Barnabas hadn't noticed anything odd in Cheila staring at the counter. He'd been around air elementals, mainly them, for so long that a lot of things didn't strike him as odd. Once they would've. "I'm sorry to hear that you slept poorly." If she had slept at all. Things like this worried Barnabas. He knew that his children seemed to have trouble with the night and those glimpses that he got from their minds made him understand why. Except the twins seemed to rest just fine unless they had a nightmare and Aurora hadn't ever been afraid of the night. That also made sense in a way that shouldn't bother anyone to understand; the blind saw no different between the dark and the light. He'd always wondered how that had happened, the blindness. "I did sleep well, and so did your mother. Once she got there. It took her awhile, she had things that she needed to get off of her mind." Barnabas had never objected to being Diana's sounding board unless her temper got up and then he usually wanted to turn and run the other way.
The kettle started to whistle and Barnabas pulled it off, taking a moment to get a cup. "Would you like some, Cheila? It's the lemon-citrus that your mother is so fond of." He liked it as well, but his favorite was English breakfast and Diana absolutely detested it so he didn't have it often. She'd said once it made kissing him more unpleasant than the time he'd grown a beard. These here were memories, true, but they were clearer than a lot of thoughts he'd had in the past month and Barnabas would take them gladly. Along with the odds and ends he was getting from Cheila, though one made him frown a little. Something told him that Cheila wasn't exactly pleased to have Caelia in the house. Setting his mug down so the tea could steep he looked in the cupboards for the sugar. "Your mother was very pleased to have Caelia in the house... the twins and Dashiell seemed besides themselves with joy." What he didn't say was that Cheila... hadn't.