What Next?

Thankfully for Wesley and I, Lenn was amazingly behaved right from the start. He naturally did have his naughty moments where I would find him chewing away at the couch leg or using the carpet as a toilet, but once we really dug into his training those incidents disappeared almost instantly. The only thing I had left to complain about was that he was constantly underfoot. His greatest enjoyment was following everyone around. He was so small, so I was really worried one of us might accidentally step on him. I was relieved when he began to grow, and he grew fast. It didn't take long before he reached his adult size. All of us were curious as to how he would turn out appearance-wise. It is safe to say Lenn is a mutt through and through. We couldn't even identify one dog breed he could be related to as he was such a mess of all sorts of features. His look definitely wasn't conventional, but I found him adorable nonetheless.

It was amusing when after Maldor's birthday it was him Lenn decided he liked the best. I think it was because Maldor was only slightly bigger than himself, and my littlest son was always willing to let Lenn sit in his lap and cuddle with him. I was actually able to get a lot done when I left those two together. Lenn was very good at keeping Maldor preoccupied and out of trouble. Many times I would finish cleaning or doing some other chore, and I would go back into the living room to find the two of them together on Lenn's bed fast asleep.

Winter arrived just like it always had- with lots and lots of snow. I woke up one morning completely confused. I though I was still dreaming. I stood at the window for a minute or so in order to convince myself the snow on the ground was real and not something I was imagining. Wesley told me when he woke up that the forecast had predicted the snow, but clearly I had missed that warning. Over the next several weeks, the amount of snow grew higher and higher. Some days I wondered if the sun had shown up at all for the dark storm clouds had blocked out all light. It was relieving we had a decent amount of sunny days to combat those days of darkness. The children took advantage of those days whenever they could. Tridia and Thralas made a snowman together, and then decided to have a competition to see who could build the most snowmen before the season was over. It didn't take too long before out yard was filled with an army of snow people.

Cadrier surprised me. I thought when he met Miss Keys on that trip to the park that the little flirtatious relationship they started wasn't serious at all. The two of them went to prom together as planned, and after that I never stopped hearing about Carina. Cadrier really did like her, and when winter came they began dating. I was a bit worried that might lead to them finally doing something inappropriate, but the two were so open about their relationship that my worry vanished. I did find Cadrier and Carina liked to make out a lot. However, I realized I really did trust my son enough to make the right choices.

I also couldn't be too judgmental as sometimes Wesley and I got out of hand. On one particular night though, it was all Wesley. He came home from work wearing the most ridiculous purple suit I had ever seen. I hadn't been able to stop myself from laughing when he walked through the door. He explained that he had been surprised with a promotion at work. It meant he had to wear a suit from now on, but his co-workers knew how much he didn't like them. They had picked out the most crazy one they could find as a "gift" for his promotion for him to use. Wesley was definitely going to pick out his own that fit his tastes better, but he hadn't been able to deny his friends the sight of him wearing the suit they had so lovingly picked out for him. Wesley kept it on all evening since the children found it hilarious as well.

Then Cadrier, Tridia, Thralas went to bed, and Wesley and I got Elemir and Maldor settled down for the night. Wesley and I sat ourselves on the couch and talked while we watched a bit of television. When the show was over and the television was turned off, Wesley began getting a bit frisky. I saw no reason at that point to stop him. It has only been natural as he has gotten older that his desires to sleep with me have drastically reduced in occurrence. I haven't minded as I liked being able to focus on other aspects of our relationship more, but of course we still craved the other from time to time. I assumed when Wesley steadily built up the moment that we would go upstairs to our room like normal. Instead, he lowered me to the couch. I became flustered as I tried to convince him we couldn't do anything here. I knew Cadrier came down frequently to sneak food from the kitchen. Wesley tried to convince me of the opposite. Just when my cheeks felt like they were going to burst from the heat they were burning with, Wesley stopped and said he was only teasing. That earned him a good hit on the shoulder. He laughed again, and said he just thought I was so cute when I got all embarrassed. After some pouting and a roll of my eyes, I allowed him to give me a much softer kiss. We then went upstairs.

The arrival of winter also brought along some birthdays. Tridia's came first, and both Wesley and I lamented on how fast she was growing. We found it amusing though that, despite how sweet she looks, she is one tough girl. I can only imagine this comes from living in a house filled with brothers. I do just seem to be having boy after boy again. I wondered if having no sisters living at the house with her is what helped prompt her to get a part-time job so she could have a bit of a break from all the antics of her brothers. Although, that truly is mere assumption on my part, and I'm sure the truth is that Tridia got a job at the local business simply because she wanted to do so. She said she really enjoyed working there, but I know I would never want her job. She had to get up at three in the morning almost every day and then would only have a half hour break before she had to go to school.

Elemir's birthday was the second one to come. As always, Wesley made sure a great party was thrown. Elemir spent a lot of time that day talking to Amonost and Adonnen on the phone. He was excited to receive the presents they had sent as well- some souvenirs from the islands. They cheered him up as Elemir was not happy about all the snow on the ground. He much preferred the heat and sun of summer. Winter had a long way to go still, but he was more than ready for it to be over.

