Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tinuviel shook her head. "Still training, always training ..."

"Not strictly true," Aranel interrupted. "He's finally found something he wants to do with his life - besides training the guard hopefuls." He turned to Lin. "Prince Gion visited several years back, only for a short while, to be sure, but he taught Earendil what he knows about mapmaking. I believe Earendil has a natural talent for it, and when you all go out on that long journey you're planning, he will probably be the one to make maps of all the places you've been."

"Ada-tow dwaw pictuhs," Regan mumbled absently, playing with the string of her father's tunic. "Petty pictuhs."

"But it's great if Regan can come with us," Kaito spoke up suddenly. His yellow eyes gleamed as he watched the child. "She's absolutely adorable."

It looked like he might have found a new playmate.

"Bag?" Tinuviel repeated, tilting her head curiously.

Regan noticed the way Kaito was staring at her, and she stared right back at him, noticing perhaps for the first time his yellow eyes, pointed, furry ears, tail, and large white wings. She looked up at Aranel and pointed at Kaito. "A'sat?"

Aranel chuckled softly in embarrassment. He didn't know, and had been wondering the same thing himself. With a smile, Shiro took it upon himself to explain to their cousin what they were and what it meant.

Tinuviel's eyes lit up as she suddenly remembered back so many decades ago. "Yes," she murmured. "I remember wondering how you fit so much into such a tiny bag ..." She smiled at Lin. "Then Earendil is a lucky man. Those bags would be perfect for travel. I would imagine we might not have to worry too much about water either, then, yes? As long as we have enough containers to put it in?"

"Then we may be able to leave the river for a bit," Tinuviel smiled warmly. "It means we can see a bit more than just the main cities if we wish. But we will have to plan that out with Earendil, of course. But for now ..." Her eyes drifted towards the window, where the early morning's light was beginning to filter in and light up the room. "Breakfast will be ready soon, I should finish getting ready for it. I shall see you all there."

Aranel lifted Regan up for her mother to take her and prepare both of them for the meal, but since he himself was already ready, he sat back on the couch and smiled at the others. "You've been looking forward to this trip for quite a while now, I would imagine," he commented. "If it's been sixteen years since the last time you were all here ..."

Aranel's brow furrowed slightly. "Difference ... not as long fo- Oh! A time schism?" he guessed.

Shiro looked at the man thoughtfully. "You know something of this already?"

Aranel shook his head. "Of time schisms, but not this one specifically," he replied. "I have experienced one, lived outside of time itself ... for a while."

Aranel nodded solemnly. "While it was not in this world, it was not in time," he said quietly. "My father spent thirteen years in there and when we found him, he thought it was but a day. Another was there also, for twenty five thousand years, and he did not know how long it was either. Now that is ended, the fortress is returned ... in a manner of speaking."

Ura tilted his head. "Manner of speaking?"

Aranel looked at the neko. "It was destroyed," he said. "A pile of rubble now. It would be good for exploring, if you were so minded. You seem the traveling type."

Aranel caught the hesitance in her voice, and he chuckled softly. "Don't worry, it's safe," he assured her. "The magic that took it out of this world is destroyed as well, it's as safe as anywhere else."

He paused. "I think, from what I'm told ... the magic of our world is different from your world."