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"Not so very little," River spoke up.

She, Jess and Aranxia were on the other side of Miyuki. They had come to talk with her, but seeing that she was already chatting with her friends from Amon Darthir, they hadn't bothered to speak up. But now River felt she ought to speak up and remind Miyuki of the passage of time - since she had been in that other world for a while.

"We only met her two and a half years ago," she added. "You've only grown once since then." She turned to the Sky Elves and added, "But since Alassëa taught Miyuki, Amalirahc and me how to use a staff and how to get along without our sight, we do tend to take her abilities for granted - as long as she's the one doing it. It really is hard to get along the way she does."

"I spoke with her this morning," Aranxia offered quietly. "We've been here two days and she already knows her way around the palace without any help. I think most of the rest of us still need to ask for directions."

Amalirahc grinned. "And I was even here before!"

Selene laughed. "Well, we've never been in the palace, but we've always known it was huge."

"What's it like in there?" Elwin asked curiously.

Though the Sky Elves listened with interest, it was Aranxia who seemed the most interested in the mention of the archives.

"Sounds like a lot of space," Sheena spoke up, sounding a bit wistful. "Our house is quite small, though we're thinking of adding a room."

"We're in one of the city's original houses," Mylar added. "One of the only ones that wasn't expanded when we were young."

"Made it very cheap," Sheena added with a smile. "But Mylar is very skilled as an architect, so we can afford to expand now."

Andarien had hidden himself away during those few days, working with Shiro to figure out how to fix his pocket watch so that it would fit the time of this world. Unfortunately, though they had come up with the design of the necessary parts, none of the parts in any of Andarien's kits were of the right size, so even he had to concede that the watch could not be finished until they reached Caras Galadhon.

Earendil had a feeling that was the only reason why Andarien had been so willing to come along with them to see the new settlement.

Captain Aurin Striate was taking them as a guide. Wing Haven was further inland than Wing Hove, beyond the old walls that had once held the gnomes at bay. There was snow on the ground all around the town, and the smoke that rose from the chimneys gave it an old-fashioned, cozy kind of look, despite the fact that the town was so new.

"Pretty," Andarien commented when they saw it from the edge of Wing Hove, at the top of the hill. "How new is it?"

Aurin smiled. "Construction began two years ago ... it finished this past autumn."

"So ... two months," grinned River, who had come along with Jess.

"Well, for the first while, we were focusing on improving the lives of our people," Aurin smiled. "Besides, Mylar is the only architect we've got at the moment. He learned everything from your uncles when they were here."

"That was quite a while ago," Earendil commented.

Aurin smiled. "It was. He learned from them as a child. For years he doodled, and only a few years ago we realized what he knew. He worked with Queen Aerin on several designs for the town, and eventually they had a working idea. Then it was a matter of laying it all out and collecting the workers again."

River looked at the town thoughtfully. "How is it designed?" she asked. She hadn't realized that Miyuki's friend had been the one to design the town, though his wife had said that he was an accomplished architect.

"Circular, like Wing Hove, but of course much smaller," Aurin replied. "The market and business area is all in the middle of the town and residential is outermost."

"For him being so young, he learned an awful lot from them in a very short time," Aurin smiled.

They entered the town, which was already awake and bustling with life. For the most part, it seemed to be young people in the town - many young couples and nearly as many on their own. There were no children running around, which was very different from the city.

"Where are we going to go first?" River asked curiously.

"Of course," Aurin chuckled. "There aren't quite as many businesses so it won't take long, but what there is is very good. Some people from the city come down here regularly for some of their goods."

"I thought the city stuff was pretty good," River grinned. "I think I'm looking forward to seeing this town."

Earendil chuckled. He was looking forward to it too, but the teens (he didn't want to call them children, they were pretty much grownups by this time) were showing enough enthusiasm for all of them, he thought.

While they passed through the residential areas, River mused aloud about what kinds of shops there might be in the district. Jess just smiled to himself and more or less left the conversation to River and Miyuki.

As they moved deeper into the town, the sound of gentle music reached their ears.

"Music in the street?" River blinked. "Is there some kind of celebration going on?"

Aurin smiled. "No, no celebration. It's very common here."