Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Perhaps we'll find out," Earendil smiled.

He was about to say more when the door opened and Kanis, tall as Earendil now, blinked out at the two (three) of them. Her blue hair had grown lighter over the years and was now almost a sky-blue, and her skin was darker.

"Hello," she said, looking from one to the other. "New fighter, Lin?"

Earendil blinked at her. Didn't she know about the visitors?

Kanis smiled. "Oh, okay! Yeah, River said something about visitors, but no details. That's her for you. Come on in, I'll let Mother know you're here."

She stepped aside for them to allow them inside. There was a set of stairs to the right, and there was a door to the left, but otherwise there was a wide corridor leading to the rest of the house.

"Sitting room is this way," she motioned for them to follow her.

"Oh, very well," Kanis smiled warmly. "Aras and I just returned about an hour ago from a trip up the river, we were gone for about a week. So we're just catching up on what we've been missing. How long have you been here?"

"Two days," Earendil replied. "Trip up the river?"

Kanis grinned. "Aras's idea. She asked Father about it last week and he said all right even before he asked how."

Kanis shrugged. "Caves, more forest ... not a whole lot of anything special. But Aras had been working on a boat for, well, most of the year. Since the snows melted. Total surprise, though Father was impressed when he saw it. She wanted to test it out, which was the reason for the trip. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that she may be planning to someday make a trip to the south or something. Or knowing her, north."

She laughed as she led them into the sitting room. It was a large room, twice the size of Ulani and Ulrich's sitting room, and there were three couches and several comfortable looking chairs.

"Go on, take a seat, I'll find Mother for you," she grinned.

Earendil sat on one of the couches and made himself comfortable. "She seems nice," he smiled at Lin. "Friendly."

He watched Miyuki, also wondering what she might do.

But their wait wasn't long. After less than a minute, Kanis was back, trailed by both Aras and Niyana. Aras was bubbling with excitement, her teal eyes sparkling brightly.

"Hi!" she beamed. "It's about time you showed up here, what took you so long?"

Earendil chuckled. "How long have you been here?"

Aras grinned back at him. "Few decades." She motioned over to Niyana. "This is my mother, Niyana. You won't have met her, she hasn't been to the Southland."

Earendil smiled and bowed his head. "Hello, Niyana."

Niyana smiled back at him. "Hello, Earendil. And Lin, right?"

Earendil laughed and held his hands down, fingers outstretched for Miyuki to grab so that she could pull herself up to a standing position.

Niyana laughed and sat across from them. "We've heard," she grinned. "I would have been over earlier to come see you but we've had our own excitement over here. What with Aurin and Rhea, and Ruque's experiments ..."

"Goddesses, what has he done this time?" Aras laughed, sitting down as well.

"You mean you didn't notice his workshop when we came in?" Kanis giggled. "It's scorched."

Earendil chuckled softly at Miyuki. "Now don't you go chewing on my knee," he grinned at her. "It can't be very tasty."

Kanis giggled and turned to Niyana. "Yes, Mother, what did Ruque do?"

"It had nothing to do with Rhea and Aurin," Niyana assured everyone. "I just meant that it's been exciting having them here. No, Ruque just had a bit of an accident the morning before last. I'm not sure what he was working with, but according to him, he's never going to mix those materials together again. He blew up his workstation and blew out one of the walls. Windows shattered, fire ... it's going to take a long time to repair."