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Rhea nodded slowly and frowned. "Do you know ... I don't know, perhaps it's not my place, but if I could find out what happened ..." She hesitated a moment. "I don't know, maybe I shouldn't pry, but ... I want to be able to help him, do you think it would be a good idea?"

She paused again. "Do you think Starr knows?"

"And yet Starr is not nearly as affected as Storm is," she murmured softly.

She sighed. "I don't want to pry, but I do want to know what happened in hopes that they can be helped. Do you think it would be wrong of me to try to See what happened?"

"And if she won't tell?" Rhea asked pointedly. "If Storm is living his life in fear ... there has to be something we can do about it ..."

She had never seen anyone in such a state before, at least not without knowing what had caused it. It pained her that she didn't know how to help him.

Rhea nodded slowly. "But it will take time, either way, won't it?" she murmured softly. "Even if we can find out what it is, and help him ... it will be a long time before he is healed."

Still, time was the best healer, and they would have a lot of time on their journey.

"I suppose that never really entered my mind, knowing how long Cindy went without growing," Rhea commented thoughtfully. "Still, it's a different feeling than that. It's the kind of uneasiness that comes from a bad event in one's past."

She smiled. "But you're right, we can't do anything about it until we talk to the two about it. Let's just hope that they're fine with Arwen tonight."

The horses were brought to the livery and the group headed to the inn for a nice warm dinner and some comfortable beds.


A week later, the group had settled into the city fairly well. Shiro and Ura and Kaito usually headed off on their own during the days, while Earendil spent time with Lin and Rhea and Whisper spent time with Storm and Starr at Arwen's. More or less, Rhea was trying to get the twins to be comfortable with her, leading up to a possible opportunity to talk with them.

At the end of the week, Arwen prepared a meal for the entire group, insisting that it was about time they ate at her place instead of always going back to the inn for their meals. Storm seemed to be doing better by this time, at least a little bit, and he and Starr assisted with the preparation of the meal while Celeb tagged along after them. But by the time it was time for everyone to arrive, the meal was ready, and the table was set.

Starr smiled brightly at Lin and nodded. "I like being helpful," she beamed, "and Arwen says that I can help cook when we're on the ship as well!"

Arwen chuckled and put one hand on Starr's head. "She is quite a fast learner," she smiled. "Faster than Leyenda. Though Leyenda's never really liked cooking, she's pretty good at it."

Starr giggled, then glanced at Storm and put one arm around his shoulders. "Storm's a good help, too," she grinned, "and he likes helping too, even if he doesn't say so."

Storm wriggled out of Starr's arm, but he did smile ever so faintly. "Arwen makes good cookies, too," he murmured quietly.

Starr giggled. She still remembered the sugar cookie incident, when Idhril had wanted to sweeten Storm up. The method might not work, but that didn't stop Storm from liking cookies, depressed or not.

"Come on," she beamed, urging them towards the dining room. "Let's eat! It's a whole huge meal! We even made special fish for Senka and Whisper!"

Immediately a purr rose in Whisper's throat. "That sounds lovely," she murmured softly.