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Earendil smiled warmly at Lin. "Thank you," he murmured. "There is a chance ... a slight chance, but a chance nonetheless ... that he will get over it by the time this trip is over, but ... his mother should know anyways. Just so that she knows."

As they approached their destination, Arwen turned to them and smiled. "You two had a good dinner?" she asked them. "I saw you with Storm and Starr. How was that?"

"Excellent," Earendil replied cheerfully. "But I was wondering if I might ask you a favour." He held up his injured hand to show her. It was badly burned, his knuckles black, but even so it didn't seem to bother him overly much - either that or he simply wasn't letting it show.

Earendil looked down at Lin as Arwen examined his hand. "And worry Starr?" he asked her rhetorically. "She's worried enough about Storm as it is, the last thing we need is for either of them to feel more guilty. It's fine, it doesn't hurt as much as it looks like, and Arwen's taking care of it. I appreciate that you worry about me, but ..."

He shrugged. "In this case, I really don't think it would be to anyone's advantage to have had it looked at sooner."

"I don't believe you when you say it doesn't hurt as much as it looks," Arwen told him, cupping her hands around his and looking up at him, "but I will admit that Storm and Starr seem to have enough on their minds. Forgive me for asking, but ... did something happen, to make Storm shout at you earlier? Before we ate?"

"Nothing important," Earendil assured her quickly. "We've dealt with it already, don't worry."

Leyenda was watching them quietly, but now she spoke up. "Did Storm do that to your hand, Earendil?"

Earendil smiled, and as Arwen released his hand, he flexed his fingers, examining it from every angle. "Thank you, Arwen," he said warmly. "Much better. And yes, Storm did this, but it was quite unintentional, and very much my own fault. I would appreciate it if no one spoke to him about this. I doubt he even knows that he did it."

He turned to Leyenda, changing the subject smoothly. "And on that note. Tomorrow, Storm and Starr and Lin and I are hoping to go into the jungle to begin mapping the island, and we were wondering if you and Kelirahc would care to join us, guide around. What do you say?"

Leyenda blinked. "Um ... I guess so ..." She turned to Kelirahc and spoke to him hesitantly, half in his tongue and half in her own. He smiled and nodded at her, and she turned back to Earendil. "That's fine with us," she told him.

"I think that would be a wonderful idea," Leyenda smiled, her eyes filling with relief. She turned to Kelirahc and reached for his hand. "Perhaps she could teach us more of each other's languages as well," she murmured. "At least, I would like it if she did."

Kelirahc clearly couldn't understand what she was saying, but he did understand her tone, and he smiled warmly at her and lifted her hand to his mouth, gently kissing the backs of her knuckles.

Earendil turned to Lin. "Shall we go find her, then?" he asked her. "I'm not sure where she got to ..."

"Very true," Earendil nodded. He smiled at Kelirahc and Leyenda. "Then we'll see you in the morning. We hope to leave early, but it's not as if there's any rush."

"See you then," Leyenda smiled back. "And if I may suggest, try looking for Rhea with some of the crew. I know she said something about having questions for someone."

"Will do," Earendil agreed. "See you in the morning then." He turned to Lin. "Shall we check the crews' fires?"

Earendil nodded and set off, Lin by his side.

"On the bright side," he grinned, "there aren't many fires left. It looks like a good number of the crew have already gone to sleep. That makes things a bit easier, yes?"

As he looked around, he noted that there were only about four fires left lit, besides the two where Storm and Starr, Arwen, Roydon, Kelirahc and Leyenda were.