"More than one," Lionel corrected him warmly. "They don't do well on their own, get lonely when their humans aren't around. I'd suggest a bitch and a hound, and do whatever it is you do on your Earth to keep them from breeding. The lads can be aggressive if they've no way to run off that energy." He eyed Rhys for a long moment, reaching down to catch one of the fluffy terrors by the scruff and lift her up to be inspected, all licking tongue and wagging tail and big eyes made for pleading. "You get first pick."

Rhys' eyes widened further at the invitation to choose not one but two pups and at the fact that Lionel was giving him first pick. "Why not two females then?" he asked, curiously, wondering why a male and a female if they weren't going to be allowed to breed. He extended a hand again, this time to the female pup, before daring to scritch her behind the ears. "She's soft," he said, almost as if he hadn't been expecting it.

"Two bitches together, especially litter-mates, can get aggressive and impossible to live with if they can't work out who is the pack leader," Lionel explained, dumping the wriggling bundle of fur into Rhys' hands before the other man could object. "Likewise, two hounds have the same problem. One of each, the bitch is in charge, and there's no arguing. You just have to get her respect, then."

For a man who'd hunted and defeated vampires and werewolves and demons, Rhys suddenly looked utterly terrified and lost by the simple prospect of raising a couple of puppies. He'd had that look on his face when he'd been first faced with a newborn baby, as well, but he'd proved a natural at fathering. He turned that terrified look on Lionel as he suddenly found himself with an armful of wriggling, licking, furry puppy. "I don't know how to take care of a dog!"

The Grand Master chuckled at the look on his face, his own arms filled with at least three of the puppies, all clamoring for kisses and cuddles, and rough-housing with each other for that privilege. "It's a lot simpler than children," he told Rhys, juggling his armful. "Feed them twice a day, walk them for a few hours each day, give them some discipline and rules to live by ....dogs are very easy to manage. And, of course, if you choose a pair, or even three, today, I can have them obeying basic commands by the time they are ready to leave their mother."

"Three!" Rhys exclaimed with a gasp. "Nat will kill me!" They had been talking about the possibility of getting a puppy for Ana, but one puppy, not three. Still, they were adorable, and Rhys had a feeling Ana would be in her glory. But three" That was not a decision he could make without checking without the boss. He turned his face back the puppy in his arms who was trying to climb all over him in order to get to his face and give it a good licking. "She is awfully cute," he said with a chuckle as she clambered up his chest to lick his cheek.

"Aye, they're loving little things," Lionel agreed, with a proud smile for the graceful entrance of a fifth dog - the mother of the twelve puppies, it seemed. Demeter inspected Rhys from head to foot before deeming him suitable to be holding one of her babies, settling herself down with her head in the Grand Master's lap to watch the Champion with mild interest. "And as you can see," Lionel added, setting his armful back down to turn his attention onto the beautiful dog lying on him, "they don't lose that affectionate side."

"She's beautiful," Rhys said, in honest appreciation of the female dog who'd just joined them. He set the pup loose to cavort with her brothers and sisters, but it seemed she was just as happy to remain in his lap and lick his fingers. He laughed again, lifting his free hand to run his fingers through the puppy's soft fur. "I think maybe this one's picked me." Instead of the other way around, it seemed.

Lionel chuckled, his fingers ruffling the warm fur at Demeter's neck as she stretched and looked up at him adoringly. "It happens that way," he nodded cheerfully. "Perhaps you should bring Natalya the next time you come to visit, and Ana, too. I am sure there is a manly pup in this lot who will want to protect them both." He considered Rhys a moment longer, and added, "Your sister and her husband have the second pick of this litter."

"What am I going to name you?" he asked, laughing again as the puppy licked his face in response. "You really are too cute." Slightly distracted by the puppy's affection, he blinked over at Lionel when he mentioned his sister. "Do you think they're really ready for that?" he asked. Though full grown adults, his sister and her husband were almost as innocent as children, slowly learning how to take care of themselves and each other.

"I think, if they are going to have sons in the future, they should learn to look after a life smaller than theirs before it happens," the Grand Master told him. "Your sister does not say it aloud, but it is clear that she is longing for a child of her own. Having the care of a couple of dogs will ease that longing for a time, and teach them both a little of what they will need to know. Or do you not agree?"

Rhys didn't have to take much time to think about that. "Oh, no! I agree completely." He frowned a moment before adding, "I'm just not sure they know how to take care of themselves yet." Though he trusted Lionel to be a better judge of that, as he saw much more of them than Rhys did. "How's Zach doing" He was working in the library, wasn't he?"

