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Andarien grinned and left the tower he'd been building (yes, he was always building towers, but he didn't have enough blocks to do more) and ran over to join the rest of his family.

"I was ready a while ago," he told his parents, "but I was playing with my blocks while I waited for Miyuki!"

He took Lin's hand (since she was shorter than Earendil and her hand was easier to reach) and started tugging her down the hallway. "Come on! Let's go!" he urged her excitedly.

Earendil chuckled and put one hand on Miyuki's shoulder.

"Give him a break," he grinned. "He's just excited to meet the rest of the family. You know he's not usually like this."

He hugged her lightly. "Come on, they're going to get ahead of us."

Andarien looked up at Lin. "Um ... where we came from?" he guessed, slowing a bit as he realized he didn't know the way. "Because we came from ..."

He trailed off when he realized that they hadn't come directly from the dining room, but that they'd first accompanied the other guests to their rooms before going to their own rooms, which were in a different wing.

By the time they arrived in the dining hall, most of the others had arrived - including Earendil's parents.

Luthien's eyes lit up brightly when she saw her son and daughter-in-law and their children enter the hall, and she motioned immediately for them to come and sit next to her and Ruel. Ruel wasn't quite so impressed - he smiled when he saw them, but it wasn't an excited smile.

Still, it was more than Earendil had hoped for.

"Hey, Nana, is that Neko?" Andarien asked, pointing at Ruel when he spotted him.

"Hello again, Lin," Luthien returned the greeting warmly, also in High Elven.

Ruel nodded at Lin. "Lin," he said tonelessly. "Hello again. I understand your travels went well."

He winced and reached for his leg, then glared at his wife. "Yes ... welcome to the family," he added, though his smile was a little tighter now.

Andarien stared at Ruel as he climbed up into the chair next to Luthien. "Nana," he said slowly, putting his hand on her knee. "Why does Neko have a funny look on his face?"

Earendil coughed to cover up a snicker as his father turned a light shade of red and looked away.

Luthien laughed. Tactful as always. She was aware of how Lin tried to keep Ruel's darker side from Miyuki - and of course, now Andarien as well.

"Oh," Andarien blinked. "Well I guess that makes sense. Lancaeriel says everybody is different so I guess Nako gets all excited and Neko just stays quiet."

Earendil chuckled softly. "You could put it that way," he grinned.

Ruel rubbed his forehead and looked down at his plate. "Forgive me, I - I've been working hard today, I'm not-"

Earendil stared at his father. He had never seen him like this before. Civil? To people who were not elves?

"Perhaps after dinner, we could walk in the courtyard," Luthien suggested. "It's a beautiful day, not too hot, and the winter flowers are in bloom. Very lovely."

"Can I come, too?" Andarien asked, eager as always to be in the thick of things.

Earendil glanced at Lin, wishing for a moment that there was a language they could use that Andarien wouldn't understand. He had a feeling that his mother wanted to talk to him and Lin, perhaps with Ruel present, but without the children so that they could speak freely.

Andarien's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Are there any mechanics here?" he asked Miyuki eagerly.

"Mechanics?" Luthien repeated. It wasn't that she didn't know the language, she did; but mechanics was something foreign to her.

A slow smile spread over Andarien's face, and he turned and looked up at his grandmother. "You don't know about mechanics?" he asked, his tone making it quite clear that he was eager to tell her all about it.

Andarien twisted around again in his seat to look up at Lin once more.

"Who's Sir Valdemar?" he asked her curiously. "He sounds kind of important if he has a Sir in front of his name."

"Sir Valdemar was my tutor growing up," Earendil explained. "He is the tutor for all of the royal family here in the Southland. He is the historian of our country."