Welcome to Gaia! ::

Elros smiled. "It's good to know that she is happy again," he murmured. "She had a hard life for such a long time. She deserves to be happy again."

He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should ask after her when our server returns?"

It wasn't long before Starr was back, arms laden with their food.

"Here you are," she said warmly, setting their plates in front of each of them. "Is there anything else that I can get for you?"

She took a half-step back and smiled at them, waiting for them to either ask for something else, or dismiss her.

Starr's smile grew wider, and she clasped her hands together. "I should have guessed that you knew her Ladyship," she said warmly. "They were here only a few months ago, actually. They are doing quite well, though admittedly I didn't get to spend much time with them. They don't usually stay long. I don't know where they were planning to go from here, though they usually flit from one of their children to another."

Starr smiled. "It is impossible to know when and where they will show up again," she replied. "They surprise us every time. No advance warning. And if you are also traveling, then you would have to be very lucky indeed to catch them anywhere."

She glanced up as another customer called out, then looked back at the others. "I have to go now. Shall I ask Soronume to come out and talk with you?"

Starr bowed her head. "Goodbye for now, then," she murmured, and hurried off to help the other customer.

Elros sat forward in his chair and began to eat. "It's good to hear that Lady Serenity is doing well," he commented.

"So she knew of her?" Alena spoke up, looking at her husband.

"I see," Alena nodded. "Elros tells me that many people here name their children after friends of the family, or after other family members. In Amon Darthir, there were not enough children born to make that sort of custom, so it is relatively new to me."

"It was Lord Aldrich - Aragost, who began the custom, long before the separation of the races," Elros spoke up, smiling. "Though admittedly it did not become common until a few thousand years after the separation, and then it was mostly in the Southland rather than the Westland."

Alena smiled. "At that time, everyone chose their names for meaning," she explained. "Aldrich, for example, means noble ruler. Alyse means noble being, she once told me that she named her daughter the same as herself in the hopes that she would be as noble as both of her parents."

Elros looked over at her. "Do you mean Queen Alyse? Or her mother?"

Alena blinked. "Her mother, of course. Queen Alyse never named any of her children after herself."

"You never told me you knew Alyse," Elros said in a surprised tone.

"You never asked," Alena quipped with a smile.

Both Elros and Alena flushed slightly when Lin giggled, only then remembering that they had an audience.

"Sorry," Elros apologized, though he was smiling. "It has ... we ... aren't quite used to being informal around others. Usually when we have the opportunity to be informal, we're alone."

"Perhaps it's good that we have this small bit of time when we're not in service to anyone in particular," Alena laughed softly. "It's giving us a chance to interact with people as people rather than servants."

'Servants' seemed a little out of place when referring to the two of them, but it was true: despite their very high rankings - her as high counselor, him as Captain of the guard - they were servants of their rulers.