Welcome to Gaia! ::

Arwen shook her head. "Amdir's out at the training pen," she pointed at the round area to the west of the stables. "Though I would imagine that he might be done soon ... he usually doesn't stay too late in the afternoons."

Beren follwed Arwen's fingers with his eyes and nodded. "I see," he murmured softly.

"Ah, the valley where I met the others," Beren nodded, smiling once again. "Yes ... I met ... several people there. Feng and Ryu ... Lothiriel ... Pen ... Aliya ... and a very shy child whose name I did not catch."

Arwen giggled. "That's Adonijah, he's scared of everyone except his parents - and animals. He loves animals."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Arwen replied softly, shaking her head. "You just have to go see him, is all. There are no words to explain what he's like."

She ran forward and opened the door to the stables. "Come on, I think Elberon's in here," she beckoned for Lin and Beren to follow her.

Beren followed her apprehensively, wondering now what other strangeness could occur in the course of a single day.

Bern followed the girls inside and looked around. As far as he could tell, it was a stable like any other, save perhaps it was quite a bit larger than most. Of course, he remembered from his childhood the number of horses that were raised here, and despite the fact that he knew some of them were traded or sold off there were still a large amount of them.

Elberon was busy in one of the stalls, mucking out the straw, but when he heard the others entering the stables he set his pitchfork down and wiped the sweat from his brow, looking over to see who it was. When he saw the three of them, he broke into a wide grin and stepped out of the stall to join them.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "Welcome to Haven! I'm Elberon, who are you? Where do you come from? What brings you all the way out here? We're not exactly a hotspot for visitors." He laughed.

Beren blinked and raised one eyebrow. While he preferred this sort of treatment to the strangeness he had been receiving since he had arrived, he couldn't help but wonder if there just might be something wrong with this man. He sounded like a child ...

Beren chuckled softly and held one hand out to stop Lin's protest. "It may sound strange," he grinned at her, "but this is ... one of the best receptions I've had yet here. Or at least, the most normal."

He turned his attention to Elberon. "In answer to your questions," he smiled, "my name is Beren. I was one of the children rescued by the people of this ranch many years ago, and since my parents had been killed when I returned home, I spend my life training to come back here and join in the rescues. Since I was young, when I was even still here, I wanted to help people the way everyone here had helped me."

Elberon chuckled at Lin and turned back to Beren.

"Yes, I'm not sure if anyone's warned you but I have an insatiable cuiosity," he informed the man with a grin.

Beren laughed. "I'll manage," he grinned back. "Though we are supposed to be meeting people and having a tour of the ranch, so perhaps we could save it for another time?"

Elberon looked slightly disappointed, but he nodded. "I'll hold you to that," he promised.

"Well she hasn't been here yet today," Elberon replied, entirely serious now, "so I'm assuming she and Adonai are working on their house together."

"Shael and Adonai?" Beren asked, looking at Lin curiously.

"Not married yet," Elberon corrected Lin, "they'll marry the day they move in together. So any week now. But yes, Amdir should be out training now, you should be able to catch him for a while yet - though he'll be going home soon, he doesn't like to be away from home more than he has to be."

Beren smiled. "Well, with a family like his, I wouldn't blame him," he said softly.

Arwen grinned. "Well, let's go see him, you'll like him, he's the most normal person around here!"