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Earendil smiled faintly, but he didn't know what else he could say. He simply let Miyuki get her staff and led her downstairs to meet up with Lin. They hadn't yet made it downstairs when there came a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Earendil said to no one in particular, seeing as he was nearest the door.

He wasn't surprised to see Aennan standing in the doorway, looking excited and nervous at the same time.

"Good morning," he said warmly. "Are you ready?"

Earendil grinned. "As soon as Lin joins us," he told him.

Earendil chuckled softly. "Off we go, then," he grinned. "I think Lancaeriel wanted us to meet her at the ship, since that's where Tinuviel and Aranel will be staying."

"And I think they wanted to settle into their quarters before going out to see Aranxia," Aennan added, stepping aside to make room for the others to join him outside. "I'm still not sure if they're going to hug her or throttle her - figuratively speaking in the latter case, of course."

Aennan's face flushed as they started down the walkway. "I told Aranxia it would be better to wait ..."

"So you've said," Earendil chuckled. "And you explained that to Tinuviel and Aranel, I know. And what was their reaction?"

"Aranxia's mother said that they understood," Aennan replied thoughtfully, "that the fact that Aranxia did not want to wait already told them all that they needed to know. And they said that they trusted me because of their talk with the two of you."

Earendil grinned. "See? Nothing to worry about."

"On my part, perhaps," Aennan pointed out, "but what about Aranxia?"

Aennan smiled warmly. "Thank you. I have to admit, I've been more concerned for her than for myself for this visit. And I can't help but wonder how she might react to their arrival."

"As far as I know, she's not a fainter," Earendil mused. "But she's not really a squealer, either ..."

Truth be told, he had no idea how his niece might react.

"That's for certain," Aennan chuckled softly. "I'm sure that if she had, she would not have insisted on not waiting. Still, I'm glad that things happened the way that they did ... if they hadn't, we would not, I think, have looked for a way to bring her parents here, or have had an opportunity to even speak with them."

"Well, it's not like anyone knows just what Lancaeriel is really capable of," Earendil pointed out. "She's been traveling with us for a few years now, but we still know so little about her."

The odd thing was, it wasn't as if she tried to keep anything private: she just didn't offer much information if she wasn't first asked, and people didn't ask her very much.

"You'll never know if you don't ask," Aennan pointed out. "Though that does make me wonder ... is that why no one ever asks me anything either? There is a lot that I know, not because I'm anything special but simply because of my work. I know I'm young, but already for several years I've been copying out books on just about every subject imaginable, from magic to medicine and everything in between. It's impossible not to learn things when you're so connected with the writings. Yet no one has ever asked me about anything."

Though he supposed that until recently, he hadn't had many people to ask him anything. His only friends - other than his newest acquaintances - were Dwr, Ta'neer and Aysu, and of them only Aysu had any real curiosity, and she didn't usually have the time to ask about much.

Aennan chuckled. "Well, I did mean to use myself more as an example, anyways. It's nice to be able to be myself outside of work, too."

He knew that if he were treated like an encyclopedia (if he knew what one was) he wouldn't like that either, so he was happy with the way things were.

They chatted all the way to the harbour, where Lancaeriel was awaiting them on the pier, sitting on the edge of the wooden planks with her feet dipped in the water below her.

"Good morning," she greeted the four of them warmly. "A beautiful day, is it not?"

And it was. The sun was shining warmly, without it being too hot; there was no humidity, and not a cloud in sight. It was if it were still summer - though to be fair, the day before, it was summer.

"Beautiful," Lancaeriel smiled warmly, waving back at Miyuki at the same time. "There is plenty of good weather back in the Four Lands, but somehow this place has a different feel to it. Perhaps it's the ocean ... the water is so peaceful."

She pulled her feet out of the water and stood up. "But the day is not getting any younger," she said cheerfully. "Come, let's get started. I believe Arwen and Roydon are already waiting for us on the ship. I'm sure they'll already have quarters ready for the prince and princess."

"Let's go, then," Earendil grinned. He started leading the way to the rest of the ship, which was moored only a bit further out.

Lancaeriel fell into step beside Miyuki. "So how have your experiments been going?" she asked her pupil brightly. "It's been a while since I've seen you."