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In honor of this blessed event, and with the consent of Bright Eyes and Kandu, Elven Vale had a contest to name the twins. All of the younglings in the Vale submitted their choices. In addition, all of our visitors were invited to participate in the contest and send us their choices for names for the twins. The deadline for entries was June 15, 2006.

The winning names and the name of the person who submitted them will be announced about a month after the twins are born along with pictures of the Vale's new babies.

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JUNE 16, 2006

UPDATE FROM BRIGHT EYES AND KANDU

The expectant parents have been keeping everyone in the Vale apprised of how things are going. Bright Eyes says she's "lost her figure" and feels more like a blimp than a graceful unicorn. But Kandu says he thinks she looks absolutely wonderful. They are staying pretty much to themselves in their new pavilion and we are giving them the privacy they need. Bright Eyes reports she is very tired most of the time and has been sleeping a lot more than usual. The other unicorns in the Vale have assured her and us that this is quite normal for a mare who's expecting twins. They say it has something to do with the magical energies twins need to grow healthy and strong—and Bright Eyes is the source of this energy. They told her she will regain her strength and energy very quickly once the twins are born. Meanwhile, Kandu is taking very good care of her and stays close by in case he's needed. He's going to be a wonderful father.

We still don't know the exact date the twins will be born, but Bright Eyes says she thinks it will be in early July. So there's only about another three weeks or so to wait. Everyone in the Vale is so excited about this upcoming blessed event. Kandu has promised to let us know immediately after the twins arrive. We've already been told we won't be allowed to see the twins until they're about a month old and we all understand the family's need for privacy during this time.

AUGUST 21, 2006

KANDU ANNOUNCES THE BIRTH OF THE TWINS!

Kandu recently called together all the members of the Vale council to announce the twins had been born. He said their date of birth was July 9th. He apologized for taking so long to let us know. Apparently Bright Eyes had a rougher delivery than expected and Kandu decided to keep the birth a secret until now. He said he didn't want to take any chances with Bright Eyes' health. While he knows the Vale residents would never intentionally do anything to cause her or the twins harm, he said he was concerned that some of our younglings might try to sneak a look at the twins, create a disturbance and upset Bright Eyes.

Kandu was in a very good mood when he met with the council. It was apparent to all of us that he had been very worried about Bright Eyes immediately following the birth. But now that it has been over a month and Bright Eyes' health is much improved, he can finally relax a little. He gave us the details of the birth and the days immediately following. He said the twins were very healthy right from the beginning and are growing quickly. His pride in his children was so obvious—his coat was actually glowing!

He gave us permission to announce the birth to the rest of the Vale's residents and ask them to continue to give the family privacy for at least another month and maybe longer. The herd healers have been treating Bright Eyes and feel she needs extra time to fully recover her strength. We, of course, agreed to his request. Our unicorn friends are honored residents of Elven Vale and we always try to accommodate their needs.

The council members told Kandu they would make a special point of letting all the parents know how important it is that they prevent their younglings from bothering the family in any way. And, after some discussion, we offered to have the Vale's mage cast a spell to protect their pavilion with a magical barrier which would permit unicorns to pass through, but keep out everyone else as long as it's needed. Kandu was very surprised and pleased by our offer; he knows we don't use magic indiscriminately. He accepted on behalf of Bright Eyes and the twins and thanked us for the honor.

While Kandu was with us, we decided to review the list of names submitted during the contest and select names for the twins. We thought we'd be doing that closer to the time of their birth, so it's about time they had names of their own.

Here are the names that were chosen:

These names were submitted by Debbie Cort.  Thanks, Debbie, and congratulations! Kandu loves the names you came up with and he's sure Bright Eyes will feel the same. He said they've just been referring to the foals as "him" and "her" so far and it will be so nice to finally have names for them.

Welcome to Addiena and Eadian -- the newest residents of Elven Vale!

Thanks to all those who submitted suggestions for names for our new arrivals. For those whose names were not selected, we will be using the names they submitted as new residents of the Vale are added to the gallery.

We are waiting patiently for our first look at pictures of Addiena and Eadian. Our resident artist has been experiencing major computer problems, which have prevented her from transmitting the pictures. We don't know when she'll be able to resolve these problems as she's on a very limited budget and we all know how expensive computer repairs can be. Carol is also plagued with arthritis in her hands, which makes it very hard for her to draw.