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"River has been continuing her lessons with me while you were gone," Alassëa replied, "and she has become quite skilled ... and not only with the quarterstaff. Kaito was in the Borderlands for most of the time as well, teaching her to use a ... a katana, he called it. So she has learned a variety of weapons. I do not think she will be continuing.

"Amalirahc, on the other hand, has not had lessons in a while ... though his focus has been on his new sister, I believe," she added. "It is possible that he may wish to continue with lessons, though I would not be surprised if he did not."

"You could always ask one of them to be your sparring partner," Alassëa suggested. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind once in a while."

After all, even if they didn't need lessons, they did need to keep their skills sharp.

With so many people talking with each other and finding new people to talk to over and over, lunch was a very drawn out affair that day.

Within the week, the (extremely) large group was ready to travel again. Andarien and Miyuki had their bows, the entire family had new footwear, and the new arrivals had had some time to rest.

It was a four-day trip to Namonuito, and when they arrived at the port city it was bustling with activity. It was the middle of the day, and the street market was in full swing. Elves shouted their wares from the shade of their awning-canopied stalls, women went about with large baskets of varying degrees of fullness, and children ran through the streets playing their games. The air was fresh and crisp, and the slight aroma of fish drifted on the breeze.

Leyenda took a deep breath, her eyes closed to fully savour the atmosphere.

"Ah," she breathed blissfully. "Home."

Andarien had taken advantage of the journey to have his Ponyta out of its Pokeball as much as possible. The horse-like creature had grown a bit already, and its mane and tail had gotten longer and brighter. It liked to run and skip, and Andarien made sure that it always remained near the group, though he fully admitted he loved watching it speed around the area.

For a while, Eon had tried to chase it, but the Ponyta ran so quickly that even Earendil had to admit that he had never seen anything so fast. After that, Eon had simply contented himself with playing with Andarien around the wagons after nightfall, when the group stopped for the night.

Now that they were in the city, however, Andarien held Eon in his arms and told the Ponyta firmly to stay close.

"Let's get settled in the inn for now," Earendil told the others. "We can't all fit in Arwen's house, so it's best if only a few of us go there."

"We'll be staying with Mother and Father rather than at the inn," Leyenda spoke up, "so Kelirahc and I will go ahead and let her know that we've arrived. And we are ... how many people, again?"

She did a quick head count.

"Thirty," she nodded. "We'll see you all later!"

She climbed down from the wagon, and Kelirahc followed after her, Aravah in his arms.

"See you later!" Amalirahc called cheerfully to the others as he jumped down after them. He waved to his friends.

"I'd suggest going with Leyenda and Kelirahc and asking Arwen if you could stay in his boathouse," Earendil suggested. "They build ships for a living, and they've got a massive building that they build them in to protect them from drying out too much. Maybe you could stay in there."

He nodded after Leyenda's family, who were walking rather quickly towards the waterfront. "You might want to catch up with them," he added. "This city may not be the capital, but it is bigger than the capital."

"We may need to split ourselves between two inns," Earendil quipped, looking around at their enormous group. "But you're right, we do need to get settled. Andarien, keep your Ponyta close, and if there are too many people around put it back in its ball."

"Yes, Ada," Andarien said obediently, looking at his Ponyta, who was prancing alongside the wagon. It was full of energy and clearly wanted to run, but Andarien had been training it well, and so it wouldn't go anywhere without his permission.

It took them a while, but they did find an inn with enough room for the entire group, and they spent some time getting settled into their rooms. Once they had rested a bit, Earendil suggested to Lin that they find Arwen and see when they would be sailing.

Earendil nodded. "Right."

He led Lin to the room that Andarien was sharing with Jess and knocked on the door. It was Jess who opened it. Travel through the desert had not been overly kind to the poor boy who was used to northern climates: his face and arms were sunburned, though it didn't seem to be bothering him too much.

"Hi," he smiled, a bit shyly, bowing his head respectfully to them. "I suppose you're looking for Andarien?"