Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once they arrived at the beach, Earendil set the enormous basket down and looked out at the ocean. The ship was in sight, about half a mile out: easy swimming distance for Kelirahc or Leyenda, but not for anyone who wasn't a strong swimmer. Definitely not for Earendil.

"So it looks like we have some time to wait," he murmured, turning to Lin and smiling. "Shall we sit down?"

He knelt and opened the basket to see what was inside, and he was pleased to find an extremely large blanket. He pulled it out and spread it on the sand so that they could sit without getting sand in their clothes.

Earendil chuckled and sat down next to Lin, leaning back a bit and putting one arm around her shoulders. "Eh, we can check when the others get here. Let's just relax and enjoy the warm sunshine."

He brushed some stray strands of hair away from her face. "And then we can be just as surprised as Miyuki when we look inside."

Earendil chuckled softly and lay back, putting one arm behind his head as a pillow. "Indeed she would," he smiled. "She does like surprises - as long as it's not too surprising."

Such as when she and Lin had first returned to their world and Earendil had seemingly vanished.

Earendil yelped in surprise as he was suddenly beset upon by the little girl, but then he laughed and sat up again, ruffling her hair. "Miyuki!" he laughed. "You startled me!"

And that was hard to do.

He looked around and saw Amalirahc and his parents also walking towards them.

"Sorry about that," Leyenda grinned at Earendil and Lin. "We flew down here, but Miyuki wanted to surprise you so we landed and walked the rest of the way."

Earendil chuckled. "Yes, you were quiet," he smiled. He sat up and moved to the edge of the blanket to make more room for the others. "Come on," he grinned. "Time to eat."

"What is there?" Amalirahc asked excitedly, hopping onto the blanket and sitting down.

"We're not sure," Earendil replied, grinning at Lin. "We never asked, and we thought it would be nice to be surprised, just like you. So we'll find out when you do."

"Sounds good to me," Leyenda grinned. "I have to say, I've yet to try something I don't like. In some ways it's like being home again, with Mama's cooking. Lots of fish dishes."

She sat next to Kelirahc and leaned against him, and he smiled and stroked her arm softly. "So let us see what they have prepared for us," he said warmly.

Earendil chuckled and opened the basket and began pulling out food after food after food, fish prepared in various different ways, sandwiches, vegetables (cooked and raw), snacks and desserts and all good things. There were even a few flasks with different drinks: wine, drust, cider, and so on.

Earendil chuckled and spread everything out so that everyone could take what they wanted, and once it was ready, everyone began to eat.

"So how was your morning?" Earendil grinned at Miyuki as they ate. "What did you do?"

"Miyuki cheated," Amalirahc added as if it were nothing special, taking a bite of his sandwich. "But it was a lot of fun. Those kids can run pretty fast!" he added proudly.

Of course, none of them could keep up with him: he was near their age, but a bit taller, and of course had spent his life running, instead of climbing like them. They could outclimb him, sure, but he could outrun even the best of them - though even he couldn't keep up with Miyuki in her fox form.