“Distance and separation just makes the heart grow fonder.” - Old folk saying.

“Mimia! Èirynn!” said Aideen cheerfully as she embraced the pair of half-elven women she had not seen in over a century.

“Aunt Aideen,” replied the two with smiles on their faces. Mimia and Èirynn had returned to Tohrmutgent from visiting their children’s biological grandparents in the shadow forest just two days after Aideen’s return. She met them right at the front yard of the Palace of Bones as they alighted from their carriage – another of Èirynn’s contraptions – with their children.

The two looked little older than when Aideen left Ur-Teros for Alcidea over a century ago, other than looking more mature in some ways. It was not unusual, for both elves and those with strong elvish heritage generally kept their youthful looks until they were in the last third or so of their lives, which was when aging started to catch up with them. Until that time, however, they generally remain in the prime of their lives, physically and mentally.

As half-elves with humans as the other half of their parentage, both Mimia and Èirynn had a lifespan of around five and a half centuries to look forward to, which meant that aging wouldn’t start to catch up to them for another half a century to a century. Still, since they wanted children it was a wise precaution to have them while they were younger like now.

Said children followed behind them, three young children with very obvious elvish heritage, each around seven years of age. It was easy to tell which was which, as Mimia’s daughter Áine inherited the silvery-gray hair that Mimia in turn inherited from her mother, who received it from her grandfather. On the other hand, the twins Rhys and Eilonwy inherited Eirynn’s raven-black hair.

All the children took strongly after their mothers and reminded Aideen a lot of them when they were at that age.

“Kids, this is your great-aunt Aideen, the one we told you stories about. Say hello to her, she just returned from a trip to lands far away,” introduced Èirynn once the children caught up with them. The three children mostly looked at Aideen with great curiosity, befitting their age. Of the three, Eilonwy seemed the more active, while Rhys and Áine were more demure and quiet in nature.

Stolen novel; please report.

Not that it prevented them from giggling with joy when Aideen bent down and picked all three children up in a hug, though.

“Mama said you just returned from faraway lands, did you bring us any souvenirs?” asked Eilonwy boldly with a wide, mischievous smile on her face. The other two seemed emboldened by her and also looked at Aideen with pleading puppy dog eyes at the same time, which made her chuckle with some amusement. The three just looked like adorable little kids that reminded her of the past.

“Sure, here, have a try of these,” said Aideen after she put the three kids down on the lightly snow-covered ground. There were three triangular chunks of golden-brown confections in her hand, something she had gotten while in the elven city of Alfheim. Thankfully, she had gained a habit of buying all sorts of stuff just in case she might want some later while in the north, a habit further encouraged by the fact that her storage artifact not only had a lot of room, but also preserved whatever was placed inside it perfectly.

As such, after the talk with Calais back then and some rummaging in her storage, she realized that she actually had a sizable stock of sweets and other confections from the northern continent that she might have completely forgotten had she not checked things out. It was convenient that she wouldn’t have much issue finding souvenirs for her grandnephews and nieces at least.

The three children looked curiously at the soft-looking confections and picked one each. Áine gently pressed the one in her hand for a bit with obvious curiosity, while Eilonwy and Rhys just popped theirs right into their mouths and chewed happily. Their faces had questioning looks at first, but seeing how the two kept chewing happily, Áine followed after them and also tossed the confection in her mouth.

“Tastes kinda odd,” commented Eilonwy while she chewed. The confection was one that had some spices mixed into molten, caramelized sugar that were mixed with some tree saps to form a soft, chewy confection. Unlike most common confections that were simply sweet, the one she gave the kids was more smoky and bittersweet in flavor, with rich nuances to the sweetness. “But gets really nice after a while. Thanks, Auntie!”

“I have more and others, but not too much in one day, okay? Wouldn’t want you kids to get a toothache from having too many sweets now,” replied Aideen with a smile as she crouched down and rubbed Eilonwy’s head. “Anyway, shall we get inside? No reason for us to keep standing in the cold out here, especially with the kids and all.”

“Sure thing, aunt,” replied Mimia with a nod.

The six of them walked into the Palace of Bones together, the children stepping lightly and easily on the snow-covered grounds. Winters in Ptolodecca were mostly mild, with the cold only getting bad for maybe a week or two in the middle of the season. For the most part, however, light snowfalls were the norm, and it was a season the children especially enjoyed, since there was lots of snow to play with.

They chattered about their lives in the past century while they walked, the long separation just making them grow fonder of family, and told tales of the various experiences they had over that period of time. Aideen told of her travels in the north, how she met Celia, their long stay with the orcs, as well as what she saw of the elven and dwarven lands. Mimia and Èirynn on the other hand told her about what they had been pursuing in their experiments and research over the past century, as well as some tales about their children that made said kids try to jump up and cover their mothers’ mouths to prevent it being told.