Her talk with Adraejen hadn’t gone as well as she had hoped but it was her job to at least go look. She got home and changed out of her lazy clothes. A vibrant green silk halter was what she chose to wear for her trip. Her red hair was brushed out after her bedtime with Adraejen. Leaving her room she went to Melina who was with Iva and Rohan making sure they behaved.

“I’m heading to Sidhiel. I’ll be back soon.” Angela offered Melina a smile. The clergy member was clearly confused as the goddess disappeared through a portal and quickly closed it so the children could escape through it.

“What’s Sidhiel Melina?” Iva perked up just a bit.

“I’m not quite sure. I’ve never heard of it before.” Melina eyed Iva quite suspiciously and patted the almost tween on her head.

Angela appeared on the port. There were some traders there who knew who she was. They bowed their heads in respect if not for her goddess title then her queen title. She returned the bow and smiled at them. These were Canelux traders she could tell. If their respect for her didn’t tell her then the objects they were transporting certainly did. She tossed a few coins for some Laeto Durian fruit. They handed her some and she cracked it.

Her nose scrunched up at the smell of it but soon she was munching on it as she walked through the streets of Maeron. She was a fetching creature even purists like the high elves in Sidhiel could see that. She stopped to admire the lanterns in the streets.

“Taking in the sights My Lady?” She turned as she heard the voice and smiled.

“I should have expected you to be here studying the structures as well my old friend.” It was a professor from the mage college in Iria. They hugged briefly as they chitchatted about the buildings, the magic, and the obvious Feeorin plant life. She held out some of the Durian and the mage reeled back.

“No thanks, Angela. That stuff reeks.” The mage laughed and Angela shrugged and continued to eat as they spoke.

Rohan looked from Melina to Iva, and raised an eyebrow at Iva. He tossed away the wooden bear he was playing with and stood up. "I'm gonna go play in the garden. Iva, you wanna come?" the youngest of Angela's children asked as he brushed off his clothes and gave Iva a look that suggested mischief. Without a second thought the young shapeshifter turned to the nearest window and shifted into a wolf pup and jumped through the window. He waited for a few moments before his sister came out to join him. 

"Hey, you think you could open the portal to where mom went?" he asked her. "I know your magic is strong now, do you think you could do it?" he asked. "I heard Mama talking to one of the clergy ladies that Sidhiel was the place were Papa is from," he told her. "I don't know about you, but I want to see it. Dad NEVER talks about it," he said. "I don't know about you, but I want to see this secret place! What do you say? You think you can open it?"

Iva nodded. She was coming into her looks quite well, actually, she was almost a spitting image of Ang with bits and pieces of her father throughout. In five years her red curls were now long and flowing. They were waist length and she was starting to loose the child chub that all children had growing up. “Yeah! The garden sounds nice.” Melina eyed them both but nodded and went to go do whatever it was when she wasn’t watching them inside the temple.

Iva watched her brother leave and soon she did as well. “I can do it but what if we get in a lot of trouble?” She tilted her head. “Mom has gotten on my case a lot lately about opening portals to places that are dangerous… but if Dad is from there… then it has to be alright… right?”

Iva lifted her hand and did a swirling motion. She had gotten enough of the location and feel from Angela’s. It was a problem since that was why Angela had tried to shut it so quickly but Iva was sharper. She pieced together the missing puzzles and her gate opened with perfect precision. “There… Do you want to go first?” Once they had stepped through she reached up and brushed her hand over the portal making it disappear. "See easy as pie," Iva said it mischievously.

It wasn't long though before they were discovered. "IVA AND ROHAN," their mother's voice normally so pleasant was shrieking at them.

"Oh no," Iva couldn't get a portal to the Gardens reopened because something or rather the person coming at them like a maniac was keeping her from doing so.

Rohan nodded. "Right. I mean, what's the big secret about anyways?" he asked and watched in awe as his older sister opened the portal. 
"It is so cool that you've figured out how to do that," he told her with a massive grin before he turned and jumped into the portal. 

