Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kaito was already in the portal room, waiting for Lin and the others. He was ready to go back - with Shiro taking care of things here (he couldn't risk falling behind in any more of his work, not until he stopped using so much electricity and such) he was the only one who could return to the Four Lands. He hadn't been too eager to come this time, not without his twin, but he was going as a special favour to Shiro, to see what was going on and how things had changed since they had last been there. He supposed there was a part of him that wanted to see what Lin was going to do now that she seemed to have had her eyes opened about her own feelings towards his cousin, but that wasn't as much of a motivator as he had once thought it might be.

He looked at his watch and shifted from one foot to the other, beginning a countdown of the three promised minutes. Impatient as ever ...

"What Shiro needs to do," Kaito said flatly, "is invest in solar panels or wind turbines, so that he can make electricity for himself and the clan grounds and make even more money off of it."

He had also originally thought water turbines, but with all their mer family members that just wasn't safe. Even wind turbines was pushing it, with all the fliers there were.

"At any rate, he probably won't be able to come for another trip for a while, so I'm going to be doing his work for him," he told Miyuki.

Kaito followed them immediately and closed the portal behind them.

"Still," he murmured as they started through the labyrinth, "even just installing enough solar panels for him would cost upwards of two million. Sure he would pay it off soon enough but ..."

It would be a pain, either way. Still, in the long run it would be a good idea.

"Not so much complicated as inconvenient," Kaito shrugged. "It would take about a month to install, and then there's the switching over, and Shiro has a few experiments that can't be interrupted, so ..."

Up ahead, a shadow appeared from around a corner, and after a moment a slim figure appeared. As she came closer and the torches illuminated her face, it became apparent that it was Aranxia, Tinuviel's younger daughter, but she had grown since they had been there and was now very nearly Lin's own height.

"Welcome back," she smiled, her voice soft as she greeted the travelers. She was still quite reserved in her personality, but not nearly as shy as she had been.

Aranxia smiled back at Lin. "And you," she said softly. "And Kaito, welcome back. And Miyuki."

She giggled softly and clasped her hands behind her back as she always did. "Come, we have all been waiting anxiously for your return. There are more visitors as well who have been waiting for you."

She motioned for everyone to follow her.

"Visitors?" Kaito asked curiously, hefting his bag on his shoulder.

Aranxia smiled as they started down the corridor of the labyrinth. "Your mother is right, you were just a baby when we first met," she replied. "We did not have much time together, I was very shy then and you left immediately for your trip to the Borderlands."

She turned to Lin. "Some of my great uncles have returned. Uncle Shea and Uncle Mikhail. They received a letter a little over a year ago, while Uncle Earendil was still gone, and there was one for him, too."

Aranxia pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well ... I'm not quite sure, to be honest," she admitted. "From the talk of it, I get the impression that it was somewhere quite far away, but they were delivered by someone from my Uncle Gion's plantation. So I'm not quite sure, and no one will tell me what the letters say."

"Maybe it will make more sense once we've spoken with Earendil," Kaito suggested. "If he received one of the letters as well ..."