Pandi chuckles. "Why not?"
She nods and thinks for a moment, "I have plenty of blankets, bedrolls, pillows and the like. If you'd like to go home and get something warm to sleep in that's fine. If you're comfortable enough like that, that's fine as well. The living room with the hearth is one of the warmest rooms, I supposed I could make Theon share Celine's room for the night." She smirks slightly, "I just want to make sure you two have some privacy. One of you could take the couch and I could make a really nice thick pallet on the floor for the other, and before you say it, it's no trouble. This was Theon's idea afterall." She says with a chuckle.
"I can go get our things," Dau offers as she finishes with the dishes.
She smiles, "Okay, I'll start making some chocolate chip cookies while you go get your stuff. We can have some later with milk....quite a bit later." She says, rubbing her stomach as it feels quite full with everything she ate.
As Dau finishes up the dishes, Arista puts the leftovers into smaller dishes. Maybe Alethia would want to try some later if she was hungry when they stopped by.
Hearing Celine and the puppy come back inside she nods to herself. She hoped they would be able to start up the school for the younger children soon. There were so many things to get done, and Celine really needed to be around other children her own age.
"I'll be back in a bit," Dau says, heading back to the lighthouse.
Pandi sits down and groans. "You sure like to cook."
"It helps me keep my mind off other things. Are you worn out Rhea, or did you want to stay for some cookies? I can bring you some tomorrow if you're too tired to stay. I really appreciate everything you did today to help me. I couldn't have done it without you." She says, going to Rhea and giving her a hug.
"I'm going to probably head on home," Ylrhea says. "If I eat anything else today, I'll explode."
Arista nods, "Okay hon, I'm really glad you came though. Would you like to take anything home with you?"
"Nah, I can probably stop by tomorrow. It'll give me something to do."
Giving her another hug she walks her to the door, "Sure, I would love that."
"See you tomorrow," Ylrhea says, waving as she heads back home.
She waves and watches Rhea head towards home before coming back inside and shutting the door. Walking past her brother she just chuckles, gives him a look and shakes her head as she heads back into the kitchen.
Getting back into the kitchen, she takes out a couple of bowls and starts getting ingredients together, "Don't worry Pandi, this won't be too much of a mess. It'll be worth it, and I'll clean it up." She says as she starts putting the ingredients together.
Theon follows Arista into the kitchen. "What's that look for?"
Going up to her brother she smiles and pats his cheek softly, "You're so cute when you're oblivious. Why don't you just talk to her?" Smirking slightly she goes back to her cookies.
"And say what exactly?" Theon asks before sitting down.
Pandi simply shakes her head at the whispering siblings. "So, you were talking about being a graveknight, Theon? You really don't remember anything after the demons took you to the mountains?"
"Ah, right," Theon answers. "No, I blacked out as soon as we reached the Rimespire mountains, not even my anger was enough to keep me going at that point. When I was brought back, I had some hazy memories but I really don't remember what they were. I guess I talked to Ari and...someone else?"
"I remember most of my life as a ghoul, but it wasn't pretty," Pandi says. "I guess you're somewhat lucky."
"I do remember a moment of peace before I was brought back, but that's really hazy."
Pandi nods. "I remember that moment too."
Dau returns with her and Pandi's sleepwear. "I'm back. Sorry that it took so long. It's really cold so I couldn't swim over."
"It's fine. You didn't miss anything."
"I'll go get changed," Dau says. "Do you need any help afterward, Arista?"
Giving Dau a smile she says while dropping balls of dough on a pan, "No thank you, I'll be alright. You just go get warmed up and I'll put some water on for some tea....if you'd like some. It always stays nice and cozy in the kitchen."
As they talk about feeling those brief moments of peace, Arista feels a slight twinge of guilt.
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"Don't get me wrong," Pandi says. "I prefer being alive than being undead. Besides, I wanna live a bit more. I have too many regrets to erase before I die for good."
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"I'm more at peace knowing my sister survived what happened to her and that I have a lot more family than I knew about," Theon says. "I'm a bit sad that our parents passed while I was gone and that I could not say good-bye to my other sister. Still...I'd rather aim for a happier ending than becoming an undead and being destroyed."
They don't hear anything from the winged aasimar, but Arista just stops what she's doing as she hears them talk. Standing at the counter she was working on the cookies at, her back almost becomes rigid as she fights back against feelings that make no sense to her whatsoever.
Pandi was happy to be back...but she had regrets? Her brother was relieved that she had survived....he didn't get to say goodbye to their parents either. She knew there was no point in going over these things in her head over and over and over again....nothing could be done now to change what happened so long ago. Things were different now....and a lot of things were so much better....so why couldn't she just get over it already?
She could feel the surge of emotions swelling up in her and fights to hold them back down. It wasn't her fault, so she just needed to stop feeling this way....so....why couldn't she?
"Oh, I'll take some tea," Dau says, heading off to get changed.
Arista just nods and moves to fill up the kettle while trying to keep her back to her brother and Pandi.
Aliethia raps on Arista's back door.
Taking another breath and trying to suck it in she puts a smile on her face and goes to the door to open it, "You've got great timing, I was just about to put some cookies in the oven."
"I brought Esmerelda and Divitia with me," Aliethia says, stepping inside with her fianceé and her soon to be sister-in-law.
"Evening," Divitia says, looking around the kitchen.
"Hello, Arista...Theon," Esmerelda says, nodding at the two aasimars.
"Hello, Esmerelda," Theon says. "I'm sorry about last night...we got off on the wrong foot and...well...I made an ass out of myself."
"You're new to Valwick," Esme says. "It's a big change and I understand. You're forgiven."
"Hi, I'm Pandi," the elf says. "I...uh...haven't met you all yet, I don't think. I'm usually at home around this time."
Dau comes back into the kitchen in her warm nightwear. "Oh, you've got more guests."
Esme smiles. "Don't worry, we don't bite."
"Not these days."
"For that, I am truly grateful."
"I'm Dau," the gillwoman answers. "I live with Pandi at the lighthouse and work with the town guard during the day."
"Ah, I'm Esmerelda," the dhampir introduces herself. "I am also with the guard, but I work late at night."
"I'm Divitia. I work at Michael's school teaching alchemy."
"And I am Aliethia, Alethiro's sister. I work at the Temple."
"It's very nice to meet all of you," Dau says.
She turns to Divitia. "Oh, you're an alchemist? Do you know of a way to unfreeze pipes?"
"I could probably concoct something," Divitia says. "Is that why you're staying with Arista tonight?"
Pandi nods. "Theon asked us to stay."