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"Perhaps so, but I just wonder if there's something they can do that includes their ability," Kaito shrugged. "I just can't see them being happy otherwise. Not truly."

Rhea had been half listening to the conversation as they walked, but now she leaned over to join them.

"Who's that you're talking about?" she asked, having missed the first part.

Rhea pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well, Haradhel is an element user," she pointed out. "Besides summoning, she is also able to manipulate what is already present. And so can I, really. And even when you summon, you're affecting what is already there. In a way, you can almost say, they would do less damage because they're not adding more variables into the mixture."

She looked forward thoughtfully as they approached the first wall, where she and Lin had first landed when they had come in hopes of rescuing Earendil and Haldia.

"Maybe they could spend some time with Haradhel," she murmured, "I don't know how much time she could devote to them, but she could teach them more about their gift in relation to what's around them."

Rhea grinned. "Well, I don't know this Irvine fellow," she winked, "but don't forget, Haradhel can use all four elements - and by default, therefore, I also can."

She pursed her lips. "Have you seen Haradhel use her magic before?" she asked. "Purely out of curiosity."

Rhea blushed hotly. "That was a long time ago," she murmured. "It's been a while since I've done anything like that ... but for the first year or so, things like that happened quite often. I think what she did was, she returned the ground to the state it was supposed to be in, and then Neko had to come and repair the floor ..."

She paused as they arrived at the gate, which was opened for them immediately. They passed through, and the gate was shut tightly behind them. Ahead, the path continued down the hill towards the city, which was visible about half a mile ahead.

"On the bright side," she added, "I don't think they can do that sort of damage."

Rhea was surprised. "Celebor uses fire magic?" she asked, so surprised that she accidentally switched languages. "That's something I've never seen him do ... has he always been able to?"

He had been living in the Borderlands for a very long time now, and not a word had been said about it, nor had she seen it ... though to be fair, she didn't get along well with Ruran (he didn't like people who could do more than he could), and so she didn't tend to spend much time with the family.

Rhea giggled. "That sounds ominous. Is your grandfather a poor teacher, then? Or does he just have the bad luck of having terrible and incompetent students?"

Because she did know Celebor fairly well - well, somewhat at least - and while he was quite smart, he wasn't exactly genius.

Rhea smiled. "Well, I can understand that," she nodded. "After all, most people in our world can't learn magic at all, they must be born with it. I'm the exception, but that is also because of my gift."

After a moment, she added, "And if you try to teach someone some magic and they do seem to get it a bit, there's a good chance that there's something else at work."

At that, Rhea hesitated. She knew she had been caught there: the druids had in fact been able to learn more magicks than they had been born with. But outside of them, she knew of no cases ...

"I don't know anything about them," she admitted. "Perhaps ... if you asked someone who knew more, perhaps Sir Valdemar?"

Earendil had been listening in as well, and now he turned to Rhea and Lin and shook his head. "The one with the best firsthand knowledge of the druids is Aranel," he told them. "He met with the last of them."

Rhea stared at her cousin. "Aranel?" she repeated. "Tinuviel's husband?"

"The very same," Earendil nodded. "Apparently it's quite the story."