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Earendil eyed Miyuki warily. "I think you better dust yourself off first," he told her, "or else we might all end up getting sand in our eyes when we fly."

Kelirahc chuckled. "That would be a good idea," he agreed with Earendil. "Excuse me while I find my son." He bowed his head and headed off to find Amalirahc and Leyenda.

"He will take them to the ship himself," Haldia murmured, summoning her roc. "We can meet them there again."

As soon as Rhiel appeared, Celeb came jogging over to them. "Mind if I tag along?" he asked with a grin.

Haldia smiled back at him. "Certainly," she nodded. "Go on up."

Earendil chuckled softly. "Good enough. Now come on, let's go." He picked her up and set her atop the roc, then held a hand out to Lin to help her up as well. "After you," he grinned, his eyes sparkling slightly.

Earendil chuckled and climbed up after Lin. "Well, as much as Arwen and Roydon would love to, they don't think it would be fair without Kaito, which, I'm afraid I have to agree with that. Besides, they've got the new crew from Amon Darthir, and they want to keep things as simple as possible. So another time, perhaps."

Celeb climbed up after Earendil, and then Haldia, and then they were up in the air.

Of course, it took a much longer time for the others to reach the ship, but in the meanwhile everyone set about putting their things away.

But as Earendil was in the process of unpacking his clothes, he realized something.

"Haldia still needs a place to sleep," he murmured. "But there are no empty bunks ..."

Haldia was still up on deck, talking with Celeb, but Earendil wondered if that was because she didn't know where she should go.

"She could," Earendil mused, "but if Haldia were to be in this room, then I could not be. As it is, my being in here is already questionable."

He thought for a moment, then started putting his things back into his bag. "I will bunk with Celeb," he decided. "Haldia can use my bunk."

He knew Miyuki wasn't going to like it, but what other option was there? The only other females on board were married and living with their families.

Earendil smiled faintly as he slung his bag over his shoulder again. "Yes, Miyuki, I'm afraid I do," he murmured. He headed over to her and put one hand on her shoulder. "But I'll still be here on the ship with you, and we can still spend just as much time together."

He bent over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You'll be fine."

Earendil smiled and ruffled Miyuki's hair slightly before straightening up once more.

"I'll go get Haldia, if you want to keep unpacking," he told Lin. "I'm sure as soon as Arwen and Roydon are back we'll be underway. If we can all be unpacked by then, I'd like to be on deck when we leave."

Earendil nodded. "All right. I'll send Haldia down then, and see you up there later," he agreed. He brushed his lips across her forehead, then headed out.

The voyage passed quite smoothly - without bad weather or accident - until one morning, about a week away from Amon Darthir, just as the sun was beginning to rise in the sky, there was a shout from the mast:

"ALL HANDS ON DECK!"

Earendil blinked as he stumbled to his feet and was just about trampled over by Celeb (who very nearly fell out of his bunk). "What's going on?" he asked.

Celeb shrugged. "I don't know. Never had anyone call all hands before. Might as well get dressed and go see."

Haldia had been lying awake in her bunk, but at the call she sat up and looked towards the ceiling curiously. "Lin?" she called gently. "Lin, I think we are being called ..."

As the words left her mouth, the ship's bell tolled, confirming her words. They were indeed being summoned ...