The city on the other side was unlike Rohan had ever seen, but what he had seen had been pretty limited to Sularia, the Gardens, Tar Eisalae, and Adeluna. Everything was made of a smooth crystal, he could tell it was crystal and not stone, not sure how, but he always knew. What struck him as fascinating was how the trees and even the grass were not the normal shades of green. No, they were blue, and other odd colors, that made him think of the stories that his mother had told him about the Soul Stream. 
"Wow… I don't know," he told Iva as he looked around and watched as she dismissed the portal. "Why don't we go—"

"IVA AND ROHAN!"

The boy froze. "Uh-oh…." he said looking at Iva. "Run go!" he urged her and pushed his sister to get her moving. Running was futile, but Rohan had always adopted a fight or flight aspect in life, mirroring the animals he transformed into. When it came to Angela and her rage, his instinct was always to run.

"Way to go, Iva!" the boy said as he took off running with his sister. "You weren't supposed to drop us right by her!"

“I didn’t! I tried to drop us far away from her!” Iva yelled as they began to run away from the monster mother they loved so much. “She must have sensed us.” Iva didn’t know why she didn’t think about that before hand.

The girl did what any child would do in danger as Angela began to chase them through the streets of Sidhiel, she started to push things in the way so Angela would have to go around. This was looking more like they were fighting for their life then some grounding they were going to get.

“If you think that this is going to save you, you are sorely mistaken,” Angela yelled as suddenly the plant life sprung up like it was completely sentient. Vines looped around poles in the streets and hung the children upside down even when Ang was so far away from them.

Iva yelled as she held her dress so it wouldn’t fall. “Mama let us down!”

“Not on your life. If your father finds out about this I will be the one in trouble!” Angela yelled. “I specifically told Melina to watch you two for a reason.”

Iva let out a whimper. “Mama you didn’t say we couldn’t follow you!”

“I THOUGHT IT WAS A GIVEN WHEN I DIDN’T INVITE YOU,” The goddess yelled and stomped her foot. The ground shook as she yelled at them. “You two are the worst listeners when you conspire with one another. What if you two were hurt? What would I tell your father?”

Many, many miles away, Adraejen was busy conversing with his head librarian when he felt the familiar ping of a gate being opened in the Awakening Gardens. The secondary ping, he noticed was to Sidhiel and he figured that Angela was probably visiting the land he had originally come from, and didn't let it bother him as he continued his business with Magnus. However, a few minutes later he felt a slightly less stable ping, and secondary, doing the same thing he held up his hand, silencing his Librarian rather abruptly. 

"Forgive me, Magnus," Adraejen said his tone a bit on the stony side. "Something has just come up. I have a situation to attend to. You understand, I'm sure. Please, continue about the work, and you are in charge of Tar Eisalae while I am gone," Drae said as he turned to leave, summoning his staff into his hands. 

"V-Very well, Lord Adraejen. Where is it you must run off to?" the Librarian asked slowly. 

"Sidhiel…" Drae responded before he disappeared from the Temple Library in a swirling rush of magic. 

"Oh dear…" Magnus said. "I do hope it isn't serious. He appeared quite cross."

Seconds later, Drae appeared in the town square, and looked around at the great mess that had been created. Vendors and merchants were complaining loudly about the two children and the woman that had made the mess and Drae's eyes narrowed sharply when the 'red hair' was mentioned. Using his nose, the Keeper followed the scent trail to the edge of town where he found Angela standing in front of their two youngest children, the pair of them suspended in the air by Angela's vines. He didn't speak, nor did he move. He just stood and watched for a moment, listening to Angela verbally chastise their youngest for their disobedience. 

Rohan, who was struggling to get free by shifting between various smaller, more slippery creatures, eventually gave up and just hung there. 
"How would we know, Mum? You caught us before we could even think about that stuff…" he said sheepishly. "But it was Iva's idea!"

Angela glared directly at Rohan when he began to lie. “You are well aware that I can tell you are lying Rohan Ghadir Porthyrius-Rose… Correct?” There was a miserable look on Iva’s face as she looked at her brother betrayed. “It’s not polite to try to pin this all on your sister.”

“Yeah ROHAN. What the hell!” Iva tried to swing and slap him without dropping the skirt of her dress.

