Lucas could barely wait until the car stopped in front of his home before dashing out and through the front door. "Father! I'm home!"

Aidan looked up from the book he was reading in one of the chairs in the living room at Lucas's voice and smiled. "Welcome home," he replied as he put the book away and stood up.

Lucas didn't waste any time before hugging him. He may have loved adventuring far from the place where he had grown up, but home was still home. He had missed his father.

Aidan kissed the top of his head and just held him for a while. He knew Lucas was an independent, strong boy, but on some level he was still his baby. It was hard not to worry sometimes.

Rolan entered the house a bit after Lucas, followed by Kress and Mrei.

Aidan acknowledged them with a nod and a smile. "Good to see you're all well."

"You're not looking too bad yourself," Rolan commented with a smile of his own. "What was this important thing you wanted to tell us?"

"Straight to business as always, eh?" He reluctantly let go of Lucas. "I have information about the location of a key you may not have found yet. The keeper's name is Ansel."

"Where is it?" Lucas asked eagerly. That had to be the one Jian had mentioned. "How did you find it? We hit a dead-end."

Aidan chuckled. "There are youth in every generation like Ena - they'd rather spend their time on their bikes than anything else. It didn't even take any convincing at all to get them on the road to look for clues. As for where..." He moved to the map lying on the living room table. "Around here. I was told she lives in the middle of a forest. Ask the people in this town for details. They take supplies to her every few weeks, but wouldn't say to where."

Rolan studied the map. Laoka, eh? Very small and out-of-the-way. Most people had probably never even heard about it. "So you thought they would rather tell us?"

Aidan nodded. "You do have the pendant to prove yourselves. And Kress, of course."

Yeah, that had gone really well last time. Kress snorted quietly. But they couldn't just give up now. "Let's go then."

"Already? Wouldn't you at least stay the night? I was going to make honeyberry pie for dessert." Honeyberry was a super-sweet fruit - not actually a berry, but the name had stuck - all the children he had ever known loved. The taste was a little too sweet for adults, though. "With cream pudding on the side."

Kress's mouth watered. He had last had honeyberry pie when he had been little.

"Pleeaaaase!" Mrei almost whined. "Let's stay for a little while!"

Since when had everybody started looking at him to make the decisions? "I suppose...one night would be okay."

"That's great." Aidan smiled. "Lucas, will you help with making dinner?"

"Sure."

"Me too!" Mrei put in.

"Is there something I can do?" Kress asked. Anything was better than giving Rolan an opportunity to tease him over being tempted by sweets.

"Whoa, slow down! All of you?" It would get crowded in the kitchen with this many people, and he had learned while raising two children that crowded could mean dangerous in a place full of sharp objects and hot pans. "I'm afraid we can't do that."

All three children looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to decide what to do.

Aidan smiled. "Tell you what, Mrei. I just got the newest disc for that series you liked. How about you and Kress watch it while Lucas and I cook dinner?" Getting it had not been exactly an easy task, but fortunately the store had carried one copy - just in case someone from the capital asked, the storekeeper had said. He had agreed to lend it to Aidan for the duration of his little guest's visit.

Mrei's eyes brightened instantly. They had been on the road so long that it might be episodes she hadn't seen yet.

Worked like a charm. Mrei dragged Kress to sit on the couch with her while Aidan retrieved the disc from the shelf and put it into the RD player.

"I'll check the car while waiting. Wouldn't want anything to break down again," Rolan said and left the house as the opening theme started playing. Before Mrei would get a chance to ask him to stay and watch television with her too.

Kress followed the program with half an eye for a while before commenting, "How can you watch this? It's such junk."

Mrei's face crunched up in a very insulted expression. "It's not junk!"

"Just look at that heathen-"

"Cinol," Mrei corrected him. She knew every character in the series by name.

"Whatever. He's acting like an idiot. And I swear if he were fawning any more over the king, he'd lick his boots."

"They're good friends. So of course he likes him."

Kress snorted. "Doesn't look to me like the king thinks so. I like Lucas and I would never treat him like that."

"Like what?"

