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"Indeed?" Elros smiled, tilting his head curiously. "And when would this have been?"

He wondered if perhaps he might have heard of the visit, either in passing or as a rumour or something.

Elros looked thoughtful. "Then ... I believe I heard about that. Was he the one who called himself a Rurouni?"

He wasn't sure if he had gotten the term right, it had been a long time after all; but it sounded right to him, somehow.

"Is that what it means?" Elros laughed. "At the time, one of my acquaintances had told me that a cat-person calling himself rurouni had showed up in the city. It was very strange! To be honest, I had forgotten about it until now ..."

He looked thoughtfully towards Shiro and Kaito, who were riding some of the horses at the front of the group. "I should have put it together sooner ..."

"It's good that he could find something for which he is suited," Elros smiled. "Not everyone has that chance."

"And some of us get many chances," Alena put in, a smile on her face. "Granted, it took so long that we both gave up on it, but we did eventually find what we truly wanted."

"On finding each other alive," Elros murmured, gazing lovingly at his wife. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "Over twenty five thousand years with no word either way ... our dreams were shattered."

"It just goes to show that it's never worth giving up hope," Alena laughed. "If anyone had reason to give up, it was us, I think. And look at us."

The city of Chansond'eau sprawled majestically before the group of travelers. A wide marble bridge spanned the width of a deep ravine, two marble guard booths on each side of the bridge for protection. On the other side, the city was ringed in a marble wall, so high that much of the city was hidden behind it. But if one looked far enough, the Westland Palace could be seen, deep in the city, high above the walls. Treetops could also be seen, already thick and green halfway through Spring.

Andarien was standing and holding onto the edge of the wagon, which was just tall enough that he couldn't easily tumble over the side - though Earendil was there to catch him, just in case.

"Ooge!" he mimicked his sister, pointing up at the city as well. He giggled. He was a very good baby to travel with, really - he was very happy, and didn't mind that he didn't get to run around very much. Of course, it did mean that when they stopped for the night, he had a lot of energy to get rid of.

Earendil chuckled at his children. He was impressed by the city as well - after all, he had never been there before. But he had been expecting something like this, to be honest, and it wasn't really surprising for him.

"Here in the Westland, the former king was very proud," he explained to his children, though it was quite doubtful that Andarien understood any of it. "He built to impress."

Earendil thought about it as they headed towards the guard booths. "Well ... perhaps, but not in the same way," he decided. "In Tor Karad, we had to rebuild because our old city was destroyed, and so when we built, we built for strength, the ability to defend our people. It ended up impressive, yes, but that wasn't its intention. The same with the human Southland, and the Eastland, and Amon Darthir. Caras Galadhon was built to be beautiful, which isn't necessarily the same as impressive. This place, though ..."

He nodded once more at the city that lay before them. "This place was built to be impressive. To leave an impact on the people who see it. To show the power and might of the people, not only the ruler. From what I understand, the inside is more inviting than the outside of the city, but then, I've never been here before, so I suppose I'll just have to see with you."

He smiled at Miyuki, reaching out and tugging lightly on the lip of Andarien's pants so that the boy wouldn't lean too far out over the edge of the wagon.

Andarien looked up at his big sister when she called his name, his eyes growing bright and excited.

"Mi!" he exclaimed, holding the edge of the wagon with both hands and shuffling carefully towards her and Senka. Earendil watched carefully, just in case the jostling of the wagon knocked him flying.

Soon enough though the boy made it to where Miyuki and Senka were sitting, but rather than sitting down next to them, he held onto the edge of the wagon with one hand, and with the other reached up to 'pet' Senka. "Ka!"