Lionel raised a brow in his direction curiously. "They've been married over a year, Rhys," he pointed out. "I've heard there's no house kept neater, nor any food put on the table better than by Rachel's hand, and Zachariel never ceases to offer assistance to anyone who needs it. But since they have grown closer, they have both learned to say no to those who would trespass on the time they would spend together. I believe they know how to care for themselves by now." He smiled, easing back to lean against the wall as Demeter rose and sat herself fully on his lap, leaning her big head on his shoulder as he chuckled and embraced her. "The texts he is translating make for fascinating reading. There is one that he began, but refuses to complete. Apparently it is the angels' bible, and contains the true word of God. He will not translate it for just anyone to read it, and rightly so."

Rhys' eyes widened again, not sure much at the news of his sister and brother-in-law's advances in being able to take care of themselves, but at the news of a text that supposedly contained the true word of God. Though Rhys' own spiritual beliefs and faith had been shaken over the course of a lifetime, he still believed in an all-powerful being who had, at the very least, created them all. "The true word of God?" he echoed curiously. "What good is having such a text if you don't know what it says?"

"In many ways, Zachariel is still an angel," Lionel mused, patting Demeter's back as she sighed and made herself comfortable on him. It was an odd thing, to see the Grand Master of the Temple sitting on the floor with a dog draped over him, but it fitted Lionel almost perfectly. "He sees it as his duty to protect the true word of the God that created him, and I see no reason to object. The Lady, however, did wring a concession from him. That if he will not translate that particular text, then he will teach a student to read, write, and speak Enochian within a few years, to ensure that the knowledge does not die with him."

There was that frown again, mostly at the realization that though his brother-in-law was angelic in origin, he was now just as mortal as any of them. "What about teaching a son of his own to read the texts?" he asked. As far as Rhys was concerned, that seemed the most logical thing to do, though it would take some years for that to happen. Of course, Rhys had once had angelic origins, as well, but he did not consciously remember any of it. "Or, you know, he could teach me ..." he suggested further with a shrug, though that would not solve the problem of passing that knowledge down to the next generation.

Rhys' fingers were still combing through the soft fur of the puppy who seemed to have chosen him, as he thought that over. He'd slept with more women than he could count, but he'd only been in love three times - once when he'd been little more than a boy, once when he'd been with Riley - but that relationship had been full of turmoil - and then with Nat. There had been a few other serious relationships scattered in between. There had been Cara, who he'd almost proposed to, and there had been Leila and Kellie, but he hadn't really loved them - not the way he loved Natalya. She had knocked his socks off right from the first moment he'd seen her and even after only one day, he'd been unable to get her out of his head. "Okay, you made your point. Maybe some part of me remembered her on a spiritual level, but it's still different from Zach."

"Of course it is," Lionel agreed. "This is his first lifetime as a mortal man. He knew of Rachel long before she ever realized he might have existed at all, and loved her all that time. It is in their next lifetime that bond will make itself known, and bring them back together in a way neither one of them can imagine at this moment."

Rhys didn't think that comparison was all that different from his own experience. "It's my first lifetime as a mortal man, too. And if what I was told is right, I knew about Nat long before she ever knew about me." What Lionel said next though really gave Rhys pause for concern. Now that he had been given a mortal soul, would he be returning to Earth for another life, and if so, would he be able to find Nat again amidst all the other souls that crowded the Earth' "We have some friends back home in New York ....They claim to have been together for multiple lifetimes. They even remember some of them, I think. Something about a gift from a Goddess or something. They claim that no matter what happens, they always seem to find each other. Do you think that's true?"

To his credit, the Grand Master did consider this for a long moment before he gave his answer. "Everything is possible," he conceded after a while. "I am sure only the Lady could give you an answer you would take as gospel, but there are other forces, other powers, out there in the world. It is entirely possible that one such power has chosen to bind your friends in such a way."

"And what about me and Nat' Do you think we'll be together again, like they will" Like Zach and Rachel?" He couldn't imagine his life without Natalya anymore and he had a feeling he already knew the answer to his own question. "I don't want to have to find her all over again," he admitted gravely. I don't want to be alone again, he thought to himself. But if he was given the gift of a mortal soul, it seemed logical he'd die a mortal death and be reborn again and again, until ....what? Until the end of time" Even an angel like Zach might not have the answer to that question.

