Welcome to Gaia! ::

Andarien pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I just wish I had a way to make more gears and casings myself," he murmured, stroking Eon softly. "My stock is all the same, and even if I can make different things, I can't finish them off ..."

He wondered if the Pokemon would be able to make fire hot enough for him to use. He needed his fires to be specific temperatures, after all.

"I can tell by what melts when," Andarien offered. "I have iron and brass and silver and ... I think a bit of gold ..."

He thought about it for a moment.

"I guess I should think about designs before I worry about the actual making of things," he said sheepishly.

"Mm." Andarien didn't know that he was feeling up to designing watch casings at the moment, so he didn't bother going for his chest. He contented himself with snuggling with Eon and watching his sister work instead.

Before long, Kyrie was poking her head into the tent flap. "Everyone all right in here?" she asked them with a grin. "We made it. It's safe to come out - but you've got to be quiet."

Iadrim scrambled to her feet and ran for the flap, and her brothers were not far behind her. Mari moved to follow them, but Mathias held her back and made Chesnet go first.

The tent had been set up in a food cellar which was not much bigger than the inside of the tent itself. It was an underground cellar, cool and damp, and the walls were lined with shelves of preserved food, liquids, and bunches of various herbs and flowers that were hanging upside down and dry. It was quite dark, though two lanterns hanging from the ceiling did offer some bit of light.

Kyrie, Arphenion and Dae'er were all there, as was another woman. Though she was difficult to see in the darkness, her resemblance to Dae'er was quite clear. By the time Lin and her children had made it out of the tent, Iadrim had wrapped her arms around her mother and her brothers were standing with their parents as well.

Once everyone was present, Kyrie introduced the woman. "Everyone, this is Tsara, Dae'er's mother," she said; and then she introduced the others to Tsara in turn.

Tsara smiled at Lin and put one arm around one of her grandsons. "It is the least I could do," she said warmly. "Especially considering the situation."

Then, though Lin had directed her question towards Kyrie, Tsara took it upon herself to answer Lin's question. "I hope that you can stay here for as long as necessary. I am the city's only apothecary, which means that I can sometimes have quite a bit of traffic in here ... but ... Kyrie tells me that you have all come to end the terrible time we live in."

She turned her eyes to Mari. "Is it truly that time?" she asked, and her hope was evident in her tone.

The princess smiled. "I truly hope so. As soon as we can find out the information we need, we will make a plan to stop the General."

"Which we had hoped to do this afternoon," Kyrie added darkly. "We will start our discussion as soon as we're settled in. Miyuki, do you mind if we set up the second tent for Iadrim and the boys? And maybe we could set up a partition to give Andarien his own little area in the one tent ..."

"Good." Kyrie nodded. "Good. Tsara, Dae'er, Arphenion, you three need to continue on as if no one is down here. I'm going to go out and see if I can get the information we need. The rest of you - do what you like, as long as you stay down here and stay quiet."

"I'm going to hate this," Mathias growled, leaning against a shelf.

"You can bear with it for a while," Mari frowned at him. "We have no choice."

"Besides, it's only as bad as you make it," Chesnet teased the other man. "So maybe it will only be bad in your case."

Everyone was in agreement with that, so while Kyrie, Tsara, Dae'er and Arphenion all headed out of the cellar, the rest of them worked on setting up the second tent and making a place for Andarien to work - though he was limited in his activity even then.

As they were worked, Lancaeriel was quiet, and there was a troubled expression on her face.

Lancaeriel looked at Miyuki. Her brow was furrowed deeply, and there was a downward curl to the corners of her mouth.

"I ... I have this strange feeling," she murmured. "I'm sensing something - a presence, perhaps ... something that I did not feel when we were outside the city."

She hesitated a moment. "And yet ... it's faint, can't say who or what it might be from." She shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. Perhaps it isn't important. But I can't help but feel that ... it must be."