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Earendil chuckled and put one hand on Lin's head, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I told you, don't worry about me," he grinned. "We'll be fine."

And without further ado, he climbed up onto the roc's back behind Haldia, and the two of them took to the air and flew off towards the castle.

Rhea laughed and punched Lin playfully on the shoulder. "You know he just does that for you," she grinned. "Honestly. He has no expectations of you not worrying about him at all. I think he'd be hurt if you didn't, in fact."

She smiled at her. "Come on, we might as well wait below deck where it's warm. We probably won't hear from them for a few hours, at least."

After a few hours, Rhea wandered back up on deck. It was growing dark now, and she noted that they were close enough to the island to see a few more details. For example: the castle was extremely large, and made of white stone, and rested atop a tall cliff.

Then she noticed something else: the ship was no longer moving. They were anchored, still quite a distance from the shore, further than they had been anchored from Nauros.

She frowned. Something wasn't right ...

Whisper had been staying below deck lately, muttering something about keeping Rhea's bed warm for her, but now she came up, following Lin and Rhea, knowing that they were both worried about the two who had gone to check out the island.

"I don't know," Rhea murmured, turning to face Lin. "We should find Roydon and find out what's going on."

She looked around for the captain, but she couldn't see him on deck. She could only see Kelirahc and Leyenda, who were right at the bow of the ship, looking in the direction of the island.

"Maybe Leyenda will know what's going on," Rhea suggested hopefully as they made their way to the bow of the ship. She moved quickly, eager to find out what was going on.

But when they arrived at the bow, where Leyenda and Kelirahc were, she couldn't help the ominous feeling that crept into her. Kelirahc had his arms around Leyenda, but it wasn't a romantic scene ... it was more as if he were trying to reassure her about something.

"This doesn't look good," she murmured softly to Lin as they approached the pair.

Leyenda turned at the sound of her name. "Oh ... Lin," she murmured. "We're about as close to the island as we're going to get until Papa decides that it's safe ... but Earendil and Haldia haven't returned yet, and it's been so long ... so we really have no idea what's going on."

"I can go and see," Kelirahc said as if he had offered many times.

Leyenda shook her head. "Most cultures are afraid of dragons."

Rhea stepped closer. "I'll go," she said. "Let me talk to Roydon. I can go. I don't need a mark, I have wings of my own. Let me go."

"Lin," Leyenda said quickly, "if something were to happen to you - to either of you! - no one would ever forgive us."

Rhea held up one hand to stop the protest. "Someone has to go, and we're the most qualified," she said firmly. "Come on, Lin, let's talk to Roydon about this. It's getting quite dark outside, this would be the best time for us to go."

And she headed towards the stairs that led to the main deck, to look for Roydon in the Captain's quarters.