Welcome to Gaia! ::

Serenity waved down at the three of them. "Hello!" she called brightly. "You've grown since the last time I saw you ... I heard about that."

She lowered her hand. "Give me a moment." And with that, she turned into a bird and flew down from the ledge towards them. She landed on the ground in front of them and reverted to her own form.

Adan grinned up at her. "You scared me," he told her with a giggle. "You even scared Ara-kun!"

Serenity smiled brightly down at Lin. "Yes, I was on my way to see Elrohir and Haradhel when I saw you walking here, so I thought I'd drop in and chat for a bit. How is your family?"

The scare over, Aragost started them moving again so that they would reach the second water hole in time to do something worthwhile.

Serenity clapped her hands together. "Excellent! Then I can see him before he goes again! Lothiriel told me he would someday go with Donovan, but I didn't think it would be so soon!"

She grinned. "I can't wait to see him again. I haven't seen any of them since I visited you! How is Elnara doing? And everyone else?"

Serenity smiled. "Yes ... Gion told me that Lore and Elnara are getting married, and Ulani told me about Kaito the last time I was here ... and I've heard about Silvrendir ... Shiro? What's he like?"

She hopped lightly over a fallen log, then held her hand out to Lin to help her over as well.

Serenity giggled. "Well, some people are just gifted with good memories," she told Lin cheerfully. "It really is a gift ... Ulani's aunt has it as a magical gift, I'm told she remembers everything that ever happened to her, right from the moment she was born. I know your kind are different, but for natural babies ... well, we generally don't remember much until we're a few years old."

She knew that was probably a strange concept to Lin, not remembering things that happened to you before you were a few years old, but ... it was true.

Serenity nodded. "But really, all they forget is the time when they can't walk or talk. As soon as they begin to understand language, memory begins to set in, and they remember a bit more every day. Subconsciously, but they do."

Aragost brushed some branches out of their path, then nodded forward.

"Here we are," he murmured softly.

Serenity shook her head and took a comfortable seat on the ground, leaning against a tree.

"It's like ..."

She paused, searching for an analogy that would make sense to both of them.

"Like writing. To make information permanent, you need something that you and everyone else can understand. If you make some random marks on the page, they mean nothing - but if you use a methodical system of recognition, everyone can understand it and the information is kept. Memory is like paper, and language is the writing tool. Language imprints events into your memory."