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River looked out at the desert. "Maybe sometime I could try it, and maybe see," she murmured. "Right now doesn't seem like the right time ... I'm sure that with the storm there's a lot of work to be done."

She knew she, Amalirahc and Ivy hadn't been the only ones caught outside, and she'd seen what the wind and sand could do ... even now, looking at the house, she could see that most of the paint had been ground off.

River had a feeling Ivy would have known to do so; after all, she'd grown up with these storms, and she would know how people would worry, not knowing where she was.

"You're right," she agreed, brushing her clothes off. "Grandmama and Grandpapa will be looking for me. Thanks for helping us out of that thing." She smiled at Daemon warmly, for once looking, aside from her darker skin, like her rather calm mother.

River headed back to the main yard, her eyes scanning the plantation for others. By this time, most of the others had reappeared, some a bit worse for wear - scrapes and burns and such - but for the most part, everyone seemed to have been able to find shelter from the storm. She spotted her grandparents and ran to them right away.

Above everyone, a large shadow flew off, away from the plantation, heading south.

"Lin," Aethos called from where he and Alassëa had sat down on the front porch of the house. "You all right?"

He could see that her shirt wasn't in great shape, and he was worried about her.

"Maybe you'd best head inside then," Aethos suggested. "I really don't think there's much more you can do out here until the damage has been assessed. Lex and Gion are working on that now."

He and Alassëa were resting for the moment - they'd been caught outside in the storm, but with his firecasting ability and her healing ability, all they needed now was to sit down and get their energy back.

Aethos looked over at Lin. "Kelirahc is taking Leyenda and Amalirahc south, to Lady Arwen," he told her. "Leyenda is not doing well. Since Chansond'eau we have known that she's been having trouble, and in the Eastland we learned that she is with child ... when she was expecting Amalirahc, she had a difficult pregnancy, and it seems this one is to be no better. During the storm, she fell quite ill, and she wanted to return to her mother."

"I offered to help her," Alassëa spoke up quietly, "but I think that though her mother is also a healer, if I recall correctly, she wanted to see her simply because she's her mother. I can understand that."

"But you'll have to let Miyuki know that Amalirahc's gone now," Aethos added.

Once the children had calmed down a bit, Earendil had given them strict instructions to stay in the living room before he himself headed to the kitchen to help Laer pick up the pieces of broken glass from the window. Andarien was snuggling with Miyuki on a couch, but when the door opened and Lin came back inside, he sprang from the couch with a cry of "Nana!" and attached himself to her leg.

Andarien understood only a word or two of what Lin said, but he was so relieved to see her again that he didn't let it bother him.

"Nana," he said, looking up at her anxiously, "is everybody okay? Did nobody get hurt? That was a big storm!"