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Earendil laughed at Lin and Miyuki. "Try teasing her with another spoon of it," he grinned. "That might work. That's what Tinuviel always had to do with Regan."

Haldia smiled and ate her bowlful quietly. It was indeed a pleasant treat, one that she wouldn't mind having more often - especially in the hot weather.

Earendil chuckled. "No, she would keep trading off the two spoons. Give her one mouthful, and when she kept that spoon use the other one. And when she kept that spoon, use the first one. And so on."

Haradhel wasn't having that sort of trouble with Amalirahc. The boy was quite content to allow his great grandmother to keep feeding him, a small bite at a time.

A very small bite at a time.

Earendil chuckled. "You could always let her keep the spoon," he grinned, watching the two. "Or who knows? Maybe she'll get the idea and give it up willingly. Either way, I think this answers your question from earlier this week."

He smiled at Miyuki. "I think we can safely say she's ready to start trying some more solid foods."

"Soft stuff first, I would imagine," Earendil grinned, watching them. "Need a hand?"

It looked as though Lin were really having trouble, doing three things with only two hands.

"At this rate, you're not going to be able to have any yourself," he chuckled, sitting down and motioning for Lin to pass Miyuki over to him. That way, she could continue to feed Miyuki, as well as eat her own ice cream if she wanted.

Earendil smiled and held Miyuki carefully. "Some kids are, some kids aren't," he replied with a murmur. "Every child is different and has their own habits. And there are worse ones."

He made sure she didn't fidget too much while Lin fed her.

Slowly but surely, the ice cream was eaten, and the general consensus amongst the elves was that it had indeed been a delicious treat.

"Is there enough left to bring to Ruque?" Haldia asked, looking at Miyu.

Earendil translated the question for her, adding, "I'm sure he would appreciate if you brought him some to have during his lesson. I know he's still in a lot of pain, and he must be getting frustrated from not being able to do anything."

Haldia smiled and nodded. That was good. She was glad. She had also been to visit Ruque a few times over the week, and she felt very sorry for him. Being burnt was no fun at all.

Time continued to pass, and everyone grew more and more into their daily routines. The enormous dinner came and went - and ended up being an outside to-do because of the sheer number of attendees - and then life returned to normal, as normal as it could be.

At last the time came when the travelers did need to continue on, simply because they needed to finish their visit before autumn was over if they didn't want to be traveling when the cold hit. The change of seasons was already apparent: the days were beginning to grow shorter, the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn shades of red and gold, and the winds began to grow stronger. Haradhel worked hard with Vanya and some of the other women of the ranch to make sure that the travelers who had never before experienced a cold winter would have clothes that would keep them warm enough.

"We should probably get going soon then," Earendil said to Lin and Haldia one day. "If all these preparations are being made for the arrival of winter, we need to get going so that we'll be back before it begins."

Haldia was in complete agreement - though it was more because she was eager to see snow, and lots of it, than worry over travel. After all, they hadn't had any trouble with the snow on Amon Darthir.