Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yes," Tinuviel replied without hesitation. "And if you hadn't stressed that this young man would like our attendance to be a surprise for Aranxia, I assure you that I would ask you to have her speak with us as well."

She paused, then added slowly, "I assume that she does not know that this is even possible."

"Not a clue," Earendil assured her. "Though I don't see the harm in speaking with her. After you've spoken with Aennan, anyways. Just don't let her know that you'll be coming, and it will still be a surprise."

"Well, we'll see," Tinuviel said thoughtfully.

"Can I be here to talk to him, too?" Regan asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling brightly.

Tinuviel sighed softly, then smiled and shook her head. "Not until your father and I have spoken to him," she told her firmly. "Now please, Regan, stop interrupting."

"Actually, if your questions are answered for the moment, we should probably let Aennan know that you'd like to talk to him, rather than have us read you his letter," Earendil suggested. He looked at Lin. "What do you think? We'd best do it before he finishes work."

"We shall be ready on this end," Tinuviel promised. "I would say give Aranxia our love, but I suppose that would give away that we've been speaking, wouldn't it?" She smiled faintly. "Have a good day, then, and I look forward to talking to you again tomorrow."

"Bye!" Regan beamed, waving cheerfully at them.

Lancaeriel reached forward and touched the mirror, and Tinuviel and Regan vanished, replaced with the reflection of the room that Lin, Earendil and Lancaeriel were currently in.

"Come, we should see Aennan right away," Earendil told Lin, rising from the bed and pocketing the letter from the young water elf once again. "I hope the librarian doesn't mind him missing a bit of work."

She had seemed a bit touchy on the matter earlier.

"Tell Aennan that I will meet him at the library tomorrow after lunch," Lancaeriel told them. "It will make things easier, I believe."

Earendil nodded. "We will. And thank you for doing this."

Lancaeriel smiled warmly. "Not at all. I've grown quite fond of Aranxia in our time together. She has become like a daughter to me, too. But you two go, speak with Aennan. Time is pressing, after all."

Earendil and Lin bid Lancaeriel farewell and left the inn, heading back to the library.

"Well, no one can say we're not getting our exercise today," Earendil quipped as they approached the large building again.

"And come the next new year, we'll be going further still than we've ever gone before," Earendil agreed. "Though it does beg the question, should we look into getting some horses? Even just one or two for pack animals, if nothing more?"

He opened the door for Lin and let her lead the way into the library, where Amanya was once more behind her desk.

"Though he's been riding Ponydash quite a bit already," Earendil pointed out, "and Ponydash hasn't been broken for a bridle and saddle. If Andarien learns to ride differently, or properly, then Ponydash will need more training too. But so far they're working out all right. Do we really need to change that?"

He paused as they came to Amanya's desk and cleared his throat to get her attention. "Excuse me," he said softly, "but would it be all right if we spoke with Aennan for a few minutes? We shall try to be quick, but it is absolutely vital that we speak with him now."

Amanya seemed somewhat annoyed by the request, but she sighed and nodded. "You know now where he works," she told them. "But do please be quick about it. He does need to get some work done today."

Earendil nodded and ushered Lin away, towards the reading room that led to Aennan's workspace.

Earendil kept his mouth shut until they were well out of the librarian's range of hearing - right up until they had entered the reading room, with all of its tapestries to absorb the sounds of voices, and then he looked down at Lin and muttered quietly, "She's way too hard on that boy."

He pulled aside a corner of the tapestry that Aennan had come through earlier that day and saw a doorway that led to a staircase around a corner. He held the tapestry back to allow Lin to lead the way.

Earendil had no answer for Lin, and he followed her silently up the stairs.

It was a rather long way up, though considering the ceiling in the library itself that really came as no surprise. Once they reached the top of the stairs, however, they found themselves in a large room, lit, as with the rooms downstairs, with natural light that poured in from large windows. As it was summer, the windows were open, and from them they could see the forest outside the city stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Inside the room, Aennan was working at a large desk, writing in a large book, surrounded by books of various sizes. He was concentrating so hard that he didn't seem to hear the two of them approaching, despite the fact that Lin still could not walk as quietly as elves.

Aennan didn't startle, but calmly finished the word he was writing. "Hm?" he asked, almost absently. When he finished the word, he looked over his shoulder and saw Lin and Earendil standing just behind him. He smiled widely, his watery teal eyes brightening.

"Oh! You're back!" he beamed. "Did Kelirahc agree to take the letter and bring Aranxia's parents?"

Earendil chuckled, reached into his pocket, took out the letter and held it out to Aennan once more. "Even better," he grinned.

Aennan stared at the letter in incomprehension. "I ... 'm sorry?" he asked, his brow furrowing deeply as he looked from the letter to Earendil and Lin again.