Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ecthelion shook his head firmly. "Mama says settling down means no more running through the forest," he told Ryu seriously. "I'm never going to stop that! I like the forest." He nodded.

"What about the horses?" Aliya asked with a sparkle in her eye. "Or the other animals? Don't you like them?"

Her grandson shook hie head again. "I like the trees," he insisted. "The trees and the flowers and the grass ... I like plants. Not animals." He paused, and then added, "Except for dinner. Then I like them."

Whisper looked up at Ecthelion, purring deep in her throat. "And what if animals only liked you for dinner?" she asked, rising to her full height and licking her teeth suggestively.

The boy yelped and clung tightly to his mother. "Nope," he gulped. "That's no good!"



Aragost's smile widened slightly, and he nodded his head in the direction of the star that was hanging in the window.

"I had that with me," he said quietly. "When I was at my darkest ... when I thought I was going to be swallowed up by the evil ... your star shone and brought me some good ... and that, Miyu, is what kept me from becoming like the very creature that I had set out to destroy."

That was the real reason he hadn't been certain he would return ... to destroy the creature entirely was something that he could do ... what he had questioned was whether or not he would be able to overcome the evil that he would be taking into himself.



Caranthir blinked innocently at Donovan. "Am I?" he asked, seemingly confused. "I do apologize. I just happen to think I'm right."

Aerin rolled her eyes. "Never mind," she muttered. She turned back to Donovan. "I hope you don't mind," she said in a slightly apologetic tone, "but I'm not here only for the children, as much as I do want to help them. I won't let my priorities interfere with the hunts - any hunts will be my priority while they are taking place - but when we are back here, there are other things that I will also be attending to."

Caranthir's eyes suddenly turned serious, and he spoke softly to Aerin in the elven tongue so that Donovan wouldn't be able to understand what he was saying. Aerin argued back just as softly, her eyes hard and unyielding. After a moment, she bowed her head to Donovan and murmured, "Excuse me," and disappeared into her quarters, closing the door behind herself.

Caranthir coughed softly and turned to Donovan, his face tingeing slightly red. "Forgive her," he said, bowing low, "she has spent far too much time alone ..."



Timaeus laughed aloud at Lin's question. "Eager? That's an understatement," he grinned. "They've been gone nearly eight years, and married for a year before that! They don't know what's going on. They've gotten a few letters, and I don't know what they've said, but apparently no grandchildren yet."

Even though Donovan had been getting better with his elvish, he still sucked at it, and would admit so freely. He sort of wished Lin was there, but she wasn't and probably was visiting some other fighter whom she had grown up with.

Donovan shrugged, "Nothing's keeping her from not doing her other tasks when she's not hunting. Daeron would travel and stay here at the same time, so it isn't like it's unusual."

Besides he had no idea what in the hell Aerin was going on about.

"Will both of you be on this Hunt or just her?"

He kind of hoped just Aerin, this way he could maybe convince Lin to get to know Caranthir better. Donovan had become dependent on the fact his daughter half lived in these barracks. It was a really good thing she was going to stay the extra week.

Lin coughed at that, it seems like Earendil was quite right about that.

"Well if they don't by the time I visit them, there's a good chance they won't for a while, both of them want to go sailing with us...."

If it hadn't been Vincent's prodding in the back of Donovan's mind, it was the fact that Haradhel's comment that really pushed him into rethinking his original plan.

Because she was right.

When Lin was little there hadn't been just Elros, the fighters she knew best stayed behind because they could afford to, but now pretty much every fighter she knew was going, which had left her in the care of Elros until now. He had hoped she would go on shift with someone she knew, but there was no one she knew. Even though it was only for a moment or two, it felt like a really long moment or two for Donovan as he wrestled with his thoughts.

Vincent personally thought Donovan had attactment issues. He probably did now that he thought of it, after all the twins had received their first weapons shortly after becoming Teen and Celebor went on his first Hunt as an adult... well bugger. He forgot about that too. His logical side won out as he pushed his glasses up his nose as if nothing was wrong.

"She's coming with us," he told Haradhel, "Afterall, she's not a kid anymore and has gotten the go ahead from Vincent."

All the while he sort of wondered where his little girl went to.

Lin shook her head, "There really aren't any records of any other lands far away. Besides mentions of the island where Serenity came from of course, but the last time I checked that island was full of demons. Unless they killed each other off by now. I suppose the best person to ask would be Aragost.... I'm sure he had alluded to be to far away lands when we were kids."

Ecthelion pouted at Cindy. "They talk to Grandpapa and Uncle Adonijah," he pointed out, "But only Whisper talks to me!"

Rose giggled softly and stroked her son's back gently. "Everyone has different gifts," she murmured, reminding him for what seemed like the millionth time. "Just like you can do things that no one else can do."



Aragost smiled and nodded, rising from his seat again and pulling Mizu into a gentle hug.

"I'm also glad," he murmured softly, smiling warmly.

At one point he would have used the battle as an excuse to leave the ranch and let things return to the way they should be, but there were simply too many people here now that he cared too deeply about, and he was glad to be back.



Haradhel nodded. "I'm sure the experience will be good for her," she smiled. "After all, if she's going to be traveling in a small group, she might as well get used to a larger group first."

Caranthir watched the two curiously. "And who is this Lin that you're talking about?" he asked softly. "Someone I've yet to meet, obviously ... as well as the poor girl that Aerin had the misfortune to terrify such a short time ago." He couldn't help but wonder who else there would be.



Timaeus nodded. "Aragost would probably be the best person to ask," he agreed. "I should probably warn you, though, he's been a bit odd since he came back from getting rid of that creature ... I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but they've already been and gone, Aragost and Sir Valdemar and Sir Aranel. They all survived, but ..."

He shook his head. "Aragost ... just isn't quite the same anymore."

Donovan could only imagine the look on Miyu's face when it was Aerin who opened the door. Pushing that thought aside he replied to Caranthir's question.

"Lin would be my daughter, she spends more than half of her time here when we visit. She's in here somewhere, visiting someone."

Whom, he couldn't imagine at the moment.

Well.. since it had been eight years since she had last been here, Lin wasn't all that surprise it was very serious the last time she had heard of the issue.

As for the part where Aragost wasn't the same anymore... she wished she could be surprised by that, but she wasn't.

"Well... I hadn't expected him to come back unchanged," Lin murmured, "Seeing as he wasn't sure if he was coming back."

Ah yes... Celeborn was on this floor as well, Donovan remembered as he turned to face the man. He nodded at that statement.

"That I am," he replied.

He found it interesting that she was with Timaeus but after the last hunt he had been on, he supposed it only made sense. Besides Timaeus was in a sense closest to her 'age' as it were.

Lin looked thoughtful, she could see it actually, after all there was so little Aragost did not know, and he was always there like a protective shadow. Even if he had made the adults leery at first. Of course Timaeus wouldn't know this, Timaeus was born after Aragost arrived.

"It goes to show doesn't it? How much Aragost has become a part of this place," she murmured.

Well that was quick, but that was also good as well, though very convivent. Watching Caranthir leave, Donovan couldn't help but think that was very interesting....

"And how have you been Celeborn?"


And to think there had been a time where a lot of the adults weren't sure about having Aragost around. Lin couldn't help but recall how both of Timaeus' parents warned her that he could be dangerous.

"No... I don't think anyone can... especially not since he had endeared himself all of the kids growing up here," Lin murmured, "Though we're not kids anymore."

She wasn't sure if Timaeus really got to know Aragost, since he had been... until the birth of Adonijah, and Rhea the last child born, and she knew both of them didn't know Aragost all that well.