And if that was the case, would he ever see his parents again? What about Dylan and David and Jessie" Had they only served to play a part in his life this one time, or would he know them again in some aspect or other" He knew he couldn't love Jessie the way he once had, but he hoped she had found some sort of peace after her death. It made his heart ache to think about her, about how she had died because of him. And what about all the other people in his life who he'd cared for" What about Nikki" Were lives really like webs, complex and interwoven, lifetime after lifetime" Perhaps these were questions better left for the Lady or maybe Zachariel. He had a feeling they were questions that weren't meant to be answered, though he might already have the answers somewhere in his own head. "My dear boy, you really must learn to listen when the Lady explains some things to you," Lionel chuckled fondly. "I know she told you, as she told me when I asked her. No mortal soul can be created from nothing. It must be born of another soul if it is to thrive. Your mortal soul can only have been created using a portion of Natalya's, and as such, you are bound to one another for eternity, just as Rachel and Zachariel are bound to each other. A soul does not like to be split apart - in some way not even the Lady can explain, it will seek to be reunited with its other half, and in so doing, will bring you and your love together again in each lifetime you live."

"No, I get that," Rhys admitted. "I just don't understand how it happens." But then, maybe not everything was meant to be understood. "You know, I had this friend once ....Her name was Nikki. At least, that's what she called herself, but she disappeared after I ....After the accident, after I lost my memory." He furrowed his brows in thought again, wondering why it mattered so much and why he was mentioning it to Lionel. "There are a lot of things I still don't understand and probably never will."

"Ah, lad, there are many mysteries in this world and the next that no man is meant to unravel," Lionel sighed contentedly. "For my part, I do not delve too deeply. I accept, and in that acceptance is my leap of faith. Yet I do not begrudge those who would seek to uncover such mysteries, for they, too, are committing their own leap in such endeavors. It is for no one to decide but yourself as to how you will go about your life and the mysteries contained therein."

"And, no, I wasn't in love with her. Not the way I love Nat, anyway. She was a friend, but she had some kind of powers. I've never met anyone like her since." Rhys shrugged, looking puzzled. It was one of life's mysteries he'd never quite solved. At least, he had seen his mother. There was some comfort in that. "I'm content. Happy, even. I just wonder sometimes." Especially about those who seemed to have paid such a high price for his happiness - or had it been about him at all" They had avoided the Apocalypse, and his hand had not been the only one at work there.

"No great victory has ever been won without sacrifice," the Grand Master said quietly. "For without that sacrifice, how would we know, truly, the cost of such a victory' We cannot explain how or why. All we can do is live our lives as they are given to us, and hope to be remembered as good men when we are gone."

"I don't think you need to worry about that," Rhys told his friend with a warm smile. There had been a time when he'd been jealous of Lionel - of his relationship with Natalya - but that time had long since passed. The Grand Master had become one of his closest friends these past months and one he hoped to have for a long time to come. He chuckled again as he looked to the bundle of fur that was curled up in his lap. "I think I know which one I'm choosing," he told the other man with a smile. Now he just needed to break the news to Nat and come up with a fitting name.

"Which female, anyway." Lionel laughed, the movement dislodging Demeter, who sat up and looked at him in a startlingly disgruntled manner. "Oh, I apologize, my dear," he assured the beautiful dog, stroking her head. "Isn't it about time they ate, though?" Blissfully unaware of the actual words, Demeter took the fond tone for an apology, and settled down on his lap once again, ignoring the jolting as he chuckled, shaking his head. "Women. They're all alike, no matter what shape they're in."

"I think she's chosen me," Rhys replied with a chuckle, watching as the mother of the pups laid her head back down, looking in no great hurry to feed her children. To be fair, her children didn't look like they were starving either. "Why'd you name her Demeter?" he asked, curiously, knowing what the goddess represented but unsure what that had to do with a dog.

"I'd say that little lass has definitely chosen you, yes," Lionel agreed warmly. He looked down at Demeter with a fond smile, one large hand stroking her fur. "They're noble dogs. They deserve noble names, don't you think?"

"I suppose," Rhys considered quietly a moment. "I suppose Fluffy is out," he remarked with a smirk. He'd have to give her name some serious thought. He'd never really been responsible for naming anything before, other than his daughter and his car.

"That is my intention, yes," the Grand Master nodded to Rhys, sidestepping a groom as he hurried by. "Can you not see them with two or three dogs gamboling about them?" He chuckled at that mental image, finding it only too easy to imagine both Rachel and Zachariel with a small pack of their own.

Imagining them with a pack of dogs wasn't quite the same thing as them actually having one, and Rhys still wasn't sure they were able to handle it, but he had to admit they had come a long way. "Are you sure they can handle them?" he asked, as he followed at the Grand Master's side.

