Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Hello, Miyuki," Luk chuckled, setting his cards down. "How have you been? It's been a while since I've seen you. You haven't changed a bit."

"Speak for yourself," Arthael spoke up. "The last time I saw her, she was a baby."

Earendil laughed. "Yes, well, we've been busy. Traveling and so on."

"Well, Miyuki," Luk explained patiently, smiling, "in the two weeks that you were in Gaia, two years have passed here. Have you seen Alena yet? She's had a baby in the time that you were gone. Not that you would realize how long that takes, I suppose ..."

Earendil chuckled. "Well, she may find out someday."

"She is," Arthael chuckled, pushing her chair back and standing. "It's so interesting, seeing Elros with a family. I would never have imagined it before."

She had after all worked with the man for a few decades before he'd gone to the Eastland, and she had only known as the man who seemed to have a heart of stone.

"You were the oddity," Arthael told Lin. "You saw a different side of absolutely everyone. No one was themselves around you."

She paused, then nodded at Earendil. "Actually, I think it was when Lord Elrohir and Lady Serenity met that Elros began to change. Started showing a different side."

Elros had been the one to help Serenity acclimatise to being with people once again.

"That was indeed a long time ago," Arthael murmured, leading all of them back towards the kitchen. "Long before I could even stand being around Halmir."

Let alone be married to him.

"You are planning on staying for lunch, aren't you?" she asked suddenly, turning back to Earendil, Lin and Miyuki. "You are quite welcome to stay, you know."

"Ah," Arthael grinned. "So you were planning on taking advantage of our hospitality in the first place."

"Guilty," Earendil grinned back. "But you never seem to mind, and you're all such good company. Take it as a compliment."

Arthael laughed. "We do. Trust me, we do. I find that now that we have individual houses, we tend not to see as much of the others as we used to - which is natural, of course - but it's nice to have company, especially company that seeks us out purposely."

"Because there are so many changes taking place?" Arthael asked as they headed into the kitchen. She motioned for everyone to take a seat at the table, and sat down at one end of the table. "All the houses being built, the stable being expanded?"

Halmir smirked. "If you think this is different, you should see the valley," he winked at Lin.

"For us, nothing feels different," Halmir spoke up, bringing the meal to the table as the others took their seats. "It is actually usually a bit longer between your visits. You're just spending more time in our world, away from here."

"Well, we'll all be around for a while," Earendil smiled, sitting next to Lin. "I think we'll probably wait until spring to leave on our tour of the Four Lands, that way Shiloh is a bit older and we won't have to worry so much about snow or cold."