Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ulrich was back almost right away, his blue eyes sparkling as he looked around the room.

"You of course are Lothiriel," he grinned at Lothiriel, nodding his head. "Welcome to our home. You're welcome to stay as long as you like - though I'm sure you've already been told that enough times to give the entire speech back to me."

Lothiriel smiled. "Very good, cousin. Of course, the fact that I am the only woman in this room that you don't know makes it quite easy for you to deduce that, so I can give you no more credit than that of observation."

Ulrich chuckled. "Well met. You are definitely your father's daughter."

He looked between the two unknown men. "And one of you is Pen, and one of you is Beren," he murmured.

Ulrich grinned at Lin. "But of course," he replied with a chuckle. "That just makes it more fun, doesn't it? And it gives me a chance to redeem myself in Lothiriel's eyes."

He winked at her, then looked between the two me. Both of them looked nervous - but only one of them looked truly afraid.

He pointed at the calmer one. "Beren," he guessed. "Nervous to know whether or not I'll be kicking him off the ranch."

Then he pointed at the other one. "Pen," he grinned, a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes, "because he knows I'm going to be asking him about his reasons for traveling with Lothiriel."

Lothiriel laughed and clapped her hands. "Very good!" she exclaimed. "And this time I can say that I am genuinely impressed."

Beren smiled. He liked Ulrich already - the man had a good sense of humour, and even if he seemed a little silly he was intelligent enough.

Ulrich grinned right back at Beren. "My wife has told me all about your situation," he said warmly, "and I have only one thing to say. Welcome to Haven."

And he moved to stand in front of Beren and shook the man's hand firmly.

"I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job of saving the children, just as we had done for you when you were young," he went on, "and we can always use more hands."

Beren's entire face was beaming, and he rose to his feet to face Ulrich properly. "Thank you, sir," he said happily, bowing his head. "It's an honour."

Beren chuckled softly. "Yes, I will be here," he grinned happily. "Thank you, Ulrich. I will do everything in my power to make sure that you don't regret your decision."

Ulrich grinned back at the man. "You're very welcome," he said warmly. Then he turned to Pen. "And you ... I have only one comment for you."

He headed over to stand in front of the man, then leaned over as if to whisper in his ear and said, just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear him, "Don't flirt with my cousin unless you're seriously interested in her."

And then he straightened and grinned and walked into the kitchen to talk to his daughter for a while.

Pen's eyes were wide, and it seemed as though he were staring at nothing - because his eyes weren't focused on anything at all.

Pen blinked and looked down at Lin. He was completely and utterly mortified - the endless interrogations with Daeron and Elrohir were nothing compared to this ... this embarrassment.

But Lin had said she told Ulrich that he wasn't flirting, obviously, if she'd said he wasn't a suitor ... so why ...

Lothiriel on the other hand wasn't bothered in the least. She just smoothed her skirt out once more as if she were having one of her minor visions again and smiled.

"Well, now that the introductions are over," she giggled softly, "shall we head to the dining room for some lunch?"

Lothiriel's eyes sparkled as she rose from her seat and moved towards the kitchen door.

"It's different from person to person," she replied softly, making sure that Lin was keeping up with her. "Some people just tease ... others make comments ... some people just act silly, whether they're silly by nature or if they're just pretending."

She giggled and looked over at Pen, then back at Lin again.

"There are other ways," she smiled, "but generally it's any way of attempting to get the attention of someone that you might have a romantic interest in."

"Oh boy..." Ryu muttered as he to got his feet.

Feng bounced along aside Ryu giggling, all the while keeping an eye on Lin. She was so amused by this, on so many levels.