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"Great," Aliya's voice drifted in from the kitchen, where she was preparing the meal, "as if there weren't enough people to feed already."

Elven hearing at its finest.

A moment later, she poked her head out the door, grinning widely. "Kidding. I'm glad Ada's back. We see him little enough when he's here, when he's gone it's just quiet, even with all of the children."

Adwin grinned. "I'm going to go see Neko before lunch!" he exclaimed, heading for the door once more - and surprisingly enough, Alyse set her book aside and ran after him silently.

Aliya grinned. "He better have brought the supplies I need," she murmured, heading back into the kitchen.

The door opened yet again, and Beren and Amdir entered, removing their boots at the door before joining the others in the living room. Amdir looked rather amused at something as he sat next to Lothiriel, taking the place that Adwin had just vacated.

"Hello, all," he grinned as Beren headed to take the chair that Alyse had left empty.

Beren blinked down at Lin curiously, suspiciously.

"Hello, Lin," he said cautiously. "I've been helping out with Adonai and Shael ... why?"

He hadn't spent as much time with Lin as others had, he knew, but she was acting quite strangely today - even for him.

Lothiriel took it upon herself to answer for Lin. "Ulrich is back, Lin's going to ask if you can stay here," she smiled, smoothing her skirt. "He'll be joining us shortly for introductions and the like, so just go on and relax."

Beren stared at Lothiriel. Relax? Now? Now that he had been told his potential employer had just arrived and was about to come and judge him? What wonderful advice.

At that moment Ryu came back in, it too had been helping, so he was surprised to see his little sister there. Looking like she knew something that other people did not, which was probably the case.

"Don't worry," Lin replied to Pen happily, "Ulrich knows you're not a suitor so he shouldn't be bothering you like that!"

She nodded as if this was a good thing, unfortunately Lin didn't know about the more unsavoury characters that were men. So it never occured to her that it might be taken like that... fortunately her stories about Pen's abuse would not make Ulrich think like that.

Most of the others in the room burst out laughing, though Pen looked very distraught at Lin's comment.

"Wha- what did you tell him?" he asked, eyes wide, jaw dropped wide open.

But Lin didn't get a chance to answer, because just at that moment the door opened and Alyse and Adwin ran in, followed directly by Ulrich himself. The children were carrying small sacks, and Ulrich was carrying one enormous one over his shoulders, but he stopped when he entered and heard the laughter.

"Right," he commented dryly, acting as though he were annoyed, "so kind of you to be laughing at me before I'm even inside."

But then he winked at everyone and grinned. "Don't go away now, I have some people to meet."

And he headed off into the kitchen after his grandchildren to put the supplies away.

Lothiriel giggled. She couldn't help it. The child's logic was amazing ... yet amazingly wrong. She of course knew what all of Pen's teasing and the like was about, and of course threatening him harm was only her own response to it. Sure they had different ways of showing and understanding it, but in reality they were both flirting. It was fun, and Pen was too dense to realize that she wasn't actually being serious with him, which made it even better.

Pen on the other hand looked somewhat relieved. Yes, Lin's logic made sense ... well, maybe Ulrich wouldn't give him such a hard time then.

"Thanks," he smiled softly at Lin.