Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled at Miyuki's excitement. It was tempting for him to ruffle her hair, but it was put up so nicely he couldn't bring himself to touch it. Instead, he cupped her chin in his hand and smiled warmly down at her.

"You look beautiful today, Miyuki," he told her sincerely. "I like how your mother put your hair up."

Earendil chuckled at Lin's comment as she joined them. She looked beautiful as well, in her fine clothes, and Earendil's eyes grew warm as he gazed at her.

"You stay just the way you are," he told her with a grin: and then he leaned down and kissed her softly. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Why, thank you," Earendil smiled, intertwining his fingers with Lin's. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "Ah ... it feels so good, going out like this ... as a family ... for a celebration with a true cause for it ... something that we could also help with."

Of course, the focus would be on Aerin and Caranthir and the Sky Elven people, but he was certain they would be just as welcomed as anyone else.

"Breakfast first," Earendil nodded. "You can't go without first getting some energy, you would be too tired to enjoy the festival. Just a small breakfast though, so that you don't have a full belly."

He grinned at her as they made their way downstairs to the dining room.

When they got down to the dining room, everyone else was already present - including Rhea and Aurin and the twins.

"You're taking the twins to the festival?" Earendil asked, a little surprised. The twins weren't yet a year old, and he would have thought they would have someone watch them or have Rhea stay home with them or something.

Rhea just grinned at him. "They might not remember it, but there's no way I'm going to let them grow up saying they weren't there when the entire rest of the city was!"

"It certainly will," Rhea agreed heartily. "And we'll also be able to tell them that their grandparents were here with them!"

Her eyes sparkled brightly. Even after two and a half seasons, she was still as glad now as she ever was that her parents were there.

For a moment, Earendil felt a bit jealous: he couldn't imagine his parents (well, his mother perhaps, but not his father) giving up their lives for even just one season to spend time with him and his family, let alone him getting along with them for this long. Perhaps if he'd done like Tinuviel and fallen in love with a Southland elf, but not the way things had turned out.

But very quickly, his jealousy faded. He would someday be with Lin forever, and beyond that nothing else mattered.

"I'm sure they'll appreciate that, too," he smiled back at Rhea.

"Oh, running around and getting into trouble, I'm sure," Rhea grinned. "As they've been doing since they learned to walk. But Mother and Father will be helping to watch over them, so Aurin and I will be able to enjoy ourselves just as much as anyone else. After all, four people to watch two children can't be difficult, can it?"

Even as the words left her mouth, Rhiannon, who was in Rhea's lap, reached out and grabbed Rhea's breakfast, dropping part of it on the floor and sticking part of it in her mouth.