Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil smiled at Miyuki. "Of course you can," he told her warmly. "All of them, if you like. The Rovers are treated a lot like we are here. We should show the people here that everyone deserves to be treated well, no matter who they are. Right?"

River's eyes lit up. "Thank you!" she beamed, taking the coins from Miyuki. She'd never used coins before, and she was excited to be giving some to the performers. She ran over to the hat and put both of the coins in, one at a time.

"Join us!" called the girl who was dancing with Amalirahc.

The guitern player's eyes opened wide when he saw the coins being thrown into the hat, and his smile grew even wider. As he continued to play, he looked at the rest of the group closely.

The guitern player kept playing while he looked thoughtfully at their audience, and suddenly he called over his shoulder to one of the women who was nearby, sewing on something. She looked at him, tilted her head, then looked at Lin and Earendil and nodded before setting down her work and running off.

Earendil watched the action curiously, though he wasn't really worried. He trusted the Rovers. Cautiously, of course, but he did trust them.

Earendil shrugged one shoulder. "I have no idea," he murmured back. "Something about us, though, I should imagine. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

Sure enough, only a few minutes later, the woman was back with another man, who was clearly also a Rover. He was dressed in bright colours, except for his black pants. He was also middle aged, and his hair, formerly black, was streaked with gray. He looked at Lin and Earendil thoughtfully as he approached them, his steps cautious.

"Excuse mae," he said in the Common Tongue, speaking mostly to Lin, "but tell mae ... is yer naem Lin?"

The man's eyes filled with wonder, and his brow furrowed deeply as he gazed at her. "Bey all thet lives en' breathes ... ye've not changed a bit ..."

Earendil looked intently at the man. He was no judge of age, having never really been around mortals before, but he guessed that it was possible that twenty years previous, this man would have been in the prime of his life, perhaps even a youth ...

"Are you the same man we met in the Southland, nearly twenty years ago?" he asked suspiciously. "The Rover named Levi?"

The man's eyes grew bright. "It is ye!" he exclaimed. "Bey all thet lives en' breathes, I ne'er thought I'd see ye ag'en, nae e'er!"

Levi chuckled softly. "En' ye, en' ye," he agreed warmly. "I have te admit, Lin, I dinna recognize ye a' firs' ... I allus thought ye were 'uman! But I c'n see thet's not the case!"

He laughed.

"Ye've not aged a day sin' the time I last saw ye! Nor yer friend."

He looked at Earendil thoughtfully. "I'm sorry, but I have te say, I canna remember yer name ..."

Earendil bowed slightly, using both hands to hold Andarien so that he wouldn't drop him.

"Earendil," Levi repeated, nodding his head. "I see ... well, thet explains why ye were so quiet thet night, eh?"

He smiled faintly and bowed his own head. "I am sorry. If I'd known I'd not've ... well."

He glanced up the street, then looked back at Earendil and Lin. "Where be ye staying while ye're here?" he asked them, speaking a bit more quickly now. "P'reps ye'd like te share our fire once before ye leave?"