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Sir Valdemar nodded, and his smile grew wider. "He will like that very much, I know," he said softly. "I used to wonder if there had been something between them ... but then I lost track of both of them for so long. To be honest, when he was alone at the ranch when I saw him again, I was surprised that he was alone," he confided to Lin. "When I knew them both, they were rarely apart ..."

He smiled again, sadly this time. "But I suppose some things just are not meant to be."

He slid his thumb under the seal of the letter and tore it, opening the letter. He glanced at Lin. "Forgive me," he said apologetically, bowing his head to her.

Smiling, Sir Valdemar rose and headed off to the other end of the table so that he could be alone with his letter.

Haldia was the only one without someone to talk to, and she was feeling very lonely, even in the middle of the chaos. When she saw Sir Valdemar move away from Lin, she moved to take the place that he had vacated.

"Who is that?" she asked, nodding in Sir Valdemar's direction. "He is ... different from Earendil and his family, I think."

Haldia giggled at Lin. "No, I simply meant that he does not act as the royal family. But he does not act like Lady Alena, either," she mused. "Are historians different? Well, I suppose they must be, just as the royal family here is different than the royal family in Amon Darthir. King Aerennel was very kind, but he would never have allowed such noise and disorganization as this."

She laughed softly and looked around her. Indeed, it was a far different atmosphere from the quiet and sombre air of the castle of the Sky Elves.

Haldia looked at Lin curiously. "So ... it is not always like this, but it is not quite like the Sky Elves, either," she mused. "It seems a comfortable place, then, I think. Very ... large ..."

She looked around and fidgeted a bit, clearly remembering the castle at Amon Darthir.

"But it is an altogether different feel, as well," she added. "It seems to me ... to be a peaceful place. Are there any of those black creatures here, the gnomes?"

She looked at Lin anxiously.

Haldia smiled with relief. "Good," she murmured. "I think that I could handle anything, as long as it it not another of those creatures."

Sir Valdemar, finished with his letter, came over to Lin and Haldia again, and when he heard them speaking in the Ancient Tongue, his eyebrows shot up with surprise - yet again.

"Why do you speak in this tongue?" he asked, looking from Haldia to Lin.

Haldia blushed slightly. "It is the only language that I know," she told Sir Valdemar. "Everyone has been trying to teach me your languages, but I cannot seem to grasp them very well. I think I am beginning to understand a few phrases, but that is ... it."

Sir Valdemar looked from Lin to Haldia several times, then shook his head slowly. "There is much that I must hear, I see," he murmured. "But I am sure that we will have time. Lin, I think that I will return to my study for now. Please give my regards to the others?"

He smiled at her, clutching the letter from Alena tightly in one hand.

After Sir Valdemar left the room, the conversations didn't get any quieter, and even with dinner being brought in and consumed, it wasn't until Amalirahc started crying with exhaustion that everyone was ushered to their rooms (which had been prepared for them during the afternoon).

In the morning, Storm, Starr, Kaito and Ura were extremely eager to return home, and so they left with Shiro and Lin, promising to come back again, for visits if not for traveling.

And so their first long journey was over, but with the knowledge that there would be more to come, there were no regrets.