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Earendil chuckled with Lin and once she was settled on her horse he turned around and mounted his own. "You may think you know what to expect," he grinned, "but you haven't traveled across the desert yet. You might be in for a bit of a shock."

"Earendil," Tinuviel frowned from where she sat atop her own horse, Regan sitting with her on her modified saddle, "don't tease her so. You'll make her want to change her mind."

After two days of uneventful travel, the group arrived at the plantation. It was growing dark when they arrived, and there was no one in sight. However, there was light coming from the main house, and the sound of laughter could be heard coming from it as well.

Earendil glanced at the others and smiled. "Shall we head for the house?" he suggested.

Aranel chuckled at Senka's comment. "It's a desert," he grinned at her, holding a sleeping Regan to his chest. "I'm afraid there's no escape from the sand."

"Not out here, at least," Shiro grinned. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can all have baths once we're inside." He and Kaito were still unburnt, mostly due to the fact that they had used their wings to shade themselves. Shiro's wings were protected from burning by the fact that they were black, and Kaito's wings were feathered - the best insulation of all.

Earendil seemed the last affected by the heat - but then, he had spent almost all of his life so far training in the hottest parts of the day without giving himself time to rest or anything.

When they arrived at the house, Earendil handed his reins to Shiro and dismounted from his horse, heading up to the house and knocking at the door. After only a moment, the door was opened by a man slightly shorter than Earendil, with short curly black hair.

"Earendil," he grinned, "it's so wonderful to see you again!" He stepped outside and looked to see who all was there. "Lin, Ura, Shiro, Kaito, Tinuviel, Aranel ... and who's this little one?" He chuckled softly and stepped towards Aranel.

Aranel grinned down at the man. "Galdor," he said proudly, "meet Regan." He turned the little girl around to look at her cousin.

Regan was half asleep, and instead of greeting Galdor as she normally would, she just stuck her fist in her mouth and turned back towards her father to lay against his chest again.

Galdor laughed. "It's so good to see all of you! Come inside, come inside, I'll get someone to look after the horses for you. I'm sure you must all be tired and hungry after your trip, we've just finished our dinner but there's lots of food left! Come on in!"

Galdor chuckled at Lin, putting his hands on her shoulders to help keep her steady. "Easy there," he murmured in English. "Careful. I guess you're not used to so much riding, are you?"

"Perhaps you would like the first bath, Lin," Tinuviel suggested, taking Regan from Aranel so that he could also dismount. "The rest of us can wait, if you like."

Tinuviel smiled warmly at Lin. "It is very different," she agreed softly, holding Regan's head to her shoulder as Galdor led them inside. "Just be careful in the tub, that you don't move around too much ... saddle blisters hurt, but they're so much worse if they burst."

Galdor held the door open for them. "Just go on to the left, dining room is in there, there's still food on the table," he smiled at them. "I'll find Nako and get her to prepare a bath for you, Lin." And once everyone was in, he headed up the stairs on the far side of the room.

"I'm fine," Kaito grinned easily, ruffling his wings a bit. "Kaa-san let me and Shiro visit the Borderlands for lessons, so we're used to riding now. Though I'm sure Touto-san's wings are a bit scorched."

"Hot to touch, but they don't hurt," Shiro agreed. "But they don't quite cover my neck the way your wings do, so I think the back of my neck's a bit crisped."

And then there was Ura. Every bit of skin that was showing was beet red, and he seemed to be having a bit of trouble walking straight.

Earendil looked at Ura sympathetically. "You should see the healer before we go any further," he said softly. "I'm sure they'll have a salve or something that you can take with you."