Welcome to Gaia! ::

"It's not about the formality," Elros chuckled, "but the propriety of it."

"Even that's not it," Alena laughed. "We just aren't used to being able to speak freely is all. I'm certain we'll get used to it eventually."

Elros grinned. "For the first time, we truly are being ourselves," he assured Lin just as Soronume arrived at their table.

It had been many long years since Soronume had seen Lin, but she looked the same as she ever did, her chestnut-streaked black hair as thick and long as ever, her clothes still bright and colorful.

"Good afternoon," she greeted them all brightly, speaking in the Common Elvish tongue since that was what they had speaking when she had approached them. "It is good to see you again, Lin. Welcome back. Starr told me you wished to speak with me ..."

"Close to two, actually," Soronume laughed. "But I did hear about it. I have to say, when you wear your wings like that, they're hardly noticeable until you mention it."

She smiled warmly and turned her eyes to Elros. "So, you know my daughter?" she asked amiably.

Elros smiled back at her. "I was living and working at Haven when she first learned of it," he explained. "She ... well, let me just say that her first meeting with Prince Elrohir did not go over well, and I was one of the ones who helped her to adjust to life among people again."

"Then I am grateful to you," Serenity's mother beamed. "If not for that, she would not have returned here, even with Garrick's return."

Elros chuckled at Lin. "You yourself were still at your smallest stage," he recalled. "Though the meeting itself did not go well, much good has come of it. Tell me," he continued, turning back to Soronume, "has Lady Serenity returned to the palace at all to see the rest of her family? Or is that a step that she has yet to take?"

"She has, with Garrick," Soronume replied with a smile. "How she comes away is sometimes different but she does go there from time to time."

They chatted for a while longer, but soon enough they had all finished eating, and Soronume had to get back to work, and so she bid them all a fond farewell and hurried off.

"She is very kind," Alena said warmly as they prepared to leave the inn.

"Yes," Elros agreed, rising and holding one hand out to Alena to help her to her feet as well. "Valdemar did say that he would try to have some time for us this afternoon ... there is so much that we much speak with him about."

There was a smile on his face that could only be described as mischievous, so different from the expressionless person he had been when Lin had first met him.

Elros and Alena both laughed as Alena tucked her arm in Elros's and they started for the door.

"When we knew him before, the races were still together," Alena explained with a smile. "At that point, we were indeed just very good friends. When the races split, Valdemar did not hesitate to go with the Dark Elves to the south. Elros and I of course stayed with the Light Elves, and though there was much unrest among the people, we married very soon afterward."

"But before we could agree on whether or not to leave with those who no longer wanted to be with the Light Elves," Elros took up the tale, "we were attacked and separated, and you know the rest from there."