Welcome to Gaia! ::

One word that could be used to describe the Winters clan grounds over the past week and a half was chaos. Shiro, Ura and Kaito had to scramble to collect their things and pack it all up, as well as have new clothes made for them, not to mention trying to get everything in the clan library in order so that Skye could look after it easily, as she had offered to do.

It had been surprisingly easy to convince Elnara and Lore to let Storm and Starr go: of course, the fact that they were Lin's age helped, even if they were so small still. So then there was the preparations for them: they especially needed more clothes, since neither of them had traveled before, not really, and neither of them had many clothes at all.

Shiro had quite a bit of money to spend, saved up from his many part-time jobs helping people out - whether it was former schoolmates, businesses who had heard of his work, or simply from his work in the clan library - and in true Shiro fashion, he spent every last penny of it on supplies for the trip: blank books, dozens of them, a seemingly endless supply of quills and ink, measuring instruments, his experiment instruments, graduated cylinders and beakers of every size, burners and test tubes, vials of different chemicals, thermometers, barometers, needles, tweezers, rulers of various sizes, microscopes, magnifying glasses ... a chemistry lab, physics lab, and biology lab all fit into one of his runed bags.

In the end he requested a second bag for his clothes and daily necessities: not because he needed the space, but simply so that he wouldn't have to rummage around as much to find what he was looking for.

The others kept it simple: clothes, a few journals each, and some of their favourite items that they wanted to take with to remind them of home. Kaito took the pale cyan hat that Elnara had bought for him the first time they had met, and Storm and Starr took their collection of pillows and potions.

At long last, they were ready, and they waited in the portal room, chatting with their parents while they waited for Lin and Senka.

"Kaito, you make sure you take good care of your siblings," Elnara told him firmly. Sure, Storm and Starr had magic to aid them, but Kaito was by far the best of the five at fighting. "Make sure nothing happens to them."

"Of course," Kaito smiled, hugging his mother reassuringly. "Don't worry about us. We'll have loads of people helping us too, we won't be alone for a moment."

Shiro chuckled softly. "We'll be back before you know it, Kaasan," he murmured, putting one hand on her shoulder.

Elnara hugged Starr and Storm in turn, giving Storm an extra long hug. "I'll be thinking of you," she smiled at them both. "And I'll be checking up on you every once in a while." She kissed their foreheads. "I love you all. Be safe."

Shiro smiled at Elnara. "We'll be fine, Kaasan," he murmured. He turned to Lin. "Shall we be off?"

Kaito laughed. "Senka really did take possession of Earendil," he grinned. "But he did make quite the impression. Anyways, let's go then. Until we meet again, Mother!" He kissed her cheek and charged towards the portal.

Ura followed after Kaito, but Shiro waited to come with Storm and Starr.

"We'll miss you, Mama," Starr murmured, hefting her bag on her shoulder. "And who knows? Maybe we'll grow while we're there."

Elnara smiled and placed one hand on Starr's hair. "Don't try to be anything different from what you really are," she murmured. "Whether you grow or not, you are who you are, and your height can never change that."

Storm looked up at Elnara and smiled faintly, then ruffled his wings and, without a word, stepped into the portal.

"Quickly now," Elnara urged her last remaining children. "Before too much time passes."

And with a final wave, Shiro and Starr stepped through the portal and vanished.

Shiro, Kaito and Ura had no trouble adjusting to the pitch blackness of the labyrinth, being part cat, but even so, Starr wasted no time in pulling out a light potion from her bag. She shook up the bottle and held it up so that the corridor was lit.

"I wonder why they don't keep torches lit down here anymore," she murmured as she started leading the way forward.

"Perhaps it's just the one corridor," Shiro suggested. "It would keep the portal hidden if anyone did manage to make their way down here."

"If they could even get through the portal in the first place," Shiro pointed out. "It does after all need to be activated from this side."

They rounded the first corner, and sure enough, there at the end was the first lit torch. Shiro smiled with relief. "Good," he murmured. "It will let us go more quickly. Come on, let's go."

And he picked up the pace, making sure that Storm and Starr were keeping up with him.

Shiro stepped forward to knock on Atalya's door, since there was no way to tell by the corridor what time it was. This was an interior hallway, there were no windows, no way to see the outside, which was the only real indicator of time.

It was a few moments before the door was opened, and a guard stood in front of them.

"Welcome," he said, bowing low in greeting. He straightened up again quickly. "Come. Her Majesty is still asleep, but I believe Prince Earendil has awakened, and he has requested that you all be brought to him immediately upon your arrival."

"This way," the guard bowed, and he led them through the study and down the corridor towards the tower stairs. The castle was quiet, and the first lights of dawn were only beginning to streak above the horizon.

They were taken to Earendil's study. The door was wide open, and the guard motioned for them to go right inside.

Shiro headed in first and looked around. It was quite different from the last time they had been there: instead of the piles of clutter, there were only a few books visible, and most of the instruments had been packed away. Earendil was sitting at his desk, poring intently through a book. He looked up, hearing voices, and he got to his feet excitedly when he saw who had arrived.

"You're all here!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Finally!"

Kaito raised one eyebrow. "How long did it take us?"

Earendil chuckled. "Five years."