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They had a wonderful day in the city, watched a bit of the construction while munching on some candy, met some of Miyuki's friends ...

As more time passed, Aerin needed Earendil less and less, which freed him up to spend more time with Lin and Miyuki.

It was late summer by this time, and Earendil was enjoying the weather. The walls from the city were completely gone by now, and some of the houses had begun being deconstructed as well. Most of the citizens were living in tents, where they were also conducting much of their business.

The children of the city loved it. They loved sleeping outdoors, the lack of stone walls, the open air ... everything about it. Their games had changed from 'vanquish the gnomes' to 'build our own city', and every day they would try to guess what their new homes would look like. They took turns being shopkeepers, builders, royalty and counsel members, and some of them even left the playing to go and help their families.

This particular day was a rather warm one, and the children were a little less energetic than usual - all but Amalirahc, whose white hair reflected the heat away from his head and kept him clear-headed and alert.

"We should build a castle of our own!" he suggested to the group, grinning. "There's loads of stones around, and the playground is gone now, we could build it ourselves!"

"We can't make a real tower," Yacob grinned at Miyuki. "We can make rooms or something but the stones are too big for us to pile up or make real walls."

"We can make it like floorprints!" Amalirahc spoke up brightly. "Outlines for the rooms!"

"We can each have our own rooms!" Sheena added eagerly.

The rocks that were laying around were still pretty big, and they took anywhere from four to seven of the children to carry them and lift them into place. Still, they managed it, though there was a bit of discussion about what rooms there would be and where they would go.

"Hey Miyuki, help with this one?" Chiarra asked from where she and three others were trying to lift a rock.

"On three," Chiarra nodded, adjusting her grip. "One - two - three!"

And as she said it, she and the other children strained their muscles to lift the rock over to where it was supposed to go.

The other children stumbled as suddenly Miyuki's part of the stone was lifted higher than theirs, and with a shout, Yacob fell beneath the rock, others of the children tumbling after him. The rock landed on his legs, and he let out a loud yowl of pain.

"Earendil-sola!" the children yelled frantically. "Earendil-sola!"

Amalirahc wasted no time in running over to get Earendil. "Earendil!" he cried. "The rock!"

Earendil had been sitting and chatting with Lin, not really paying attention to the children, but at the commotion he jumped to his feet and ran over to them. On his way, he noted that there was something different about Miyuki - but he didn't have time for it to process: his focus was the child trapped beneath the large rock.

"I'll get the rock, Lin," Earendil told her, taking hold of it. "You take Yacob out as soon as I've got it."

He braced his legs and strained his muscles, grunting as he lifted the rock off the boy beneath it.

"Hurry," the boy whimpered. "It hurts ..."