Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Anything would be helpful," Daeron said softly, passing his hand over his face slowly. He looked at Lin, and his entire demeanor had changed. Instead of sitting straight and tall as he usually did, he was slouching now, the stance of a man exhausted and defeated.

"I'm grateful for any help you give," he added sincerely. "Anything at all."

"Thank you." Daeron reached out and took Lin's hands in his own and squeezed them slightly. "Thank you."

Then, as abruptly as he had taken her hands, he let them go again and rose from the chair he had been sitting in.

He exhaled slowly. "I need to walk. Forgive me. I'll see you again later."

And with a quick bow of the head, he strode out the door, running his fingers anxiously through his hair.

Earendil and Andarien were sitting on the floor together, playing with the building blocks that he and Lin had bought for the boy in Chansond'eau. Earendil was talking to him in a mixture of Common Elvish and Common Tongue, sandwiching the two languages together so that Andarien would understand the Common Tongue.

When the door opened, Andarien beamed up at Lin. "Nana!" he exclaimed. He pointed at the stack of blocks. "Look! Me and Ada are making a tower!"

Earendil chuckled. "I think we should ask Ulrich to make him a game of Towers, the game that he made for Aliya and her children. He's got a good handle on architecture."

Earendil grinned at Andarien. "Show your mother what you've learned," he urged him.

Andarien looked up at Lin. "Um ... Ada help ... tower ... up build!" He spoke his words with a strong accent, similar to what those in Gaia might call British.

Earendil chuckled. "It's coming. But for a half hour lesson, that's not too bad, I think."

Andarien gave Lin a thumbs up. "Good!" he said in English.

Andarien grinned at Lin, his violet eyes sparkling brightly. "I have to help Ada, he doesn't build good," he told her. "He makes things so they're going to fall."

"I don't know how he picks those things out," Earendil admitted. "But he's right, I've knocked it down three times when I put pieces where he said I shouldn't."

Earendil chuckled softly. "Indeed so. And how is Daeron doing?"

He moved to put a cylindrical pyramid on top of one of the blocks, but Andarien pushed his hand away. "Not there, Ada," he frowned. "You'll knock it over again!"

He took the piece from Earendil and set in on a different part of his structure.

Earendil watched as Andarien continued to build his fortress, and once again he was glad they'd gotten the large set of blocks for him.

"I can't see that being voluntary on Daeron's part," he murmured quietly. He glanced up at Lin. "Do you think talking to him helped at all?"