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Earendil nodded. "And I think that, while he's still young anyways, he should have something else to protect him ... an animal, perhaps, maybe a dog or something. But something smarter, that can be trained to protect him before we leave for our next trip to Caras Galadhon. I don't know if a dog would be much good, though, they age so quickly ..."

And sometimes weren't the smartest.

"I wonder though who might be able to help him with his training ..."

"That sounds like a plan," Earendil agreed. "And yes, Triton might be a good person to ask. Daeron of course always used to have stories about Triton, though I do think that now that he's grown, the hero worship isn't quite what it used to be. He still has quite a bit of respect for Triton, but you know how time and absence work with memories, even the best of them."

In other words, Daeron had realized that though Triton had indeed helped to save him and bring him home, he wasn't a god.

Earendil laughed. "Really? That's not what Daeron says. But he was a kid, and a traumatized kid at that. It doesn't surprise me that he doesn't remember as clearly."

He smiled down at Andarien. "Well, maybe we'll have to focus on running, for him. That's a skill that would never be useless anyways."

"And I'd rather have him have fun while conditioning rather than making it yet something else that he gets frustrated with." Earendil sighed heavily. "The poor boy ... it seems that so many things are so hard for him."

It was a new experience for him.

"You know, Remiel's about the same age as Andarien," he mused, eying the boy who was sitting with his parents in the other wagon. "And yet I don't think I've seen him and Andarien playing together. Sometimes I have to wonder if they're really aware of each others' existence."

Earendil looked doubtful at that. "I don't know," he said hesitantly. "I think Miyuki was a bit older. At the very least, she was more mature. Andarien ..."

He trailed off as he considered how to say this. Andarien was still of such an age that he needed naps every day, and he needed his parents nearby. It wasn't that he was afraid to go off without them, but he did, Earendil felt, need supervision.

He shook his head. "I think there's too much that he simply doesn't understand," he said finally. "I mean just about how things work, and what is and is not all right to do. What's safe and what isn't."

He paused to think about it again and concluded, "I think he at least shouldn't explore alone. He should have someone with him."

"Yes, but it was still different," Earendil said patiently. "Andarien is still more like a toddler. Miyuki was clingy yes, but she was ready to go off on her own if she wanted to. I'm not sure that Andarien is."

He smiled faintly as the boy in question began to stir. "Well, I guess we'll see," he concluded as Andarien raised his head and blinked sleepily at his parents.

There was a subtle frown on the boy's face. "Why do you always talk about me in the other language instead of the one I know?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

Andarien stared at Lin for a moment while he took that in, and then he turned and looked at his father.

"What about you, Ada? What is your first language?" he asked through a yawn.

"High Elven," Earendil grinned as Andarien rubbed his eyes. "A language we haven't even tried to teach you yet."

Andarien looked dismayed. "Another one?" he whimpered. "I can't even get one more, I'm never gonna learn another one more!"

Andarien didn't look reassured. That still meant he was going to have to learn it eventually, and at the rate he was learning, he was never going to learn the Common Tongue. He could repeat things, sure, that part was easy; but he couldn't remember it after a few minutes, and the longer the time was after his lesson, the less he remembered. After a nap, or a full night's sleep, he wouldn't remember any of it at all. He really wasn't much further than he had been four weeks ago, when they had been in the Westland.

"Whatever," he muttered darkly after a few moments of trying to work out what his mother had said.

It was harder than trying to learn his physical lessons!