Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ulani looked up as they entered the kitchen, her eyes sparkling. It had been an exciting morning for her as well.

"Oh! You're back!" she said brightly. "Sit down, sit down, I'll have something for you in just a second!"

She moved to the cupboard and got out another set of dishes and brought them to the table.

"You bet!" Celebor spoke up, grinning. "We played lots of stuff this morning! We gotta show you after lunch, it's really cool! And Storm and Starr helped make it too, and it's really neat! But Idhril doesn't like going in it so she doesn't."

He took a huge bite of his sandwich and kept right on talking.

"Ah' S'ye wa' p'ayi' wi' A'iya," he chattered with his cheek full of food, "ah' Se'e'i'y wa' 'rawi' so s'e did'a 'o i' 'ei'e', so i' wa' 'us' 'e ah'-"

"Celebor," Elnara interrupted him, taking a seat beside Lore, her expression stern as she looked at her eldest son, "don't talk with food in your mouth."

Celebor swallowed and grinned, a little embarrassed. "Sorry Mommy."

"I said, Skye was playing with Aliya," Celebor repeated patiently, still grinning. "And Serenity was drawing and so she didn't go in it either, it was just me and Storm and Starr in there!"

Storm and Starr looked up at the mention of their names, then went back to poking at their sandwich (one to split between the two of them, though they still probably wouldn't end up finishing it).

The twins looked up at Lore and blinked.

"Just a little bit," Starr nodded slowly.

"But not so much that we could eat all of this," Storm added.

"No," Starr shook her head. "It's nearly as big as us."

"But we'll eat what we can," Storm assured Lore.

"We were just waiting for Mama," Starr smiled.

"And you," Storm grinned.

"Okay!" the twins chorused, and immediately they both grabbed a fistful of the bread and tore it off (since they would never be able to lift even half the sandwich) and stuffed it in each others' mouths.

Elnara laughed. "I never tire of watching those two eat," she giggled, leaning back in her chair and picking up her own sandwich. "They always feed each other ..."

"Pretty much," Elnara nodded, grinning. "But that's how they do everything, after all. They tuck each other in bed at night, they introduce each other when they meet new people ... I really would hate to see them ever being separated."

Though she knew it would have to happen someday.

"I know," Elnara murmured. She watched them silently for a few moments and pulled one knee up onto her chair, resting her chin on it. She wondered if the way she was feeling now was the way her mother had felt when she was growing up ... that no matter how long it took, they were always growing up too quickly.

"The thing is," she murmured, "they'll grow older so much more quickly than I'll be ready for ... I mean, regular children ... natural children, I mean, would take years to grow, to change ... but with my children, I don't know how long I have. I might not even have a year ..."

Elnara nodded slowly, finishing off her lunch, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Mama," Storm spoke up, looking up from his meal, "can me and Starr go up the mountain today?"

"It looks like fun up there," Starr smiled brightly, her eyes beaming. "There's a house up there, too!"

"And Papa could come, too!" Storm added with a hopeful grin, looking to Lore excitedly.

"Please?" Starr begged, dropping her fistful of sandwich and clasping her hands together as if praying to Lore.