Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a full day since Lore and Elnara and everyone else had returned from their long trip to the Southland, and now the two newlyweds were preparing for another trip - also to Arda, but this time to the Borderlands, where they would stay with Elnara's brother, Elrohir, and his family, for an entire year. Honeymoon, Lore had called it, and Elnara thought that it sounded absolutely lovely. Of course, it would only be a few short weeks back home, but that was the beauty of it: Elnara could have Lore almost all to herself for a full year, but his work only missed him for the two weeks he had taken off.

She had just finished packing her own bag and was helping Lore to finish up his own, and shooting off last minute instructions to the others in preparation for the move that would take place while they were gone. Her biggest piece of advice: Don't lose anything.

"Mama," Serenity smiled, putting one hand on her mother's shoulder. "Calm down ... it's all going to be fine. You and Papa just go and have a wonderful time, I'll take care of the rest of the children while you're gone."

She turned to Lore, smiling brightly. "Be sure to say hello to everyone for us, won't you?" she asked him. "After all we didn't get to see everyone at the wedding, most of them couldn't make it."

Serenity giggled and hugged both of her parents, but only briefly.

"Now get going," she grinned at them, "before someone decides that you don't need a honeymoon and that you can help with all of the moving as well."

And she shooed them towards the portal door.

Elnara laughed. "Aye, some of them might try something like that," she agreed, opening the door. "Goodbye, Serenity. We'll see you soon enough."

And she took Lore's hand, smiled brightly at him, and stepped through the portal.

Elnara smiled brightly at Lore, holding his hand tightly and shouldering her own bag.

"It's a wonderful feeling to be coming here again," she told him softly. "Gaia is my home now ... but this is one of my favourite places to be."

She tugged gently on his hand, leading him forward. She glanced at the sun as they walked towards the ranch, checking to see what was the time of day. By her calculations, it should be early or mid morning ... the perfect time to come.

It was a morning that was like most others in the Borderland summer, and Arwen had taken advantage of it like she had every other morning. She loved nothing more than sunshine and a warm day, and on this particular morning she had decided to go for a ride.

She had been gone for several hours already, and had taken her horse for a good run, and now she was returning, allowing her horse to walk to cool down properly. She was just emerging from the trees, heading towards the ranch, when she saw her aunt and uncle up ahead.

"Uncle Lore!" she called, smiling brightly. "Aunt Elnara!"

She urged her horse forward and rode right up next to them, then slowed her horse to match their pace. "Welcome back!" she told them brightly. "Have you only just arrived?"

"Arwen," Lore smiled, "Good day."

He looked up at the young woman, it was hard to imagine that she was... much younger at one point, even though he had a long time to get use to her as she was now.

"You caught us just in time."

Lore chuckled a bit, "What I meant was... you just caught us coming in, any earlier or later and we might have already been inside."

He idd hope they hadn't been interrupting anything catching her like this.

Elnara laughed softly and shifted her bag on her shoulder. "See you soon!" she waved at her niece as she headed off. Then she turned to Lore, smiling widely.

"Well," she grinned, "at least they made it back here before we arrived ... it would have been a little awkward otherwise."

Elnara smiled and nodded her agreement.

"I wonder exactly how much time has passed since we left," she couldn't help but wonder as they approached the ranch house. She reached for the doorknob and opened the door, waiting for Lore to enter first. "I mean it's only been a day for us ... but that could be a month here."