Dropping off the Kids

[Devon]

Xavier appears in front of the Calder house with Divria and Timble. Before knocking on the door he gives the twins a once over to make sure their clothes are neat and in place. Nodding his head satisfied he knocks on the door.

[Kender Bard]

Timble fusses and chafes against the stiff shirt he's in, pulling at the collar. Divria is simply pleased to be here, and it's all she can do to contain herself.

Laura opened the door, smiling pleasantly at Xavier and the children. Before she can say more than a hello, Divria launches herself into Laura's arms.

"Grandma!" the young woman squealed. Laura managed to catch her without getting knocked over, and laughed quietly.

"Well hello there," she cooed, stroking Divria's head. She smiled at Xavier again. "They'll be fine, Xavier. Give my love to Luna."

Turning her head, she called to her new daughters, "Girls, we have guests!"

[Northen Light36]

Teardrop comes racing out of her room, eager and curious. She's rapidly devaloping into a cheerful, happy child since being freed, although outside of her home she's painfully shy. Raindrop follows her twin at a calmer pace, not being partically interrested in the visitors. Freedom hasn't changed her much, she's still wary of everything and everyone, with a temper that more then once has lead to physical fights with the local boys and complaints from their parents being directed to Laura and Saph.

Saph comes out of his study as well, his eyes shadowed by sleeplessness and a distracted manner about him.

[Kender Bard]

Laura steps to the side, gently pulling Divria off of her; the young girl was still excitedly clinging to her grandmother.

"Saph, look dear," Laura bubbled. "Our grandchildren."

Timble grimaced. There was a time he would have denied any relationship to Luna. Now, he was coming to grudgingly accept her.

"You're awfully young to be a grandma," he offered by way of compliment to Laura. Laura laughed quietly.

Divria pratically bounced as she greeted Raindrop and Teardrop. "Hello! I'm Divria. You two look exactly alike so you must be twins! Timble is my twin. Say hello, Timble."

"Hi," the boy grunted obediently. He was getting twitchy and nervous.

"Are you my sister?" she asked Teardrop.

"They would be your aunts, dear," Laura interjected. Divria nodded, and, more gently, skipped over to hug Saph. "Grandpa!" Timble just rolled his eyes and watched the twin girls warily.

[Devon]

Xavier smiles at the interactions the twins were having with their grandparents. "Well I guess I'll be going now. Thank you again for letting them spend time with you Mr. and Mrs. Calder." Xavier looks to Divria and Timble. "all right you two mind your manners and have fun. I'll be back to get you in a day." Xavier waves to the twins and teleports back to Sensatia.

[Northen Light36]

"Hello children," Saph greets Divria and Timble, trying to keep his focus on these two rather then letting his mind go back to his missing brother as he returns Divria's. Teardrop smiles warmly at Divria.

"Yep, we're twins. I'm Teardrop and my sister's Raindrop," she replies, then nudges Raindrop. "Rainy! Say hello."

"Hello," mutters Raindrop as Xavier teleports. She watches Timble warily.

[Kender Bard]

"How am I going to tell you two apart?" Timble complained with a sigh.

Divria glanced over at her aunts and gave an impish giggle. "It looks like Raindrop is the frowny face, so just remember she's the one that looks like you half the time!"

"That wasn't nice," Laura scolded, but smiled despite herself. "You don't listen to your father much, do you?"

Divria put on her most innocent face, "Of course I do, Grandma. I am on my best behavior."

"Which isn't saying much," Timble snorted. Laura laughed again; it cheered her heart to have more kids near her, especially ones that she knew her daughter loved as fiercely as she loved her daughter.

"Why don't the four of you go play somewhere?"

[Northen Light36]

"all right!" Teardrop agrees at the same time as Raindrop mutters, "Do I have too? I wanted to go watch the guards."

[Kender Bard]

"Do what, scratch their a-" Timble caught himself as Laura was starting to frown. "Behinds?"

Divria continued to snuggle her grandfather. She was in an affectionate mood today. Growing increasingly embarrassed, Timble bodily plucked her off Saph and held her arms to her side. "Oh behave."

"Why don't we go watch the guards while we think of things to do?" Divria offered, trying to find a compromise. "Though I don't see what's so interesting about them."

[Northen Light36]

"Well if we hang around them, we'll know when the Storms come," Raindrop replies, her tone full of hate for her former masters. "Hopefully they'll all get shot."

"Raindrop, don't say things like that," Saph scolds half-heartedly.

[Kender Bard]

Laura looked distressed as well, but before she could say anything, Divria piped up again.

"Oh, well, that might be all well and good, but I don't like seeing people die," she said matter-of-factly. "It doesn't matter if they were good or bad people. Bad people deserve to suffer as much as they made others suffer."

"If you kill them, where's the fun in that?" Timble supplied. Divria frowned; it wasn't what she was going to say.

Laura felt a chill run down through her, hauntingly familiar. He's much like Luna. I wonder if that's her doing or if he was always like that. She cleared her throat, at a loss of what to say.

"Can we go now?" Divria asked suddenly. "I like Talen'sul, it's pretty, and regardless of what we're going to go see, I'd still like to be in the fresh air."

[Northen Light36]

"We're not going to go watch the guards," Teardrop says firmly as Raindrop gives Timble a more interrested look. "We'll go up to the temple. It's pretty up there. Mum, can we have some food? We can have a picnic there."

[Kender Bard]

"Of course," Laura said warmly, more than a little relieved in the shift in topic. She hastened to go whip up some sandwiches and find a picnic basket.

Divria lay her head sweetly on Timble's shoulder and regarded Saph quietly a few moments. "Grandpa, why do you look so tired?" She thought of her father. "Have you been doing too much paperwork? Is being Lord of Talen'sul hard?"

"Don't ask so many questions," Timble scolded her. To Saph he muttered, "Sorry. She doesn't know when to shut up, sometimes. I think she's afraid of silence."

"I am not," Divria complained.

[Northen Light36]

Saph sighes, but manages a smile. "I've got Laura to help me with work, Divria, so being Lord isn't too hard." He sits on the couch and pats the space beside him invitingly. "I'm just tired because I'm not sleeping well." He pauses to consider how much to tell the child. "You see, I have a brother who I'm very, very close too and I haven't seen him for awhile, so I'm a little worried about him."

[Kender Bard]

Divria sobered up at the news. She squirmed away from Timble and went to sit by Saph. "Oh, I understand completely. If I were ever separated from Timble, I would be very, very sad."

Timble had a haunted look as well. "One time, before we became two people, I lost Divria for a little while. We were in Ekaitz at the time."

A slight clatter from the kitchen emanates as Laura drops her knife at the name of the slaver city. Timble went on as if he hadn't heard a thing. "It was the most horrible time of my life, not because of the Storms, but because Divria wasn't with me."

Divria reached over to pat Saph's hand softly. "Efil loves siblings, I think," she reflected. "I think she'll go ask her big sister Etaf if your brother can come home, and since Etaf is probably a very nice Force, he'll be home someday."