Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aerin turned away from her.

"Ask," she replied simply, heading off back into the forest to go back to the ranch.

Suddenly Adonijah was standing behind Lin, his movements as silent as his voice usually was. But for once it seemed as though his tongue had been loosened: his curiosity was finally getting the better of him.

"Something bothering you?" he asked quietly.

Adonijah frowned. Didn't people usually know what was bothering them? That was a strange problem.

And people wondered why he preferred to be alone. Things just made more sense when he kept to himself.

"If you say so," he murmured. "See you."

And he wandered off.

As the crowd slowly began to disperse, Aurin and Rhea headed over to Lin.

"Now we'll be ready to go first thing tomorrow," Rhea grinned at her, her eyes dancing with excitement. "Are you going to meet us here or should we come to the ranch?"

"That works," Rhea grinned. "Since most everyone else will be there anyways. Everyone else who's going is staying there."

Aurin smiled and put his arm around Rhea's shoulders. "We need to get our things together," he told Lin. "We'll see you in the morning, then. First light."

Rhea giggled. "Thanks," she beamed. She hugged Lin with one arm, then grinned down at Miyuki. "See you in the morning!"

And she took Aurin's arm once more and skipped off.

Just about everyone else had already vanished now that the excitement was over, and Earendil headed back to join Lin once more with Haldia following close behind him.

"Ready to go back to the ranch?" he asked Lin with a smile.

Without waiting, Haldia touched her mark, and her roc appeared, just as always. She stepped aside and motioned for Lin and Earendil to climb up.

"After you," she smiled at them.

Earendil knelt and made a stirrup with his hands. "Go on, Lin," he smiled warmly at her.

Earendil climbed up after Lin, then held down one hand to help Haldia up as well. It was pure reaction: he knew in his head that she didn't need any help up, she had been mounting her roc on her own for years now. She wasn't a child. Still, it was just something he did automatically.

Then they were up in the air, and off towards the ranch.

As soon as they landed, Haldia hopped down, and Earendil helped Lin down once again.

"So, since we're pretty much ready to go," he murmured to Lin as Haldia headed back to the house, "and Haradhel's promised to have food ready for us by dinner tonight, what shall we do for the rest of the day?"

Probably something that didn't involve carrying Miyuki. Not only was she going to get tired of being carried, but she was going to be spoiled sooner or later.