Not that his preference for the heat stopped him from going outside. He never backed down from all the challenges to a snowball fight Thralas sent his way. Those challenges came almost each and every day. Unlike Elemir, Thralas preferred the cold. He loved that Elemir was finally big enough to play rough with him as Tridia had always wanted to do peaceful activities. However, I don't think he was prepared for how much of an opponent Elemir would be. Elemir certainly inherited Wesley's athletic abilities, and would win the fights nearly every time.

Lenn liked to get outside too. He had to go on a walk once a day or he would become restless and moody. This meant that even when the weather was absolutely horrible someone had to take him at least across the bridge for him to be satisfied. That someone usually ended up being me due to me being so resistant to the cold. Cadrier was a trooper and volunteered about half the time to take him out though. He said he got a laugh out of watching Lenn plowing through the snow despite it occasionally reaching all the way up to his snout. Lenn truly is adventurous.

It happened once again. As soon as everything seemed to be slowing and calming down and I felt I could relax a little, the household was given another challenge with which to cope. It all started late one evening after dinner had finished. The days leading up to that one had been warmer, and some of the snow had melted. Flakes were beginning to fall again though as they signaled the arrival of another storm. Cadrier and Tridia were taking showers, Thralas and Elemir were getting ready for bed, I was changing a fussy Maldor, Lenn was chewing the heck out of one of his toys, and Wesley was up to whatever he was doing. He explained to me not much later saying that he stopped when he heard crying coming from outside. I bet his surprise when he opened the door to find what he found on the porch was something similar to what I felt when I found Rorion all those years ago. However, I'm sure Wesley was much more stunned than I had been. He didn't just find one baby there. He found three.

I was unaware of what had been left at our doorstep, but I quickly was told of the little presents. Wesley was so in shock he hadn't been thinking properly at all as he had run upstairs to tell me of the children instead of bringing them in out of the cold.

I sighed when he told me of the newborns who were apparently triplets. You had to be kidding me, was something along the lines of what I thought. Why was it always me that these things happened to? I would go on to ask myself that question many times during my entire encounter with those children, but in that moment what else could I do but help bring them in and tend to them?

As confused as I was about the infants being there, I was even more confused when I saw them. By the first glance I was already able to tell that something strange was going on. The older girl and the middle boy both had fair hair just like mine. I know I am not the only one who has this color of hair, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the coloring was more than coincidence. I wouldn't dare to believe one of my children had left the children as they had been though. The youngest girl's hair helped me to confirm that. It was such an odd coloring- the strangest I had ever seen. No one I know has anything like it. However, I would soon grasp onto an idea which would reveal to me the unexpected charges truly were strange. It was when holding those babies that I sensed a sensation from them which I had not felt for a long time now. There was something about it unrecognizable, yet it was still familiar. I pushed the sensation to the side as Wesley and I settled the infants down for the night.

I was exhausted and only wanted to go to sleep, but obviously there was some talking that Wesley and I had to do. He was overwhelmed as well though, so we spent a couple minutes laying on the bed and cuddling until enough time had passed for us to process the event at least decently and make some sort of sense of it. Wesley, who didn't know what I knew, began talking about going to Child Services in the morning. The person who had left the babies probably meant for us to take care of them, but it wasn't ideal for our family to suddenly take on three newborns. I listened as he continued to talk, but a fight was going on within my mind at the same time. Half of me wanted to keep my knowledge hidden from Wesley. I couldn't imagine how he was going to react to the information. However, our fight remained clear in my mind. The other half of me knew it was not something I could keep from him. He had to know.

When I made my decision, I stopped him mid-sentence. I told him I wasn't the most excited about taking in the triplets either, but the truth was that we had absolutely no say in the matter. Naturally, Wesley wanted to know why. Because those triplets were aliens, was what I told him. Wesley simply stared at me as if he thought I had hit my head or something. I proceeded to remind him about Anondil, Melui, and Navinai. I could feel the same strange power that had radiated from those three coming from those babies. It was slightly different, but similar enough to not be denied. I had to speak a lot more in order to convince Wesley to even sort of believe what I was saying. He did eventually come to believe me though. He also begrudgingly came to believe me when I said we truly didn't have a choice when it came to taking in the triplets. I reminded him of events like Lothirien's abductions and my own forced impregnation. The aliens did what they wanted to do. We could complain all we wanted, but the reality was that if the aliens wanted us to raise the mysterious children then we had to raise them. It was likely they had even already poked into the legal system to give us official custody of them.

Wesley turned his head. He sighed heavily, which I expected. He then laughed, which I didn't expect. I had to ask if he was alright. Wesley said he was. It was just that he couldn't believe that this was his life. Here he was with me- the boyfriend of an elf helping her to complete an order given by a omnipotent deity. Now there were three alien children sleeping in the next room over. Wesley laughed again. What was next? Fairies? Werewolves? I laughed too. Maybe, I said.

