Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lanaea smiled warmly at Lin. "And I you," she said softly, bowing again. Then she smiled past them at her brother and gave a little wave; but Sir Gilead came around the two girls and wrapped his sister in a tight bear hug. She laughed and hugged him back, and as they released each other she went up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear.

As he joined Amora and Lin, Sir Gilead chuckled softly. "We must hurry now," he smiled at the two of them. "Their Majesties will be waiting for you."

"And Pengolodh will be on our case when we get back," Amora muttered under her breath in English. "Come on, Sir Gilead is right, we have to hurry. Perhaps we can come back tomorrow to see the other places you wanted to visit."

Amora giggled and also waved to Lanaea as they headed out the door, then grinned at Lin mischievously.

"Pengolodh is not known for his patience," she confided in her new friend quietly, "and especially not where his stomach is concerned. Mother and Father won't let anyone eat until we're there, so he might be a little annoyed."

She giggled softly. Obviously she didn't mind annoying her brother.

Amora giggled. "Too late for that," she replied, looking up at the sun, which was noticeably moving towards the west. "We should have already been back. But what with visiting and chatting ... well, time has a way of slipping away. But we also had a late start."

Despite the late hour, however, the sun was no less hot, and Amora made sure they didn't rush too quickly back to the castle. It wouldn't do for them to dehydrate themselves.

"Several good chats," Amora grinned back. "It was a wonderful afternoon. Maybe if we try again tomorrow, we could ride and save ourselves a bit of time ... what do you think? Are you still interested in visiting some of the other artisans?"

She tilted her head slightly and smiled at Lin, almost impishly. She was getting to know Lin by now, and she knew that Lin was easily fascinated - and there had been other craftsmen on her first list of places she wanted to visit.

Amora giggled. "Perhaps we could make a full day of it, if Father excuses me from my studies," she suggested. "Or I could just do my required studies, and not my extra studies, and we could leave mid-morning and spend the rest of the day. We have already been invited to the inn for a meal, would that work for you?"

To her it seemed to work - and they wouldn't have to ride and worry about horses then either. After all, taking care of horses all day, when they would be needing feeding and watering and so on, wasn't really worth it for a trip into the city. A quick there and back yes, but not a full day.

Amora wasn't exactly sure how to answer that particular question. Yes, what she had been doing in the library that morning had indeed been extra studies, but it wasn't the extra studies that she liked the best, or that she usually did.

"Sometimes," she answered finally. "Whenever it's possible, I prefer to do my own studies ... real studies, I mean. Not from books, but observing for real. One thing that I've been studying for almost a year now is sand ... it's an amazing thing, sand. I feel lucky to be living surrounded by it."

"Adonai and Alyse from the Borderlands," Amora repeated softly, thoughtfully. "They ... are also of Aldrich blood, are they not?"

She smiled at Lin. "I would like very much to meet them someday, perhaps learn from them ... but I doubt that I shall be leaving this city for a very long time yet, and I am sure that they will have much to keep them occupied in their own corner of the world as well."

Perhaps they could exchange writings, if nothing else.

"Always happening?"

Amora's eyes grew bright at the thought of such an exciting life, and she smiled warmly at Lin as they passed through the outer castle gates and into the first courtyard. "Do tell."