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Earendil looked up at Lin's comment, wondering what Andarien was doing; but then his gaze went past her at something a small distance behind her. He didn't know how or when it had happened, but it appeared that they were being watched ... a black figure resting on a tree branch, nearly indistinguishable from the tree it was in. "What ..."

Whoever it was, they were making no effort to hide themselves ...

At the same moment, Andarien made another face, grunting almost as if he were working on filling his diaper; but then he started to cry, something that he didn't usually do when he was filling his diaper.

"Someone's watching us," Earendil murmured, misinterpreting Lin's question. "From a tree branch ..."

Andarien's cries just got louder when Lin picked him up, and the figure in the tree dropped to the ground, grabbed something from the tree base, and started slowly towards the group, and from the figure's movements it was clear they were trying to keep their approach silent, even though they made to move to hide themselves.

Earendil's heart leapt into his throat as he looked from Andarien to the shadowy figure and back. "Why does everything always happen at once?" he muttered to himself, drawing his sword just in case.

Andarien kept on crying, his cries crescendo-ing into a wail. He drew in his arms and legs, curling up in a ball as if he were in pain.

"Aric," Earendil called, hoping to have some of the others take over watching the approaching figure so that he could help Lin with Andarien. "Aethos, Luk, Kelirahc, Elros ... Celeb ..."

The other men drew their weapons and made a circle around the camp, and Celeb came to take Earendil's position. "You take care of your son," he told Earendil firmly.

Earendil nodded and went to join Lin and Miyuki to see what might be wrong with Andarien.

For the first time, the music that came from the egg did nothing to calm Andarien. If anything, his wailing only got even louder as if he were trying to drown out the music. Then, suddenly, the boy's body seemed to expand, and in the blink of an eye, he was no longer an infant of a few weeks old, but instead a toddler nearing the size of a one-year-old.

Caleb watched the approaching figure, and it seemed to him that the figure hesitated when Andarien's cries grew louder again - or maybe it was the music that startled them. But rather than making the figure stop or even slow down, it seemed to give the figure confidence to move forward more quickly.

Sword in hand, he slipped out into the trees to circle around behind the figure and find out who it was and why they were watching the group so suspiciously.

Earendil sighed a breath of relief and put his arms around Lin and Andarien both, despite how loudly their son was still crying. He kissed Lin on the forehead and murmured, "Now to see about our visitor ..."

He grabbed his sword once more and hopped over the side of the wagon to join Celeb in finding out who the person was and what they were doing. By this time, the person had stopped just behind a tree and with one hand was leaning against it, holding a long staff in the other hand. Other than that he couldn't tell anything about the person: head to toe they were covered in a black cloak.

But what really puzzled him was the fact that the person seemed to be staring directly at him, and wasn't making any more moves ...

Celeb was just as close as Earendil now to the figure, though behind instead of in front, and once Earendil was certain Celeb would be able to stop the person if they chose to flee, he called out, "Hello there ..."

The figure jumped visibly at the call and let out a sharp whistle. From the sky, a brown blur shot down and suddenly Earendil found himself on his knees, his left shoulder bloody and his left arm useless. Celeb let out a shout and tried to jump the person from behind, but even as he moved the staff came up to block him, jabbing him in the belly and knocking the wind out of him. The movement made the figure's hood tumble back, revealing a woman's face and a tangle of unruly and extremely knotted blond hair.

The strange thing was, with Earendil on one side and Celeb on the other, the woman didn't seem to know which way to turn to escape, though there were two other directions open to her.

The woman hesitated for so long that Celeb gained his breath back, and he struggled to his feet, his weapon forgotten on the ground.

"Mistress," he gasped, his breathing still difficult, "we- mean you - no - harm! Wh- why - are - you - do- doing - this?"

His tone, despite his gasps, was calmer now, and there was no anger, and the woman looked at him intently, remaining silent. Then she lifted her face to the sky and made a bird call, and a falcon came through the trees and lit lightly on her shoulder. It tilted its head this way and that, nipped at her hair once, tilted its head a few more times, and made some noises in her ear.

Earendil watched, but what curiosity he might have felt was dulled by the pain that was spreading from his shoulder. He picked up his dropped sword and sheathed it, then used his right hand to hold his left arm as he pushed himself to his feet again. He grunted as the movement jolted pain through his injured shoulder, but grit his teeth against it.

"See if you can't get her to come to the camp with us," he told Celeb through clenched teeth, turning to return to the others.

As Earendil continued towards the wagon, Alena passed Shiloh to Leilani and hurried over to Lin and Miyuki.

"Let me take care of him," she requested softly. "I have been tending wounds for millenia ... I will be able to help him."

Thus far on their journey she had been unable to do anything of great use (besides be a mother and feed Andarien along with her own child), but now she had the opportunity to do something that she knew very well.

Moving very slowly and carefully, Celeb put one hand to the woman's back, speaking to her in soft, calming tones, and gently urged her towards the camp.