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Earendil cracked a smile at that. "So you wouldn't think less of me if I fell asleep?" he asked her, only half joking. "It wouldn't shatter your image of the illustrious prince that nothing can get down?"

He chuckled softly. "Because I'm afraid that's all I want to do right now ... as interesting as this rain is, I don't have the energy even just to sit and listen to it."

Though how they were both going to fit in there lying down was questionable. Earendil looked at the tiny space that was theirs for the next short while, his expression thoughtful.

"If we both lay lengthwise," he murmured softly. "But even then it will be a tight fit ..."

"If all else fails," Earendil said sheepishly, trying to position himself to lay down with his feet towards the door, "you can use me as a pillow. I can't promise how comfortable I'll be."

He knew that while he wasn't exactly skin and bones, he didn't have a whole lot of meat on him either. Muscular he might be, but he was no different from most other elves.

Earendil's eyes were already closed. "At this rate," he murmured softly, barely audible above the sound of the rain outside, "I doubt I would notice."

And as the rain continued, his breathing grew more shallow, and very quickly he was fast asleep.

The rain continued until well into the night, but when Earendil woke a few hours before morning, it had stopped. He yawned and was about to stretch when he remembered that Lin was sleeping right next to him, and instead he carefully got up, trying not to wake her, and headed outside into the blackness of the night.

After stretching all the kinks out of his arms, he looked around. The air was thick and humid now, and hotter than it had been the day before, even though it was night.

Suddenly a thought struck him ... everyone had told him that this was a nocturnal society, and that at night they did get quite active, as active as they themselves were during the day. But it was the middle of the night right at that moment ... and there wasn't a soul in sight.

It felt a little creepy to the Southland prince ...

The night was still dark, but there wasn't a cloud in sight, and stars filled the sky, a crescent moon bathing the jungle below in the faintest of silver light. Wet though the ground was, Earendil had found a dry place to sit, and he was simply watching the stars and trying to shake the feeling of foreboding that had crept over him.

He heard the gentle rustle of the flap of the door moving, and he turned around and saw Lin in the doorway. He was glad of her presence - it meant he wasn't alone in the deserted village.

"Good morning, Lin," he said quietly, rising to his feet and moving towards her. "At least, it will be morning in an hour or so ... I think ..."

He looked around. "Where is everyone? I thought it was supposed to be full of activity at night ..."

Earendil shook his head. "Something doesn't seem right to me. It's like what your people might call a ghost town."

Still, what could they do about it? At least they had gotten in out of the rain. But now what?

"Where do we go from here?" he asked Lin. "Back to the beach? Stay here until someone shows up? We've got supplies, but ... I haven't mapped this area, and to be honest I got a little turned around yesterday when we were running from the rain."