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"A large family?" Aric blinked. "How big could it possibly have grown?"

"Which branch?" Earendil quipped.

Leilani's eyes lit up. "Queen Regan's branch grew too?" she asked excitedly.

Elrohir hesitated. It seemed they hadn't yet heard about the former queen's death ... "Well ... one part of it," he offered.

Earendil and Elrohir exchanged a meaningful glance. It was one thing not to know about the slavery, that hadn't affected everyone ... but to not know that Regan had been killed over a century ago?

"You've just returned from Laurëfalas, haven't you?" Elrohir asked the couple softly.

Both of the golden-haired elves nodded, and they seemed a bit nervous at the reaction their question had gotten. "Something has happened," Aric said solemnly, putting one arm around his wife's side and holding her close. "Please, tell us."

Earendil cleared his throat awkwardly. "Queen Regan was assassinated over a century ago," he said quietly. "Her descendant, Atalya, is now on the throne. She is Elrohir's grandmother, my great-grandmother. All of Tor Karad was destroyed, the city was only finished being rebuilt about half a century ago, near the time when this ranch was built."

"My older sister met her," Elrohir offered, "but that was before any of the rest of the family was born."

The two visitors looked at Lin and Miyuki suspiciously, but Earendil smiled reassuringly at them. "It's all right, they're as much a part of the elven culture as the rest of us."

He turned to Lin and Miyuki to explain. "Laurëfalas is the land also known as the Golden Shores, where elves who are tired of this world can go to live in true peace and harmony with all around them, both people and nature. There is no pain, no suffering, no worry, no fear ..."

"It is also the home of the Valar," Elrohir spoke up. "Though they don't always stay there."

Everyone had to laugh at that, even the visitors.

"We left when we were nearing five hundred years," Leilani smiled, "and we considered ourselves young then."

"I still think we're young," Aric quipped, "even at thirty five hundred."

"Thirty six," Leilani corrected her husband with a giggle.

Earendil chuckled at the two of them. It was clear that they were now feeling comfortable there, and he was glad of that. "So what are your future plans?" he asked them curiously, tilting his head slightly. "I mean the near future. Obviously you're going to visit Ulani and Ulrich, but after that ..."

The two exchanged another look, and Earendil understood what that meant. The two would not be able to return to the Golden Shores, not after having been there and left again. He remained silent, however, and simply waited for their reply.

"Well, we had planned on living in the valley with Ulani and Ulrich again," Leilani confessed, "but with all of this going on now, we're not entirely sure what we want to do."

"And we're not going to make any final decisions until we've seen what else has changed in the Four Lands," Aric added. "So it looks as if we're going to be traveling a little longer."

He looked at his wife and the infant in her arms, and his eyes softened visibly. "We will be looking for another home, though."

Both visitors gave Miyuki a curious glance. "Oh?"

Earendil smiled. "We've been traveling to other lands for years, but we've yet to see most of our own land. So we're planning once the snow melts a bit more to do a round trip of the Four Lands. Starting with the human Southland, up to the Westland, Northland, Eastland .... from there we were planning on returning here, I think, but if you want to see the elven Southland, I'm sure we could manage that. My family is there, too."

Earendil chuckled. "Yes, yes ... Aunt Amalthea is married to King Eregon of the Westland, my cousin Lothiriel is Queen of the Eastland ... and of course they all have families."

"Not to mention," Elrohir added with a grin, "we're here,, and the rest of our family - or most of it - is in the Southland."

"How much of the Aldrich family do you know?" Earendil asked the visitors curiously.

The two exchanged a glance, and Leilani was the one to answer. "When we left, Ulani and Ulrich had two children: Ruwen, and Terexin. Their oldest son, Cowan, had been killed, a few centuries before. Ruwen and her family came with us to Laurëfalas, but Terexin stayed behind, as did his daughter. As for Queen Regan's family ..."

"We never heard anything past her first grandchild," Aric picked up. "Ulani and Ulrich visited her yearly, but we never went with. We were happy to stay at home. And of course we know Ulani's parents, but beyond that ..."