[mark12_30]

"There sure are a lot of them."

Phura chuckled. "No more than the crews of all those ships; we just don't usually see them all in one camp."

"Yeah."

"Cami says that she's never seen so many all together all at once, either, " Phura continued. He studied Gamba. "I thought you'd be happy to see them."

"I'm happy to see the trees."

"You used to think elves were the answer to everything. You used to love them. All your favorite songs were about Gondolin. What happened? " Phura asked.

Gamba rubbed his wrists, pointedly.

"Come on, " Phura said. "Cami has accepted her apology and forgiven her for that. Don't you think you should too?"

"Some apology, " Gamba said. "She basically implied that we would always need rescuing, and she was worried that she wouldn't be there to do it herself."

"Is that really what she said?" Phura asked.

Gamba scowled. Phura got up, and went and found Cami, and spoke softly with her. Cami rose, excusing herself from her conversation and saying that she hoped to return shortly, and she came back with Phura to where Gamba was sitting. Phura drifted away, and found Azraph, who had been watching the two brothers from a distance. THey sat together, quietly, looking around at the elves and the trees, trying to take it all in.

They watched as Cami and Gamba got up, and walked over to Piosenniel, and Phura took a deep breath and held Azraph's hand tighter. "Let's hope for the best."

Piosenniel looked up at Gamba and Cami, and studied the two of them for several seconds. Cami's expression was carefully neutral, but Pio read a worried hopefulness underneath the mask. Gamba stood uncomfortably, fists jammed deep into his pockets, face rather pink around the edges.

"Hello, " she said.

Gamba withdrew further, and Cami turned and met his gaze. Tightlipped, he glared back at her.

"Well?" Pio said, after several more seconds had crawled by.

His eyes blazed, and he burst out, "You worked so hard to set us free from the tombs, and then you tied us up again. And you never apologized for that."

"I didn't?" she replied. Cami nodded internally, glancing from her friend to her son.

"No, " he blazed.

"Gamba, " she replied, "as far as I'm concerned, I did."

"No, " he said. "You never said you were sorry. You just said other things."

The boy was like a stone wall, Pio thought. Cami will have her hands full. She sighed. "What I said, Gamba, was that oft times my actions are ill thought out, and harsh and that I am not the most politic of creatures. But I love my friend."

Gamba waited.

"Do you know why I came to the Tombs?" Pio asked.

"Not any more, " Gamba snapped.

She sighed. "There were many reasons. But the one that matters most to me at the moment is that my friends that undertook this quest needed my help; not the least of which was Cami. And I would not fail to do my best for them and for her. If that is not enough for you, then I cannot help you any more than that."

Gamba scowled, and was clearly dissatisfied. Cami studied him, and then turned and faced him, and very softly spoke in slow, measured tones. Pio's elven hearing picked up what she said nevertheless.

"Gamba, " Cami began. "Pio risked her life again and again in the tombs, for me, for Rose, for Kali, and for all of you. And unlike some elves, Pio knows what death means, and what she risked each time."

Gamba watched her guardedly, but she waited, letting that last statement sink in. Slowly he remebered his reaction when he had first learned that Piosenniel was alive, from Levanto. That brought a rush of conflicting emotions, and resentment for Levanto's sake, and Cami watched that wash across his face, guessing what he was thinking, waiting for him to speak. Finally he fidgeted, pressing his fists into his pockets til his arms were straight. He'll rip the breeches, Cami thought... let it go for now.

Finally Cami spoke again. "Do you know what else Pio risked for me, and for Rose, and for Kali, and for all of you?"

Gamba glared at her, wanting to stay mad, and bracing himself against what she would say.

Cami spoke very softly. "If Pio had died, the twins she is carrying would have died with her."

Gamba's eyes widened, against his will, and he turned to Piosenniel, and looked at her.

"The twins?"

Pio shot Cami a blank glance, which Cami knew barely fell short of an immediate death threat. Cami smiled internally, watching her son soften, soften, melting before her eyes. "Twins, " he repeated softly.

By the One, Cami, you've annoyed me now, Pio thought.

"Twins," Gamba whispered, his eyebrows rising, his eyes fixed on the ground.

Another glance flew from Pio to Cami, and Cami smiled for real this time. "Yes, Gamba. The twins."

"Oh, " he said. And looking up at Pio, he said, "So that's why you've been so cranky?"

"Gamba!" Cami laughed.

"By the One, " Pio said, shooting Cami the third Elvish Glance Of Impending Death.

"Huh. Twins, " Gamba said, and nodding, turned and shrugged at Pio. "Well, I hope everything goes well. Loremaster says that carrying a child in the heat of summer makes women miserable; I wonder if carrying two is that much worse."

"Who said I'd be carrying in the summer?" Pio snapped.

"Oh, Elves carry for a year, don't they? I don't see how you can avoid it, " Gamba said cheerfully, and putting his fists into his pockets again, began to whistle The Snowhobbits Of Ladros. "Well, tell Mithadan I said good luck. Every father I know says that when she's carrying a child, their wife is awfully hard to deal with."

He turned to Cami, and said with another shrug, "I guess we're lucky she didn't just kill all three of us outright." And he wandered off, whistling.

Pio shook her head, and Cami, laughing, returned to her interrupted conversation. Gamba returned to Phura and Azraph.

"Well?" Phura said, waiting.

Gamba replied very solemnly. "Lady elves get just as cranky as lady hobbits do when they are with child, " he said.

Phura and Azraph exchanged glances, shrugged at each other, and then began to laugh. Before long, Gamba joined them.

[ January 09, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]