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Arinn sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a moment. It was hard enough to keep them open, but he needed another moment of rest. "Uncle Arinn…" whispered little Daisy, poking his cheek through a mass of hair. He shook his head and jumped a bit, waking just before he fell asleep standing up.
Everyone was tired, and he knew this. Even though he wanted more than anything to find his son and Rhysdan and seemingly being on the right track, sleep was essential as well. Grabbing Daisy under her arms and lowering her gently, he looked to the group still studying Eric's footprints. Taking a few steps forward, he knelt in the grass next to Elanor. "Those are Eric's shoeprints. I kept telling him to let me see if I could patch them up." Arinn stopped for a moment. "But he said that he wanted new ones like Eli."
Again, Arinn felt like this was all his fault. Standing up again, he dusted the dirt and grass from his knees and straightened his pants. "I think we need to take get some rest and search some more in a few hours- besides, the sun will be coming up soon." Several agreeing mutters wafted up from the group. "We can all come back to our home, so we can set out again together."
He looked to the horizon, where little splashes of purple and orange were floating just above the ground. Lifting Daisy onto his shoulders again so he wouldn't have to later on, he blinked for a few seconds to try and shake the sleep away for just a little while longer. He felt Daisy's head on his own, and smiled gently as he noticed Eli asleep again in the little sling across Willow's chest.
They trudged on silently, the only noise the chirping of crickets, the flickering and crackling of the torches, and Eli's awkward but peaceful breathing. Arinn started humming a soft lullaby that he had heard Willow singing to the twins and Elanor when they were smaller. He then heard a sniffling and turned to see Eli awake again.
"Papa, we're gonna find Eric, aren't we? An'.... an' Uncle Rhysdan?" Warm tears were streaming now down Eli's face, his green eye blinking because of allergies and the gray eye red with sadness.
Arinn didn't want to lie to his son, or himself. He couldn't say that they were positivly going to find Eric, but of course he had to. He couldn't tell Eli that they might not find Eric! "Of course we'll find him Eli. Now you settle down and go back to sleep. Mama or I will wake you up when we go looking for him again."
Little Eli sniffled again and Arinn saw him nod in the brightening darkness. "That's good, 'cause I wanted to say that I'm sorwy an' that he can come out and plant with us next time…" His words trailed off into pleasant slumber.
"Uncle Arinn," Elian spoke simply, as a clue that they were nearing the house. Arinn nodded in acknowledgement and held the door for everyone as the entered the house.
Finding a chair, he fell onto it and breathed a very deep and relaxing sigh. "I think I'll just stay here, and let you all sleep. No Willow, I'll be fine…" His head bobbed, but he hurried to pull it back up. "Eli, take Elian to your room. Elanor, take Daisy to yours. Esmerelda…" he trailed off, looking around. Starting again, he tried not to sound rude. "Find… somewhere. We've got blankets in our room. You can probably go in there with Willow."
His eyes fell closed for longer than usual. A creak of wood jolted him back to the world of the awake. "Just… about an hour…?" It really wasn't a question, because if they were to leave at dawn that was all they had. "And then… we can go back down to where the footprints were… and look around there." As the family drudged off reluctantly to their places brief rest, Arinn pulled the chair away from the wall a bit and leaned backwards in it. His eyes started to drift closed again, but this time he could keep them that way for a little while...
Crash. A second before he was sitting in the chair, and now he was on the floor. Almost positive that everyone was already asleep and wouldn't come rushing to him, he grumbled it off and sat straight in the homemade chair again. He was now going to get a little rest, and then continue the search for Rhysdan and Eric.
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