Welcome to Gaia! ::

Earendil chuckled again. "I feel honoured," he grinned. "But come, Ninako will be out for her walk by now, I'm sure. We should drop your things in your room and then go find her."

"I'll take your bags if you want," Kaito offered. "I'll just talk to Ninako at lunch. I'd like to talk to Sir Valdemar first anyways."

"Slight?" Kaito stared. "That's a bit more than slight."

It was clear from the look on his face that he didn't want to go with them, but he knew how much Shiro was relying on him to get any information he could. Shiro couldn't come, Ura wouldn't come, and so Kaito had to. And as wild and irresponsible as he could sometimes seem, he wasn't one to shirk his duties ... and he would do anything for his brother.

"I'll come," he murmured grudgingly. "And knowing you two, we'll be leaving tomorrow."

Kaito nodded. "Then I'll be ready."

Earendil smiled at Miyuki and put one hand on her shoulder as they walked. "We're going to go on a trip," he told her. "A long trip on a ship, to an island where some of our friends live. We're all going to go together, won't that be fun?"

He grinned at Lin. Their last visit to that island had had its ups and downs, but overall the entire trip had been a lot of fun.

Earendil smiled. "Very, very far away," he murmured. "It will take us a while to get there. But we'll be together the whole time, all of us. And there are so many things you could learn ..."

He wondered again briefly if Leyenda and Kelirahc knew about the trip and if they would be coming. Amalirahc would be close to Miyuki's age, still ...

Earendil chuckled. He had forgotten about that aspect, but Lin was right. No one on Amon Darthir, save those who had lived here, even knew any other language than Common Elvish.

"And you can learn all about ships and sailing and the ocean and animals and the island ... and I'm sure that you'll even have the opportunity to fly on a roc, if you want to. Just like Mummi and I did when we first visited there."

"You always loved to ride on a roc when you were a baby," Earendil smiled at her. "That was how we traveled the lands with you. I think you liked it even more than we did."

"To be fair," Kaito pointed out, "Earendil, you always got sick when you were on a roc other than Haldia's."

Earendil chuckled and hugged Miyuki to his side with one arm. "Don't worry, Miyuki. You'll meet them all again someday."

Even if they had no idea when.

"If Nauros weren't so far out of the way," Earendil murmured, "I would ask if we could stop there on the way home again."

"There is that," Earendil agreed as they approached the queen's study.

The door was open, and Atalya was sitting at her desk, talking with Ruel, who was standing across from her. They were deep in conversation when the others arrived, but their conversation ended abruptly when Earendil knocked on the door and stepped inside.

"I hope we're not interrupting," he apologized with a smile.

Ruel looked at the group silently, but Atalya broke into a broad smile and she beckoned them forward.

"Not at all!" she beamed. "Come in, come in! Welcome back, all of you!"