Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shiro looked around through narrow eyes. "Though one might expect a larger population then," he commented. "For thousands of years, I daresay at least twenty thousand years, there are only ... what, one hundred? A bit more? ... of the Night Elves. Their population should have exploded like the Four Lands ..."

Unless there were another village on the island, which he supposed was possible.

"Or what other dangers there might be on this island," Shiro murmured. "Still, we won't find anything out through sitting here and speculating. I suppose we might as well join in the festivities, have a good time tonight, and we'll worry about the rest of it tomorrow."

He looked around at the celebrants. "I have a feeling we won't be sleeping tonight ..."

It was a few more nights before Kelirahc finally brought everyone back to the beach - everyone except Shiro, who had stayed behind to learn what he could about the culture by actually staying with the people. The others went back on Kelirahc's dragon, which, for lack of a better name, everyone had taken to calling Irahc (the ancient word for dragon).

When at last they returned to the beach, everyone who had remained behind was there to meet them - many of them with relief, since no one had known if something had happened to them, since they hadn't expected them to be gone for so long.

The moment they were off the dragon, Celeb appeared, a dark blur, and wrapped himself around Leyenda's waist. "You're back! You're back!" he sobbed. "Next time I'm going with you, don't go away like that again!"

Leyenda put one hand on her brother's head and looked around in surprise, searching for someone who could tell him what was going on.

It was Earendil who stepped forward. "Welcome back," he greeted everyone. "Uh ... I think Celeb was afraid something might have happened to all of you, I think he remembered when Leyenda disappeared for a week."

Earendil smiled at Lin, holding out one hand to help her from the dragon's back. "Well, it seems you had a good time," he grinned back at her. "So I suppose I could forgive you." He winked teasingly. "But really, you're going to have to tell me all about it. It was dreadfully lonely here, and Celeb insisted on so many stories that I just about ran out of stories to tell him."

Earendil laughed. "Yes, I'm sure I could have come up with something or other." He wrapped one arm around Lin's shoulders and squeezed her to him. "It's great to see you back safe and sound, though, Lin, I have to say," he grinned. "Start at the beginning. How did they react to seeing all of you? Did they all stare and ask what you were or where you came from?"

He led her towards the shelter so that they could sit and have some food while they spoke.

Earendil was stunned. "You would think that after however long they were here on their own, they would wonder at seeing so many different types of people ... in the Four Lands, we know there are different races and differences within the races, and still we can't help but stare when we see someone new for the first time!"

But that was because there had been problems in the past between those who had different appearances, and despite the fact that most of the problems were getting better, they still existed in some areas. Still the prejudice remained ...

"Have they ever seen anyone else since they came here?" he wondered aloud.

Earendil raised one eyebrow. "Uncomplicated?" he asked her curiously. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He had no idea what she was getting at, unless it was something about that they would accept anyone, no matter their appearance, simply because they didn't care.