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The land surrounding the city of Caras Galadhon was mostly forest. The early stirring sun was still fairly low in the sky, but its rays reflected off the frost that still lingered in the lower leaves of the trees. There was a slight breeze, and the air was cool - not only because of the time of year, since winter was over and spring was still weeks away, but also because they were still very near the coast, where the temperature was always slightly more moderate than further inland. But it was the perfect kind of day for traveling: not too hot, not too cold, no humidity, but not too dry; the kind of day when a body could travel for hours and feel as refreshed as when they'd begun.

As long as their body was in shape, at least.

And the group of travelers were not the only bodies stirring in the forest. The Aldrich family - Earendil, Lin, Miyuki and Andarien - were making their way along a worn path, trailed by Shiro and Kaito, Daeron and Iorlas, and Wren and Lancaeriel, while their guide, Kyrie, the heavily scarred, half-elven-half-human woman with the dragon tattoo curling around her torso, leading the way, weighed down by her weapons - not that one could tell by looking at her, since she moved with the greatest of ease.

They had set out from the city of Caras Galadhon only a few short hours ago, but already all signs of the city were left far behind. There had not been much wildlife around the city at all, but now there was quite a bit: rabbits darting behind trees; chipmunks and squirrels emerging from their nests and scattering nuts and shells around the forest floor; birds flitting through the canopy; and now and again there was a glimpse of a fox or deer vanishing into the undergrowth.

"It's good to be back in the forest," Earendil murmured with a warm smile. "I didn't think about it when we were in the city, but now ... it feels really good to be back in nature."

"I'm just glad to be on the move again," Daeron chuckled. "It was odd, being in one place for that long again."

Daeron chuckled at Lin. "Not really, no," he agreed. "Even when I lived at the ranch, I was never on the ranch for more than a week at a time. Always going off here or there ... hunting, trips, going after slavers ... a year in one place is quite a stint for me."

"We made a few small trips," Iorlas pointed out, nudging his arm with her elbow. "Never far, but we did."

"Yes, but we were always back quickly to keep an eye on Aranxia," Daeron grinned.


Andarien listened carefully to Miyuki's ideas, and though he was not ashamed to admit that he didn't understand everything she said, he did try his best and he felt sure that he had at least a basic grasp of what she was trying to say.

"Oh," he remembered suddenly, blinking. "I almost forgot ... Corazin gave me a present last night ... well, us, I guess, since they're for both of us."

He opened his specially runed bag and almost immediately found exactly what he was looking for: a fist-sized ball made of various metals, silver-coloured on the bottom and gold-coloured on the top, with a tiny hinge on one side and a button on the other. It also had two small smooth plates on it: one on the button, the other on the top.

It was, simply put, a homemade Pokeball. Without, of course, a regular Pokeball's abilities, but a rune from Miyuki would fix that.

Andarien grinned. "Well, he said he didn't know how much Pokemon bred, so ... he made, like, two dozen of them. And hey, that means room for experimentation, because seriously, two dozen babies? That's a lot."

He was happy to see Miyuki's reaction.


"It is," Daeron grinned, "and it's great. Going off into the unknown ... and finally - finally! - good travel companions!"

Iorlas burst out laughing at that particular comment - clearly, Daeron had told her all about his past experiences as well.

"It looks like we won't have trouble finding food while we're traveling," Iorlas spoke up as a deer ran through the trees ahead of them and vanished as quickly as it had shown up. "Though I also have to wonder how many edible plants are around us, too."

"Quite a few, from what I can see," Lancaeriel murmured. She seemed strangely occupied, lost in thought despite the fact that she had also contributed to the conversation.


Andarien chuckled. "I'm sure there won't be. Corazin probably thought it was better safe than sorry - after all too many is better than too few. Anyways, it's definitely enough for a good long time."

He tucked the Pokeball back away into his bag. "I am curious, though," he added slowly. "How are you going to make is so that the Pokemon actually fit into the balls? With the real Pokeballs, they ... well ... flash into the balls, for lack of a better descriptor. Not like putting things into a bag or a tent, whatever."

Since of course the Eevees, even at their smallest, wouldn't physically fit into the mouths of the Pokeballs.

Lancaeriel smiled at Lin, her cool grey eyes revealing nothing, as was usual for her.

"I suppose ... in a way ... I was agreeing with Prince Daeron," she murmured. "Even though his comment was made a while ago. It is lovely to travel again, and with such good company. And ... I was also distracted by the animals, there are more here than in the Four Lands."

"And that's distracting?" Iorlas questioned, slightly confused.

Lancaeriel just smiled enigmatically. "It can be."


Andarien watched Miyuki in silence for a moment, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking and she didn't explain right away, so he decided to press a bit further.

"What kind of idea?" he asked.

He knew nothing about magic, other than that he didn't like what it did to his eyes, and again because of his Sight, he couldn't experiment with or use magic like Miyuki did, so he relied entirely on her sharing her information in order to understand anything that was going on.

"A few," Lancaeriel admitted, "but for the most part, there are simply more of them. And yet ... and yet, I can't help but feel that this area's wildlife is different, perhaps, than other areas in this country."

"Kyrie would know, I'm sure," Iorlas pointed out, nodding at their guide, who was walking ahead of them all. The half-blooded woman had more or less been keeping to herself thus far, and to be fair no one had tried to include her in their conversations, either.


Andarien nodded thoughtfully as he considered what his sister had said.

"And ... do you think there's a way to make it so that these Pokeballs will only hold one specific Pokemon?" he asked hesitantly. "So that we don't accidentally end up with each others'?"

After all, the Eevees were just about impossible to tell apart at the moment, and once he and Miyuki began training them it would be important to keep them separate.

Kyrie had been paying close attention to their surroundings, so it was no surprise to her when Lin suddenly appeared at her side; and when she spoke, she kept her eyes on the forest around them.

"It's quite lively," she replied quietly. "We are after all no longer near the city. Most of it is quite harmless - deer, squirrels, foxes, raccoons, birds, rabbits ... the odd groundhog, maybe some rats, mice ... but there are also some animals that you need to be on the lookout for. Snakes. Bears. Wolves. They aren't common, for the most part, though at this time of year, when winter is ending, the bears are awakening from their hibernation and are desperate for food, so if we do run into one it will probably be quite dangerous."

She glanced at Lin briefly, then gestured towards the three longest scars that crossed her abdomen, which were raised above a myriad of others scars.

"These are from a bear attack when I was young," she explained to Lin. "It was far from the only time I was close to death, but it was the closest I ever came to dying."

The corner of Kyrie's mouth twitched, then stretched into a half smile.

"Yes ... yes, I have," she murmured softly. "Odd as it may sound, that bear - despite being the only thing that's come close to killing me - was a far cry from being the worst thing I've been through. Really, I have only one regret from that particular incident. Almost dying has its advantages, after all."

A sparkle appeared in her eyes, and her smile grew to be a full one.

"That was how I met Lara's family, who adopted me. Her mother was a physician."