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When dinner was over, it was time for Earendil to pack his things to prepare for their journey. His study was already packed, so it was time for him to pack his clothes and the rest of his things. And since they had no idea how long they would be gone, he ended up packing pretty much the whole rest of his room.

Dinner was much the same as lunch, with lighthearted conversation between everyone except Ruel, who pointedly ignored Lin and Miyuki.

After dinner, it was time to get ready for bed, and Earendil offered to walk Lin and Miyuki upstairs to their bedchamber.

"Going to be a long day tomorrow," he smiled as they headed up the stairs. "Long day of riding. You'll be in a cart with Shea and Mikhail's bags, I guess."

Earendil shrugged. "Up to him," he replied, "though he might ride, you never know. Or fly, knowing him. We'll have a horse for him, whether or not he uses it will be up to him. And it's going to be more than a day: it will be at least four days to get there, it's two days to Phoenix Falls alone."

"The thing is," Earendil added, "Kaito will do his own thing, no matter what. There's no predicting him."

He looked down at Miyuki as they climbed the stairs towards the fourth floor of the castle, where the bedrooms were located. He couldn't help but wonder what she would be like. Sure, as a baby, she had been easy to travel with: but they had flown then, and the trip had been a tenth the length. What would she be like after four days? Or a month on the ocean?

"Just hoping she'll be fine for over a month of travel," Earendil murmured softly. "She's very energetic, and while that is a good thing most of the time, on a ship ... especially if she's not one of the crew ... she may end up being very bored."

What would they do then?

"Or perhaps we should just hope for the mornings," Earendil smiled, "and perhaps the evenings if she runs out of other things to do. She should have the afternoons free at least, I'm sure."

And the afternoon was the best time for her to be out and about, it was when most people were free to watch over her. Since they would need as many people watching her as possible.

"There is that," Earendil smiled. "And with how curious she is, I can see her asking me about my navigational instruments or map making, too."

Either way he was looking forward to being able to spend lots of time with both Lin and Miyuki.

"I don't even know if interesting begins to describe it," Earendil smiled at Lin, his eyes warm, "but I'm certainly looking forward to finding out."

He stopped as they reached Lin and Miyuki's room, forbidden by propriety to go inside with them.

"Good night, Miyuki," he said warmly, kneeling to hug the little girl. "Sleep well, and behave for your mother, all right?"

Earendil blinked in surprise. For him, this had always been a matter of routine more than anything else. Of course, he had only said this to his nieces before ...

He wrapped his arms around Miyuki and hugged her tightly. "You need to sleep, Miyuki," he murmured softly. "Then in the morning we're all going to go on a trip together, all right? But you need to sleep so that we can go."

He stroked her hair softly, wondering what was wrong, why she didn't want to sleep.