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Amalirahc grinned at Miyuki. "Neko built it that big so that it can stay on the ocean for a very long time," he told her, and the pride was clear in his tone. "It can carry huge loads! And it doesn't even feel like a ship sometimes. It's so big it's like a city almost! And you never run out of places to go, and there's lots of people to talk to, and there's always things to do and games to play, and it's steady like a house so you can't even tell you're on water half the time!"

He was clearly excited about this trip. And the closer they got to the Zephyr, the more excited he became.

"Are you going to bunk with your parents?" he asked Miyuki, not realizing that Earendil and Lin didn't share a bed. "Or will you have a cabin to yourself?"

Amalirahc stared at Miyuki as if she had two heads, the ship forgotten for the moment. "Of course they do!" he exclaimed. "And Mama never goes on a trip without Ada, and Ada never goes on a trip without Mama, and they never go to sleep without each other!"

He scratched his hair in confusion. "Sometimes I sleep with them still, and sometimes I have a room for myself, but they never sleep without each other. Ever."

Amalirahc pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know about the not sleeping together part," he admitted, "but I know that he can't go to where your other family is. Mama says it's in a different world, and we can't go there, because if we do then we'll miss too much time here. It would be like poof! We don't exist for all that time! So that's why we can't go to where your family is."

He shrugged. "That's what Mama says."

Amalirahc shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "That's something you'll have to ask them. Maybe your mummi doesn't have your ada's mark? I think Mama might have said something about when she got my ada's mark then they could start sleeping together or something like that."

Details without meaning, as seen through a child's eyes.

Amalirahc nodded. "On his shoulder," he told her, pointing at his own shoulder. "Right there. Ada has a dragon, because he was very brave at the place where he was born, and then he gave it to Mama and then they could live together and then I was born!"

To him that was the way it was. They shared a mark and he was a natural product of that shared mark.

He looked over at Earendil, who was nearby, and pointed at his shoulder. "See? He has a mark, too! Except I'm not sure what it is ..."

In the heat, Earendil had left his shirt in his bag, and his family tattoo was clearly visible in the evening light. A phoenix, with an A-rune above it, the Aldrich crest.

Amalirahc grinned triumphantly. "See? That's why, then. So your mama just needs to get a mark like your ada, and then it will be all better!"

He paused thoughtfully. "Maybe they don't know that," he mused. "I think most grownups do, but you never know. Your mama is from a different world so she might not know."

"I don't know," Amalirahc blinked. "Grownups do funny things sometimes. Don't ask me why, ask him! He's the only one that would know!"

There was a gentle jolt as the caravel they were riding came to a stop, barely an arm's length away from the Zephyr. Amalirahc grabbed Miyuki by the hand and tugged her away from the sudden rush of movement.

"Come on," he told her, "we have to stay out of the way now so we don't get hurt."