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Earendil nodded and pulled the door closed again.

"If they're not there, we'll ask another time," he murmured.

He didn't want to track them down like animals, because they weren't family and it would be rude if they weren't readily available to seek them out.

The library was at the end of the hallway, and it didn't take long for the three of them (plus Miyuki's Eevee) to make their way there. The library door was wide open. Lancaeriel was sitting at the desk once more. She was wearing different clothes than she had been wearing that morning, and her long, pale hair was slightly damp. But, as she had been earlier in the day, she was so absorbed in what she was reading from a massive tome that she didn't notice that there was anyone at the door.

Lancaeriel blinked, startled from her concentration, and looked over at the door to see who had interrupted her. She smiled when she saw the three who were standing there, then smoothed out the page she had been reading and pushed her chair back.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, "I'm afraid I've lost track of time again. Is it time for dinner?"

"No," Earendil answered, trying his best to hide his amusement. "Not for a while yet. I hope we're not bothering you."

Lancaeriel giggled softly. "Of course not. I need to be reminded that there are more than books here. Please, join me."

She motioned for them to come into the library with her.

Lancaeriel smiled gently as Earendil made himself comfortable next to Lin.

"Yes," she replied softly. "It is the same thing that Sir Valdemar and I have been working on since I arrived here. He is taking the afternoon to rest, though, since he did not get the opportunity this morning as I did."

"It must be something big, if both of you are working this hard on it," Earendil mused aloud. "Do you hope to finish before we leave for traveling?"

Lancaeriel pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Finish?" she repeated. "I'm ... not sure that's the right word, but ... I am hoping to glean some helpful insight, yes. So far, we've not found much that has been of any use."

Lancaeriel's eyes grew bright, but she didn't otherwise show her amusement.

"Come now, Miyuki, I've told you often enough that you may ask me whatever you like," she chided the girl. "If it's something I don't want you to know, I would simply tell you that."

Earendil chuckled softly. "What is it you're researching then?" he asked, overcoming the instinct to add the polite 'if I may ask' at the end of it.

"Reincarnation," the pale woman answered, glancing back at the book she had been reading. "I know. I oughtn't need to. I've been reincarnated twice, and have all my memories of both my lives and my deaths. I have had the good fortune of twice finding my husband back when he was also reincarnated. So you might think that I would be an old hand to this, as it were."

She shook her head. "Yet I can think of no patterns to it. No patterns as to where a person may be reborn, or to whom. Sometimes a person is even reborn to a different race. Elves, always, but perhaps a different race of elves. Different countries. In different times, even in different Ages from those who may have died at the same time. There is no pattern as to how long it takes a person to regain lost memories - if they ever do. There are certain preparations one might make to raise the probability that one will regain their memories after being reborn, but there is no guarantee ..."

She hesitated. She of course was an exception, but no one anywhere had ever attained her abilities with and knowledge of magic.

"For all this," she finished softly, "I have found no clues as to where my husband may be found ... if he can yet be found."

A slow smile spread over Lancaeriel's face, and she looked away, out the window, for a moment. For a moment, she looked very wistful, and then she sighed heavily.

"You know, Miyuki," she said, so softly that her voice was barely audible, "I truly hope that you are correct. This is the longest that we have been apart ... in life or in death."

She kept staring out the window in silence for a moment. Then she raised one hand to her cheek and brushed away a stray tear. "In old times, I was the one who was always considered to be the strong one. I was the head of the druids, the one who has always known the most about magic and the world. For three lifetimes I was unshakable ... now look at me."

She laughed mirthlessly. "Falling apart."

Lancaeriel was surprised by the hug, but she smiled and put one arm around Miyuki's shoulders.

"Thank you," she murmured softly. She smiled gently. "I shouldn't allow myself to get so worked up about it. I've been through this before, always without research. It's just been so long ..."

Her smile grew slightly wider, and she turned back to Lin and Earendil. "But you did not come here to listen to my troubles. Is there anything that I can help you with?"

Lancaeriel laughed softly. "And they are quite right to insist on it!" she beamed. "You will never learn anything if you do not ask questions. That's why I keep telling you that you can ask me anything you wish. Learning has been my lifelong goal. With knowledge, you are better armed than with a weapon."

She meant that literally - with knowledge, she had more powerful weapons than could be made with wood, leather or steel. Magic after all was there for the taking to anyone who had the knowledge to use it.

As usual, Andarien slept with Eon and his Ponyta egg. With the size of the beds in the palace, he wasn't at all worried about dropping it on the floor and breaking it.

The morning after the family's chat with Lancaeriel, Andarien woke with empty arms. Eon was asleep on his shoulder, but the Ponyta's egg had disappeared. Bleary-eyed, Andarien pushed himself into a sitting position. Eon woke with a squeal and tumbled to the bed, then took a running leap at Andarien's back.

"Hwaaa!" Andarien squawked, tumbling from the bed onto the floor. He landed on his shoulder, his feet still up on the bed, and when he blinked and looked up, he was surprised to see a long, white, fuzzy head looking back at him.

"Huh?"

He turned himself around and sat up properly. His blanket tangled around his waist, but he ignored it - he wasn't trying to stand yet anyways - and rubbed his eyes.

"Ponyta?" he mumbled groggily. "S'at you?"

A tiny white muzzle nuzzled Andarien's cheek. Andarien giggled and stroked the creature's fuzzy, cream-coloured body. "Aw, you're so soft ..."

He rubbed his eyes again and took a better look at the Ponyta. It was small, only about half his height, and very wobbly on its feet. It was - as Andarien's first reaction termed it - naked. It had no mane, and its tail was a little white stub.

"Huh ... not like your picture, eh?" he murmured. "That's ok. Maybe you'll grow into it." He grinned. "Come on, let's show you to Nana and Ada! C'mon!"

He scrambled to his feet, twisting out of his tangled blanket. "Come on, Eon!" he called to his Eevee, beckoning for him to follow Andarien to the door. "Come on, Ponyta!"

The Ponyta took a wobbly step after Andarien but nearly stumbled. It whinnied pitifully.

"Aww," Andarien murmured softly. "I got you." He picked up the Ponyta carefully. "Come on, let's go see Nana and Ada."

He grunted with the effort and opened his door and, ignoring the fact that he was still dressed in his nightshirt, started down the hall to Lin and Earendil's door, Eon following closely at his heels.