Welcome to Gaia! ::

Andarien eyed Lin suspiciously, but after a moment he sighed and put one arm around her waist and hugged her.

"If Eon will let me sleep," he murmured, eying the Pokemon.

Eon squeaked at him, sitting up proudly, and licked Andarien's cheek.

"He says he'll let me since you say it's okay," Andarien smiled, looking up at Lin.

"Eon has lots of energy," Andarien smiled.

"And he sleeps when he should," Jess spoke up innocently.

Just then Earendil returned to the group. "We're all paid up," he told them. "Let's go, we shouldn't keep Arwen and Roydon waiting."

Earendil led the way through the streets towards the docks. The sun was just beginning to show over the horizon, its bright rays illuminating the cloudless sky. Despite the early hour, the city was already beginning to stir: a few of the elves were heading to the river to begin their fishing for the day, others towards their shops to prepare for opening, and still others were heading downstream to care for the small fields that grew alongside the river.

"Why do people get up so early?" Andarien asked curiously as he walked alongside his parents. He watched the elves. None of them seemed tired, and he couldn't understand it.

Andarien was silent for a while as he thought about that. He supposed that made sense, though he couldn't figure out how people woke that early on their own. One of the first things he had noticed when they had returned to this world was the complete lack of clocks - one of his favourite items - and therefore, of course, an absence of alarm clocks.

As they approached the docks near Arwen and Roydon's house, Amalirahc ran ahead excitedly. He knew where to go and what to expect, but he was no less eager to get going than any of the others.

"There are the ships," Earendil pointed out to the others. He pointed just a bit further upstream, where four rather sizable caravals, lightweight transport ships, were anchored. They were riding low in the water, which showed just how much had been stowed in them, and on the gang planks that led from the ships to the shore the group was able to see others from their party boarding one of the ships.

"And there are the mers," Earendil repeated with a chuckle. "I'm surprised they're not on the boat yet ... everyone else is boarding, it looks like we're the last to arrive."

As he spoke, Aethos was helping Alassëa up the gangplank, and most of the others were at the bow of the ship, looking around in awe, admiration, excitement, or any mixture of the three. Wren especially looked excited, and was talking animatedly with Shiro. Kaito was nowhere in sight, but he had probably gone straight to one of the berths and gone back to sleep.

Earendil waved to Feng, Ryu and Naida as they drew nearer to them.

"Why are you all still down here?" he asked them curiously. "I'd have thought you would already be on board."

"Well, it will be all day before we reach the Zephyr," Earendil agreed, "but I'm sure you can swim off the ship as much as you want while we're sailing. Others did on our last trip."

"Oh, I love swimming!" River piped up, her eyes sparkling brightly.

Aranxia looked iffy. "I've never swum before," she said softly.

"Thanks," Aranxia murmured, "but I'd rather wait until we're in some shallow water. Just in case."

She had no interest in throwing herself into water deeper than she could imagine.

"A good idea, I think," Earendil spoke up. "But really, everyone else is already on board, we should get going."

He arched one eyebrow and nodded at the boat.

River giggled. "Coming, coming."

She took Jess's hand and skipped ahead of them.

"Come on, Eon," Andarien murmured, staring at the ship in awe as he started forward as well. Eon was already in Andarien's arms, but he squeaked his agreement anyways.

Aranxia giggled softly and, left behind by the others, hefted her bag in her arms and followed after them all.

As the group made their way up the gangplank, Roydon was making his way down.

"Oh, good, you're all here," he grinned. "Welcome, welcome. Ask Amalirahc where to put your things, he knows where everything is being stowed. We should be casting off shortly, so make yourselves comfortable. Arwen is making breakfast in the galley if you're hungry."

"Papa!" Leyenda called from the bow of the ship, waving to catch her father's attention. "Don't forget my kit!"

"I'm going to check the house now!" Roydon shouted back. "Make sure everything is secure!"

He motioned for the others to continue up onto the ship and continued on his way, walking so quickly he was almost running.