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Earendil laughed. "Yes, we're going," he chuckled, grinning at Lin before following Miyuki back on deck.

Topside, it was quite windy. They were moving quite quickly, though they were just now reaching the edge of the city. There were a few people on the banks waving to the ship as it passed, but most people weren't paying them any mind.

Earendil chuckled and knelt down, taking Miyuki in his arms before standing up again.

"Trying to see down to the water?" he asked her with a smile. "It's quite far down, make sure you don't lean too far. That would be quite a fall."

Earendil chuckled. "They're saying goodbye, because they know it's going to be a while before we're back," he told Miyuki. He turned to Lin and smiled when he heard her speak. "It really is," he agreed. "Especially knowing that it's going to be probably at least a few years before we're back again."

Amalirahc popped up behind Lin, as energetic as ever. He ran to the rail and started waving back at the people. "That's my mama's friends!" he told Earendil and Lin proudly. "They always come to see us off whenever we go somewhere!"

Earendil smiled down at Miyuki. "You never know," he told her softly. "My uncles and I have quite a bit of work ahead of us ... we really don't know how long we'll be out here. It might be a year, it might be longer."

He really had no idea what was expected of his uncles. Would they simply be drawing up the plans? Starting the work? Overseeing construction? Waiting until it was finished? He didn't know. It was that simple.

Earendil smiled and Miyuki and sat down carefully, setting her on his lap. He patted the deck beside him, inviting Lin to sit as well. After all, they wouldn't be at the Zephyr until nightfall, they might as well rest while they could.

"Well," he began thoughtfully, "you know how at the palace, where I live, things are different from the ranch or from your home? Where the Queen is always working to take care of her people?"

Earendil smiled. "Well, the queen of Amon Darthir, Queen Aerin, she is very new at her job, and she did not grow up in a castle like my family did. So she needs some help. So that is what I'm going to help her with. Teaching her about how a kingdom works. My uncles are going to help build the city, because it is too small for the people now."

He wondered how much of that she had understood. He had tried to keep it simple, but when one didn't know anything about kingdoms and the like, it was questionable how much of it even made sense.

"Exactly," Earendil chuckled. "Because she asked me to. I'm sure she will be doing a fine job on her own, but she wants to do better than just fine: she wants to be a queen that her people will be proud of, that they will love. She wants to do the best she can to help her people."

It wasn't as if he was just going to barge in there and tell her what was what: he was going to observe, comment, and suggest. That was about it. At least, that was what he figured it would be.

Earendil smiled and patted Miyuki gently on the head. She was just so adorable, she really was.

The hours passed, and finally, a little past the supper hour, a voice called out, "Zephyr ahead! Prepare for transfer of cargo!"

And in the blink of an eye, the deck was filled with people getting to where they needed to be, already preparing for the cargo to be transferred to the much larger ship even though it would be another half hour or so before they reached it.

Amalirahc was up on deck, but since he was unable to help, he just watched as the Zephyr grew closer.

"See?" he murmured softly to Miyuki. "She's huge!"