Noisy First Night

Us elves have always been fascinated with the night sky. I, in particular, have always loved it. I suppose this is one of the reasons Aurora Skies appealed to me so much. I had only ever heard of the brilliant colors of light that would appear, and I never thought I would get to see such spectacular marvels for myself. Up until recently, I considered myself the most knowledgeable about the stars in our household. Ettelendil is turning into quite the amazing astronomer though. He is using that telescope I bought to find new stars and other celestial bodies. He's even getting paid for doing so. It's absolutely remarkable!

I can't stop admiring Riviel. She's as pretty as she is sweet. Not only is she easy to watch over, but she's also easy to teach and quick to learn. Riviel needs my support for learning how to talk and walk, of course, but for her almost all of her little games and toys she can figure out how to use them and solve them with very little input from me. She reminds me a lot of Lothirien in this manner. It looks like I might have another little genius on my hands. I'm just glad my one hope came true. Ettelendil, Erondir, Fiendir, and Thrin all dote on Riviel. They've mellowed out considerably. They even treat Minai better as well.

It seems as if all the most terrible weather is fated to happen whenever I try to take a nice and peaceful walk. I suppose it's my own fault for not looking at the weather report before leaving the house. The sky was so clear and blue though. One wouldn't think such cold, ferocious wind and rain would stir up so suddenly. It was pushing me over. There was no chance I could make it back to our house in one piece so I thankfully found refuge in the closest residence.

They welcomed me willingly, and I was thankful in more than one way that they did. I dried off as best I could. That's when I walked into the dining room to find a man playing videos games on his laptop. He was so into whatever he was playing that I was watching for about five minutes before he noticed me. I introduced myself, and then he told me his name was Lewis Winter.

We began to chat, and we got along very well very quickly. It wasn't too long before our topics turned from mere chitchat to ones with real depth. Mr. Winter got around to asking me what I was doing with my life. He was curious as to what an elf is doing in someplace like this. There was something within my heart that compelled me to tell him everything right off the bat. What I've been tasked with, how I've dealt with it, how it's changed me, my thoughts about what the future might hold, and so on. Mr. Winter listened very intently. I really don't know why I felt like it was safe to throw out so much information, but it turned out to be a good choice.

Mr. Winter said he somehow understood what I was going though. More importantly, he offered his help. Though the storm was still raging outside, we ignored it as we went upstairs.

Unlike the house in Monte Vista, our house here is horrible decorated. And by horribly decorated I mean there's almost no decoration at all. Minai's helping us solve the problem though. She absolutely loves painting. It's very bittersweet to think about, but her desire to paint came from me showing her some of the old paintings I have that Elaril did. I want them to last until I return home so I keep them stored away and looked after as best as possible. Maybe Minai would have picked up painting without being inspired by her brother's works, or maybe some kind of connection was sparked between siblings that would never meet. I can only guess. But in any case, Minai's works have gradually been filling up our house and making it most pleasing to the eye.

And with her finals days of being a teenager shortly coming to a close, I decided to call her in sick from school one day so that we could spend some real quality time together before she graduates and moves out. I really wish I had had more of that quality time to spend with her as she'd grown up. Her brothers just took up so much of her attention. Minai's more of a natural loner, so I don't think she ever felt ignored, but I feel guilty that I didn't have a lot of time to spend with just her. She truly appreciated that day together though. I think it made a world of difference.

The television room is always occupied now. Ette and Eron have really taken to working out in there. Eron especially has been conscious of how thin and skinny he naturally is. I think it was hard for him to look at his younger twin to see how he was much more favored with a much stronger body. While I was worried that Eron would take his determination to gain more weight and muscle too far, he's kept his head about it all and doing it healthily. He's steadily been getting closer to his goal. He gets happier the closer he gets, and that makes me happier as a result.

One day we had a surprise visit from Lucas. Normally he calls before he comes over, but this time he pretty much walked through the door with barely a knock. What he had to tell me was so important he couldn't wait. Lucas wanted to tell me that he had taken my advice and told Ms. Sophia the truth about his activities and Riviel's existence. She rightly became very upset that Lucas had taken so long to tell her this kind of information and currently didn't want to see him. However, she had said that she wasn't through with the relationship right yet. Ms. Sophia was willing to give him another chance one she calmed down.

Lucas wanted me to know that he is thankful to me. Although it hurts to have the woman he loves so upset with him, he now understands they never would be able to stay together if he had kept the truth silent. He doesn't have to feel guilty anymore. I let him know I was glad to help.

When the time came when I definitely knew I was pregnant, I gave Lewis a call. I wanted him to come with me to the hospital so he could be there with me as I got the ultrasound. I don't know why it's taken this long for me to think to include the father in such an important milestone. I will try to do it more from now on. I told Lewis I really wanted another girl. Lewis didn't mind either way. In the end, I got my wish. We will be having a daughter together.

Lewis came back to the house after our appointment was over. Minai's birthday was that day, and he wanted to be with the rest of us to see her grow up. And grow up she did. I can't believe my cute little baby girl became such a beautiful, confident woman.

Minai has a chosen a small place much closer to town to live in. It's a nice place where she has a great view and can paint in peace. I wished her the best of luck before giving her a big hug. The boys all gave her a big hug as well. Despite all the trouble they gave her, they love their big sister. We then all watched her head out.

Minai's absence was certainly felt over the next couple days as we adjusted to her not being there, and yet, she has always been so calm and quiet that her absence wasn't so prominent as I expected. With Ette and the twins' birthdays now looming though, things would quiet down really fast then.

Riviel's birthday arrived first though. She absolutely loves wearing white. However, she also loves playing outside and getting dirty without trying too hard to keep her clothes clean. I'm doing what I can to realize that she needs to learn how to choose the appropriate clothing and color to roughhouse in, but for the moment I have to give it my all to keep her things clean and nice looking.

With this particular autumn being so crisp, vibrant, and gorgeous, I decided to celebrate my throwing another feast party. I had to say a pray that it would not turn out like the one I once threw in Monte Vista. I don't know what will happen if I have to face another fire like that. Anyway, everything was going fine.

Until my daughter decided to choose that night to be born. Everyone had just sat down and was about to eat when labor started. As normal, everyone began to freak out. To ease their fears I agreed to be taken to the hospital. Lewis took me, but my body has become so accustomed to childbirth that we barely arrived and got all set up before my girl was ready to come out.

Lewis and I arrived back home to find that the party was still in full swing. Celadra's first night home certainly turned out to be quite the noisy one......