Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Come down?" Eldrin blinked. "Well ... yes ... though not very often. I find the people I wish most to see are quite willing to come up here to visit, and I see my nephew every day ..."

Eärendil nodded. "Daeron and I have training every day, and Tinúviel has it every other day, and Nana comes up here quite often ..."

"And besides them," Eldrin finished, "I really have no one that I need to see. I am satisfied." He paused and looked down at Lin again. "Would you like to see my home, then?"

"Well it's not like you can tell from inside," Eldrin commented dryly. "Though I do admit, for being at the top of a mountain and rather isolated, it's quite homey."

He started off through the sea of sweaty trainees towards the back of the outdoor training area, Eärendil following close behind.

"How is your mother doing, by the way?" Eldrin asked Lin as they walked. "And your brothers, Yue and Yukito? How are they?"

He hadn't seen them in a very long time after all, and he had liked them.

"Hunting?" Eldrin blinked. "Here? Who are they hunting?"

And why would they be hunting anyone here in the first place?

Eldrin nodded thoughtfully, then shrugged. "It must be bad, whatever the situation, if they came here from your world just to deal with it," he commented.

He led them out of the yard and through a door in the wall, which led to a flower-lined cobblestone pathway on a lush green plateau. A little ways down was a stone cottage that had green ivy growing all over the walls.

"I suppose it is a bit of a hut," Eldrin chuckled; "but it's more like a small house, really. Rooms and such."

Earendil had his own question, and he looked at Lin curiously. "Trisha?"

Earendil's eyes lit up at the explanation, and he rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"I sure wish I could come and meet everyone," he said wistfully. "Or that everyone would come here."

Eldrin chuckled softly and opened the door to his house, leading the way inside. "Imagine what your father would do," he commented, amused by the thought.

The inside of the house was as cheery as the outside: despite the fact that the walls were all stone, the numerous (and large) windows let in so much light it was almost as if they were still outside. The first room was fairly large and served as kitchen/dining/living room, and had a small couch against one wall, a fireplace in the opposite wall, a counter, a water basin, cupboards and a table and chair for eating. Everything was spotless clean, though it was more due to the fact that Eldrin really didn't spend much time in his house rather than him being a meticulous house keeper.

Eldrin lowered Lin to the floor so that she could wander around and explore as she desired.

"Ada doesn't like people who are different," Earendil told Lin, taking a seat on the couch and leaning his head backwards, grateful to be out of the desert sun for a while. "That's why he doesn't like my aunt."

Which was the only topic the family was split on: on any other subject, the family was united and supported each other.

"From what I've heard about your world," Earendil remarked with a chuckle, "I don't think it would be a good idea. He'd die of shock, I'm sure."

He stretched a bit and rubbed his arms. "Besides that, he would never go." He grinned wistfully. "Sure wish I could, though."

Eldrin sighed and leaned against the counter. "As if your parents would let you," he muttered.