"They're not equals at all. The king fights monsters and meets new people, and all Cinol does is hang around in the background, get into trouble to be rescued like a child and tend to chores. Look, the king isn't even introducing him."

Now that Kress mentioned it...She had always thought Cinol was just a silly side character. But Aidan had called the show "political propaganda" too.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked. The conversation had drifted into the kitchen and gotten his attention.

"The Adventures of the Dawn King," Kress replied. "Ever seen it?"

"Nope."

"I think it's stupid. Not all heathens are illiterate idiots." He grinned. "I wouldn't vouch for the current company, though."

"Hey!" Lucas protested, then started laughing. It had been a while since he had last heard Kress joke about anything. He must have been feeling better. "Not everybody can be like you, oh mighty bookworm."

That made Kress and Mrei laugh.

With Lucas also distracted with the television show and talking about it, Aidan found himself left alone in preparing the dinner. But as long as the kids were having fun, he didn't mind that much.

~*~*~

During dinner it was agreed that Mrei would again get Leyla's room and Kress and Lucas would share. Aidan offered that Rolan could have his bed, but the other man insisted that he was fine sleeping on the floor. Aidan didn't want to argue over it and set a soft mattress up for Rolan on the floor of his own room.

After the children fell asleep, the two adults stayed in the living room. The television was running some old action series, but neither was really watching it.

"How far along is the uniting of keys?" Aidan asked.

"We have four pieces this far, so once we get Ansel's...Romi has the last one."

"I have no idea where she might be held." He sighed. "Or even if she's alive anymore for that matter."

"Lucas is still hoping that once we have the other pieces, they would point the way to her. I'm afraid it's going to break his heart if they don't."

"I'm confident he will bounce right back to his feet and think of some other way to find her. And who knows? Maybe they will." He laid one hand on Rolan's shoulder. "Thank you for looking after those three. I don't know what I would have done if they had set out alone."

"Don't sweat it," Rolan replied nonchalantly. It would have been his family's task to assist the messenger in any way possible even without Aidan's request. "But...you could have told me the truth."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, Mrei being a princess and Kress a run-away from the king's soldiers...Really, do you think me that untrustworthy?"

Aidan leaned his head on his hands. "No, I don't. I just..." He sighed again. "I don't know. It felt like the best course of action at the time."

Rolan chuckled. "In a way it's nice to see that even you can make bad decisions. Romi always made you sound so perfect."

Aidan smiled. Romi had always made everyone sound perfect. She had always seen the best in people and helped them see it themselves too. "You're all here, so I presume everything went well nonetheless?"

Rolan nodded. "Well enough. There was a group of soldiers looking for Mrei, but she avoided them. Can you imagine that Malen - Taora's keeper - thought she was an orphan I had picked up? A month or two and everybody will think she was born to the Skyfall tribe."

"That's good."

"Really? What are you plotting?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Not buying that."

"She will be the queen once she grows up. Don't you think it would be a very good thing to have a ruler who understands also our ways? I'd rather not wager everything on the land beyond the clouds."

"Don't you think Kress and Lucas can succeed?"

"I believe they can. And I'm hoping they do." He leaned back. "But it's not wise to bet our people's future only on that."

Well, Aidan did have a point...

"Have you ever wondered why the sky people were stranded on earth? Or what is it we are supposed to return to being in order to go back?"

Rolan scratched his head. "Not really. I figured we'd just hold on to our faith and one day the messenger would appear. Personally I can't even imagine what our ancestors' home is like. It's not like living on earth is that bad at all."

"Precisely. I imagine there are many who'd rather stay if given a chance to leave this land. For their future Mrei's role will be essential."

"Too much thinking for me," Rolan stated. "But I can tell you that Mrei is a good girl. She can be ignorant, but she has a good heart and an open mind."

"I know." What other kind of child would voluntarily throw away a life of luxury to team up with a heathen, all in order to find a cure for someone close to them who was ill?

"Well, it really is getting late. I better get some sleep too. You coming?"

"I think I'll stay up a while longer. I'll try not to step on you when I go to bed."

Rolan chuckled. "Right. You better."