Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled softly and hopped off the back of the wagon. "Well, she is growing up," he grinned. "But you're right. And who knows how long we're going to end up being here, after all. We should be ready to leave any time now."

"Good night," Leyenda said to the two. "Sleep well. Someone has to."

The following morning dawned bright and warm, a vast difference from the rainy day before. Andarien was awake early, having fallen asleep so early the day before, and he wriggled out of his blanket and crawled over to his parents.

"Bah!" he gurgled as he climbed over the mountain that was their shoulders. He sat on their arms and beamed down at them. "Bah!"

Earendil squinted up at the infant who was sitting on them and grinned sleepily. "Well," he murmured, his voice thick with sleep, "he did fall asleep very early yesterday, after a very large meal."

"Dah!" Andarien squealed, seeing that they were awake. He slapped his open palm against the blanket as if telling them to get up.

Earendil chuckled and reached carefully with one hand to rub his eyes. It wouldn't do to make Andarien fall off them, after all. He had only been this size for two days, he wasn't entirely sure how strong the little boy would be. "Yes, yes, we're getting up."

Andarien giggled as Lin sat up. "Mah!"

Earendil stretched his arms and legs before he also sat up. "We should see if Kelirahc is back, anyways. Or I could, if you want to check Andarien's diaper, or I could check him if you want."

Not that he smelled anything, but that didn't mean the boy wasn't wet at least.

Earendil smiled. "Never," he grinned, leaning over and kissing Lin on the cheek. He reached for a fresh shirt and pulled it on, then moved to his feet. "I'll be back in just a few minutes," he promised, and disappeared out the tent flap.

He was back in less than five minutes, with an expression of mixed relief and excitement on his face.

"Kelirahc's back," he told Lin brightly.

Earendil knelt next to Lin, watching as she finished up with Andarien.

"Well ... how to put this," he mused. "They're not going to be rejoining us. They ended up in Tavari, which was our next destination anyways, so we'll be catching up with them there instead. It seems the storm really was too much for Haldia - according to Kelirahc, she was barely able to get them to the town before her strength gave out."

Suddenly he checked himself. "I haven't even told you what happened yet. It seems that when the storm started and they took to the air ... Haldia went into labour. She delivered the night before last. A girl. Mother and daughter are fine. They called her Alyarra."

"Yes," Earendil smiled. "Though she won't be able to summon her spirit for a while, or so Kelirahc says, and since Celeb doesn't have one, they're going to need to ride on the wagons when we join up with them again. And it might not be as long as we thought - we're going to be leaving here once we find out whether Alassëa wants to come with us or not, and her speech is coming along beautifully."

Her comprehension was also amazing. She had picked it up as if she had never lost it in the first place.