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Kyrie laughed, which surprised Earendil almost as much as her revelation.

"So you didn't know," she chuckled. "Well, it's my own fault, I suppose. I don't talk about him often."

"Then perhaps you could tell us a bit about him?" Earendil suggested, still floored by the thought that she was willing to travel for so long and so far without him. He nodded at the boy who was just reaching them. "Perhaps once we're settled here?"

Kyrie's black eyes sparkled. "Of course," she agreed warmly.

The boy came to a stop just in front of the group and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees and panting to catch his breath after his run.

"So good - see you," he choked out finally, looking up at them all and grinning. He swallowed and straightened up a bit. "Come, Mother wait you - come, we live here!"

He pointed at the town and made sure they were all following before starting back towards it.

Just inside the town's gates was a large green park, spreading both to the left and to the right. In a corner of one of the green spaces was a stable, and there were a few horses grazing near it.

They there were a few rows of houses, though ahead some buildings were visible ahead that didn't look residential.

"This town has its residential district almost like a boundary," Kyrie explained, seeing Lin looking around. "The entire business area is in the center ... though not at all large."

In fact, they had already reached the business area by the time Kyrie had finished speaking. They had to go around a few buildings, and then they passed a water fountain. Then there was one more row of business buildings, and they were back amongst residentials.

Kyrie chuckled. "Well, this town could probably fit into the city of Caras Galadhon a few hundred times. It is pretty tiny."

Which meant of course that they had to be close to their destination. Sure enough, the boy led them to a large two-story house at the end of the furthest street, the corner of the town, near the wall. It was a wooden building, and the upper level jutted out over the lower level. Large glass-less windows had shutters flung back, revealing curtains flapping in the light breeze. There were empty flowerpots hanging from both the upper and lower floor windows.

"Come," the boy urged them, holding the door open and motioning for them all go go inside. "Mother wait you!"

The first floor of the house was divided into two rooms, and the room that the group entered (Andarien recalled all his Pokemon to their Pokeballs before going inside) looked to be an everything sort of room: there was a fireplace, kitchen area, dining table and chairs, couch, bookshelves and a writing desk.

The boy called out something in the other language that he spoke, and an earth elven woman appeared in the doorway to the next room. She was little more than a brown shadow at first glance: her skin was the same creamy mocha as Arthael's, and her hair and eyes both matched the unfinished leather of the deerskin dress she was wearing.

"Common Tongue, Alaric," she chided her son. Then she turned to the new arrivals and smiled warmly. "Welcome. I am Elspeth."

Elspeth held up one hand. "There is no need for thanks," she told them firmly. "Housing you here while you are staying in Suncliff is the least that I could do for you after what my son did."

"Nevertheless, we are grateful," Lancaeriel replied diplomatically, smiling gently. "You do have our thanks. For the provisions as well, we had quite the feast."

"Are you certain you've the space to house all of us?" Kyrie put in questioningly. "There are ten of us ..."

"Oh, we've the space," the earth elf laughed. "Before we moved in, this house was occupied by a ... rather large family. We've barely been here a year, and so far Alaric is our only child, so there is lots of room."

Lin's comment made Elspeth laugh again. "Thank you," she beamed. "Though you've only seen one room. Come, I'll show you the rest. I hope you don't all mind sharing rooms, we've space for two per room, and one room that someone can have for themselves."

"Probably Andarien," Earendil mused, thinking it out.

He and Lin of course would share a room, as would Daeron and Iorlas; Shiro and Kaito were a given ... and Miyuki, Wren, Lancaeriel and Kyrie could pair off however they would like, and that left Andarien, who clearly wouldn't be able to share with any of the women anyways.

"And while you're getting settled, I'll have Alaric prepare a hot bath," Elspeth added with a smile. She looked around for her son. "Alaric!"

The boy darted out from the room where his mother had been when they'd first arrived and asked her a question in another language.

"Common Tongue, Alaric," Elspeth chided the boy once again. "You must learn it now that we live here, you know that. And prepare a hot bath for our guests, I'm sure they would be eager for the opportunity to wash."

Alaric nodded. "Yes, Mother."

As he ran off back into the other room, his mother motioned for the rest of the group to follow her. "This way."

Behind the main room of the house was a stairway that led up to the second floor, and it was here that Elspeth led them.

"There are eight bedrooms up here," she explained as she led the way. "As I said, the family we bought this house from was very large. My husband and I share the first room here, and Alaric's is the next one, but of the other six, you are free to choose which ones you would like to stay in."

She opened the doors to the unoccupied rooms to show them. "Some of them have bunk beds, others have double beds," she added, telling them what they could also see for themselves. "And each room also has two wardrobes."

"Double beds for the married couples," Daeron grinned, ducking into the first room they saw with a double bed. Iorlas followed him, laughing softly, and they both dropped their bags on the floor in that room.

Earendil chuckled and turned to Lin. "Shall we take the next one with a double bed, then?" he grinned at her.