don't mind bread, it's all I have ready at the moment."

"Where's Ulrich?" Shael asked curiously as she moved towards the kitchen.

"He left this morning to get the rest of the supplies to finish the house," Ulani replied, ushering all of them towards the kitchen. "He should be back in a week or two, and then it should be just a matter of days before you can move in."

There was a strange look in her eyes, though - one that almost said she disapproved of something.

Adonai, on the other hand, saw the look in his mother's eye and knew exactly what it meant. He spoke softly to her in elvish before following after Shael.

When he was in the next room, Ulani sighed, then looked over at the others.

"Forgive me," she apologized, smiling ruefully. "I should explain. Shael's brother and sister - I'm sure she must have told you about them already - left only at the beginning of this year ... less than a month ago. From the time Adonai returned home from finding them, she refused to speak to him ... until only about five weeks ago, when they suddenly announced that they wanted to get married. It was ... very sudden, so I'm still getting used to the idea."

She shrugged one shoulder. "I think they're rushing into this, but they insist ... apparently I'm not as sharp as I thought, because Adonai has admired Shael for many years ... and though she always looked up to him, I never knew how much."



Adonijah swallowed his mouthful of food, still staring at Feng and Ryu; then suddenly he slid off his chair and hid under the table.

Amdir chuckled and pushed his chair back, peering under the table at his youngest son. "Come on out," he soothed him, "they're not going to hurt you."

Aliya giggled and moved to the cupboard to get more dishes for Feng and Ryu. "He's almost as shy as Alyse was when she was young," she laughed. "Though he's the first to really look like his father."

Indeed, he was the only one with Amdir's white hair: the others all had Aliya's gold.

Ulani nodded.

"They still get funny looks from some of the people at the ranch who didn't see Reuven and Rayna as much," she agreed, "but apparently the entire reason Adonai went looking for them was so that he could prove to the world that Shael was not his sister. And it does make it easier that Shael never called me mother, or Ulrich father ... she always referred to us by name ... so she did sort of keep her distance ... though I suspect that it wasn't intentional."

Most likely it was simply a showing of respect left over from her days as a slave.

"Still, I do wish they would just give everyone more time to adjust," she concluded, finally leading them all into the kitchen.



Aliya laughed. "That's very true," she had to agree. "He was so small then ... and I had absolutely no energy then." She laughed again.

"Hey Ryu," Adwin spoke up, "Ada's going to put up some swings for us this afternoon, do you want to help?"

Amdir sat up again, having succeeded in coaxing Adonijah out from under the table. "It's just going to be a few rope swings out by the trees," he assured Ryu. "Nothing big."

"I'm going to help!" Adanedhel spoke up with a grin. "Ada says I'm big enough now."

Alyse blinked at her older brother. "I thought you were going out with Aragost today," she said in confusion.

Adanedhel shook his head. "Tomorrow," he grinned.