Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil smiled. "Well, to be fair, it's not just the time you spend in Gaia anymore," he pointed out. "That's actually the smaller part of it now. Now, most of the time you're away is when we're on our journeys - they take considerably longer than your trips home. On average, anyways."

He looked over his shoulder at the main ranch house just as they headed behind the barracks and it disappeared from view.

"The main house is the next thing to be redone," he commented. "I think that's the plan. It's just as old as anything else here, and really its layout doesn't suit anymore. Halmir knows more about what they're planning with it than I do, he's one of the main builders when the work is done. Maybe we could ask him about it."

Earendil snapped his fingers. "That's right," he remembered. "Elrohir was saying, he needs to talk to your father at some point. The ranch obviously isn't needed anymore as a headquarters for slave hunting, and they wanted to see if he wanted to make anything else out of it, or just have it be a ranch or something."

They began to pass the houses, making their way down to the one where Halmir and Arthael lived.

Earendil nodded. "I think that would be a good idea," he agreed. "That way he can come more quickly. I think it's been so long since there's been a hunt that Elrohir and Haradhel are getting a little anxious - especially as they're hoping to either renovate the house or make a whole new one."

They didn't want to have to put it off forever, but they wanted to know how they would be able to design it.

"Here we are," Earendil nodded, stopping at the fourth house down the row. "Halmir and Arthael. And Luk, since he's here."

He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

It was not long before the door was opened, and Halmir stood there in all his grisly glory.

"Ah, you're here!" he beamed, his scars twisting as he grinned at the three. "Good. Come join us, Luk is absolutely devastating us at cards."

Earendil chuckled. "And he'd never played before meeting you."

He motioned for Lin and Miyuki to head inside first.

"Yes, don't be shy," Halmir laughed. "You never used to be afraid of me. But I suppose after so long you wouldn't remember. I'm Halmir."

"Halmir is married to Arthael, Luk's sister," Earendil explained as he followed Lin and Miyuki into the house. "He's been in a lot of fights, but he's really very nice."

"Why, thank you, Earendil," Halmir grinned. "That's got to be one of the nicest things anyone's ever said about me."

Halmir grinned. "I know. It's been a long time."

He pointed down towards a hallway. "Luk and Arthael are down there. Go ahead. And while you're there, you can tell them lunch is ready."

And rather than accompanying them, he headed towards a doorway that led to the kitchen.

The back room was quite spacious: it was their new living room. On one side was the couch and their chairs, in the middle was the fireplace; and on the other side of the room a square table was set up with four chairs around it. Luk and Arthael were sitting there and playing cards together.

Both of them looked up when they heard the others enter the room.

Luk grinned at them. "So you finally arrived!" he greeted them warmly. "Welcome!"

Arthael grinned, her single eye bright with excitement. "We've been waiting for you!"