Welcome to Gaia! ::

"It's good enough, I suppose," Lalwen shrugged. "It has to be cold though, otherwise it's kind of yucky. It's hard to keep it cold enough, though."

"We keep our milk down the well to keep it cool," River offered. "It works, even in the summer, as long as the sun isn't at its peak."

Lalwen nodded. "We keep it in the coolest area of the castle, but it doesn't get cool enough even there, sometimes."

"Sometimes we cut ice in the winter and if Haradhel treats the walls in her cellar well enough they keep all through the summer," River grinned. "That's the best way to do it!"

"What's ice?" Lalwen asked curiously. Of course, living in the desert, it never got cold enough for even a frost, let alone a total freeze.

Lalwen stared at Miyuki doubtfully. "I don't understand."

"It's kind of like how glass is made," River tried. "When it's hot it melts and becomes liquid, but when it cools it becomes solid, and that's how we use it. The difference is that water is liquid at normal tempratures, and it has to be a lot colder before it becomes solid."

"Glass melts?" Lalwen was astonished.

River stared at her. "What kind of things do they teach you here?" she frowned.

"Arithmetic, politics, etiquette," Lalwen ticked them off on her fingers. "Reading, writing, economy. Archery. Poetry. Music. Diplomacy."

She ran out of fingers, and rather than going on, she shrugged. "The important things."

"Well ... no," Lalwen admitted. "Everything I need, I have. If I go to the city, it's more to see the people instead of leaning about what they do."

"Then that's what you have to do," River decided. "I know we'll end up visiting the city sooner or later, probably in a day or two, and then you'll just have to come with us."

"River, Miyuki," Earendil said, appearing suddenly behind the girls. "Come, Princess Amora is waiting for us. I hope you've had enough to eat."

He had Andarien in his arms, and the boy was still licking his lips from the dragonfruit he'd eaten.

Earendil smiled. "Well, most of us would like to rest, but Princess Amora is waiting for us, so we'll see her first. I would imagine that we'll be shown to our rooms after that to rest."

"So yes, we're going," River grinned, following after Miyuki.

"I'm coming too," Lalwen spoke up, hurrying after the girls. "Come on, this way!" She motioned for them to follow her through a different door than the one through which they'd entered the dining hall.

"Follow her," Andarien beamed, speaking in Common Elvish again.

Andarien pouted at Lin. "But it's hard," he protested.

"It will get easier if you practice it," Earendil pointed out as the rest of the party followed after them.

River smiled as she and Miyuki followed Lalwen, but she was somewhat distracted by looking around them at the halls they were passing through. It was different from the Westland palace, very different. It was large, certainly, but not as grand, not as elaborate. Less friendly, or so she felt.

Lalwen led them through a maze of corridors until at last they entered a large sitting room where Amora, looking exactly the same as she had the last time they had visited, was sitting on a sofa with Maeglin, who was reading aloud to her in a language that was not elven.

"Mama, they're here," Lalwen interrupted her sister's reading, skipping forward and sitting next to her mother.

Amora smiled at the group and rose from her seat. "Welcome," she said warmly. "And welcome back."

Halmir, Arthael, and all the others who weren't related to the princess bowed respectfully to her.

"Thank you," Earendil said warmly, shifting Andarien to one arm and putting his other hand over his heart. "It's good to be here again."

"Likewise," Amora said warmly. "And to see how the family has grown!" She laughed softly. "I see things have finally worked out between you and Earendil, Lin. And of course now you also have a son."

Andarien was staring at Amora, and he didn't react, even when she looked directly at him.