Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled as he held the door open for the others. Miyuki was just too cute.

Once inside the shop, they began to look around. Earendil wasn't really looking for anything in particular, and he had to pry his eyes away from some items he thought Lin would like: but suddenly he spotted something that might even hold some interest for Aethos.

"Aethos-sola, here," he called, beckoning for the prince to join him.

Aethos was there quickly, his eyes curious. "Yes?"

Earendil smiled and pointed to some cloak clasps that he had found. They were a shiny metal, though he knew they didn't have silver on the island, so he wasn't quite sure what it was. There were several differently designed sets, and he grinned at the prince.

"See? Even something useful can be personalized," he explained. "Isn't there anything here that calls out to you and makes you want to have it?"

Aethos's eyes scanned the clasps. He could see that they were well made, and sure there were a few that he liked, but the clasps he had at the moment still worked fine, so what was the point in getting new ones?

Earendil glanced over at Lin and Miyuki and smiled at them, but then he turned his attention back to Aethos.

"Well?" he asked. "Which do you like?"

Aethos kept staring at the clasps. He liked the one with the roc on it, but he also liked the one that had a moon and stars. Many of them were geared towards the military, and had military designs on them, but the moon and stars was one of the ones that didn't seem to be meant particularly for soldiers. It was strange, Aethos mused, that he should be drawn to that one. The roc would be more pertinent to his position as a Wing Rider, but still ...

He pointed to the clasps with the moon and stars. "That one, I suppose," he told Earendil.

Without hesitating, Earendil snatched up the clasp and brought it to the owner of the shop, one Adanel by name, if he recalled correctly.

He smiled warmly at the woman as he set the clasp on the counter. "I'd like to buy this, please," he told her. "Though I'm afraid I haven't any styl. Will you take silver instead? If nothing else, it could be melted down to make more jewelry."

The woman didn't hesitate, but smiled widely and nodded, holding her hand out for the promised silver. "That would be wonderful," she told him. "We have not had silver in centuries. Thank you very much."

"My pleasure," Earendil grinned, handing over a few silver coins, enough to equal about half of one gold coin.

Earendil turned to Aethos and held out the clasp. "Here, put it on," he told him. "Please. This is my gift to you."

Aethos stared at the clasp. He didn't understand it, he didn't know why Earendil was doing this, but he figured he didn't have much of a choice.

"Thank you," he said, more out of formality than anything else, and he took the clasp and exchanged it with the one already on his cloak. He tucked the original clasp away in a pocket. Perhaps he would keep it around in case the new one got lost or something.

Earendil smiled at Lin, and when he saw her looking at the clasp that he had bought for Aethos, he winked at her. Even if the man didn't want it, Earendil was determined to make him see that there was indeed a point to wearing personal items.

"Getting anything?" he asked, joining her and Miyuki.

Earendil knelt down to Miyuki's height and looked at the display she was pointing at. "It is," he agreed with her. "Very pretty."

He looked at the ear clasp, then at Miyuki. It looked as though it would fit her, though he wasn't sure it would be a good idea to bring it up now. Perhaps he could come back another time, without her, and get for her as a surprise or something. But he would have to talk it over with Lin first, make sure that it was all right with her ...

"I think it might be too big for you, though," he told Miyuki. "What do you think?"

Earendil smiled and hugged Miyuki. "Perhaps," he answered. "We'll see."

He wasn't going to make any promises. Because if Lin didn't want her to have it (considering that it did after all require piercing the ear, and he knew that Miyuki had sensitive ears) then he didn't want to have to break a promise.

Earendil smiled and hugged Miyuki again, then stood up and smiled at Lin. "Shall we continue?" he asked her. "Where next?"

Aethos was waiting for them at the door, though he seemed to be examining his new clasps.

"Woodsmith it is," Earendil agreed. He reached for Miyuki's hand. "Off we go again!"

He smiled at Aethos as they approached the door, but the prince remained expressionless as they left the shop and headed down the street once more.