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Earendil smiled ruefully at Miyuki. "Well ... some people are more accepting than others," he offered simply.

It was something he'd noticed - in the lands where everyone was the same, like Amon Darthir and Nauros, even strangers were trusted, and didn't get a second glance. In Caras Galadhon, where the people were mixed everywhere, they were still trusted implicitly. And yet here, where there were known to be different races, was where they got the strange looks and weren't very trusted.

It made him sad, really.

"Let's try this next street," he suggested, pointing up a side street. "It might lead to some shops or something."

Since so far they'd only seen residential.

As they approached the bakery, Andarien suddenly stopped his singing and started sniffing the air. "Mm!"

Earendil chuckled at the boy. "Well, it's been a while since we ate," he grinned. "What say we stop for a treat? It's not like it's candy after all, and bread is Andarien's favourite food."

And he didn't even need something to sop it in first anymore.

"Buuuuuuuh!" Andarien sang, grinning widely down at Miyuki. If Earendil didn't have his hands, he would have been clapping at the moment. He wanted a bun!

Earendil laughed. "Off we go."

He lifted Andarien from his shoulders and held him in his arms instead, then reached for the door of the shop and opened it for the others to go in ahead of him.

Since the shop had an enormous front window, it was very well lit, and even though some of the side windows were open, letting a breeze waft through, it was still pleasantly warm, and it smelled wonderful - not only of fresh bread, but of pastries and eclairs (chocolate-free, of course) and cinnamon loafs and more.

Earendil was eying the pastries himself, but it looked as though Lin was trying to keep Miyuki away from them so he had a feeling he should probably steer clear himself.

"We are going to have to come back here at least once a day," he murmured softly to Lin.

Andarien took advantage of Earendil's distraction and reached for one of the cinnamon buns that was on the counter right next to him. Quick as a flash, he had it in his hands and was munching on it.

Earendil sighed, but he smiled faintly. "Andarien ..."

He ought to have kept the boy on his shoulders, he thought belatedly as he reached for his coin pouch. Andarien just 'num num num'ed to himself as he munched on the roll.

"Usually people pay for things before they take them," a soft but angry voice said from door behind the counter. It was a boy, perhaps a young teen, with pale hair and cold blue eyes.

Earendil shifted Andarien to his hip, bracing him with the crook of his arm so that he could use both hands to pull the coins out of his pouch.

"How much?" he asked, looking at the boy behind the counter.

The boy stepped forward and held out one hand, palm upward. "Two bronze."

With a nod, Earendil put three bronze coins in the boy's hand. "I deeply apologize," he said again. "I wasn't watching my son closely enough."

The boy put the coins in his pocket, and as he did so, his expression softened. "It's all right, I suppose," he murmured. "No harm done. But please, watch him a bit more closely in the future, all right?"

Earendil smiled and patted Andarien on the head, then looked over at Lin and Miyuki.

"So we can tell what he wants to eat," he quipped. "How about you girls?"

He himself would probably end up getting a cinnamon bun like Andarien, but he would let it sit on the shelf as long as he could so that it wouldn't melt in his hand.

"Go ahead," Earendil nodded. He turned to Lin. "And you?"

Andarien followed his father's gaze to Lin and stared at her contentedly, cinnamon and sugar all over his mouth and cheeks.