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"I'll do that then," Haldia decided, "the next time she comes to the ship."

Unless of course they saw her in the city or something before then. But the following day, they would have to start with their work of mapping the island. It was the best time for them to do so: the gnomes would be in hiding from the cold, and it would be the safest for them.

Haldia thought about that for a moment as the roc landed on the ship's deck and they began to slide off her back. Once the roc had been unsummoned, she turned back to Lin.

"Then the next time that I see her," she said. "Wherever and whenever that may be."

For the rest of the day, Earendil prepared his things for mapping the island. Alena and Aurin came to the ship later in the afternoon, to ask when they would begin mapping, and Earendil sent Alena to Haldia's quarters so that Haldia could tell her the idea she'd had about the expansion of the city.

When the two left, Aurin promised to be back early the following morning, and Alena left with them a flask of malek - just in case, even though Earendil was hoping to fly with Haldia instead of Aurin.

Surprisingly, Earendil was the only one not already on deck, who was going to be going on the mapping expedition. Rhea was there, warmly wrapped, chatting amiably with Aurin, who had already arrived; Haldia, standing to one side and glaring at the roc as if she was comparing Skyel with Rhiel and not finding much to approve of; Celeb, who refused to let Haldia go anywhere without him again; and Kelirahc and Leyenda, who just wanted the experience of riding Skyel at least once.

"Good morning, Lin!" Leyenda waved to Lin as she came up on deck. "Ready to go?"

Leyenda shrugged. "He hasn't been up on deck yet, so I don't know," she explained. "Celeb might know, he's the one sharing his bunk ..."

Celeb looked up at Leyenda. "He's still in our room," he told her. "He said he would be up but that was a long time ago already, so I don't know what's taking him so long ..."

Leyenda nodded. "May as well. Even if you only find out how long he's going to be. Not that I think the others are in a hurry to leave, but it is a bit strange."

"Tell him to hurry up!" Celeb said impatiently. "We're waiting for him so we can go!"

Earendil had emptied his runed bag and had all of his things spread over his bed. He was startled by the knock on the door, but without glancing up he called out, "Come in."

He knew he was late, and that he should have been up on deck a while ago, but he couldn't help it.