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And so their lesson began.

It took them almost a full long month, eight and a half weeks, to arrive, but after an uneventful journey land was sighted, and preparations were begun for the trip to shore.

As for Earendil, he had to pack up all of his things, since he was probably going to be staying in the castle, as were Shea, Mikhail, Kaito, Lin and Miyuki. The rest would be sleeping in the ship, even if they spent their days on land. The ship after all needed watching while they were there.

By the time they reached their anchoring point and the long boats were ready for them to head to shore, Earendil's bag was ready, and he was on his way to check on Lin and Miyuki and see if they were also ready to disembark from the ship. His bag over his shoulder, he knocked on the door of their quarters and called out, "Lin, Miyuki, are you ready to go to shore?"

Earendil chuckled and knelt down carefully and tried to pry Miyuki's arm off Senka. "Yes, it's time," he told her. "But you should be more careful with Senka, you're going to hurt her if you're not careful ..."

He was amused. He knew Miyuki was excitable, had always known it, but since they had spotted land the day before, she had been more excited than he had ever seen her before. Amalirahc was excited as well, but not nearly so much as Miyuki was. At least, he was more calm about it.

"Does your mother have your bag?" he asked Miyuki in Common Elvish to help her practice, holding a hand out to Senka so that she could ride on his shoulder, safely out of Miyuki's reach.

Earendil laughed and straightened up so that Senka could sit comfortably on his shoulder. "You still need rescuing now and again," he chuckled, petting her from head to tail tip. "You know, if you didn't eat so much, you could probably outrun her. As long as she's on two legs, anyways."

As Lin and Miyuki left their quarters, Earendil turned towards them and smiled. "I know," he replied to Lin's comment. "At least, I could guess, judging by the way she pounced on me when I knocked on the door. At any rate, I'm sure Shea and Mikhail will be eager to get ashore - it was their first voyage at sea, and I think they're a bit eager to be on dry land again."

He held his free hand out to Lin.

Earendil chuckled. "And with not much to do. Neither of them is much for navigation, so they couldn't even just keep track of our progress like I did. They must have been quite bored."

He led Lin up to the deck, which was quite busy with activity. Shea and Mikhail were already in a longboat, waiting for the other three, and the crew who were going to row them to shore were standing at either end of the longboat, ready to let it down whenever Lin, Earendil and Miyuki were on board.

"Come on, slowpokes!" Amalirahc called to them anxiously. "You're taking all day!"

Earendil chuckled. "We're coming, have patience," he called back.

Earendil chuckled. "Well, Miyuki, next time you'll have to remember everything the first time you leave your room," he teased her. "Going back for things does tend to make people slower."

He held Lin's hand to keep her steady as she climbed into the boat, then stepped in carefully after her.

"Make sure you give us a full report when you return," Roydon told his crewmen firmly.

"Aye, sir." The crewmen climbed into the longboat and began to lower it on the pulleys. Soon, they were in the water, and the two crewmen began to row them towards the island.

"Well, Miyuki," Earendil grinned, looking up at the castle atop the cliff high above them, "what do you think?"

There were rocs swirling around the castle, enormous rocs that made Haldia's look small.

"We'll see them," Earendil promised. "And after today, we're probably going to be riding on them quite often."

Well, at least if he was busy with Aerin, Aurin might be able to take Miyuki for rides to keep her occupied. If she would consent to going anywhere without him.

"By the way," he added, "they're called Rocs. You used to ride on one when you were little, but you probably don't remember that anymore."

Earendil smiled. "I didn't think she would."

"Who is Haldia?" Mikhail spoke up. "Is she one of Kelirahc's people, the Night Elves? Those who have spirit companions?"

Earendil nodded to his uncle. "Yes. She accompanied us home on our last voyage, and came with us to the Borderlands for about half a year."

"I heard about her," Shea piped up. "I know Nako really liked her. She was sad to see her go."

"I think everyone was, to be fair," Earendil chuckled.