"My dear boy, I am certain of it," Lionel insisted. He turned to look at Rhys, a gentle frown on his face as he considered his companion. "You must allow her to grow up, Rhys," he said gently. "You were deprived of a childhood together, but she cannot remain a child forever. All I can do is help prepare them both for the challenges ahead of them, and this is how I am choosing to do that."

"I know," Rhys replied with a frown of his own, before turning away so that the other man wouldn't see the look of sadness and regret on his face, despite how things had turned out. "I used to talk to her when I was a kid, before she was born. That night ....the night everything went to hell ....when my dad ..." He broke off, unable to continue with his thought. He'd thought he'd lost his sister forever, only to find she'd been alive all along. "How'd she get through that without losing her mind, Lionel" If I'd known, I would have done anything to save her."

"Perhaps someone was protecting her, in their own way," the older man said, his voice still gentle, aware of how volatile this conversation could become. "Perhaps they knew you would come for her, one day."

"Zach, maybe," Rhys admitted. He didn't want to get into the pain of the past either. All he wanted was to know that his sister was happy here, and he had no reasons to doubt that. "Thank you, by the way."

"Maybe." Lionel had his own ideas about who it was that had been watching over Rachel Bristol, knowing as well as Rhys did that Zachariel had fallen in the moments following her disappearance from the world. It could not have been the Lady, who had not truly known of her existence until very recently, but perhaps some ....Fate ....was still at work in the world. He blinked, glancing at Rhys in bemusement. "What on earth for?"

"For a lot of things," Rhys replied with a warm smile. "For trusting me, for one thing. For believing in me. For welcoming me to Avalon. I know how much Nat means to you, and I know it couldn't have been easy. For helping Zach and Rachel and for helping Zach find a purpose here. For the puppies. For being a friend. I don't have too many of those these days."

"Ah, lad ..." Lionel smiled, laying his hands on Rhys' shoulders. "If it had been mine to choose, Natalya would have been my daughter, and even then, I would have given her happily into your care. I see in you what you do not see in yourself. You have a greatness of spirit, my boy, and it is my honor to be able to call myself your friend. As to your sister and Zachariel ....perhaps they do not need my interference so much. But they are family to you, and to Natalya, and therefore I consider them the family I shall never have. It is my pleasure to care for them in your absence."

Rhys was tempted to hug the other man, but resisted doing so, instead offering him a hand and then an affectionate clap on the shoulder. His eyes were suspiciously misty for a moment before he regained his composure. "Whatever you are to us, I am proud to call you my friend." And he would have been proud to call him more than that, if he'd been able. He wasn't quite able to tell him exactly how he felt or how much the older man meant to him, but he hoped it went without saying. He'd already said more than he dared.

There was a dangerous moment when both men's eyes were misty, but Sir Lionel rallied in predictable fashion. "Aye, and no doubt delighted to be able to say you brought me to the brink with nothing more than words," he accused Rhys affectionately. "Go back to your wife and daughter. Let them bat you about for a while, I'll not have mischief in my training yard veiling my eyes." He grinned, clapping Rhys' shoulder once again.

Rhys laughed, not quite believing he'd brought the Grand Master to the brink of tears. He knew also how much the Lady meant to the man, and he knew there was far more to him than he let anyone else see, but it would be their secret. "Yes, sir," he replied with a grin of his own. "We should be here for a few more days, at least. Shall I bring Nat and Ana by tomorrow to see the pups?"

"Aye, you're welcome to, my boy," he was assured. "Take care Demeter doesn't mistake your pup for one of hers, or you might have a battle when you leave!"

"I thought they were all hers!" Rhys replied with a laugh. "I'll see if we can come by tomorrow. I need to check on Zach and Rachel and I haven't seen the Lady yet."

"I mean the pup on two legs," Lionel chuckled, rolling his eyes as he waved Rhys off. "Go on, Sir Rhys, attend to your wife and family. You will be missed at the dinner table if you tarry too much longer with an old man and his memories." He nodded to Rhys, moving back to the training yard to bark out orders to the men and women there. Whatever the Templars of Avalon were preparing for, the Grand Master would not see them disgraced.

Rhys got his meaning at last and laughed again. "She doesn't have a tail!" he called back with a grin, waving as he started for his home here in Avalon. He couldn't help but chuckle a little to himself as he thought about the surprise Lionel had for his wife and daughter, as well as for Zachariel and Rachel. This visit was certainly going to be an interesting one.

((Yet another scene that spiraled somewhat out of control! Fun, though. :grin: ))