Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Sure," Earendil chuckled softly. He leaned over and kissed Lin on the top of the head. "I'll set his toys out so that he can play with them while he waits for the rest of us."

He could wait for Miyuki to finish washing up before washing his own hands. He hadn't gotten very dirty anyways.

When the family was finally ready, they headed down to the dining hall for dinner. Many of the others had already arrived, and River and Amalirahc, who were sitting away from their parents/grandparents, waved for Miyuki to come and join them.

Luk and Emile were sitting at the same table as them, though a few seats down, and Halmir and Arthael were on the far side of them. Leyenda and Kelirahc however were at a different table altogether.

"I had lessons," River told Miyuki, though she didn't sound disappointed about it. "Learning from Grandmama is different from learning from Mama."

"I cleaned off the box," Amalirahc said proudly. "The one we found this morning, with all Wren's old toys in it! It's clean now, and I cleaned the toys, too! Except the ball that Andarien ate, it's still all junky, so I think I'm going to have to tell Wren she needs a new one."

"What about you?" River asked brightly.

The eyes of both the children lit up brightly.

"I would love that!" River exclaimed excitedly. "Maybe we can ask to go tomorrow morning!"

"Yeah, the kids here are pretty okay," Amalirahc grinned. "Better than the human kids anyways!"

River blinked at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The boy shrugged. "Well, you remember how mean the humans were to us? The kids there are the same. But the kids here, they'll play with me when I ask if I can play with them."

"I wonder if Wren will be coming with us," River mused. "When we leave, I mean. I'm sure she doesn't need to come with us tomorrow, but when we keep going I wonder if she'll come to the Northland and the Eastland and the Southland with us."

Amalirahc looked thoughtful, something unusual for him. "I think if she does go traveling with us overseas," he said finally, "she'll probably have to stay here for now and just come with us when we sail, whenever that will be."

"Well, she's been to those places already," Amalirahc pointed out. "Well I don't know about the Northland but she's been to the Eastland and the Southland. Her mama told me so. And they don't want her to be gone for a really long time so they'll probably want her to stay here until the ship is going to go so that she's not gone longer than she has to be."

He grinned and leaned closer to Miyuki. "I was talking to her mama today," he winked at her.

"A letter?" River suggested. She frowned. "But that would take a bird at least a few days to get here, and then it would take Wren a month or more to get down to the Southland ..."

"Mama and Papa and I could come pick her up," Amalirahc beamed. "It would only take a few days!"

He loved any excuse to ride his father's dragon!

"But it kind of depends," Amalirahc pointed out. "If me and Mama and Papa aren't around when you guys come back and when it's time to go, then they'll have to send a messenger for us too! So we might not be able to."

He paused. "Unless we stay with Neko and Nako til the time comes," he reasoned. "And that would be okay too. Uncle Celeb isn't there anymore but maybe he would come, but even if he doesn't then we can help Neko out with his ships til then!"