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It was the first of the month, a time for pay days, splurges and family fun. Which meant Thali was home alone. Her children were on a camping trip with their uncle; who insisted that Thali remain home due to the fact that her condition was now quite obvious even to the most casual of onlookers. The elf had protested at first, but Zee had eventually used the phrase that had recently won every argument Thali had lost lately. "It's for the baby."

Ever the rebelious princess, Thali decided to call up a friend of hers. She quickly dialed Jadyn's number, but as she did so, the doorbell rang. She shuffled to it while holding the phone to her ear. "Hello, Lani? Do you think you could meet me at my place? The kids are out, and Ben's doing some writer's convention in Aekea, so I thought you might like to stop by, bring the kids for cookies or something?" She opened the door and fell silent.

She put the phone on her shoulder to muffle the sound, though it wasn't an effective strategy. "Hello father," she said clearly, frowning slightly at the much taller elf before her. "You always arrive when I least expect it."

Averi gave his daughter a smile, studying her. "I plan it that way," he said simply, no words of greeting could suffice. "Davian wanted to see you." That and he had wanted to see his daughter himself; but he wasn't about to tell her that. Not now. Not when she looked like she was about to slam the door in his face.

"Sissy?" came the toddler's voice, right on cue. "Sissy! I miss'd you!" Davian, copper brown curls a-bouncing upon his head, in a silver with gold trim tunic and breeches looked quite out of place on the elf's doorstep there in Barton. He looked every inch the princeling he was, up to his ears.

"Come on, Elani," Thali said, picking up the phone again. "There's someone here I want you to meet."

Feleti kept a grip on his sister's shirt from behind. He had slipped from brave teenage elf to a rather timid elfling. Inside memories were conflicting, giving the child a constant headache. Hadn't he been bigger? Hadn't he been older than Lani? Why was he smaller now? Hadn't there been a snake? Hadn't there been a girl?

"Sissy, they here! They here! I seed them!" Davian was calling from his perch on the window seat. His sister and father had gone out into the kitchen to discuss "grown up things" which were often boring anyway. Whenever they knew he was listening, they would switch to talking about the weather.

"Just in time too," Thali said, leading her father out of the kitchen. "The cookies are done. Don't touch them, you'll get burnt!" she added sternly, glancing at the older elf with a grin to soften her words as she opened the door. "Come on in," she said. "Davi, come here," she added to the toddler, picking him up. "Lani, meet my baby brother."

"I'm fine," Feleti assured Jadyn with a smile. "Mama, I want to stay with you." Mama? Thali's eyes were on Feleti now, the smile fading from her face. She looked concerned.

"This is Davian," the princess said, shifting the toddler to her hip, and forcing another smile before glancing at Feleti again. "Headaches?" she mouthed at Jadyn. She had heard memory loss could happen when bringing sentient beings back to life, but this--she hadn't expectred this. Not for him to forget his parents and who his sister was entirely. She looked down at Kupo and gave a more genuine smile. "You can have some," she promised. "If my father isn't eating them all. Are you, Father?"

"What are they?" Averi asked, clearly amazed. He was looking at the cookies with wonder. They were so perfectly round. So warm, and they had a pleasant smell to them. They had come from a box shaped device Thali had called a stove.

Thali gave her friend a confused expression and a shrug before offering her Davian. "You two get aquainted," she explained, "I have to go rescue my father from your son. He wants to see you," she added, shooting Jadyn a knowing smirk. Once sure the toddler was in her friend's hold, she went to the kitchen.

"No Kupo," she said, shaking her head at the infant. "If you want something in this house, you have to ask nicely for it. Not pester about it. Maybe I don't want to give you cookies now." She handed him a cookie. "Be careful though, it's hot."

Feleti smiled, and tilted his head as he watched Thali from the 'window' overlooking the kitchen. "She's pretty," he observed. "I like her."

"Tha' my Sissy," Davian bragged, looking to Feleti. Blue eyes met gold, and the toddler, without much of an expression, said, "You weird. I 'ike you."

