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"Shocked is more like it," Leyenda replied with a grin. She gasped suddenly and pointed into the crowd. "There they are! Alya! Caladwen!" She called their names loudly and waved her free arm wildly.

Two girls pushed their way through the crowd, waving with both arms. One of them nudged the other and pointed at Leyenda, and then both of them started walking along the shoreline, following the pace of the ship.

When they finally reached the dock, the girls were there to meet them. Leyenda was the first one off the ship, Amalirahc in hand, and immediately she was pounced on by her two friends. For a moment they were all talking so much that nothing they said could be understood, but then finally the two girls settled down enough to ask, "Whose child is this?"

Leyenda laughed and held Amalirahc (who was cowering under the strange and forceful attention) proudly. "Mine," she grinned at them. "His name is Amalirahc."

The girls' jaws dropped with shock. "What?" they exclaimed together.

Leyenda laughed. "I know," she grinned at Lin. "But I think he's helping Papa right now ..."

But even as she spoke, he appeared on the gangplank, both their bags on his back. Since it was summer, he was dressed as he had been on his own island: nothing but a thin, loose pair of pants. His black skin gleamed in the sunlight, and he smiled widely when he saw Leyenda with her friends.

The girls stared at him as he approached them, and Leyenda giggled. "Alya, Caladwen, this is my husband, Kelirahc."

The taller of the two, Alya, just stared, but Caladwen cleared her throat a bit awkwardly and asked in a low tone, "Where did you find him?"

Leyenda giggled. "On the first island we found," she replied, slipping one arm around Kelirahc's waist as he joined them.

Kelirahc smiled warmly at the two of them. "You must be Leyenda's friends," he said in a kind, warm tone. He bowed his head to them. "I am very pleased to meet you."

The girls giggled at his formal mannerisms.

Then Earendil came down the gangplank, with Senka in one arm, and his and Lin's bags in the other.

"Here," he grinned at her, handing Senka over but still carrying her bag. "You didn't come down, so I thought I would bring everything up for you."

He chuckled, watching as Kelirahc and Amalirahc became acquainted with Leyenda's friends. "Looks like that's going over well, at least. That's good."

Earendil laughed. "Is it strange that it feels good to be back where the girls are silly again?" he grinned, handing over Lin's bag as well. "Not that I like girls like that, but just because it's home."

He hefted his bag just as Shiro, Kaito, Ura, Storm and Starr came down the gangplank. "Anyways, I think Arwen wants all of us to head to their house for now," he added. "She'll be along soon, and Roydon of course will be along once the ships have all been taken care of. We're going to have to stay in the inn, but after six years of everything but, I'm sure that I won't mind."

He chuckled softly.

"Except of course for Arwen and Roydon," Earendil laughed, "since they really do live here."

Though it did beg the question, what would Leyenda and Kelirahc do while they were here? After all, they weren't going to build themselves a house, or buy a house, since they didn't even know if they would be settling here, but would they all fit in Leyenda's bedroom at Arwen and Roydon's?

"Anyways, we should get going so that we're out of the way for the unloading," Earendil added. "Come on."

He smiled and Lin and started down the dock towards the shore.

Earendil nodded. "The rest of them will come later. Once we have rooms, I think Arwen wants us at her place though. Just to make sure everyone is accounted for and so on."

"Wait for us!" Celeb shouted, running after them, Haldia in tow.

And behind them were Rhea and Aurin. Aurin was looking up at the sky, keeping an eye out for Skyel, and he was allowing Rhea to lead him by the hand so that he wouldn't walk into anyone or anything.

Earendil chuckled. "We're going to take up half the inn ourselves," he laughed. "Good thing it's only for a few days!"

As the group walked through the streets towards the inn, they drew a lot of stares, though many of the people also offered a friendly wave as they walked. No one recognized Celeb anymore - but then, he had gone from a small, quiet boy of four years old to an almost grown up ten-year-old, so that was understandable. Very few recognized Earendil, and surprisingly it was the Gaians who were the most recognized - of course because they were so odd and stuck in everyone's memories from their previous visit.

Once the rooms were paid for and they had dropped off their things, they made their way back to Arwen and Roydon's house. It was clear that someone had been taking care of it while they had been away, for it was just as clean as the day they had left, if not a bit cleaner.

By the middle of the afternoon, Arwen was back, and Roydon returned shortly before dark. Since Arwen and Roydon had business to attend to, and since they had already been away for so long, it was decided that they would stay there, rather than go back to the palace, but the others would leave the day after next - that way they would have a chance to rest before setting off.

"Why don't we fly there?" Earendil suggested before the plans were finalized. "We don't have horses, and some of us can't even ride, and it would be well over a week walking, maybe even two or three. But with Irahc, Rhiel and Skyel, we would all be able to fly. We could get there in a matter of hours, and it would save us all some energy."