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"Actually," Arthael laughed, "I think he might be out on duty at the moment. I think he was on the roster after Halmir. Try ... the woods in the north, he should be out there somewhere. Sir Boudwin would be in the south. If you want to talk to Celeborn about it though, I would be grateful."

She looked over towards the fire in the kitchen. "I can't put it out in the middle of baking a loaf of bread, and I can't leave it while Halmir's asleep."

"Everyone?" Arthael chuckled softly. "Good luck with that. We've a lot of new recruits - at least, people who weren't here the last time you were. All told, there's probably close to one hundred fighters now. We had to build a second and third barracks, one on the other side of the house, and one on the other side of the field."

"Impressive," Earendil grinned. "And here I thought it was just a small operation. You must have been very successful if all those people can be paid well."

Arthael nodded, grinning widely. "Between the hunts and the horse trade, this place collects enough gold to have a treasury, even after everyone is paid."

Haradhel nodded. "Well, that's more doable," she grinned. "They're all still in this barracks. Though from what I hear, there's a few in the barracks over by the field that you would know, too. Maybe you should stop and see them as well."

"Oh?" Earendil looked at Lin curiously. "Who would that be?"

Arthael grinned. "No. Just go over there later on, you'll know who I mean when you see them. At least, you should, they may have changed a bit since you knew them."

Earendil stared at her. "Is there something about this place and mysterious people?" he asked. "Every time we turn around, there's some other mystery being added ..."

Arthael couldn't help but laugh. "Just another mystery you'll have to untangle," she grinned, and if she'd had two good eyes she would have winked at him. "But look at it this way - if we don't keep things interesting, Lin might not come back again."

Teasing, of course. Almost everyone who knew Lin liked to tease her.

"But first, Celeborn," Earendil reminded Lin. "So that we don't lose him before he goes somewhere else."

After all, they had a message to deliver. And who knew? Maybe he - whoever he was - could help them figure out what was going on. If he were the one in charge of everyone, surely he would know at least a bit more about them, yes?

Earendil laughed. "I can carry her for a bit, if you like," he grinned at Lin, "you know that. All you have to do is ask."

He turned to Arthael and bowed his head. "It was a great pleasure meeting you," he said warmly, "and I hope that we can meet again. I would like very much to meet your husband as well."

Arthael smiled back at him. "I'll be sure to tell him when he wakes up. But you should go now, Lin is right. You may have a time of finding Celeborn."

Earendil smiled and waved at her, heading for the door.

"I love kids," Earendil grinned. "And since I don't have any of my own, I can only spoil other people's kids. Besides, it's not as if she's trouble or anything. And you need a break too, sometimes."

He didn't mean anything special by it, he just liked playing with Miyuki. He found her quite cute.

"Though perhaps, once we do find somewhere we're going to be for a while," he added, "you may let her play on the ground for a bit. It's not as if she can go far yet, after all, right? She can't walk yet."

That was one of the reasons Amalirahc was getting harder to take care of, because every time they put him down (which they had to do often, as he was getting so big) he tried to take off on his own. Usually to places he wasn't supposed to go.