Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gwaethir nodded. "Very well, then. I look forward to hunting with you again, Lin Winters."

The highest compliment he could give.

He took his bow from her, then rose to his feet and turned his attention back to the buck.

Haradhel, now quite a bit more pregnant than when the group had left, worked her way slowly to her feet, and instead of heading out to meet the children right away like she would normally have done, she headed instead towards the house to get those who would be more able to help.

She found Elnara and Kara in the playroom, working on lessons with their younger children, and she leaned against the doorway as she told them the news:

"They're back ... I'm going to need ... a lot of help with the children."

Donovan spotted the twins coming towards them the moment they came in. He chuckled at that, he was pretty sure they missed Celebor, this was probably the longest they were aware that he was gone. He dismounted so he could check the horse, hand off the horse and prepared to be pounced on by his wife before helping with the children.

"How can I help?" Lin asked Haradhel, used to this, but knowing her size sometimes didn't help.

Elnara also rose quickly to her feet, sliding Idhril off her lap at the same time. She was anxious not only to see what her brother was doing out here all the time, but most especially to see her son again and make sure that he was all right.

Idhril blinked curiously, then hurried after her mother, her long hair fanning out behind her as she ran.


Celebor dismounted from his horse and held his arms out for Storm and Starr, scooping them up in a big hug when they came close enough and laughing.

"I think I could get used to welcomes like this," he chuckled, his deep voice filled with amusement. "Did you miss me while I was gone?"

Storm, the first to have reached Celebor, nodded, his wings still flapping wildly even though he was already in his brother's arms.

"We learned all kinds of things from Aunt Haradhel!" he said enthusiastically. "But we missed you because we couldn't tell you what all we learned when you were gone!"

Starr snuggled against Celebor's neck. "I'm glad you're safe," she murmured happily. "Mama said that it was dangerous, where you were going."

She could see him handing off his horse, and with a burst of speed as hugged Donovan, somewhat clinging to his chest. She couldn't help it after all this time.

"Welcome back," she smiled up at him.

Letting go, now that her hug was given, she turned to see how she could help with the children.

It ended up being a long, exhausting day for everyone, especially for Haradhel, who ended up going to bed before anyone else - including the newly arrived children, or her own. Ulani had helped to wash the children and give them all new clothes, then fed them all and put them to bed. They had of course also had fun meeting Saki (who soaked up the attention). Elrohir ended up being the one who cooked dinner for everyone (pulling up some skill that no one had known he had - though he had also called on Triton for some help).

But after the chaos of the first day with so many people in the house, the rest of the visit went rather smoothly, until at last, a week later, it was time for the Gaian visitors to return to their own world. Ahren and Arwen were pleased: they had got to spend a bit of time pestering Donovan, asking him relentless questions about the hunts and what sorts of things he did when he was at home (not at all minding when he didn't answer them). Celebor spent some time with Aragost, some time with Aliya and Amdir, but most of his time with his family, telling the older siblings about the trip and what had happened.

All in all, by the time the very large group made it back to the portal, most of them were more than ready to return to their normal lives.