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Elnara nodded to Ulani. "At home, they sleep on a pile of pillows," she told her. "There's a bed in their room - or was, for a while - but they always moved to the floor and slept on the pillows. So we gave up and moved the bed out."

She shrugged.

"And they've never slept apart from each other, either," she added thoughtfully. "I wonder how this is going to turn out."

Celebor looked up at everyone. "What's the bed look like?" he asked curiously. "S'it orange and blue like the bed Sasku maked me was? Cos I like orange and blue. That was it looks like?"

Elnara winced slightly at the mention of Sasku's name, but she recovered quickly and frowned at Celebor.

"It's a very nice bed," she told him, turning her frown into a forced smile. "And bigger than that one was. Besides, it's for sleeping in, not playing in, so it doesn't matter what colour it is."

She looked up at Lore and smiled, a real smile this time. "I wouldn't put it past them to sneak into each other's beds," she shrugged. "I'm pretty sure this is the first time they've been apart for anything at all."

She paused thoughtfully. "I wonder if maybe that's what Storm was complaining about."

"Ah, that's right," Ulani nodded. "As I recall, she fell asleep in Kara's bag ... that was how she had ended up here in the first place, last time."

She smiled at the memory. "I think we were all rather surprised when she came out and started running around. Serenity was pleased, though, when she found out who she was."

"I remember that day," Lore smiled a bit, since that was also the day he met Elnara's foster family, and well... her real family as well. It was a good day...

"You were worried she had wandered outside."

"Well... she's a bit bigger now and she's been going out more."

When he meant going out more, he meant their walks to the library. Just being able to walk like that, even if it was with an adult made a difference. At least that's what he thought.

"Perhaps not now, she wouldn't go out on her own completley, but as time passes maybe... at least I hope she doens't go out on her own, not in the city."

"Is it dangerous for a child alone in the city, then?" Ulrich asked, confused. "What might happen to them?"

Elnara nodded agreement. "There are times I don't feel safe either," she added. "But ... only sometimes. If something were to happen, I could shapeshift, though I try not to; my only worry is that when I bring all of the children out, something might happen that I don't see because there are so many of them to watch."

Not that she was complaining.

Celebor spoke up once again. "But I can help Mommy watch out for bad people!" he added with a proud grin on his face. "Cos Uncle Triton's teaching me to fight!"

Lore hadn't had thought of it that way before, but then again he had lived in that city for so long he hadn't thought about it that much. He tilted his head for a moment, he wouldn't try to say otherwise.

"I suppose what one prefers is in the eye of the beholder," he commented.

He preferred the city, for all it's noisiness, even so... no one cared what he was, that mattered the most to him. Besides, it wasn't like it was completely common. It was just a basic everyday life, no one left a child wandering in a city by themselves.