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Earendil smiled and took Lin's hand willingly.

"Come on, Eon, come on, Pony," Andarien called his Pokemon.

Eon's paws skittered on the stone floor as he chased after Andarien and the bigger and faster Ponyta. Xion and Rhiannon giggled and ran after all of them, eager to see what the Pokemon were capable of.

"I guess we'll find out," Earendil murmured back with a smile.

"We have made some changes to the castle since you were last here," Rhea put in. "Small ones, for the most part, but changes. You might see them when you wander around, but you might not. Mostly aesthetic, though there have been a few organizational changes."

After a moment, she added, "But the only change in the courtyard won't be visible until spring, when the plants start to grow again. It being winter, you won't see much of it now."

Rhea smiled back at Lin. "It shouldn't be more than another four or five weeks," she assured her. "Then Stirring ... ah, but how long will you be staying? It will be quite a while before anything has a chance to start growing ..."

Earendil looked at Lin. "Well ... I don't know how much of a schedule we're on," he said slowly, "but Luk does need to get back to his people ... he is one of his country's leaders, after all, and he's already been gone for so long ..."

"We would have to speak with Luk and the others to see how long we're going to stay," Earendil added. "It's not just up to us. Although, we do want to make sure Lancaeriel gets to meet every single person in the country, if we can ... and I would hate to leave before Aethos and Alassëa's wedding."

Besides, he had a feeling that Alassëa might really appreciate having she knew well around her, at least for a while, while she got used to her new home.

"That would be nice," Earendil agreed cheerfully. "And really, this is Andarien's first time here, so I'm sure he would like to look around. And I'm sure Miyuki would like to see how her old friends are doing. After all, we were here for quite a while the last time."

He looked over his shoulder at Miyuki. "What do you think?" he asked her. "Would you like to track down your friends from our last visit here?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Rhea cautioned Miyuki. "I think more time may have passed than you realize ... most of them would probably be helping out with their parents' businesses by this time, or apprenticing for another occupation."

By this time it had been seven years since the group had been there; some of the youths of that time might even be married by now. They would all at least be nearing adulthood.

Rhea smiled as she led the family and her children outside, into the courtyard. It was quite cool outside, but the sun was shining and the walls blocked the wind. The snow on the ground was untouched so far, and sparkled in the sun's rays.

"Come, let's talk in the gazebo." Rhea motioned for Lin and Earendil to follow her. She wasn't worried about the children. It was a large courtyard, to be sure, but it wasn't so large that they had to worry about anyone getting lost.

Andarien followed Miyuki. He was looking forward to this: it was a more fair fight for Eon, since Ponyta was so much bigger than him (at least that was his thought).

"How about here?" he asked as they arrived at an area that was fairly large and didn't seem to have many plants, except around the outside. When he stepped into the area, he found that he wasn't standing on ground, but on brick. It was a paved area of the courtyard, a large square, about fifty feet long and fifty feet wide.