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Rhea turned back to Kelirahc and spoke to him, and he scratched his head thoughtfully and looked around. Suddenly he brightened, and he spoke back to Rhea.

"The river?" Rhea asked, looking around at everyone. "He says it's nice to swim when it's hot, the water is refreshing but not too cold."

Arwen and Roydon looked at each other, and Roydon nodded. "Yes, I think that sounds nice," he agreed. "Though if we're going to be seeing the elders in a few hours, I'm not sure if swimming would be a great idea. It wouldn't put forward the greatest image."

He chuckled softly.

Rhea translated the reply to Kelirahc, and the man smiled widely, appearing to be quite pleased. He motioned for them to follow him and, after bidding goodbye to Omarerd for the moment, set off into the jungle.

Leyenda was of course the first one after him, and her eyes were sparkling brightly. She hadn't seen the river yet: for all her time there, they hadn't done a whole lot of exploring the ground. Traveling, yes, and eating, but their exploration had been from the air.

They didn't go far: only about five minutes away from the village, the river suddenly appeared. It wasn't a small river like the one in the Borderlands, but it wasn't a huge river like the Zapanizan, which was the river from Namonuito to the coast. It was a sort of in-between kind of river, the kind that was big enough for a few small fishing vessels, but not traveling except by canoe.

At least, that was Shiro's thought when they arrived.

The ground was damp and spongy, and the foliage was thick, and grew out even over the water's edge. The water was clean and clear - so clear that even in the deeper areas, where Shiro guessed it had to be at least fifteen or twenty feet deep, the bottom was clearly visible.

There were schools of fish making their way up the river, as well as the usual rainforest wildlife: frogs and birds of diverse colours, shapes and sizes; dragonflies and butterflies, large and small; and the plants were larger here than at the beach, vivid green with brilliant flowers, some with leaves as tall as Lin.

When they reached the river, there was a stunned silence, until Rhea murmured an astonished, "Wow ..."

Leyenda stood at the water's edge and looked around, taking everything in, and Kelirahc moved to stand behind her and wrapped his arms gently around her stomach, pressing his cheek against the side of her head. It was in a way almost a possessive movement, but also - and perhaps more so - protective and romantic. For her part, she just relaxed into him, setting her hands over his.

Arwen glanced at the two and watched them for a moment, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Like it or not, whether she was prepared for it or not, the two of them were married, and however quickly they went with their relationship, she could say nothing about it. Instead, she turned to talk to Roydon, but she was distracted when she saw an enormous blue butterfly on the back of Lin's head - so big it almost seemed as if it were her head.

She laughed. "I see you make new friends everywhere, Lin," she grinned.

Shiro chuckled, turning to watch. "Not much to say, when there's rarely anyone awake during the day, and butterflies are day creatures," he grinned. "Unless of course you happen to attract one that's been around Kelirahc and Leyenda over the past few days ..."

He glanced over towards the two to see if they would react to his teasing, but it seemed as though they were in their own little world, and hadn't heard him - which kind of amused him, if he was honest, because they still didn't know each other's languages.

"Or else you would be losing your mind," Shiro murmured, nodding in understanding. "It can't be easy, being flooded with voices in languages that you don't understand. Didn't it start out that way, when the butterflies first started following you, before you started learning Common Elvish?"

As he recalled, she had learned High Elven from Sir Valdemar first, and the Westland tongue later.

Shiro watched as the butterflies fluttered around a bit before landing once more on Lin's body.

"Perhaps these ones are different," he murmured softly. "You never know. They're definitely different from the butterflies of the Four Lands, at least on the outside."

it would be interesting to look into, though.

Rhea smiled at Shiro and Lin, then stepped forward into the water, getting her feet wet up to the ankles. Her smile widened. "He was right," she murmured. "It's a wonderful temperature ... cool, but not cold."