Welcome to Gaia! ::

"We try to, but we don't always have a chance," Egleriad explained, leading them to a flight of stairs and starting up them. "He's a bit older than me, so he has a lot more lessons and duties and stuff ... but whenever we have time, we do things together. Mostly in the evenings, after dinner."

Since he was old enough now not to go straight to bed after dinner, like his younger sisters.

"He teaches me some games, and sometimes we do a bit of extra sparring," Egleriad replied. "But sometimes he's more ... I don't know, silly, I guess."

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. "Sometimes I feel like I'm more grown up than he is."

Jair laughed. "Well, that happens sometimes."

"Maybe you can," Egleriad grinned, leaving the stairs at the fourth floor and leading them down a hallway. "He might just be doing his lessons now. After all, I'm not. And ..."

He tilted his head slightly, listening, and a small smile spread over his face. "And it sounds like Aunt Elia is practicing in her music room. So the lesson room would be open for him."

"He might," Egleriad nodded. "It depends. If he finished early, he might not be. We start our lessons at set times, but we finish whenever we're finished. If he focuses, he gets done faster."

The music was getting louder as they headed down the hall, but before they reached the room where Elia was practicing they arrived at an open door. Inside, a boy a little taller than Egleriad was sitting at a desk, his head swaying slowly from side to side with the music. He had his back to the door, however, and he didn't hear the arrival of his nephew and the guests.

Jair peeked into the room. "Looks comfortable enough ..."

Hearing voices, the boy at the desk turned around to see who it was. He blinked, seeing Naida floating in the doorway and the wings on Jair's back. He stared. "Whaaa-"

Egleriad grinned. "Uncle Celebrindor! Visitors!"

The boy kept staring. "Uhhh ...."

Jair also grinned and waved, folding his wings tightly against his back. "Hello!" he said amiably. "I'm Jair Aldrich Winters, I'm your mother's cousin! And this is my aunt, Naida Winters!"

He motioned towards Naida, and the boy blinked and stared at her again. "What ... are you?" he asked finally.

Down the hall, the music stopped, and Egleriad peered out the door and around the corner. "Here comes Aunt Elia," he grinned.

"And what, pray tell, is that?" Celebrindor asked pointedly, standing up and staring at her.

Egleriad grinned. "Half human, half fish!" he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Can't you tell by looking at them?"

Jair chuckled softly. "Well, I can't remember anyone from home visiting here since ... um, I think you were a baby, Celebrindor, so ... I guess it's not all that surprising that you would be surprised."

He looked over at Naida. "Remember, hardly anyone from home has been here before."