Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil laughed and hugged Miyuki lightly. "You do realize they're not alive," he winked, teasing her. He ruffled her hair affectionately, grinning at her. "Think you're ready to head back to the palace? Or are there any other places you wanted to check out?"

He was wondering if Andarien would be awake yet, or if he would still be asleep.

Earendil laughed again. "Ah, right," he grinned. "I had forgotten about that. Strawberries for Shiro - or blackberries, if we can't find any."

"If there are any of either, they'll be in the market section of the city," Wren spoke up as she rejoined the group and led them outside again. "It's on the way to the horses. We can be there in about a quarter hour or a bit longer."

Another reminder of just how large the city was, and the fact that it was indeed a city rather than an inhabited area of the forest - which it felt like.

It took them a little over fifteen minutes to reach the market area of the city. Being the end of the day, a lot of the stalls were sold out and closed, but they managed to find one that had a few strawberries and blackberries left. They bought them, and Earendil tucked them into the bag so that they wouldn't get crushed. Then Wren led them back to their horses, and they headed back towards the castle.

When they returned to their suite, Andarien was awake and sitting in Shiro's lap. Shiro had loaded a piano program on his tablet and was letting Andarien tap the keys and make noise. There was no tune, of course, but Andarien seemed to be having a lot of fun with it.

"Looks like someone had a good nap," Earendil grinned as he reached for his bag to get the berries that Shiro had requested.

Shiro chuckled and let Andarien continue to play. "Kids love to make noise, what can I say?" he grinned. "He was fine. Just woke up about half an hour ago, and since I didn't know what else to do with him I let him play. He loves it."

Then again, Andarien had always liked music.

Andarien looked up at Miyuki and giggled as he kept slapping at the keys.

Shiro grinned. "No trouble. I'm looking forward to seeing the city myself."

He put Andarien on the floor, and Andarien pouted up at him. He wanted to make more noise!

Earendil reached into his bag and pulled out the small basket of mixed berries. "It was the end of the day, there wasn't much of anything left," he said apologetically as he handed it over to Shiro.

Shiro's eyes gleamed a bright, demonic red. "Oohhhh, thank you!" he purred.

Andarien crawled over to Lin and pulled on her pant leg to get her attention. He was being ignored!

Andarien snuggled into Lin, taking a handful of her clothes in each hand and laying his head against her chest. He was glad to have his mommy back, and he had no plans to let her go any time soon.

"Mamamama," he cooed happily.

Shiro grinned at Miyuki. "Of course. Dinner is soon anyways but I just wanted some for a snack. Besides, I'd heard that they were quite good here. Hopefully the last pick of the day is still good, but I didn't expect anything more, really."

He stretched and tucked his tablet under his arm. "On that note, I'm going to go wash up for dinner. See you there!"

Earendil looked at Lin, then back at Miyuki. "Well, as far as I can tell, your dress is still clean," he mused. "I see no reason to change your clothes."

She had put on something clean after playing with the bird-poop-covered box earlier, after all.