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The bird hopped quickly into the tent, out of the pounding rain.

Luk had some rope coiled around one arm, and he tossed one of them to Lin.

"Tie it to the tent loop, and then around a tree, as tight as you can make it," he shouted at her, doing the same on the opposite side. "We've got to do it to all four corners, top and bottom."

The other tents were all being taken care of already, so he wasn't too worried about them.

Luk wasn't the only one to come and help: Emile and Aric were not far away, and they quickly came over to help as well.

"A pity Caranthir isn't here, eh?" Luk laughed at Lin over the howl of the wind. "He could just put a barrier around all of us! That would keep us dry and warm!"

With four of them working on it, it didn't take as long to brace their tent, and immediately Aric headed back to his family.

"Get back inside," Emile hollered at Lin. "The storm shouldn't last more than an hour or so. Just sit tight."

And with that, he and Luk fought their way against the wind back to their own tent.

Earendil's eyes grew wide and he pushed himself once more to his feet, running over to kneel next to Lin.

"Are you all right?" he asked her anxiously, reaching with both hands to help her dry her wings. "Let me help you ..."

His injured arm was functioning now, the pain little more than a dull throb now, but it was still very weak. He had interrupted the healing process a second time, leaving Alassëa like that.

Alassëa groped around for Earendil once more, and when she felt his shirt she grabbed him and yanked him back to the ground. She picked up her staff and whacked him over the head with it - and none too gently at that.

"Sit," she said, her tone annoyed. "No heal." She rapped him on the head with her knuckles, then dropped her staff and continued to work on healing his shoulder.

"Ow," Earendil muttered, rubbing his head with his good hand.

"It's not my fault," Earendil protested. "Something ripped and I didn't know if your wings were doing something else to you or not."

Still, his face was red with an appropriate measure of embarrassment, and he sat obediently and let Alassëa work.

"Well then how about after I'm finished here, I help you dry your wings thoroughly," Earendil suggested, a hopeful gleam in his eye. "I know you could do it yourself, but I've been ever so bored ..."

He was half-teasing her, of course. He just wanted the opportunity to be near her, do something that was somewhat intimate while they were on this trip and couldn't do much more.

Instantly, Earendil froze.

"I'll be good," he promised, his eyes fixed on Lin, the corners of his mouth upturned in an almost giddy smile.

As it turned out, it wasn't until the end of the storm nearly two hours later that his arm was healed and ready to use again. He stretched it this way and that, testing it out, and he was absolutely amazed at how good it felt. How normal it felt.

He grinned broadly. "Miyuki," he murmured, "by now your brother must be really hungry. Why don't you take him and Alassëa back to Alena? I'm sure Alassëa will need to rest, and your brother needs some food."

Andarien was getting grumpy, all right; though to be honest he was mostly suggesting this so that he and Lin would have a bit of alone time.