Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Should be, anyways," Aysu agreed.

She watched Naida curiously for a moment in silence, and a thoughtful expression came cross her face. "Why do you keep looking at the sky?" she asked at length.


Lily led the four of them through the city, pointing out various shops and people as they went.

"And this is my brother's shop," she told them, indicating a medium-sized, two-story building. It was made of wood, but seemed to be trimmed in metal. The shop sign was predominantly displayed hanging in front of the window, and on it were various mechanical designs.

"What does he do?" Andarien asked curiously. His pace had slowed the moment he had seen the sign, and the others had to slow down so as not to lose him.

Lily smiled. "He's a gear smith."

Andarien's eyes grew wide, and he looked, open-mouthed, at his parents. "Can we go in?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, what time?" Aysu asked brightly. "We can swim until then, and we can both watch the sky. Besides, we're not far from the pier. See?"

She pointed down the beach. The pier was only about two minutes' walk away, so even if they lost track of time she was certain they would be able to see Naida's family when it was time for her to meet them.

"I may not be as talented a swimmer as Dwr," she added with a giggle, "but I do love swimming."



Andarien pouted and looked up at Earendil, but Earendil just shook his head.

"Your mother has made a decision," he said firmly, "and you're not going to play us against each other."

Lily smiled and patted Andarien on the head. "You'll have plenty of chance to see it later," she assured him. "Don't worry. The shop isn't going anywhere."

And without needing any further encouragement, Aysu dashed into the water.



It was only a few minutes further to Lily's house. Andarien couldn't help but stare in awe once Lily pointed it out. The house was enormous, two stories high, with large windows, bricked with large marble bricks. There was a long porch in front of the front door, and on the porch was a two-person swing. Three marble steps led down to a cobblestone path that led the way to the street. The yard was large, considering the size of the city, though with winter only a few weeks past, the grass was pale brown.

"Big," Andarien murmured softly.

Lily laughed softly and led the four of them up the pathway to the porch. "And that's just the outside," she grinned.

"Thank you," Lily said warmly. "We inherited it. I can't even imagine how much it would have cost to build, unless the people who first lived here built it themselves."

She opened the door and motioned for the others to go inside first. "Go ahead," she urged them. "You can keep your footwear on if it's clean."

If they were even wearing footwear.

Andarien wiped his feet on the mat just outside the door, just in case, and stepped inside and looked around. Directly in front of the door was a staircase that led upwards. To the right was an open doorway that led to a large sitting room whose walls, where there were not windows or bookshelves, were covered with paintings. To the left was open - a large dining room, with a table and six chairs around it. The floors were a polished hardwood, the walls marble, like the outside.

Earendil followed the rest of his family inside, and Lily stepped in after them and closed the door behind them all.

"Mother," she called, looking around a bit. "Father! We have guests!"

"Lily! There you are!" a woman's voice came from upstairs. From above, they could hear light footsteps, and then a dark elven woman appeared at the top of the stairs. "Where have you been? Luk was looking for you this morning- oh!"

She stopped halfway down the steps, which was when she noticed exactly who was with Lily.

Lily smiled. "Don't worry, Mother, he found me. And I took the liberty of offering out empty rooms for some of his companions. I hope they're still empty."

Her mother smiled. "Yes, yes, they are. And you are most welcome. My name is Lara, my husband is Senator Cantor, though I'm sure Lily's already told you that."

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," Earendil smiled back warmly. "I am Prince Earendil Aldrich, and this is my family - my wife, Lin; our daughter, Miyuki; and our son, Andarien."

"Nice to meet you!" Andarien beamed, bowing at the waist as he had been taught in his brief etiquette lessons. "You have a really nice house!"

"I'll get your rooms ready for you then," Lara smiled, turning and heading back up the stairs.

Lily smiled at their guests. "Come. A good portion of it is here in the sitting room, though it's also scattered throughout the house."

She led them through the door to the right, into the sitting room. There were two long couches and a short couch in the room, as well as a few comfortable-looking chairs, and a large burgundy rug took up most of the floor. The paintings on the walls were all framed, and could be classified into two different themes: one of animals (of all sorts, from dragons and unicorns to horses and dogs), and one of nature. Their styles were similar, however.

"These are Father's favourites," Lily explained, taking up position in the middle of the room so that the others could wander about and inspect what paintings they wished. "I did the paintings of nature, Mother does far better with animals than I do. And people."

Lily smiled softly and clasped her hands together. "Thank you. I've more in my studio, and upstairs, but they're not as good, I think, as the ones in here."

"Mi, look!" Andarien beamed, pointing up at a painting just a bit bigger than a book. "It's Haldia on a roc!"

He hadn't seen Haldia summon her roc before, much less ridden on Rhiel, but he remembered the rocs from Amon Darthir. There was no mistaking Haldia, though: with her black skin, white hair, and even the small silver roc pendant around her neck, there was no doubt that it was her.

"The roc is kind of small, though, isn't it?" he asked, puzzled.