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"It was good to see you all, and I hope you'll come again soon," Soronume bid them farewell and headed to the main room.

Iorlas looked at Miyuki. "Daeron and I are finished, so we can go when you're ready," she told Miyuki.

"And if you want, I can find some fruit for your Eevee," Daeron offered. "I know my way around here pretty well, and I'll just let Ninako know when we leave that we took some. She won't mind."

Daeron pushed back his chair and headed to the kitchen. "Be right back," he called over his shoulder.

Iorlas watched the Eevee while Daeron was gone. It was a very cute animal, but its cuteness wasn't what she was thinking about.

"You know," she murmured softly, "I can't help but think ... that the Eevee must be more intelligent than we first believed. She's been listening to us speaking High Elven ... and seems to understand it just as well as when you were speaking to her in the Common Tongue earlier."

Iorlas giggled softly. "It is easy to forget what tongue one is speaking, isn't it?" she laughed. "But it just means that you know the language well. You were still struggling with it the last time you were here, so I can see that you have been practicing. That's good."

She smiled. "As for Andarien ... well, perhaps you've only heard him speaking with Eon in the Common Tongue. And even if that is the case, that doesn't mean that Eon would not understand him in any other language. If your Eevee understands you, as it appears, then they may have an ability similar to dragons. Though to be fair, Andarien does have a dragon's ability with languages now. He would be able to understand anything."

"And I must admit, it's something that I have always taken for granted," Iorlas admitted. "I have never not been able to understand anyone or anything. To me, the idea of not knowing what someone is saying ... it's completely foreign to me. And though Andarien has that experience as a memory, he will never have that again either. And having seen your Eevee respond to you with you speaking both languages ... I somehow wonder if they might have the same ability."

How else would it understand two different languages on the very day that it hatched?

Iorlas spread her hands helplessly. "I'm afraid I would not be able to comment on either of those," she said apologetically. "I wouldn't know. I'm afraid I still don't know Shiro very well, and I know nothing of your world beyond what I have been told ... which is very little."

She looked up as she heard Daeron return. He had a plate in his hands, and on it a small variety of food: a sliced apple, some grapes, strawberries, raspberries, and a small slice of watermelon.

"It's all I could find that they could spare," he said apologetically, passing the plate over to Miyuki. "I hope that's enough."

He didn't know how much the Eevee would need; but he suspected that, since it had just hatched, it wouldn't need too much.

"That makes sense," Iorlas nodded. "Perhaps I should look for him after dinner. He does sound interesting."

Of course, half the reason she didn't know him well, despite traveling with him for most of a year, was that he was always reading or working on something. He just didn't open himself up to conversation.

Iorlas smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Daeron chuckled softly. "Miyuki, you put it too kindly. He's worse than Father for being a workaholic. He goes out of his way to make more work for himself. Every time I see him he's volunteered to do something else again."

"Does he not need to rest?" Iorlas asked, a bit alarmed. "No one should push themselves that hard ..."