Welcome to Gaia! ::

River smiled at Miyuki. "Come on, she's over by the fire," she urged her friend. She started towards Arthael, intent on finding out what had happened that might have made the people here very frightened of the elves.

Arthael looked up at the sound of footsteps (as quiet as they were), and she smiled when she saw the girls.

"Having fun?" she asked them both.

Arthael paused and looked at Miyuki through her one good eye. "That sounded hesitant," she said, making her statement seem like it was almost more of a question.

River frowned. "Well ... Miyuki says that in town it's not as nice," she said. "Like the people are afraid of us or something. But Grandmama, we didn't do anything to them, we wouldn't hurt them! Why are they afraid of us? Are they part of the slavers that stole children all those years ago?"

Of course to River, it was a lifetime ago - it had ended when she had been an infant, after all, so it almost was a lifetime ago for her.

Arthael blinked. "Ah, I see," she murmured. "Well ... I suppose it is quite possible that there are people here who used to be slavers ... it was only a few decades ago, they could very well be alive, too."

She looked thoughtful. "Well ... I suppose that is one thing we hadn't counted on," she murmured.

River pouted. "But what did you do to them to make them so afraid?"

Arthael looked back down at the food she was preparing. "We did ... things that were horrible," she admitted, her voice quiet. "I am not proud of what we did ... but it was necessary. We did what we had to do to make the humans stop stealing our children away from us."

She looked up at the two of them without raising her head. "But if you girls are right, and there are some former slavers in the area, I want you two to make sure that you never go anywhere without an adult. If they hate and fear us as much as all that, they might take one of you, or even kill you, I have no idea. Better safe than sorry. Will you promise me that? That you won't go anywhere without an adult?"

River's eyes were wide as she nodded, almost violently. "I promise!" she said right away.

Arthael smiled. "Good. Then why don't you girls go find Kaito or Shiro for some language lessons? I need to finish getting our dinner ready, all right?"

She nodded to where Kaito had sat down next to Shiro and was pestering him about something on the tablet. "It looks like Kaito could use the distraction, too."

Shiro was the one who looked up when the girls approached, and he smiled at them, tugging his tablet away from Kaito carefully.

"Hello, girls," he greeted them. "What's up?"

River blinked at him, then looked up at the sky. "Um ... was that a serious question?" she asked hesitantly.

Shiro nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. I'm not exactly sure how much time has passed, but ... well, legends are what they are, and there's not really anything anyone can do to stop them."

He paused, then added, "Besides, River's grandparents were part of that, there's no denying it. They did some things to the humans that, if it weren't a war, would be punishable by execution. But of course the humans don't see it that way, because for the most part, they weren't at war. Only a few of them. They take it very personally."

He shook his head. "At any rate, you didn't come over here to talk about such things. WHat's on your mind?"

Not that was a phrase that River knew, and she beamed. "Grandmama said it would be a good idea for us to learn the human tongue now, since we have a bit of free time!"