Welcome to Gaia! ::

Leyenda smiled and hugged the cat gently. "Thank you," she murmured.

She looked up suddenly as she heard something in the air that sounded like wind, despite the fact that there was no breeze today. She sat up quickly. "Kelirahc," she murmured, smiling widely.

Sure enough, his dragon appeared over the treetops and set down at the edge of the beach, and then the dragon vanished, leaving Kelirahc alone at the treeline. He looked tired, but there was a faint smile on his face, and he looked around for Leyenda for a moment. She waved him over, and his smile broadened, and he waved back and started towards them.

Leyenda set Senka on Shiro's chest and got up and ran towards Kelirahc to greet him.

Shiro frowned, his ear flicking with every whap from Senka's paw. "Stoppit," he mumbled, reaching up and putting one hand over his ear.

Shiro opened his eyes and glared at Senka. "If you say so," he muttered; and without waiting for her to move he rolled over and scrambled to his feet and dusted the sand off himself. He spread his wings and shook them a bit, dusting them off, then cricked his neck and turned to watch Leyenda and Kelirahc.

"Have to say," he murmured, "he's a lot darker looking in the sunlight ..."

Shiro leaned forward and ruffled the sand out of his hair as he made his way towards Leyenda and Kelirahc.

Leyenda scooped up Senka as she ran up to them, and lifted her to her shoulder.

"Shiro," she said eagerly as the neko approached, "ask him how it went with the elders."

Shiro rubbed his eyes and translated obediently. Kelirahc smiled warmly and turned to Leyenda, speaking to her slowly so that Shiro could translate for him as he spoke.

"He says that it went well," Shiro translated, watching the black elf. "Haldia was reprimanded for her behaviour, and the elders welcome all of our group to their land, and invite us to visit them in their village."

He paused for a moment. "He's more worried about you," he smiled, seemingly amused. "He said he was almost afraid to leave you alone with us last night, so many of us looked so angry ..."

Shiro chuckled, and as Leyenda explained that her parents had just been worried about her, and surprised at the news that she had been married, but that they weren't angry, either at her or at him - since it had been clearly a misunderstanding - but that they had to sit down and talk, all of them, to figure everything out.

When Shiro finished translating, Kelirahc nodded and held out his hand to Leyenda. She took it in her own, and then led everyone towards the shelter where her parents and the others were fast asleep.

Shiro headed into the shelter first, and he saw Lin grooming her wings and murmured, "He's back, if you're interested."

He woke Arwen and Roydon, knowing that they still wanted to talk to Kelirahc, and looked around for him and Leyenda. It seemed they were staying outside, and he turned and headed back out again to join them.

The two were sitting in the sand, their backs against the shelter, and Shiro sat down next to them. It was only a few moments before Arwen and Roydon joined them.

"Tell us what happened," Roydon said quietly but firmly, glancing up at Lin as she joined them.

Shiro murmured softly to Kelirahc, telling him that Leyenda was going to explain things, and the dark man nodded.

Leyenda took a deep breath, her hand tightening around Kelirahc's. "I was exploring the other day when I heard something, and when I went looking I found him on the ground. He had a broken arm, so I set it for him ... he seemed to want to show me something, so I went with him. He took me to his village, it's about two days' walk from here ..."

She told them about the things that they had done while she had been there ... how he had shown her all different kinds of fruit that she had never seen before, tried to explain to her different things about his way of life ... about the afternoon they had spent with his dragon, exploring all areas of the island, and how she had discovered that his people lived in the night, rather than the day ... and how he had offered her the opportunity to share his mark, which she now realized had been him asking her to marry him.

"He told me," she murmured, blushing with embarrassment, "what it meant ... a bonding of our hearts, a union ... but I didn't understand then. I agreed, I wanted it, I wanted us to share a bond ... but I didn't know it was a bond of marriage."