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Fae's eyes widened when she heard Pueblo's cry. "Abby?!" It didn't take her long before she advanced the others and knelt down to Pueblo. "What happened? Did you hurt yourself?" The girl made sure there wasn't any injury before scooping the girl up.

Tears stung the Aerandir's eyes but didn't fall when Nehanda hugged her. She actually smiled a little and shook her head at her guardian. "Nuu.. I just tripped over dat naughty pointy rawk! I's okay.." she sighed and mustered a small smile. She glared over at the supposed rock that had tripped her.

Fae relaxed in relief before hoisting Pueblo up into her arms. "A naughty rock, eh? You better watch your step next time missy," she teased and poked Pueblo's nose.

The girl giggled as her nose was touched. "Hehe, okee! I will! But I want ta play wit my friends!" she wiggled.

Fae held onto her and looked sternly into the girls eyes. "Promise to be more careful?"

Pueblo quickly shook her head. "Yes yes! I prowmiss!"

"Alright.." she said and let the Aerandir down to go back to her friends. She watched Pueblo explain to Osu and Nehanda that she was alright and that it was simply a bad rock's fault.
"Sorry for the delay," she apologized to the group with a sheepish shrug. "I guess Pueblo's alright..." she trailed off unsurely. "How far do we have left to go?" she asked to carry on.

Highly relieved at Pueblo's brave little face, Foenix gave a small sigh before turning to answer the others' question. "Actually, I'm not that sure! WE've spent so much time explrign the other end of the island, that I don't know this end all that well either!" She grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "It can't be that much farther . . ." She trailed off and considered how long they had been walking.

"Actually, I feel like we should be getting to the beach pretty soon. Maybe beyond that bend of trees?" She pointed to a curve in the path up ahead. Through the trees, there was clearly an open space.

"Oh, that's good then!" Cheerful at her friend's reassurances, Nehanda sprang up, "Me and Osu will protect you from all the bad evil rocks!" She giggled and looked over at the third of their group.

Glancing back at Foenix's words, she clapped her hands. "Yay! We's almost to the beach!" Grabbing at Pueblo and Osu, she tugged them so that the three children ran ahead, past the break in the trees . . .

"What's all that? That wasn't there before . . ." Nehanda trailed off as the expected sand and ocean was instead replaced by an expanse of grasses. It seemed to go on for a really long way!

"Uh huh!" Osu gave a resolute nod. No more bad nasty rocks! As Nehanda pulled him forward, he quickly found his footing, quite happy to dash over the stretch of land. It was great to have people to play with that were as energetic as he was! Too busy enjoying himself, Osu took a few paces past Nehanda before realising that she had stopped. He spun around to face the two older Aerandir, a curious look on his face. Having never been to this part of the island before, the young spellweaver had no idea that anything had changed.

"Whats wrong 'Handa?"

Nodding his head, Ieyasu grinned. He wasn't too worried about the kids running on ahead - Osu nearly always did it whenever they went out. He normally didn't go too far. Nine times out of ten, Ieyasu would find him waiting impatiently a bit further on.

In any case, they hadn't gone very far. Quickening his pace to catch up with the kids, Ieyasu paused a short way away, his blue-green eyes taking in the area. Surely Cetalu wasn't that big? Something was different here...

Fae chewed her bottom lip, running through the map of the islands in her mind. She had a poster hung above her desk area so it was almost perfectly memorized. Her eyes searched nothing in particular before her head snapped up. "You're right! Ar'Idil is supposed to be in that direction." Her eyes strained behind her glasses as she made out faint silhouettes in the distance. "I think I can barely see the village out there..." she trailed off and looked to the others for the next move.

Pueblo's ears wiggled. "Ar-dill? Anuther houses with Aerandirs is over there? Hey guys! Didja hear dat?!" Pueblo exclaimed to Nehanda and Osu.

Nehanda's eyes grew huge at the thought of meeting even more Aerandir. Turning, she scrabbled back to her guardian, and grabbed Foenix's hand. "Oh, can we go? Please? Pretty, pretty please with icecream and sprinkles and lots and lots of cherries on top?" She tugged on Foenix's hand, and looked up at her with enormous puppy dog eyes.

"Peblo and Osu and I wanna go! It's safe, see?" She let go and ran back past the other children. Jumping around on the grassy sand, she looked over her shoulder. "I'm not sinking or anything! Please, can we go see?"

Foenix huffed out a breath. "Well, it looks safe . . ." She pondered the possibilities that had just opened up. If the land bridge proved to be solid and a feasible passageway between the two islands, the communities could grow so very much closer.

But she wasn't willing to make the decision on her own. After all, Pueblo and Osu had their own guardians. "Looking at Yasu and Fae, she shrugged her shoulders. "What do you think? We can take it very slowly, and turn around immediately if the ground turns out to be unsafe."

Ieyasu considered for a moment, gazing at the sand bar still. After a pause, he took a few steps out onto the sand after Fae, testing his weight and watching the ground. Looking back, he nodded in response to Foenix.

"It looks ok here at least. If we're careful and keep the kids close, I think it'll be alright. Like you say, we can turn back if it looks unsafe."

"Yeah, Yassu can we?? - Yay!!!" Delighted that the grown-ups were agreeing, Osu ran over to Nehanda. "This's so cool!!"

"Yay!" With a hop, bounce, and another flap of her wings, Nehanda began to skip her way across the land bridge. It was a pretty day, she had Foenix and some really good friends with her, and there were new friends to meet on the other side!

"Nehanda, hold up!" Foenix's voice was a trifle sharp, and she amended her tone with a smile. "Hun, we don't know how stable this is, remember? I want you to be careful, and please don't run ahead this time. Will you promise me that? If you can't, we're heading straight home right now." She didn't much like playing the disciplinarian, but it was necessary.

Nehanda immediately slowed down at her guardian's words. she stood and calmly waited for the rest of the group to catch up with her, then apologized. "Sorry, Feenix. I promise I won't run ahead. I'll stay right here with Peblo and Osu and Fae and Yasu and Pie!" The long list left her slightly out of breath, so she gulped in some air with a big grin.

Foenix shook her head in amusement. turning to Fae and Yasu, she asked, "Do you think this might have been cause by the 'quakes? I met a few from Ar'Idil when we were over there for the summer festival, but I haven't seen any of them since. It will be fun to see how the Aerandir have grown."

It had been a pleasant afternoon, and was winding down toward evening, the sun visible as it neared the ocean gradually. The sunset would be soon, but that hadn't deterred Keanu and his mother for a nice evening walk. They had worked most of the afternoon, and the cooler air was refreshing.

Keanu darted out across the sand when they arrived, his pet dragon following behind lazily. He raced out towards the water, as always, glad to be outside, breathing in a deep breath of fresh ocean air. Even the beach had been changed by the volcanoe, he'd realized when he'd visited before. A short while ago the sea had been icky and full of black stuff, a result of the soot floating down and mixing in with it, or so he figured. But, all was fine now, and he could even find funny rocks in the sand, sometimes.

Kami watched her little boy from further up on the beach, reclining on the sand and moving to pet Mazin gently as the blue reptile ploped down on the sand. It was a great relief to her that he was taking the current situations so well. The both of them were slowly rebauilding their garden, though it would take a while for the plants to grow again as they had been. She encouraged Keanu constantly, and tried to be as positive as possible, as it seemed to help keep him in good spirits.