Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I finally finished the picture of Aliya that I began before your family first came here," Halmir said sheepishly. "It took a very long time ... and I finished the picture of Feng and Ryu and Aliya together. It only took a few decades."

Arthael chuckled. "Yes, well, you didn't really get to even work on any of it until after the Northland operation had been shut down completely. So that cut out several decades."

"And about the Four Lands, yes, and others," Luk agreed. He had helped to clear the table, and now that that was done he headed with Lin, Earendil and Miyuki back to the living room where they could relax.

"Well ... it's a bit of a long story," he began, taking a seat in the chair, leaving the couch for the others.

Earendil sat down at one end of the couch, leaving space for the other two. "Go on," he encouraged Luk with a smile.

Luk smiled back. "Well, even back when I was a child, our people were well versed in the ways of the sea. Our ships were predominantly used for fishing, or, on the rare occasion, for going around the continent, to an area that was difficult to get to by land. Still, no one ventured out of sight of the shore, because we had no idea what was out there, and even the elves of our land could not see beyond the horizon. But then one day, a half-blood invented the distance viewer."

At Earendil's blank look, he explained: "An object with glass lenses that allow humans to see nearly as far as elves. And when elves look through it ... well, let's just say they can see more than I would have thought possible."

He looked at Lin. "I showed Kaito a drawing of it, I believe he called it a ... telescope?"

Luk nodded. "That is how we first discovered them, anyways," he added. "Of course, finding out more about them took a lot longer, and a lot more work.

"Amon Darthir, being the closest island to our home, was the first one that we discovered," he went on. "By this point, the elves of our land were no longer being born with magic, but the older ones, the elves born before the mixing of the races, they still had their magic, and so they went on ships towards Amon Darthir, to find out what they could. They spent a year there, hidden by their magic, and since they were using only their own supplies, not taking anything at all from the island, they were able to remain undetected. Once Nauros was found, they did the same thing - though it was much easier, as even though the land was larger than Amon Darthir, the people were nocturnal and they didn't have to be quite as careful when they were looking around."

"But someone said that your people know about other lands as well," Earendil pressed.

Luk smiled. "Indeed. Our world is quite large, Prince Earendil, and to presume that even my people know about all of the lands is naive. We know of a handful of lands, but to discover them all would take time that my people are not willing to give up. Our goal is to remain alone and in peace, and going off to all the corners of the world doesn't quite fit our goal."

"Now what would be the fun in telling you all of that?" Luk winked. "Doesn't it take all the adventure out of it if you already know what to expect?"

Earendil chuckled. "Perhaps. Still, it's nice to at least have a hint of what we might expect."

Luk smiled. "Is there a request in there?"

"I'll tell you about one that you'll never be able to visit," Luk decided. "Perhaps not very nice of me, but so you have it. Leyenda might be able to visit it. Anyways, it's underwater ... a 'land' of elves who all have Leyenda's ability to breathe underwater. They are the Water Elves. There are Water Elves in Caras Galadhon, to be sure, but most of them have lost their magic along with the others ... so they can't join them."

"How does that work?" Earendil asked, confused. "I thought that even when the elves of your land did have magic, it manifested like the elves here, when the children reach a certain age ..."

Luk nodded. "When they gave birth, they would come up onto land, where they would remain until their children gained the ability to breathe underwater. Then they would return. So it is a society without children. Those who kept returning to the water and did not intermarry with the humans retained their magic, while those who did intermarry lost it. Their society has not grown in centuries."

"Well, there comes a point where people just don't want to have more children," Luk pointed out. "And if they're all already married ..."

"There really is no other way for them to expand without bringing in new blood somehow," Earendil murmured. "That's actually ... quite sad."

"Sometimes," Luk replied. "Sometimes, if they have family on land, they'll visit. Some of them have children, or grandchildren or whatever generation it might be, who don't have the ability to breathe underwater. It's rare to see them, though ... they generally like to keep to themselves."

"Like your people," Earendil suggested.

"Like my people," Luk agreed. "Honestly, the only reason we contacted you in the first place was because we were afraid that the Sky Elves were planning something against us ... you made more traffic there than they've had since they arrived on that island in the first place."