With a laugh I raise my head and look towards my back, Lin is still sound asleep. I don't really want to wake her, but looking around there are four hungry sets of eyes looking at me. It makes me laugh, but when even that doesn't wake Lin, I use mana to grab the food pouch.

As soon as the food pouch floats to me, the four of them gather in front of me. Without moving, I use mana to float a large amount of dishes out of the pouch. The four of them pounce on the food as soon as the dishes hit the floor.

Based on how hungry they are I am guessing that it is at least late morning. Since Lin still hasn't woken up, I go ahead and take out some dishes for myself. The kids have all finished eating and have started playing before Lin finally stirs.

Lin says "Huh, why didn't you wake me up?!"

"Because you looked so cute sleeping that I couldn't bear to wake you."

Lin blushes and says "Are you teasing me?"

"Well, maybe a little. Should I not?"

Lin says "No, it's fine. You just surprised me."

"Haha. Here, have some breakfast."

Lin climbs off of me to sit down at the table and eat, her face is still a little red. Now that I am free to move I shapeshift back to human form to work on more gems. Nala and Albion have been playing with the gems and sorting them into piles by color.

Any time a gem rolls away from them either Mulan or Mushu will chase it down. It is absolutely adorable and I am careful not to disturb their game while I work. In fact, occasionally I will intentionally drop a gem for one of them to chase.

Once Lin finishes eating she comes over to play with the kids, letting me focus on my work. Mulan and Mushu quickly wear themselves out and Lin takes them and puts them down for a nap. When Nala and Albion get bored of playing with the gems they leave to go pester the elves.

A few hours later, just as Lin and I are eating some lunch, Brightfire comes in. Mulan and Mushu have woken up and had their lunch already when the door opens. Seeing Brightfire they both go over to pester her, Brightfire just laughs and kneels down to pet them.

"What's up, Brightfire?"

Brightfire says "We should reach the island before morning. My father wanted to know if you would fly ahead and find where you want us to anchor the ship."

"Sure, I can do that."

Lin says "Would you like to join us for lunch?"

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Brightfire says "I am fairly hungry, so sure!"

Brightfire sits down with us, but she ends up with Mulan and Mushu in her lap. Even though they have already eaten, they still manage to beg some more from her. While we are eating I tell Brightfire about what happened on the island.

Brightfire says "Too bad you couldn't do that while the maker was still there. It's too bad though, I liked that island."

"It was a good island, but it will eventually recover. Volcanoes are also a part of nature."

Brightfire says "It sounds like you are trying to justify the fact that you destroyed an island!"

"The fact that the volcano was being suppressed was unnatural. If anything I restored nature's balance."

Lin says "Ash, the more you try to explain the more guilty you sound."

After Lin says that I shut my mouth and go back to working on the gems. While I am working, the two girls talk while they play with the babies. All in all, it is a peaceful domestic scene, but for some reason it makes me nervous.

I was expecting Brightfire to leave once she was done eating, but she doesn't. She seems content to stay and chat with Lin, so I start thinking about escaping. Luckily, Brightfire herself gave me the perfect excuse to leave without looking like I am running away.

So, after finishing a few more gems, I put away the finished gems and then drop shapeshift. The girls glance at me as I leave the cabin, but they don't say anything. As soon as the cabin door closes behind me I let out a sigh of relief and head for the bridge.

The first thing I do is check the charts to confirm our location and where the island is. After all, it would be fairly embarrassing if I got lost and couldn't find the island. Now that I know where to go, I take off and fly north by north-west.

It takes a little over two hours of flying before the island comes into sight. The island is bigger than I was expecting from looking at the charts, it is about half the size of the elven island. I fly over the southern coast first, looking for a cove or bay that would make a good camp.

When I don't find one on the southern coast, I next fly over the eastern coast. This time I find what I am looking for, a nice big bay with fairly deep water. It also has a big beach for the elves to camp on and there is even freshwater close by.

Fresh water isn't a major concern since we have the everfull barrels, but it is still nice. Before heading back I fly over the interior of the island to see if there is anything interesting. This island is not volcanic, but it does have some strange rock formations.

The middle of the island has two mountains with a large valley between them. The rest of the island has mostly evergreen trees, but this valley contains a jungle. It makes me curious, but I decide to leave it for the elves to explore while I work on the ship.

If they don't get to it, maybe I will take a look after the ship is underway again. Other than that, I do see a lot of different kinds of beasts moving around on the island. They should provide plenty of hunting to keep the elves busy, especially Brightfire.

Instead of wasting time to fly back to the ship, I find a clearing to land in and gate back. When I exit the gate I see Lin sitting in a chair holding a book with all four kids in front of her. She is reading to them and they are completely enthralled so I don't disturb them.

After giving Lin a smile I leave the cabin and head to the bridge to talk to Stillwater. After telling him about the bay and where it is I return to the cabin and take human form. Then I sit on the floor and work on the gems while listening to Lin's reading.

She is reading from a book of human fairytales that I am not familiar with. However, she is surprisingly good at modulating her voice to give life to the characters in the stories. The kids are obviously enjoying listening to her and I am glad to see them getting along.