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"In her defense," Mari spoke up, though she was smiling, "she had been out on a mission for me all day and had a dislocated shoulder. In circumstances such as that, it's acceptable to be so tired as to be completely incoherent."

The time passed, and eventually, just when some of the more pessimistic of the group was beginning to worry, Kyrie and Uruloki returned.

"Tsara says that she has room for all of us and welcomes us all with open arms," she reported cheerfully. "Though she did also add her grief at the news of the loss of your homes."

Dae'er smiled warmly. "I knew Mother would come through for us," she murmured.

Kyrie grinned. "Then as soon as you have your things together, we'll have Uruloki and Kasal take care of the cabins and we'll be on our way."

She looked around at the group. "It's probably best if everyone except for Dae'er, Arphenion and myself go into the tent. I'll fly us to just outside the city and then take them inside, and we'll let everyone out once we're safely in Tsara's house."

She looked at Lin. "The tent will work as transportation, yes?"

Kyrie nodded at Lin. "Good." She turned towards Uruloki, but then she paused and looked back at the others. "Er ... you may want to go into the tent before we take care of the cabins," she suggested quietly but seriously. "Especially the boys."

Arphenion nodded and ushered the boys to the tent, holding the flap open for them. "We'll be at your grandmother's house before you know it," he promised them as they went inside.

Inside the tent, Iadrim was still peppering Miyuki with questions about runes; but when her brothers came in she just about pounced on them and hugged each of them in turn. After the three boys came Andarien, then Wren and Lancaeriel, and after them, Mari, Mathias and Chesnet.

"Amazing," Mari murmured, looking around as she sat cross-legged on the floor between Mathias and Chesnet. "I would never have imagined all of this from just looking at the outside."

"I should imagine so," Mari murmured.

Suddenly the flap opened once more and Kasal, hatchling-sized, scrambled over to Mari and curled up in her lap.

"Kyrie realized that if I helped Uruloki with the cabins, she would have to unpack everything again for me to come in," he explained, laying his head on Mari's knee. "So Uruloki is going to do it himself instead."

Mari stroked the dragon's head fondly. "That's all right," she murmured softly.

"I wonder what it will look like through the tent flap once the tent has been packed away," Janos mused aloud, looking towards the aforementioned flap.

"Think we'll feel anything?" Hamir asked curiously. "I mean, when the tent is being packed up, or when we're flying, or anything?"

Iadrim shook her head as confidently as if she were a real expert on the subject. "Miyuki says the tent is just a door and we're not actually in it but in a different space!" she said brightly. "So I don't think we'll feel anything at all!"

"What about the passage of time, Mi?" Andarien spoke up finally, looking over at his sister. "You said something about the tent space being like the Pokeballs, kind of like stasis ... or am I remembering wrong?"

"Maybe while we're waiting for whatever it is we're supposed to be doing wherever it is we're going," Andarien suggested. "At least until we go to rescue Ada."

He grew quiet again at the reminder of where their father was. If the soldiers had acted the way they did out here where no one had done anything to them, tearing apart the homes without any real justification, he didn't want to think about what might be happening to their father.

For a brief instant, Andarien's eyes lit up; but then his shoulders slumped and he shook his head. "They're neat and all, but they don't have much use in situations like this," he muttered. "If I could make something useful that would be a different story, but ..."

He shrugged. Then he turned to Lin and asked quietly, "Nana, would it be all right if I let Eon out?"

He knew there wasn't room for Ponydash, and it would be too dangerous to let Zeus out in such a crowded area; but he wanted to snuggle one of his Pokemon, and Eon was still his favourite (though he would never admit it aloud).

Andarien leaned against his sister and reached to his belt for Eon's Pokeball. He pressed the button, and Eon appeared with a flash of red light. He crawled into Andarien's lap and nuzzled against his ribs.

Andarien started to stroke Eon's head gently. "Then everyone would need one," he said quietly, finally replying to Miyuki's comment. "I just have the one. Every time I make another I give it away."

Still, Miyuki had succeeded in distracting him, and he was already thinking about his supply of gears, and whether or not he had enough of the right pieces. He would have to improvise the casing, unless he found a fire hot enough to make some ...