Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once they were out in the hallway, Earendil held his hand out to Lin as well, asking her silently if she wanted to take his hand while they walked.

"They're probably back in my study by now," he commented, walking a bit slowly so that Miyuki could keep up.

Earendil nodded, smiling warmly as Lin took his hand.

"Since they don't have studies of their own anymore, it's really the best place for us to meet," he explained. "I mean ... there is the conference hall, but that's a bit big for three people. It's meant for the entire council, twenty or more people at a time. And it would be too much of a hassle to always bring my things downstairs and then back up again."

"Not really," Earendil smiled. "We just leave the door open, and it's not like there's glass in the windows. We get a nice breeze, and it's almost always a comfortable temperature. And after lunch, when it's the hottest, we simply take a break."

"Nothing that we can do anything about right now," Earendil replied. "What little is left that we can do, we can do on the ship on the way over. The rest can't be figured out until we get there and see the city and find out the population. When we began to discuss it, I realized that I have absolutely no idea how many people might be there. Even judging by the size of the city, that's only women and children: who knows how many men there were?"

He smiled. "So there is nothing to hold us back from leaving as soon as we're prepared. We have to meet Arwen and Roydon in Namonuito first anyways. Celeb will be coming with us, of course, and from what I hear he's grown into a serious lad."

"Uhhh ..."

Earendil had to think about that one. "I think ... twelve? Thirteen? Something like that. Growing up quickly though."

Didn't all of them, though?

Earendil chuckled. "Yes ... what, four years old, and he said hello, greeted us, spoke with us, walked inside, and closed the door in our faces?"

He grinned. The boy had changed quite a bit since then. He had really opened up and started thinking of others ...

Earendil nodded. "And I'm not entirely sure, but I think Haldia may be to thank for that," he said thoughtfully. "I don't know ... maybe it was just coincidence, but it seems like it was when he spent so much time with her that he changed."

He didn't know why that would be, unless perhaps it was just because she had spent time with him when most of the others were busy, and Leyenda, with whom Celeb had always spent his time before, had been busy with her new husband.