Welcome to Gaia! ::

River squealed and fell over as the much heavier girl landed on her. She laughed and pushed at her.

"Off!" she giggled. "You're heavy!"

Of course, she was used to elven weight, which was less than half of human weight; yet Naida, being half fish, would be even heavier than the average human.

River grinned back at Naida as she smoothed out her skirt and made herself comfortable on the grass between her two friends.

"I sure did!" she replied brightly. "It was so much fun to watch Miyuki play the tiles game, and winning the archery contest, and watching everything else! And your grandpa even gave me a candy cane, just like you and Miyuki had! It was yummy!"

Of course, go figure, sugar would be the highlight of her day (well second to winning the tournament, at least).

"I don't think Mama would like if I asked for candy from him," River said apologetically. "She says it's shameful to beg from others, especially when it's for something that we don't really need."

She looked up at the sky. "It's really dark," she murmured softly. "I bet Haradhel will be ready any time now ..."

"Magical?" River repeated. "I don't know if they're magical ... Haradhel just does them so that if something does happen, she can take care of it right away. It's not like they're all fire and stuff ..."

Which was her assumption about why Naida had made that particular comment.

Sure enough, as they spoke, there was a soft puff, and then whoosh! A green light left a glittering path as it shot up into the air, and just when it seemed it couldn't go any higher - pah! - it exploded in every direction, showering green over the entire crowd (but safely above them).

The fireworks display continued for nearly two hours, growing more and more magnificent with each one to keep everyone from becoming too bored, though there were plenty of people who were moving around to talk to different people while they were going on. Some people began to fall asleep: even River found herself drifting off from time to time.

Finally, towards the end, the great flashes of light began to take the shapes of elven runes, reading out messages light by light.

"The year is passed," River chanted along with the rest of the elves, reading the runes aloud, "the end has come, it's time for a new beginning!"

Then shot up the words: Welcome to the year one hundred and thirteen of the Fourth Age!

And with that, a cheer arose from the throats of the hundreds of people that were still gathered.

River yawned so wide her jaw made a cracking sound, and then she looked over at Miyuki, rubbing one of her eyes. "Huh ... gotta wake up Naida?" she asked, slurring her words together, so tired was she. She turned to help her, and shook Naida's arm to wake up. "Geh' up," she mumbled, so tired it wasn't clicking in that Naida had grown.

River yawned again. "Good, you're up," she muttered, pushing herself to her feet and wobbling a bit. "It's ti-i-i--" Another yawn broke her words, and then she went on again. "-time to go home."

Her eyes almost completely closed, she turned and started shuffling in the direction of her house; but she hadn't gone two steps before her father was there to collect her.

"Time to sleep," he murmured, picking her up and laying her head on his shoulder. He turned back to Miyuki and Naida. "You girls go along, make sure you get to sleep right away. Tomorrow's going to be anothe-"

He broke off when he noticed that Naida was bigger than she had been earlier. Rather than saying anything, he simply smiled and shook his head slowly. "Go get some rest," he told them again; and with that, he turned and headed off into the night, River in his arms.

Aliya giggled back at Feng. "Probably not until morning," she whispered back. "But Timaeus is right. It is time for bed. We've another day of celebrations ahead of us tomorrow, and if everyone sleeps the day through it won't be much fun."

She grinned, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. "Though tomorrow the celebration is in the valley, so we don't have the same long walk."