Welcome to Gaia! ::

There were some elves on the Zephyr, and several of them were waving from the deck of the ship. Roydon, who was at the bow now, waved back, then called back orders to the crew of the caravel to pull up alongside the Zephyr.

It took surprisingly little time to get the ships aligned, and the gangplank from the Zephyr was slid over to the caravel, since it had the larger one, and one of the men from the enormous ship came over and spoke with Roydon.

"All right, everyone!" Roydon called out after having spoken with the man for a moment, "it's time to unload! Ship materials first, in the third hold!"

Once the ships were secured, the activity resumed, and right away elves formed a line and began passing out crate after crate of supplies.

Leyenda put one hand on Lin's shoulder. "We should just stay in the captain's cabin for now," she murmured, "until they're ready for us to take our things over."

Leyenda saw the surprise on Lin's face, and she smiled as they headed into the cabin. "Don't be offended," she murmured. "If things aren't placed exactly as Papa wants them, it could lead to trouble. He has to know where everything is."

She smiled. "Don't worry, once we get to some of the less essential things, we'll have our chance to help out."

Leyenda laughed. "Probably because we helped load everything into these ships. The placement on the caravels wasn't important, it was only a day long journey. But on a voyage like we'll be going on ... everything has to be in the right place on the galleon."

She glanced over her shoulder. "Unfortunately, I do have to help. So I'll be back for all of you when we're ready for you, all right?"

And without waiting, she was gone.

Celeb tried running after her, but Rhea held him back. "Best wait for her to come back," she smiled at the boy. "Don't worry, she's not going far."

For a moment, Celeb just pouted at Lin, but then he spotted the butterflies that were crawling over her. He blinked at them, and then pointed up at them, his eyes filled with curiosity.

For all the time that Lin had been visiting his home, he hadn't seen the butterflies before, and they intrigued him. To be fair, he had never seen a butterfly of any sort before.

Celeb stared at the butterfly for a moment, tilting his head as he watched it nestle on Lin's shoulder. A slow smile crept over his face, and he nodded slowly.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, reaching out with one hand tentatively to touch it.

"Butterflies?" the boy repeated, holding his hand out, palm up, for the creature to crawl into his palm. He was utterly fascinated by them.

"What do they do?" he asked, his eyes fixed on the creatures.

"Other butterflies?" Celeb glanced up at Lin, then looked back at the one in his hand, transfixed.

Rhea smiled and knelt next to the two of them. "There aren't any butterflies in this area, Lin," she murmured. "Hardly any wildlife at all. Fish and birds, mostly. Bugs. He's probably never seen a butterfly in his life. Or a fox, for that matter."

Celeb looked up at Rhea. "Fox?"

Celeb looked at Lin doubtfully. "Are you sure?" he asked. "That's kind of weird."

Rhea giggled. "They are two different animals, Celeb, but these creatures are special because they are both."

Celeb looked up at her, puzzled. "Like how I'm a elf, and I'm a boy?" he asked.