Welcome to Gaia! ::

Levi smiled warmly. "Then I'll come see ye tenight, once the gate er' shet fer the night. Excuse me."

He nodded his head again, then whistled to the musical group. Instantly, the music stopped and the Rovers began to disappear. The dancing girl ran for the hat of coins before she, too, ran off. In less than half a minute, there wasn't a Rover in sight.

Earendil looked around, perplexed. "What was that about?" he asked Lin softly - but it was not long before they had their answer.

"You!" a harsh voice shouted at them from just up the street. "Elves! Where have the Rovers gone?"

It was a group of three soldiers, all of them with their swords drawn, and it was the one in the middle who was barking questions at them.

Amalirahc and River were just as confused, and they also pressed near to Earendil and Lin when the soldiers approached them.

Earendil nodded at Lin, then turned to face the guards. "They were here a moment ago, but they've left," he told the soldier. "Is something the matter?"

The soldier scowled at him. "Thieves have no place in the city." He turned to the rest of the men and barked out an order. "Find them and arrest them!"

Then he turned back to the group of travelers. "If you see them again, report it immediately to the counstable."

And as quickly as they'd come up, they were off again.

Earendil turned to Lin, and his expression was worried. "Did you get that?" he asked her quietly.

Earendil smiled sadly at Miyuki. "I don't understand either," he said apologetically. "But perhaps tonight when Levi visits, we can ask him and find out what's going on."

He shifted his grip on Andarien. "We should get back to the others before they decide to arrest us, too."

"Agreed!" River frowned, running off towards the city gates.

The moment they were outside the gate, River took off at a dead run back towards the camp, to her grandparents, with Amalirahc close behind.

"Welcome back," Shiro greeted them when they returned. "You all look a bit somber ... did it not go well?"

"Who are sometimes justly accused, and sometimes unjustly," Shiro murmured. "But that can't be the only thing that you did, you were gone most of the day ..."

"We stopped at a few shops, but the tailor was the only one who was particularly kind," Earendil said, sitting on the grass and setting Andarien around so he could have some wiggle time. "Or even civil, for that matter."

"I wouldn't let him make me pay double, though!" Amalirahc told his parents proudly, his golden eyes gleaming. "I paid exactly what they were worth!"

Leyenda laughed. "Good for you!"

"At any rate," Earendil added, "Levi, one of the Rovers, is going to be paying us a visit tonight, so we can find out from him why the soldiers were after him and his band."

Kaito, who was nearby, perked up his ears at that. "Levi?" he asked. "The same Levi as we met last time?"

"Cool," Kaito grinned. "This could be fun!"

"I hope so," Shiro wished sincerely. "But if the soldiers are after them, that could be bad news. For all of us."

"We're probably going to have to move out as soon as we've got Miyuki's clothes and the supplies that we need," Earendil agreed. "Which, I believe it would be best to send Luk and Emile in for that."

"You wouldn't think a week was a long time," Shiro muttered darkly. "At any rate, I don't think I'll bother heading into the city then, I'll leave that to Luk to get information for me.He can blend well enough, after all."

Though he was really starting to understand just how different Emile was from the rest of his people.

When evening came and the sun fell, the travelers were gathered around the fire and resting up a bit. Suddenly from the shadows, a bulky figure appeared, dimly visible in the firelight. It was Levi, come for a visit as promised.