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"Forgotten?" Alassëa laughed at that. "He's been telling me an awful lot about his land ... the culture, the people, the queen ... yet he never said anything about being related to the queen. Is she his mother, then? He hasn't mentioned any family to me at all yet, which I find odd now."

Earendil was shaking his head and laughing silently. Aethos was going to be in trouble, whenever Alassëa caught up with him.

A look of anger crossed Alassëa's face. "Whether they know each other well or not ... he should have at least said that he had a sister."

It looked to her like he had actually been hiding the fact that he was prince, rather than just forgetting to mention it, and she was really starting to feel hurt because of it.

"Should I go get him?" the tanner asked meekly, folding his hands together on the counter. "He's waiting upstairs for his order to be completed ..."

Alassëa didn't realize at first that Miyuki was talking to her, because she heard Lin reply and figured that Miyuki was talking to her mother instead. So she simply answered the tanner, "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to talk to him, yes."

The man nodded. "Very well then, I'll be right back."

He disappeared through the door in the back of the shop.

"He's in trouble," Alassëa replied calmly, though she was gripping her staff so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. "Unless he can give me a good reason why he didn't say anything to me, he is going to be in VERY big trouble."

At least she was willing to give him a chance to explain himself, Earendil reflected. It was better than just flying off the handle at him.

It was barely half a minute more before the tanner returned to the shop with Aethos and the falcon in tow. The moment the bird spotted Alassëa, it flew to her shoulder and ruffled its feathers, as if making a point of saying it had never wanted to be away from her in the first place.

Alassëa reached up and stroked the bird gently, tenderly, but her jaw was still clenched tightly. "Aethos?" she called out, keeping her voice calm.

"I'm here," the sola replied as he stepped out from behind the counter. "I didn't expect you to be coming here, I thought you'd have waited at the inn or something-"

He broke off when he saw the look on Alassëa's face.

Earendil squatted down so that he could hold Andarien's hands while the boy toddled around on the floor, trying to take his first steps towards Miyuki, and the next thing that he heard was a thok! followed by a sharp yelp.

He looked up to see Alassëa holding her staff in much the same position as the moment previous, but Aethos was rubbing at his forearm, which was quickly turning red around a blue spot.

"What did I do?" the sola cried out fearfully.

Alassëa thrust her staff out at Aethos, stopping just shy of his chest, her movement so quick that the falcon flapped its wings to keep its balance. "You have not been entirely honest with me," she told him in an angry tone. "How hard would it have been to tell me that this queen of whom you speak so highly is your sister?"

Andarien took one wobbly step and then let go of Earendil's hand, reaching for Miyuki instead, but the noise on the other side of the room distracted him and he lost his balance and fell down, landing on his bottom. "Faww!" he giggled, reaching for Miyuki's hands so that he could pull himself to his feet again.

Aethos was confused. "I - I don't understand," he said weakly, jumping back to avoid being poked very hard by the staff.

"You've been taking care of me for weeks," Alassëa told him sharply. "You said you wanted us to get to know each other, to learn about each other - when were you planning on telling me that you're a prince of your country?"

He blinked at her. "What? Why - is it -"

"You lied to me!" Alassëa accused him angrily. "You lied! I don't know what to believe about you anymore! What else are you hiding? What else are you keeping from me?"

Andarien stretched his hands to Miyuki's, and grabbed them tightly and pulled himself to his feet, grunting with the effort. He managed it, though, and stood, grinning proudly at Miyuki. "Up!" he beamed at her.

Alassëa bit her cheek and stopped advancing on Aethos. There were tears brimming in her eyes, but as it didn't obscure her vision, she made no move to wipe them away. She felt betrayed, hurt as she had never felt hurt before.

"Do you think it's not important enough to tell me?" she asked him, more quietly now. "That I wouldn't be able to handle it somehow?"

Aethos didn't know how to answer that, in all honesty. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but he was indeed afraid of how she might react.

"I ... am sorry," he murmured. "I did mean to tell you eventually ... but I was afraid."

"Afraid?" she repeated incredulously. "Of me?"