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Wren laughed. "Oh, Miyuki. Sometimes you can be so predictable." She grinned and put one hand on Miyuki's shoulder. "Just don't get so distracted that we get separated, that wouldn't be good."

Though she had to admit that it was difficult for her not to be distracted, herself. After all, there were so many people and so many things to look at.

Suddenly she noticed with surprise that one of the women in the crowd seemed to be heading towards them. Not just in their general direction, but looking straight at them and heading directly to them. She nudged Miyuki and pointed the woman out to her.

"So it would seem," Wren murmured back, somewhat amused. Well, it was to be expected. After all, they looked nothing like anyone here - in a way, Miyuki blended more than she did, since the young kitsune's hair was a similar colour to the elves'.

When the woman approached them, she spoke to them in the language of the Fire Elves, and Wren smiled politely in return and said, "I'm sorry, but we do not speak your language."

One eye twitched and the woman clucked her tongue as if irritated. "Of course, I ought to have known," she said, switching to the same language as Wren. Her words were slightly accented, but not much. "Forgive my forwardness, but where are you from?"

She glanced at Miyuki, including the kitsune in her question.

The woman nodded, seeming unsurprised by Miyuki's answer.

"Then I assume you're travelers," she said plainly.

Wren nodded. "Of a fashion," she agreed.

"And I suppose you didn't come here on your own," the woman mused aloud, eying the two of them thoughtfully. "I assume you have a guide?"

Understanding dawned on the woman's face, and she nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, I thought as much," she said simply. "It's about time she came back." She added something in her native tongue, a soft comment meant only for herself. Then she sighed and looked back at the others. "Come, I'll walk with you."

And without waiting for them, she started off down the street. Wren hurried after her, wondering what was going on.

The woman looked down at Miyuki and smiled ruefully.

"Ah, yes," she murmured, "how rude of me. My name is Akoreyl. Kyrie is my daughter-in-law."

Wren couldn't help but blink in surprise. Not because of the woman's relation to Kyrie - after all, this was where Ahkshi was from, so it stood to reason his parents would be here, too - but because of the way she had been talking. For some reason, she had the impression that the woman was irritated with Kyrie, or something about her.

"You were hoping Kyrie would return soon?" Wren asked, deeming it the safest (and only polite) way to ask why the woman seemed so occupied with Kyrie's return.

Akoreyl didn't seem to know how to answer the question. "Well ... it's always good to have her back," she said at last. "Though I do wish it wouldn't take someone needing Ahkshi's help to bring her here."

"Does it happen often?" Wren queried. "That she comes here with someone needing her husband's help?"

"I suppose not," Akoreyl admitted. "But over the years, it has happened many times." Then she added, a bit darkly, "Perhaps if it did happen more often, she would spend more time here."

She turned from the road and led them up the steps to the red-rock building with the bird over the door. Pulling the door open, she led the way inside.

Nothing had changed in the waiting room, but Akoreyl didn't even slow down as they passed through it. She strode confidently towards the back of the clinic, calling out her son's name as she did so.

Wren followed after her and Miyuki, somewhat alarmed by the woman's boldness in the way she was making her way through the clinic as if it were her own home.

Past the waiting room was a hallway with rooms to both sides, and spotting who she was looking for Akoreyl entered the first room they came to. It was fairly large and had two beds in it, one on either side of the room. One had a blanket thrown back and Iorlas and Daeron sitting on it, and the other was mostly made, though its blanket was wrinkled. Ahkshi and Kyrie were sitting on that one: Ahkshi with his back to the wall, and Kyrie, lying against him, her head on his shoulder, blinking as if she were just waking up.

At the moment, the child was in Iorlas's arms, and she was feeding him a bottle of a pale liquid.

Ahkshi smiled at the three of them. "N-n-not at all," he assured her. His gaze shifted slightly to focus on his mother and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, so little that it was difficult to notice. "Of c-course, it c-could have been d-done a bit more quietly."

Kyrie yawned and rubbed her eyes, though she didn't move from her spot next to her husband. "What time is it?" she murmured sleepily.

"You've been asleep f-f-for about an hour," Ahkshi informed her, casting another glare at his mother. He shifted so that she wasn't leaning against him anymore and stood up. "Why d-don't you go home," he suggested, "and get some r-r-real sleep?"

Kyrie shook her head. "Later."