Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled softly and gave her one last kiss before he straightened up again. The children were in the room, after all.

"All right, we should check Andarien one last time," he grinned.

Andarien looked up when he heard his name. "Deh?"

Andarien put one arm around Lin's neck and put one finger from his other hand in his mouth. He didn't much care about getting checked, if anything it alleviated his boredom from time to time. After all, there was only so much he could do when he was stuck in the same room all the time without any toys, and without Miyuki to play with him, or Senka.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Earendil offered, heading towards the door to answer it. "You get Andarien checked."

It was Lord Jaxon who was at the door, and when Earendil opened the door he bowed his head and said respectfully, "Your Highness, dinner is served. When you are ready, I will lead you down."

"Thank you," Earendil nodded. "We will be ready momentarily. Please, step inside."

"Thank you." The historian stepped into the room, though he kept the door open and waited right next to it.

"Not at all," Lord Jaxon smiled, bowing deeply. "Come. Dinner is served."

He led them back downstairs and to the dining room, and when they reached the dining room door he left them, bowing as they headed into the room.

The dining hall was quite large, and had tables arranged in a large square, so that everyone was visible to everyone else. They were the last ones present, and Earendil ushered them to the last empty seats.

"Welcome," King Eragon, seated at the head table, greeted them. "I apologize for not being present to meet you earlier. I hope you were able to rest this afternoon."

Earendil chuckled and ruffled Miyuki's hair affectionately as he sat down in his chair.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, we did rest well," he smiled at the king. "I hope we did not hold dinner back too long."

The king waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all. Only the drinks were brought out, but you can request your drink of choice when the first course is brought out."

River and Amalirahc smiled tentatively at Miyuki. Clearly, the events of the afternoon were still on their minds, and they'd had a talk with their parents (or grandparents, in River's case) about Ioreth and Iorlas.

"Hey, did you tell your parents about Ioreth?" Amalirahc asked Miyuki in a quiet tone.

Amalorahc nodded. "I told Mama and Papa about how I see people, too," he told quietly. "And they said that if I'm right about what I see, and I don't see anything scary about Iorlas, then there's no reason to stay away from her, or treat her any differently than we have been so far. So they say I can still play with Iorlas."

"Grandmother and Grandfather want me to leave her alone," River said sadly, being very careful not to let her grandparents overhear her remarks. "They say that dragons are deceitful by nature and it's just a matter of time before Iorlas becomes like Ioreth again. I think they're wrong, but I promised Mama I would obey them, that was the condition for me coming on this trip."

"And you can't convince them that Iorlas is good?" Amalirahc asked her anxiously. "I know she's not evil! I know it just as much as I know my own name!"

Amalirahc looked saddened by Miyuki's first comment. "They won't let you be around her, either?" he asked in disappointment. His golden eyes were filled with hurt, and he looked away angrily. "First no one would believe me that I knew it was Ioreth and she was bad, and now no one will believe me that Iorlas is good."

He took a drink from his cup and hit it hard on the table when he put it down again. "What's the point in having a gift if no one will believe you?"