Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled softly and squeezed Lin to his side. "Aye, but keep in mind we might someday wish for things to be quiet. Though not yet, of course." He chuckled again.

They followed the parade up the street. Not much further up, it disbanded, and Aerin and Caranthir stepped down to the ground, then turned and faced the crowd. Pretty much the entire city was present now, if not everyone; and Aerin raised her hands to silence the cheering crowd.

Once the children had finished with their part in the parade, they had mostly mingled into the crowd, and, being the smallest, were allowed nearest to the queen when she spoke.

"People of Amon Darthir," Aerin said loudly, her countenance bright, "friends ... for centuries you have suffered injustice and cruelty. You were on the verge of destruction by inside forces as well as outer forces! Your homes were cages that were slowly strangling the life from you! But look around you! What do you see?"

She gestured towards the sparkling buildings around them.

"With your own hands, you have created yourselves new homes! New lives! Love and life and laughter have returned to you! Freedom and safety! Today we celebrate the completion and renewal of your lives! Today, we celebrate YOU!"

She put a heavy emphasis on that last word, throwing her hands up into the air as well, and the people cheered louder than they had cheered yet.

Aerin cheered along with her people, and laughed softly when they kept cheering, just from the sheer joy of knowing her people were so glad, and that she was the one who had changed things for them.

"Let the celebrations begin!" she cried loudly, and the crowd erupted into more cheers. Then the music began again, and the crowd surged towards the town center for the real celebrations.

Earendil grinned down at Lin. "Should we find Miyuki before we follow the others?"

Earendil nodded, and they set off into the crowd to find their daughter.

Amalirahc was more than willing to head off into the crowd with the other children, but for once, Vergil was being the responsible one and holding him back.

"We should find our parents first so that they know where we are," he insisted. "Or else they'll worry about us."

Amalirahc pshawed. "Mama and Ada said I could go off with our friends, they won't worry."

Vergil frowned. "But Mother might."

He was actually more worried about himself for his own sake - he didn't want to somehow get separated from Amalirahc and Miyuki. He didn't know the language here, after all. But he didn't want to show his fear.

Vergil nodded gratefully at Miyuki. "Thanks," he smiled faintly.

Amalirahc let out a sigh of impatience. "But here isn't where the celebrations are going to be," he pointed out. "We have to go with the others for that!"

"Well they would find us eventually," Amalirahc pointed out. "The city is bigger now, but there's not more people than there were."

"Amalirahc," Vergil said in an exasperated tone.

Amalirahc sighed. "Fine, I'll wait."

Though he clearly didn't want to.

"Looks like," Earendil agreed. He waved to the children. They would be with them shortly, there were just a few more people between them.

Leyenda and Kelirahc were right behind them, though most of the others had headed with the crowd in the opposite direction.

"There they are, now I can go," Amalirahc beamed; but Vergil grabbed his arm.

"You said you would wait," he pointed out with a frown. "Wait until they get here."