Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled. "I meant that it feels as if the land is moving," he grinned at Lin, digging his boot into the sand. "I'll get over it, I'm sure."

"Should only take a few minutes," Roydon called over to Earendil as the crew began setting up a shelter. "You get used to it. Go from land to water and back often enough, and you'll never feel the difference anymore."

Shiro walked straight towards the edge of the jungle, and looked into the foliage thoughtfully. Out came his journal, and he began to write in it.

Earendil nodded. "Let's just make sure that we keep the beach in sight," he murmured. "Last thing we need is to get lost."

In many ways, Earendil had missed out on many things generally considered important by the elves: living in a desert, he had never had the chance to learn about forests, and tracking, and hiding, and hunting.

Earendil chuckled and headed over to join Shiro.

The neko was intent in his studies, but he looked over his shoulder as the two joined him by the foliage.

"It's amazing," he murmured. "It's as if we've walked into the Amazon ... but without the insane humidity or bugs. The plants are identical, at least here ... and who knows what it's like further in?"

Suddenly there was a strange squawking sound from deeper into the jungle, and Shiro looked forward intently, his ears flicking back and forth. "That was no bird I've ever heard," he murmured.

There was of course the possibility that it wasn't a bird then ... he had spent hours in Lore's library at the computers, learning about different bird calls from around the world, listening to samples on the headphones.

Shiro shrugged. "Who knows?" He turned back to the jungle and smiled. "I can't wait until we can start exploring," he murmured. "But yes ... we have to make sure it's safe first ..."

Earendil pointed off into the foliage. "Look, Lin," he smiled softly. "Butterflies."

Butterflies indeed ... two of them, one the size of Earendil's fist, and the other the size of his outstretched palm. The smaller one was a shimmery purple, while the larger one had red on the underside of its wings, and blue on the top.

"They are," Earendil murmured as if he were afraid of frightening the little creatures away. "Much more beautiful than the ones in the courtyard at home ..."

Shiro stared at the butterflies. "They're like ... morphos ... but ... bigger," he mused, tilting his head thoughtfully.

Earendil looked over at Lin. "You can talk to all butterflies?" he asked. "Even if they don't speak any of the languages that you do?"

He shrugged. "I mean, it stands to reason, if there were any people out here, they would probably speak a language that none of us could understand."

"True," Earendil admitted. "I had forgotten about that. I suppose I'm just so caught up in the idea of knowing what's being said around me."

He paused and looked around. "I suppose it's just a bit strange, the idea of not knowing a language that might be spoken around me," he murmured. "I have learned every language in the Four Lands ..."

He smiled at Lin. "Learning experience, indeed."