Welcome to Gaia! ::

Haldia did look disappointed, but at least she wasn't angry. "I understand," she murmured. "But I hope you know what you're doing ... and what it will mean for the village ... and for me."

Kelirahc reached out and put one hand on his friend's shoulder. "I will be back for visits, it is not as if you will not see me again," he smiled at her. "Truly. The time will come."

Leyenda stepped forward. She wanted to do something to make her husband's friend feel better - and she wanted to become her friend as well. As bad as things had been between them at their first meeting, there was every reason for them to become friends.

"Perhaps, when the time comes," she suggested softly, "you also could join us for a while. With the spirit of a roc, you could leave any time you wished ... or if not, you could also visit us in the future. Even without a ship, and with the ocean between us, there is no reason that goodbye should be forever."

Haldia seemed genuinely surprised by the offer - and she was. Had it been her, she wasn't sure she would have invited Leyenda along ... the thought shamed her. The strange girl was really trying to make things right, and Haldia was still, after so much time, being difficult.

"I would like that," she said softly, her golden eyes sparkling brightly in the night. "Thank you."

Kelirahc was beaming. "Then it's settled," he decided. "When it comes time for us to leave, Haldia will come with us for a while at least." He kissed Leyenda lightly on the forehead. "That very thoughtful of you," he murmured in English, smiling warmly at her.

Leyenda blushed slightly. "I just want her to know that even with what happened when we met, I feel no ill towards her," she murmured back. "And I do think that we should try to be friends."

Kelriahc's smile grew wider, and he hugged her tightly to him.

"At any rate," he said, switching back to the Ancient Tongue so that Haldia would also be able to understand them, "we've been traveling for three days, I think that it would be best if we ate and then rested for a while. Tomorrow," he added, turning to Leyenda and the others, "I'll show you around the flets, explain things to you. Answer any questions. And then Earendil and Lin can head off and make their maps. Sound good?"

Earendil nodded. "Good for me," he agreed.

Leyenda smiled. "Yes."

"Perhaps Haldia would like to join us for our meal?" Earendil suggested to the woman. "I'm not sure if you're hungry, but it might be nice to have the company."

He was anxious after all to get a better impression of the woman than he'd had the first time he'd' seen her.

Haldia seemed to hesitate a moment, and her indecision was clear in her face. She wanted to talk to Kelirahc, ask him some things, but ... that could wait, she supposed. After all, the foreigners would be going to sleep soon, she was certain. They weren't used to staying up at night and sleeping during the day.

She nodded. "I would like that," she agreed. "Thank you."

Kelirahc and Leyenda exchanged a smile, and then they sat down and motioned for the others to do the same. Kelirahc rummaged around in his bag for some food, and brought it out to share with the others: some of the meat that Earendil had packed for them, and a large pile of fruit. Earendil added some bread to the supply, bread that he had taken from Arwen, who had made a few loaves the day of the heavy rain.

Over the course of the next half year, the rains came almost daily, sometimes more than daily, and they were heavy and warm. Earendil continued to work on the map, though his progress was slowed by the weather, and eventually, the rains began to lessen and the ground to dry up. Eventually, there came the day when Earendil was very close indeed to finishing his map, and with the realization came both relief and sadness.

"You know," he said to Lin on their way back to the flets for the final time, "one thing about always working on the map ... I know everyone else has all the time in the world to relax, explore, have adventures ... but in a way, I sort of feel as though I'm missing out on some of that. You know? Always working ..."

"I do," Earendil murmured, "I guess it's just ... not quite the same when everything I do is for a job. I'd like to be spontaneous once in a while."

Which on the other hand he didn't like doing so much, because their time on this island was all determined by how long it took him to map it, and if he goofed off they would all be there longer, and some of the travelers might end up a little impatient with him.

"Though I suppose, once we get back to the beach and tell them we're finished," he mused, "they'll take a day or two to get ready to leave ... though I should also help with that ..."