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Earendil was impressed. "That was fast, getting everything together so soon after just finding out you're a mother."

He grimaced slightly. "That's going to take some getting used to. Anyways, it's probably a good thing you hurried. It's been a quarter of a year here, and Captain Striate has been getting a bit fidgety, waiting so long when he has a mission to accomplish. Yes, he's happy to be waiting with Rhea, but on the other hand, he does have work to do and I have a feeling that waiting is making him feel a bit guilty."

Earendil smiled sheepishly. "As much as I would consider it to be cheating, we're going to fly again. Straight to the Borderlands, we should be able to get there in a single day, if not two. Haldia, Kelirahc and the captain have been learning to ride horses, but they still aren't good enough to take a horse on a long journey like that. Once we're there, of course, we'll be leaving most of them behind, and you and I - and Miyuki of course, and anyone else who wants to come with us - can use some horses from the ranch."

He paused, rocking Miyuki slowly. "That is, if you're still up for that kind of travel ..."

Though at the very least, they did have to go to the Eastland, since they had the letter from Alena to Elros to deliver.

Earendil smiled brightly again, his eyes filled with relief. "Then this is going to be even more of an adventure than we had thought," he chuckled softly. He rose to his feet once more. "Shall we go find the others and let them know that you're back? They will all be excited to see you, I'm sure, and that way you can also see how they've been adjusting to life here."

He shifted his hold on Miyuki, putting her to his shoulder so that it would be easier to carry her. He didn't mind still carrying her, if Lin didn't want to take her back yet.

"If you prefer," Earendil chuckled, handing the child back to Lin carefully. "I don't mind either way."

He liked spoiling other peoples' children, since he didn't have any of his own.

As soon as Lin had the baby again, he turned to Senka and picked her up, holding her in the crook of one arm and stroking her gently.

"Off we go, then," he grinned at Lin. "Ready?"

Earendil smiled and began to lead the way, going slowly so that Lin wouldn't have to rush and risk waking Miyuki.

"We might as well see Haldia first, she will be the easiest to track down," he explained, turning towards the stair tower. "She has been working with Sir Valdemar, learning the Common Tongue and telling him all about her culture. She's still having a lot of trouble with the language, but she's bright. I'm sure she'll get it."

"He is," Earendil smiled. "But he does not mind it in the least. He is fascinated by her, I think. The idea of her people. Where they come from, the fact that they are unchanged after all these thousands of years, save for their appearance. They are indeed what the elves once were: a people who live in peace, without worry or fear, without strife, envy, covetousness ... they do not fear and not suspicious of people who are different, they despise violence, though they are capable of defending themselves quite well. It just goes to show how much we have changed in the same amount of time. Intolerant, possessive, selfish ... it truly puts us into perspective."

Earendil nodded slowly. "Still," he murmured, "I can't help but wonder ... if not for the arrival of the humans, and the problems with the dwarfs, and the lingering problems of Melkor and his minions and the damage he did to our land ... if we might not have changed so much. I mean, they truly are a people in isolation - they weren't even entirely certain that Melkor wasn't still out here somewhere, still wreaking havoc."

If his own people had been so isolated, would they have ended up the way they were now?

"I won't argue that," Earendil nodded as they headed down the hall towards Sir Valdemar's study. "And the more we know about it, the better we can rise above it, change ourselves. Better ourselves."

When they reached the study, the door was closed, and Earendil knocked lightly before opening it and stepping inside.

Sir Valdemar was sitting behind his desk, and Haldia was sitting across from him. She was wearing her island clothes again, and looked a bit wild - in the wilderness sort of sense, rather than out of control - in comparison to the neat and orderliness of the historian's study.