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It wasn't long before they were back at the campsite, and Luk went immediately to Arthael so that she could prepare dinner.

Andarien was starting to fuss, and Earendil looked anxiously at Lin. "I think he might be getting hungry," he told her. "He's not happy just being held anymore."

Earendil nodded and shifted the crying Andarien in his arms. He looked around. It seemed that everyone had decided to rest while they had been in the town, and now Arthael was preparing a dinner with the fresh loaves of bread with Luk's help, Halmir was out of sight (probably on guard) as was Daeron, Shiro was working on his tablet, Kaito and River were back to practicing with her wooden sword, and Aethos, Elros and Alena were sitting and chatting next to one of the wagons. Shiloh was on a blanket on the grass in front of them, getting some stretch and wiggle time, which she seemed to like.

Earendil indicated the small group. "There they are." He started to lead the way over to them.

As they approached the small group, all three of them looked up. It was impossible to hide their approach, as Andarien was really crying now.

Alena just smiled and held her arms out. "If he doesn't grow by the time we reach the Eastland, you might have a problem on your hands," she chuckled as she took the infant from Earendil.

"Sorry," Earendil murmured, his face flushing slightly. "You know we wouldn't ask this of you if we had any other choice."

Alena laughed. "Don't worry about it. It's not like Shiloh's going hungry."

She rose carefully and headed towards her tent. "I'll be back in a bit," she called over her shoulder.

Kaito was using a stick to work with River, but when he saw Miyuki approaching them, he held up one hand, pausing their workout.

"Miyuki!" River beamed when she turned around to see what had interrupted their practice. "You're back? How was town? Was it fun? Did you see more humans? What was it like?"

She stuck her sword in her belt and ran to greet her friend.

River blinked. "But ... why?" she asked, completely confused. "It's not like you would do something bad in there, or try to steal from them or something ... what's wrong with going in to buy bread?"

It was clear that despite having grown up on the ranch, she wasn't entirely aware of the relations between the races.

River looked at Miyuki quizzically. "What's wrong with that, even if he was your grandpa? Your grandpa is nice, he gave me a candy cane!"

To her, anyone who gave out treats had to be a good person - besides, she'd heard all sorts of stories about him from everyone on the ranch, and no one had a bad thing to say about him! (Except Shael, who hadn't liked the way he'd teased Earendil before Earendil and Lin were married).

River thought about it. Sure, he had been the one to found the ranch, but he had done that to save children that had been kidnapped. That was a good thing ... and no one at the ranch was afraid of him ... even Brooke wasn't, and Brooke was little, but a good judge of character. The only people she knew of that would have a reason to be afraid of him were the slavers, and it wasn't as if those people were still around, let alone here!

... or were they?

She blinked rapidly. "Do you think that the child slavers were from here, maybe?" she asked in a quiet tone. "And maybe that's why they're afraid?"

"Grandmama would know!" River said brightly. "She was there, too! She helped let them go!"

Which was quite ironic-sounding, since of course the humans had been the ones doing the taking.

"Maybe we could ask?" she suggested brightly.