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Rhea laughed. "Aunt Aliya and Haradhel, yes?" she grinned. "Of course ... you were around before Adanedhel even, weren't you? And even his children have been grown already for a while."

"Lin's been coming to our world since I was fourteen," Earendil spoke up, grinning. "And I don't have to remind you how old I am, do I?"

Rhea giggled. "Of course not."

Earendil raised a brow at Lin's comment. "Are you saying that we're going to have to keep an eye on who Miyuki spends time with?" he quipped. "Because I have to say, even you weren't as clingy to your father as she is to us."

Rhea just laughed. "Careful now, you can't stifle her just because of what happened with you and Lin," she winked. "That wouldn't be fair. Besides, if she's going to be spending a lot of time in our world, then she's going to be growing faster than anyone she meets."

"True enough," Earendil agreed, smiling back down at Lin. "But I can't see you and I going far without each other, and I can't see us going anywhere without Miyuki, at least not until she's older. So I'm sure she'll be fine."

He brushed Lin's hair away from her forehead. Not because it was blowing in her face or anything, though there was a nice ocean breeze, but just because he felt like it.

Earendil looked down at Miyuki, and he couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her sitting there and looking so bored.

"Perhaps we should have had Amalirahc come with us," he murmured softly to Lin. "She wouldn't be so bored, at least. And once I start helping Aerin, she'll have more of a distraction to keep her from searching me out all the time."

"Oh, I'm sure there will be," Rhea assured Lin. "There are children of almost every age in the city. Though I must admit, there are more younger ones than older ones now." She shook her head slowly. "I'm just glad that Queen Aerin is back. Most of the people didn't even have any idea who their relatives were, it was so bad. But now ... now the people are happy."

Aurin smiled and put his arms around her and squeezed her gently. "Our entire nation has changed," he murmured. "And a small part of it is that we are no longer at war. Cautious, yes, for any gnomes that we might have missed, but for the most part, we are at peace."

Earendil laughed and ruffled Lin's hair. "Silly!" he chortled. "We just went through the city on our way to the palace, not two hours ago!"

"Good!" Rhea beamed, ignoring the fact that Earendil was teasing Lin. "I had hoped you would, it's so different from how it was when we first came here! Did you see the differences?"

Earendil smiled widely. "The whole atmosphere was different," he murmured. "It felt as if ... well, as if they were whole, as if the people were united. As if they had finally found their purpose."

"Interesting choice of words," Aurin put in. "Their purpose is Queen Aerin. When she first returned, I feared her father would have her executed. He was so angry ... But the people stood fast behind her, and it was he who was arrested, and not her. I have been here for many long years, and it was the first time that I had seen anyone stand up to the king ... and it was certainly the first time the people have been so passionate about anything."

"You can say that again," Rhea said dryly. "Honestly ... I think all of us nearly got ourselves killed that day. Me especially."

"Rhea had to give her opinion as well," Aurin chuckled softly.

Rhea shrugged. "The king didn't like what I had to say. But then, he didn't like anything that anyone had to say. I'm not sure what Aerin has told you, but he didn't even greet her when we showed up - just threw a fit because there were more people with her than he had wanted."