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"Weird?" Earendil repeated. "Mysterious, perhaps, but I would not say weird."

Aurin smiled warmly and wandered around a bit. "This is where I took Rhea after we were finished mapping the island on your first visit. It was quite difficult to get her to leave and return to the castle."

"Thank you for bringing us," Earendil said sincerely, turning towards Aurin and smiling warmly at him. "I could never have imagined such a thing as this ... even the beauty of the littinum mines in the East and Southland could not come anywhere near this."

Aurin chuckled. "You are quite welcome, my lord. I only hope that in the future, we can see what our people may do with it."

Soon, though, he said it was time for them to turn back, and return to the picnic basket that had been left at the mouth of the cave. That was fine with Earendil - the rotten smell was a bit stronger in here, and was really beginning to get unpleasant.

Earendil chuckled and let go of Miyuki's hand so that she could run around. He understood exactly what she meant: it felt great to be out in the fresh air where it didn't smell as if the very cave around them were rotting away.

"It's kind of surprising that the cave would be in such good condition after having been inhabited by dragons for so long," he commented to Aurin as he spread the blanket that would hold their lunch in a few minutes. "I mean ... I half expected skeletons and ... stuff."

Aurin smiled as he helped Earendil smooth the blanket out. "Well, there have been no dragons for four hundred years," he reminded the prince. "It has been cleaned out since then."

"We did," Aurin replied. "In the past two years since Queen Aerin returned, she sent out some of her soldiers to clean it out. It would keep other animals from moving in, and if any other bones started appearing it would be a warning that something else has shown up and that we would need to be careful."

Earendil began to spread the food out on the blanket. "An early warning system," he mused. "Interesting way of looking at it."

Aurin chuckled. "Yes, well, it also makes it less frightening for people to visit."

And apparently it was also time for Skyel's lunch: Aurin patted the enormous bird on the beak and spoke to it quietly, and then she leapt into the air and took to the skies to hunt.

"So, what did you think of the cave, Miyuki?" Earendil asked Miyuki as he uncovered the food for everyone.

Aurin smiled. "While that is true, it is my suspicion that the sulphur has something to do with the growth of the crystal ... so without it, there would be no beauty."

"Interesting way of looking at it," Earendil agreed. "Though part of me wonders where the sulphur came from ... was it always there? Was it from the original creation? Or was it a result of Melkor's handiwork?"

Earendil nodded. "If she is not busy, I'm sure we can ask her," he agreed. "And Kaito, I'm fairly certain he would know something about all of this - whether from Shiro, or from reading."

He knew Kaito could be a tease to Miyuki some of the time, but he was a good person, and quite knowledgeable, really.