Welcome to Gaia! ::

The tears were gone and her face shining. She was making a strange rumbling noise deep in her chest, and it was a moment before her mother realized the girl was purring. Mir's eyes widened, and she flashed an astonished look up at her husband, a smile inching across her face more broadly than before. "Fish is tasty!" Ila piped up happily. "Haven' haddit inna while. Izzit trout?"

She laughed, whole-heartedly - she'd been getting better at that over the months since his return. She'd had a hard time coming out of her self and grief-inflicted shell, but she was almost back to normal. At her best when she was with her family.

Ila flung herself at her father's knees, clinging to them with both small feet on his left shoe. "T'ank you, Daddy!" she sang, nuzzling her cheek into his knees. Something in her voice indicated that it wasn't just for the fish, but she didn't touch on that, looking up at him and asking, "Can we ride to the livin' room? Pweeeeeeze?" What she meant was the practice she and Levi had taken up as tiny tots - standing on her father's shoes and holding onto his leg while he carefully walked them where they wanted to go. They'd always shrieked and giggled and had a wonderful time at it. Sometimes she'd even ask for him to teach her to dance like that.

Mir pushed herself to her feet and ruffled her children's hair with a smile and said, "You two go play while I fix supper, then. Just stay inside, please. It's getting dark outside. Maybe later we'll all go to the meadow and go stargazing, hm?"

Mir just shook hear head, smiling to herself. She slipped past them and went through to the kitchen, humming quietly. For the next hour or so she would be busy preparing the large two fish that would be required to feed her voracious family. Soon happy singing could be heard from the kitchen, along with the snick of a knife slicing through flesh.

In the living room, the kits were having far too much fun climbing on and harassing their father. They loved to climb up his back and wit on his shoulders, fluffing his hair, laughing when he caught them up and swung them around and down to the floor so they could start the process all over again. However they also knew that he had work to do, so when he said to stop, if he chose to, they would, and turned to other things.

Mir stopped her preparation of the fish and leaned back into him, setting the knife down on the cutting board. She snagged a dishtowel and wiped her hands before wrapping her arms about his, leaning her head back against his shoulder. A little kiss found its way to his ear, the smile evident in her voice as she murmured softly, "Hey there, love. You doing all right?" Her tail slunk sinuously about his lower leg. A raucous peal of laughter came to them from the infirmary, and she supressed a chuckle.

A pleasant shiver thrilled through her and she nuzzled the side of his head. "I just have to check sometimes. It can be hard to tell what's going on inside your head." Despite the light tone and the almost joking mental caress, she was fairly serious in her quip. Her hands stroked along his arms gently, almost as though she were soothing him, checking to make sure he truly was there.

She turned in his arms to hug him, resting her cheek on his collarbone with a soft sigh. "And I love you. More than life." She stayed there a few moments, eyes closed, relishing this quiet moment of closeness. Then she squeezed him and released her grip, turning back to her cutting board. Picking up her knife she said in a far brisker tone, "If I don't get this prepared soon, I'm going to have kits crawling all over me. You know how they are when supper's late and they're hungry." She smiled over her shoulder at him, a glitter back in her eyes.

"Thank you, love, but if you keep rubbing my shoulders, you'll have to mop me up off the floor!" she laughed. "Would you mind making some sort of un-objectionable vegetable or fruit dish? And fetch me the garlic, parsley and sage, would you please?"

She pondered for a moment. "I think so. Should be in the icebox. Dig it out and fetch some bowls and utensils, would you please?"