Welcome to Gaia! ::

Atalya beamed at Miyuki. "Hello, Miyuki," she said warmly. "It's been a while since we've seen you here, you've grown up quite a bit!"

Earendil chuckled and ruffled Miyuki's hair affectionately. "Miyuki," he grinned, "this is my great-grandmother, Queen Atalya."

Atalya chuckled softly. "You don't have to be afraid of me," she murmured softly. "You're as safe here as you are anywhere else."

She touched her lips thoughtfully, then turned back to her desk and opened one of the drawers. "Here," she smiled, taking a small candy and holding it out to Miyuki. "I have some candies here for special occasions."

Kaito licked his lips. "When did you start keeping candies in your desk, Ninako?" he asked her with a grin.

She winked at him. "Not so very long ago." She reached back into her desk and took out a few more of the candies for the others. "Here."

"You're welcome," Atalya smiled warmly at her. She looked up at Lin. "I hope you had a good time at home again. For a while I wondered why you were gone longer than usual, but then I remembered that you had been away for six years and had a new daughter, so it was only logical that you spend more time at home."

Ruel sighed and looked at the window as if checking the time. "Excuse me," he muttered in High Elven, heading towards the door.

Ruel acknowledged Lin's greeting with a curt nod as he brushed past her, but other than that he made no reply; and then he was gone.

Atalya grinned at Miyuki. "That makes two more tails than the last time I saw you," she told her. "When you were a baby, you only had one tail. I was so surprised when Earendil told me you grew a second tail when you grew older!"

She looked back at Lin. "I suppose Earendil has already asked you to go on that trip with him?" she asked. "To help out in Amon Darthir?"

"I'm sure it will be," Atalya smiled. "And at least you know it's going to be good news this time. Helping to rebuild an entire culture that's been oppressed for hundreds of years ... that has to feel good."

Earendil chuckled and hugged Miyuki to his side with one arm. "I see someone's been teaching you arithmetic," he grinned down at her. "You really are learning a lot very quickly."

"Even just your presence, the presence of someone who is different and yet can be accepted for who and what you are, is important," Atalya told Lin sincerely. "Earendil has told me much of these people ... they left the Four Lands thousands of years ago because of the Westlanders' intolerance of those who are different, and yet I understand that there are some of them who still hold the same ideals."

Earendil nodded at Miyuki. "Arithmetic. Math. Adding, subtracting ... all sorts of things with numbers."

He didn't bring up multiplying and dividing, he was certain Miyuki wouldn't be that far yet.

"That," the queen continued, "and the fact that I'm sure Sir Elros will be quite happy to see you again. Other than his wife, he has little connection to anyone there, no strong bonds. I am certain he would love to see you again. And Rhea, I know she holds you in high regard."

Earendil burst out laughing at that. "Candies?" he grinned. "Does someone at your home spoil you?"