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"I'm learning a lot about gears and how to make them and how to use them better!" Andarien beamed. "And Kaito's training me and it's even not going too bad, I think."

After a moment, he added, "But I do wish I could do more with Eon and Ponydash."

Aranxia turned to Aennan. "Have you ever seen Aunt Lin or Uncle Earendil at the library?"

Aennan shook his head. "I work upstairs, I only come down when I need Amanya's help, remember?" he smiled at her. "If anyone would see them there, it's you."

"True," Aranxia giggled. She turned back to Lin and Earendil to explain. "Aennan writes stories for children. He saw me painting at the beach, back when we first arrived here, and asked me to do illustrations for the books. For a while, I painted at the library, but since a few weeks ago I've been working at his brother's house, keeping his sister-in-law company."

Aennan smiled proudly at Aranxia. "Since she's been helping me, we've already sold two books."

"I learned how to read the script here," Aranxia smiled at Aennan. "Though he also has learned our runes."

Aennan just grinned.

"Also," Aranxia added, "I have my notes on them ... I've written down many of them in our runes as well. If you'd like, I can show them to you. I apologize that they're not illustrated, but they would be worthless here in our runes."

"Did it take long for you to learn their writing system?" Andarien asked curiously, leaning forward.

Aranxia smiled and shook her head. "No. I think I had it pretty good by the end of a week, maybe two. It is a bit complicated, but ... I guess it depends on how badly you want to learn it. For me, it was a necessity, because I needed to know the stories to know how to illustrate them, and I couldn't bother Aennan while he was working."

She turned back to Lin again. "If you'd like, I can bring you my transcription notes," she offered.

"A lot of learning about this place, and about my parents," Arthael spoke up. "Teaching Luk about the forest. Helping him renovate his house."

"It's a lot bigger now!" Brooke spoke up proudly. Of course, her contributions to the work had been limited to bringing people food and drinks when they needed it and fetching tools. Aside from that, Alyse had been giving her her lessons - she was after all still in her learning years.

"But it's been a lot of fun," Timaeus added with a grin. "I don't think we've really built anything like that since the barracks became too old and too small."

"Please do," Luk invited them with a grin. "We would welcome you. And I must say, it has changed a lot - I don't think I would recognize it, if I hadn't been there to see it transform."

"Are you going to have your wedding there, Uncle Luk?" Jasmine spoke up curiously.

Luk smiled and shook his head. "Not quite. We were thinking at my parents' shrine."

"It's about a mile outside the city," Luk replied. "It's private, which was why I chose that place. It was the only thing I could do after they disappeared that kept me from going completely insane."

Earendil smiled. "I look forward to seeing it. But what else have people been doing since we arrived here?"

He looked to Daeron and Iorlas, who were on the other side of him.

Daeron smiled. "Well, we've been doing our fair share of exploring, a bit of chaperoning ..."

"With help," Iorlas added, looking as though she was trying not to laugh.

Wren and Lancaeriel exchanged a grin.

"And Iorlas has decided that she wanted to learn a trade," Daeron went on proudly.

"That's not to say that I've decided what trade I'd like to learn," Iorlas added quickly, her cheeks flushing slightly. "But to simply follow others and be idle ... I find I don't enjoy it as much as I once did."

"Not particularly," Iorlas admitted. "I've really never given it any thought before. All I can think of is that I'd like it to be something that I can do while we're traveling, something useful, that can help us to earn our keep wherever we might end up being."

"Hmm." Earendil pursed his lips thoughtfully. "And ideally, it would be something you've at least a bit of natural talent with, so that you can learn it well enough in less than a year."

Iorlas nodded. "Yes."

"What have you been doing, Naida and Feng and Ryu?" Andarien asked curiously. "Because you don't really work, right? Where have you been staying?"

He had been so busy he hadn't seen any of them since their arrival either.