The next day was hectic. My suspicions proved true. I found out that the triplets had officially been placed in our custody, and I could only suspect the aliens used their strange powers to make it so that no one in charge of all the paperwork and legalities about such a strange and rapid "adoption" would question anything. After discovering that bit of information, Wesley and I spent the morning rearranging the cribs. We had to put two of the cribs in our room as the nursery simply didn't have space for four. Next we debated on what we were going to call the children. Wesley didn't have much preference, and so he was fine when I suggested the names Aneviel, Anemir, and Anadien. During all of that, and afterwards as well, came actually carrying for them.

Aneviel, Anemir, and Anadien were unnaturally well-behaved infants, but having come to Wesley and I as a set of three still left us scrambling for one spare moment of rest. Maldor continued to need a lot of care as well. It was all we could do to keep up. Cadrier, Thralas, and Elemir were great help as they volunteered to help with often only minimal complaint. I stopped seeing a lot of Tridia though. Due to her early morning job, she would go to bed much sooner than everyone else. She would come home, do her homework, get something to eat, take a shower, and watch a bit of television or something before collapsing into her bed. She never failed to let us know how much she loved her job and co-workers, so I didn't worry quite so much as I would have otherwise.

Wesley and I soon lost Cadrier's help. It was time for him to have his birthday and graduate from school. He promised he would come to visit when he could, but, of course, it was still bittersweet to see him leave. Cadrier did make it a bit easier for me as he stayed most of the day in order to get some last minute playing in with his younger brothers. I must admit, it was very hilarious to see Thralas and Elemir try to wrsetle with him. Cadrier went easy on them, but he didn't even have to break a sweat to keep them at bay. Then Cadrier picked Thralas up against his waist like he was carrying a basket of laundry, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing- and neither could Thralas.

With so much craziness going on and being surrounded by boys all the time since Tridia was asleep each time I had a spare second, I had to find an outlet to calm myself. Writing my stories worked for a little bit, but that was also a lot of work at the same time. That's why I decided to pick my meditation back up. To encourage me, Wesley gave me the challenge of becoming so good at meditation that I could block out even the noisiest of distractions. And I took him up on that. I don't think either of us expected just how quickly I would prove that I really could get lost in my relaxation. I suppose that sporadically practicing meditation all these several hundred years did give me a head start. It soon got to the point where I could sit nearby when Wesley, Thralas, and Elemir played video games and I didn't notice at all. The biggest distraction ended up being Lenn. He must have thought something was wrong with me when I meditated for each time he spotted me doing it he would climb into my lap and lick at my face until I moved.

Lenn seemed to have his own natural ability to block out loud noises. Either that, or he simply got accustomed to all the children running about and the toddlers and babies crying. I was making dinner one evening, and Elemir had nothing to do so he used some spare materials to make props to play with. He went into the living room, and shouted out proclamations and demands as if he was a king. When dinner was ready, I went to fetch him. It was then when I smiled as I spotted Lenn feet away from all that shouting dreaming peacefully as he slept.

Aneviel, Anemir, and Anadien grew up fast.

I mean it. I'm not just saying it seemed fast to me as an immortal looking after a mortal being. My surprise alien babies truly grew into adorable toddlers much quicker than could be considered normal. I was happy since it meant things got a bit easier for Wesley and I, but I also worried as to what would happen if they continued such rapid growth. I hoped their development would slow down a bit. Their arrival obviously hadn't been convenient for our family, but all of us had grown so attached to them. I wanted to keep them my little "presents" for as long as I could. I was also excited to finally have some more girls in the house.

Even though he had said he believed me, I had been able to tell Wesley still held some doubts as to whether Aneviel, Anemir, and Anadien were actually aliens. Their rapid growth and the development of those characteristic alien features was the final proof he needed. When the truth sunk into him completely, he asked me a lot of questions about what was going to happen. I wished I had the slightest idea as to what was going to happen myself. It's not like I had any clue why the triplets had been given to us in the first place. The aliens might have been horrible before, but they at least gave me the courtesy of knowing why they were doing what they were doing. This time around it has been absolutely silent. I actually feared that silence being broken though for I didn't feel it would mean good things for any of us.

I tried to not let myself get too worked up with worry. Everything was otherwise peaceful, so peaceful was how I wanted to keep it. I focused more on the positive events in the household to stay properly distracted. The biggest recent event was Thralas' birthday. Thralas was ecstatic since Carlton managed to remember to call him. The two have slowly been growing closer as Thralas has aged, so that both of us up. The rest of his special day went well too. He wasn't partial to having a big party, but his friends came over for the evening. I made all of his favorite foods, and Wesley helped him take his first drive.

Besides learning how to drive, Thralas was excited about all the news things he would get to do. I don't think he expected that one of those new things would be helping Wesley and I out more with the toddlers. We tried not to burden him too much with helping with his siblings as he was still young and deserved to enjoy his adolescent years, but there were times when the two of us just couldn't do it all by ourselves or were in terrible moods because we needed rest. Thralas complained a lot at first, but his complaints grew less when he saw how stressed Wesley and I constantly were. He was more willing to help out after that. Even still, there were times, particularly after the worst days, where I wondered if I truly didn't want my toddlers to grow up just a bit faster......