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"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Earnedil laughed, "some of the crewmen are growing their hair out pretty long already. Unless Rhea's still wearing her skirts we may have to look a bit closely."

Though her hair was still longer than anyone else's, to be fair.

As they approached the first fire, he examined everyone's faces. It was all crewmen, chatting and drinking together, and he looked at Lin and shook his head. "Not here."

Earendil nodded, and the two of them started over in the direction of the next fire. As they drew closer, he blinked. He could see a pale fluffy tail waving back and forth in agitation. It looked like Whisper was annoyed with something ...

"There's Whisper," he murmured softly to Lin, pointing. "Rhea might be there too."

"Agreed," Earendil nodded. "She looks annoyed or something ..."

They approached the fire, and sure enough, Rhea was there, talking with Galion, the crewman who had so long ago now shown them onto the caravel they had taken to the Zephyr.

Whisper looked up at Lin, and her tail fell still. "Nothing," she said quietly, blinking slowly, almost owlishly. "Why?"

Rhea looked up when she heard their voices, and she smiled at Lin and Earendil. "Oh ... were you looking for me?" she asked them, rising to her feet.

Rhea's eyes lit up. "I'd love to!" she beamed. "Do you know how long we might be gone?"

Earendil shrugged. "A week perhaps, maybe a bit more?" he guessed. "I want to get something solid done before we come back. Kelirahc has agreed to guide us, but we would need you to translate."

"Nothing could give me more pleasure," Rhea grinned at him. "First thing tomorrow, then? Good thing I've already bathed."

"I'll come," Whisper agreed quietly. "Someone's got to keep Rhea out of trouble, after all." She chuckled softly. "Though I suppose there can't be too much trouble out there for her to get into."

She rose and stretched her entire body, from head to tail. "Come on, Rhea, we should get some sleep," she told her. "And you still have to tell me what the village was like."

Rhea laughed and reached down to stroke Whisper's head affectionately. "Right, right. Let's go then. Good night, Lin. Earendil. Galion. See you all in the morning!"

And off she went towards the shelter.

Earendil chuckled and turned to Lin. "Anyone else we're missing?" he grinned at her.

"Good," Earendil smiled. "Then to bed with us. Sleep well, Lin. I'll be sure to wake you, so don't worry about waking yourself at a certain time. Just focus on getting a good night's sleep."

What with Kelirahc's people being nocturnal, he wasn't sure how messed up her sleep cycle was going to be, but worrying about it would only make it worse.

When morning came, Earendil let the others sleep in a bit, since he wasn't sure how quickly they would have gotten to sleep, but once the camp started to wake up on its own he went around, waking everyone up who was going to be going with him.

"Come on, Lin," he grinned, shaking her shoulder gently. "Time to wake up. Big day ahead of us!"

Though to be fair, there hadn't been a not big day ahead since they had arrived on the island.