Welcome to Gaia! ::

Atalya nodded. "Then it is settled. Sir Aranel, take a few days to rest ... we will prepare a room for you to stay in. But we need this matter taken care of, and quickly, so I ask that you do all that you can to hasten the end of it."

Sir Aranel nodded and bowed his head respectfully. "As you wish, Your Majesty," he said solemnly.

Earendil had remained silent during the entire exchange, but now he spoke to Sir Aranel. "Let me take you to your room," he offered. "I'm sure you must be exhausted ... riding so far and then straight into a meeting."

The man's eyes flickered first with surprise, then suspicion, then gratitude, and he nodded slowly. "Thank you, my Lord."

Earendil glanced down at Lin. "You coming with us?" he asked her softly. "Or do you want to stay with Tinuviel and Ninako and see what's going to happen next?"

Earendil nodded and smiled. He was certain that Lin would have questions for their guest ... and judging by the glances that the man was giving Lin, he would have some questions for her as well.

"This way," he motioned, leading the two of them out of the room.

"Did you have a long trip here?" Earendil asked Sir Aranel curiously as they walked down the corridor towards the tower stairs.

The man nodded. "Namonuito ... as far away from the north as we could get. If I'm not mistaken ... a cousin of yours recently moved there ... married to the shipwright?"

Sir Aranel nodded at Lin. "Yes ... it is a rather small town, despite it being the only elven city on water, and she has made herself quite popular among the people. She's very energetic ..."

Earendil chuckled softly. "That's one way of putting it."

Sir Aranel raised one eyebrow at Lin. "She is," he replied. "Always organizing activities, helping to train the children, telling stories, visiting ... and when I left, she was helping with the building of her husband's latest ship. She does anything and everything ... no one knows how she keeps it up."

Earendil just laughed. "Well, she'll settle down someday," he grinned. "At least, we hope."

Earendil chuckled softly at Lin, and reached down to ruffle her hair affectionately.

"They stopped here on their way south," he smiled warmly at her. "They promised that they would wait patiently. And let's face it, the way they were acting, I don't think they care how long we take. They've got each other."

Sir Aranel looked at Earendil curiously. "Sailing trip?" he asked. "What is this all about?"

"Arwen and Roydon are coming with us," Earendil added, "he's supplying the ship and a crew, and we're working to figure out what sort of people to bring. It will be mostly exploration, though we'll be looking to take someone with diplomatic skills, in case we find other people somewhere ... fighters and trackers, obviously ..."

He was hoping someone who was experienced in travel and maybe even someone who had been to those places before ... but he doubted that there were very many people like that still alive, and how would he even go about finding one?

"Aren't Shiro and Kaito and Ura coming along as well?" Earendil asked Lin curiously. "Shiro and Ura at least ..."

It had been such a long time ago that he had talked to any of his cousins. He was glad that he could see Lin so much more often.

Sir Aranel was smiling by this time, at last over the confrontation that had taken place in the conference hall. "It sounds as if you are all looking forward to this journey," he said softly. "I can only hope that it turns out better than my own did."