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Alena smiled at Lin. "I suppose that depends on who you ask," she replied, her green eyes sparkling with amusement.

Celeb was glaring at them with his arms folded across his chest. "You guys are slow!" he complained.

Kelirahc clicked his tongue at him. "Such an impatient little boy. I was going to offer to let you ride on my shoulders again, but if that's the way you're going to be ..."

Immediately, Celeb's frown disappeared, and he ran towards Kelirahc, his arms outstretched. "No, I'll be good!" he promised. "Really I will!"

Leyenda giggled as Kelirahc hoisted the boy up to his shoulders, and Alena smiled at them. "All set?"

Alena smiled. "Off we go then. Though I suppose now we should speak in the Ancient Tongue, for Kelirahc's benefit," she added, switching languages.

A grateful expression crossed Kelirahc's face. "Thank you," he said warmly. "It's quite difficult when I can't understand anything that anyone is saying."

Celeb grinned from his perch high up in the air as Alena led them down the hall again. "Now just Senka can't understand us!" he exclaimed. "But that's okay because the only word she ever says is 'fish' anyways."

Celeb shrugged one shoulder. "Close enough."

Earendil chuckled softly. "Well, it's not as if it's a bad thing," he smiled. "After all, there are much worse things to have on one's mind all the time. And she's a cat, what can you expect?"

Alena shook her head incredulously, but she was smiling. "Sometimes I wonder how all of you can travel for so long together without getting utterly sick of each other," she murmured. "Honestly ..."

Alena laughed softly. "That is true, but it seems that Senka and Celeb especially have a liking for bothering each other," she grinned. "Did something happen between them or is this considered normal?"

She hadn't seen much of either of them on her visits to the ship, considering she had never stayed long, and Celeb had always been staying with Haldia.

Alena couldn't help but laugh at that. "And why is that, if I may ask?" she grinned. "It seems a bit strange, or perhaps it's just me. Did he do something to deserve to be treated so specially by her?"

She was certain he couldn't be the only decent male, after all. There was also Kelirahc and Roydon, both fine men, to be sure.

Alena laughed again. "I see. I haven't seen a cat since before we came to this island. They are not indigenous, and we didn't bring any with us ... actually, there are very few animals on this island, but especially none that we can befriend, and certainly none in our area. There are some deer on the gnommish half of the island, but ... that's pretty much it."

"And the rocs," Earendil added.

"And the rocs," Alena nodded. "Of course. They're so much a part of our life though ... they're not even wild anymore. Fierce, yes, but not wild."

Alena stared at Lin. "You ride on a dragon's back, and you think it strange that we have relationships with rocs?" she questioned. "That seems strange to me. Dragons were once our most feared enemy, and it was a dragon that nearly killed Aerin-sol. Certainly, the rocs are dangerous, but not if we are careful."

Kelirahc smiled. "In truth, I have never seen a true dragon," he admitted, "but our spirits are different somehow from the real thing. Haldia ... her spirit, the roc ... it is different from yours. Smaller. Safer. I can't name the other differences off the top of my head, but ... I would imagine that the differences between my dragon and a real one would be similar."

Alena nodded at Lin. "Yes, a dragon, even a baby, would attack you on sight. They are very possessive, and very territorial. And even the babies are dangerous - they have teeth and claws just as sharp as their elders. Your only saving grace is that they aren't the best at coordinating them."

Kelirahc looked thoughtful. "It's hard to imagine a world so filled with danger," he murmured. "On Nauros, we never had to worry about anything like that ... no wars, no fighting, no attacks from animals ..."

"To be fair," Earendil noted, "your island was a bit of a utopia, which doesn't exist anywhere else."