“Language Iva Primrose! And you are right I did catch you before that but I am the earth. You are on the earth are you not?” She used her feet to kick up dirt. “You didn’t honestly think that you could get away with being so close to me and not have me notice? I’m weakened on Parvpora but I am not without my abilities. It’s insulting even to think that.” She was chastising the both of them.

She stopped for a moment and peeked behind her. “I know you’re here Adraejen. I’m sorry I should have been more careful and locked them in a room where magic couldn’t be used.” Iva squirmed a bit more.

“Ro said that we should check it out because you never tell us anything about yourself, Papa,” Iva spoke up and Ang snapped a glare back at Iva who eeped.

Rohan expertly swung out of the way as Iva tried to hit him. "She was gonna do it even if I didn't suggest it! I saw the look on her face!" he pouted folding his arms. The sudden and overwhelming sense of magic engulfed the children, and Rohan actually cowered back a bit more than he had with his mother as Drae's presence was made known to them. 
Drae walked up and placed a hand on Angela's shoulder, gentle and reassuring. 

"I'm a little disappointed, " he admitted, "but at the same time I can't say I'm surprised." His silver eyes fell on both of his children. "It's just like you said, Rohan is more like you in that regard, and Iva… well, we've always known the Imp likes to get into trouble, even without her brother's help," he said, eyeing the pair. While they were technically Angela's vines, Drae snapped his fingers and the magic that held the vines dissipated, and the duo were dumped unceremoniously upon the ground. 

"Now, then, you two. I do believe you have a mess to clean up," he said flatly. 

Rohan, hit the ground on his back with thump, and he sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "Ow… that wasn't nice, Papa…" he grumbled. 

"Believe me, boy, that was far gentler than it could have been. If it had been I and not your mother who had caught you first, you wouldn't be complaining about a little dust and a bump on the head," Drae said dangerously. Rohan immediately closed his mouth and scrambled to his feet. 

Ang crossed her arms and stared at her children as Drae rubbed her shoulder to calm her down. “It’s true. Ro has been trouble since he could shift.” Iva stuck her tongue out. “And Iva has been since she was born.” Iva was making a face now. “Should have known they would have teamed up eventually.” She sighed a bit as she calmed down now.

Her vines disappeared and she watched as the children were dumped. Iva rubbed her bottom but didn’t complain. She was used to bumps and bruises. “You really do. A city that’s been lost to the ages and is brand new to most of us… and the first people to destroy it in decades… are my children.” She palmed her forehead softly.

“Your father is right. This place might not be kind to either of you. You really should have been more respectful. Now then. We have some apologizing to do.” She picked both of the children up by their ears and Iva made a face and several ows came out from her lips. “Oh please, stop the dramatics.”

She looked at Drae. “I think this would be your lead and I shall follow with the troublesome ones. And if Rohan you do try to shift I will grab you by the ear or tail of whatever you turn into. So don’t try it.” She stared at her clever son.

Iva wasn't the only one complaining. Rohan actually had the gumption to start to say that Angela was ripping his ear off, but his mother's warning made him stop, and though he looked like he was contemplating testing her threat about the shifting, he decided against it and followed alongside his mother with a wince on his face. 

Drae nodded and lead Angela and the children back towards the market that the children had sufficiently made a mess of and halted suddenly when he saw the crowd that had gathered, standing almost mob-like in the bazaar. Smelling the possibility of danger Drae put a hand out to Angela and the children to halt their advance and lifted his staff in preparation of a defense or need of a quick escape. 

He stared hard at the crowd, not sure of what their intent was. No one seemed to be moving, just staring back at him, as though they were trying to decide how they felt about seeing him again… or possibly if they even recalled him at all. 

Suddenly a timid voice spoke out from the crowd. 
"Adraejen?" it was a woman's voice, and slowly the crowd of Sidhielian High Elves parted to allow her to step through. She was elegant, as was expected, with the sharp features that were common of all elves, and the same ethereal beauty. Her hair was platinum blonde and fell in straight down her slender back, and her eyes were a soft gray. 

Drae actually took a surprised step backward. "Mother?"