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"The only way I feel it is when I think of Leyenda and her family," Shiro replied, writing furiously. "Other than that, I have been far too busy to think about the passage of time, let alone feel how much has passed."

"And Celeb," Earendil added. "How much he's grown. He was just a tiny kid when we first started out, now he's taller than Lin!"

But it was nice, because he had also grown mentally during their time here.

Earendil chuckled. "Well, at the rate Celeb is going, he's going to be close to Kelirahc's height, I'm sure," he grinned. "Which will be interesting, considering the difference in the generations."

"Finished!" Shiro cried gleefully, setting his pen back into its inkwell. He picked up his scrap sheet of paper and carefully blotted his page, then closed the book and grinned. "Finally! I've copied every single scroll in the entire castle!"

Shiro blinked at Lin, silent for a moment. Then he grimaced. "I would love to be able to say that I feel good," he replied in typical Shiro fashion, "but the truth is ... my hand is killing me."

He cradled his writing hand against his body, massaging it lightly with his other hand.

"Two years," he moaned. "Two years of solid writing, all day every day ..."

"Yeah, just a little," Shiro chuckled. "Don't worry about me though, I'll stretch it out eventually."

Earendil grinned. "Should we return to the ship and give them the good news?" he asked.

"Yes," Shiro agreed. "Tell them I'm going to be here tonight yet, and then tomorrow I'll be back at the ship. Tell Alena first though, I'll need to talk to her."

Earendil nodded. "Sounds good. See you tomorrow then." He turned to Lin. "Come on, I'm sure Roydon and Arwen will have a lot of work to do, packing and preparing for the trip home again."

Earendil waved at Shiro as well, then followed Lin to the tower stairs.

"We should look for Alena in her study," he suggested as they started downward. "I don't know where else she would be at this time of day."

He looked up for a moment. "What time is it, anyways?" he asked. "It's been a while since breakfast, but do you think it's lunch time yet?"

Earendil shrugged. "So we can look in her study, and if she's not there, then the dining hall," he suggested. "And if she's not there either, we'll just have to ask."

He stretched his arms above his head, getting rid of the stiffness in them. Even just helping Shiro was a bit difficult, it was far too repetitive for him.

"To be fair," Earendil pointed out as they reached the first door and headed down the hall, "Shiro had more pressure on him to get this done in a reasonable amount of time. He had a lot of people waiting on him so that they could get home ... and especially with Amalirahc's birth, I'm sure Leyenda and Kelirahc are especially anxious to go home."

He looked down at Lin. "Which reminds me, we still have to speak with Haldia," he remembered.

Earendil nodded. "And not only for us," he added, "but for Celeb, of course, and most especially for Kelirahc. I mean, to you and me he's just another guy, and a dear friend ... but to the rest of our land, he will be something strange, someone to be feared, at least for a while, and ... I know it would be easier for him if he had someone else like him to help him through it. I know he will have Leyenda as well, but ... even she would not understand it in the same way, because it wouldn't be directed towards her."

Unless of course people decided to make a point of grouping her in with the Night Elves because she was married to one, or because her child was of mixed blood ... but as odd as Amelirahc looked, Earendil thought he was just plain cute.