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"Exactly," Wren agreed. "And let's face it: the people here are not at all interesting. The people here in the city - no, anywhere in the Westland - they're all so settled into their lives that really, I don't think it would occur to any of them to do anything different than they are now. No traveling, no adventures ... they wouldn't even think about courting me because they wouldn't deem it worth the trouble. So honestly, it's the only way I'm ever going to meet anyone."

"It does beg the question, though," Earendil spoke up cautiously, "I know that the Westlanders are notoriously .... intolerant of mixed marriages ..."

Wren laughed, interrupting Earendil before he could finish forming his question. "You do realize that my grandmother, your aunt, rocked that boat decades ago?"

"It is," Wren agreed softly, her eyes on the children. "Our land is changing ... but very slowly indeed."

She turned back to Lin and smiled again. "It's quite safe to let Andarien wander on his own, as long as he doesn't go into the creek he'll be fine, and even the creek is not deep. I doubt it even goes to his ankles."

Andarien looked over at Wren when he heard her say his name, and one finger went into his mouth. "Deh?"

"Hah!" Andarien clapped his hands together enthusiastically as Lin set him on the ground, and the moment his feet touched the grass he was running off. He kept his eyes upwards, looking for Miyuki, and his steps became slow as he struggled to keep his balance.

"Mi!" he called out, looking for her to show her face from wherever she had disappeared to. "Mi!"

Wren laughed. "He's so cute!" she exclaimed.

Amalirahc and River peered over the railing just after Miyuki did, just in time to see Andarien look up at his sister and finally lose his balance completely, falling and landing on his bum. He had a smile on his face though, and it was clear that he wasn't hurt at all.

"Mi!" he exclaimed, holding both hands up towards his sister. He stretched out his fingers as far as he could and opened and closed them in a grabby motion. "Mi!"

Earendil chuckled. "I think we're going to have to wait until you're a bit bigger for that, Andarien," he told his son fondly. "Just you wait, it won't be too long!"

Andarien waved back at Miyuki, then climbed to his feet and looked up at her again. Looking that far up made him lose his balance again, and he fell down again. He made three more tries, all with the same result, before he finally gave up and pouted up at her. "Mi!"

Earendil chuckled softly. "When you're older," he said again, picking up his son and tossing him into the air. He caught him again and nuzzled his nose, making the boy giggle, and Andarien calmed down then and contented himself to simply watch his sister.

"Yeah, no kidding," Amalirahc grinned. "It's like it's just for kids and not for grownups!"

"Hey, what's that over there?" River asked, pointing at a flet across the clearing. There was something seemingly at the edge of the flet, about the size of a breadbox, and made of wood.

"Let's go see," Amalirahc said, hopping to his feet and taking off around the circle of flets.

"Don't worry, he won't open it without us," River assured Miyuki as she ran alongside her friend, careful of the edges of the flets. She blinked as she kept on running. "I hope."

After all, with Amalirahc one never knew.