Thali smiled and handed the infant another cookie as she returned his hug. "And this is Uncle Averi," she added, gesturing to her father. She smirked at his rather taken aback expression. She doubted very much that he had ever been called "Uncle Averi". "He doesn't make very good cookies though. We'll have to teach him."

"So where is this friend of yours?" Averi asked, taking a cookie from the plate on the counter and inspecting it. He watched as his daughter picked up the infant she'd been addressing.

"Come with me," she said, leading him out into the living room. "Father, you remember Elani. Lani, you know my father already."

"I like you too," Feleti decided, smiling at Davian. "Your sister's really pretty. Maybe when I'm older, I'll marry her."

"Then we be brudders!" Davian agreed quite happily. "You maree my sissy, and I maree your sissy, and we all be mareed!" He paused and smiled up at Jadyn. "I do!" He agreed proudly. "I look juss 'ike her! Mama and Papa sayed so! I so good at eng-lss! I 'andsome!" he agreed with Phoebe. "Games?" he asked, interested. "I wanna play!"

"Wow," Feleti breathed, more to himself than anyone else. "She's a princess and everything." In his opinion there had never been someone so beautiful, so intelligent, so amazingly wonderful--you get the picture. The de-aged ressurected elf had it bad. He went red when he realized Thali had been listening.

She winked at him playfully. "Maybe after this, we can go have lunch," she suggested. Oh, she was enjoying this. She remembered a time when Feleti had thought of her as little more than a pest.

"O-okay," the younger elf stammered. "I'd like that." A date? He had a date with the princess? It was all he could do, not to pump his fist in the air and yell "YEAH!".

Averi studied Jadyn for a long time, and remained silent for twice as long. "You are alive," he said finally, still sounding as if he didn't believe it. Slowly he put his arms around her, as if he thought she would vanish when touched. This girl had been as good as a daughter to him. "We thought you were dead. I thought you were dead." Over a hundred years worth of guilt seemed to sweep over him. "I should have warned you children of the horrors within the woods. I could have prevented--he paused, and noticed Feleti. "Strange," he mused. "That child looks exactly like your brother."

Thali pouted. She gave Jadyn a look that said "But he's older than me!" Next to her, Feleti gave an almost identical pout.

"No fair," he protested. "Mama, she's a princess! And she's pretty, and smart, and funny, and she's everything amazing I can think of!" And didn't his Mama realize that princesses didn't ask people on dates every day? Didn't she realize that this was a chance in a lifetime? "But Mama! Davian and I are going to marry each other's sisters--so he's going to marry you, and we're going to be brothers!"

"Boobs?" Davian repeated, frowning slightly. "What boobs?"

"A kind of bird," Thali said quickly, giving Phoebe a warning glance. That pink headed girl better not try to corrupt her baby brother!

"Game!" Davian agreed happily. He had completely forgot his question about boobs. Thank goodness for short attention spans and the short term memory toddlers typically had. "I win? I wanna win!"

Feleti was horrified. He looked towards Thali with a grief-stricken expression. "You're already married?" he asked. He put a hand to his heart, and sighed dramatically. "Alas! My love has already been stolen from me!" He paused, and pulled away from his sister. "Princess, if your love ever leaves you," he said, taking her hand and kneeling, acting the part of the romantic man he had once been, "remember me. My devotion will ever be yours, as will my heart. It pains me to have to refuse your offer to lunch, my princess, but my mother," he shot a glare at Jadyn as he said this, "simply will not permit me to join you. However cruel a punishment this may seem, for being young," he added, "I will always come back to you."

Averi watched with an amused expression. "Acts just like Feleti too," he said, with a knowing look at his daughter. He had a feeling the child in front of him was just who he seemed to be.

Thali leaned into her father's ear to whisper something. Averi grinned, and ruffled Feleti's hair. "There'll be other princesses, Feleti," he said. "I do believe my granddaughters are available."