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Aranhil smiled warmly at Andarien. "Hello," he greeted the boy. "I'm very pleased to meet you!"

Andarien smiled back at Aranhil and lifted the black goggles from his eyes, resting them on his forehead instead. There was no one glowing in the shop, so he wasn't worried about his eyes.

"Hi," he said, a little bit shyly.

Earendil chuckled. "Aranhil is the one who made the promise necklaces for your mother and myself," he told the boy.

Andarien nodded, and he smiled. "I like them," he said softly.

Aranhil's eyes twinkled mischievously. "I was wondering how that would go. Earendil commissioned me for it about a week after you did, only a few days after you had left. He did comment at the time that I seemed to be reading his mind in understanding what he was looking for."

"A comment I repeated to Lin when I saw this," Earendil chuckled, holding his promise necklace in his hand. "I do have to say, Aranhil, you are better than most at keeping secrets."

The jeweler grinned and bowed. "Thank you."

Earendil grinned at Miyuki. "But you didn't know about my secret," he winked at her. "But you and your mother kept your secret so well, I had no idea."

Aranhil chuckled. "There we go, Miyuki, you and I are good secret-keepers."

"Me too!" Andarien spoke up, trying to take part in the conversation.

Aranhil smiled at the little blond boy. "Oh?" he asked curiously. "What secret did you keep?"

Andarien pouted. "If I tell you, I won't be a good secret-keeper anymore!"

"Barely," Earendil grinned back at Lin, his eyes sparkling. "I've a feeling that if I'd waited even until that evening, you'd have asked me first."

Andarien blinked at his parents. "Does that mean you used to not be married?" he asked them, his tone filled with awe.

Of course, he had never known them to be apart, and hadn't seen any other couples before and after marriage. Sure, he was around a few couples that were (most likely) going to get married, but that hadn't happened yet - and he was still very young after all.

Andarien blinked at Lin several times. "Oh," he said finally. "Okay."

He looked up at their promise necklaces again. "So ... those are still kind of new? Because I'm not very old, am I?"

He paused and pursed his lips. "How old am I?"

Earendil thought about what the date was. It was nearly the new year, and Andarien was about two weeks younger than that ...

"Nearly a year," he answered finally. He looked at Lin. "We should have some kind of celebration for his birthday."

Earendil chuckled. "Then we can discuss it later," he winked at her. "So that it can be a surprise."

Andarien was watching the two observantly, though his expression was confused.

"Nana, what's a birthday?" he asked at length.

"Oh, I see," Andarien nodded. "Okay."

Aranhil chuckled softly. "He's a bright lad, isn't he?" he smiled at Earendil.

Earendil grinned proudly. "You should see him when he sees anything mechanical," he winked.

Andarien's eyes lit up at the mention. "Do you have any mechanics here?" he asked breathlessly, giving Aranhil the puppy eyes that Miyuki had found so irresistible the day before.

Aranhil laughed. "A bit, but not much, and I'm afraid that I can't take you to see it. It's too dangerous for someone who doesn't know how to maneuver the room, and my father is working in there so it won't be safe to interrupt him right now."

"I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have," Aranhil agreed cheerfully. "I do love my work, and that includes talking about it."

Andarien thought about it carefully for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Then I'll ask Nana and Ada if they'll take me back here on a day when we don't have so much to do."

Aranhil raised one eyebrow. "Oh? You have a busy day ahead of you?" he asked.

Earendil smiled. "We just returned to the city yesterday, so today we're hoping to visit people and let them know we're back for a while."