After touching the foreheads of the children in the queue, Durin glanced at the time on his pocket watch and realized it had reached the afternoon. It was already four seventeen.
"I've kept you waiting," Durin said with a smile as he looked toward Lan En and Yala.
The two girls were reading books and lifted their heads upon hearing him, "Not at all."
"Let's go grab something to eat in the dining hall," Durin suggested, having only had a quick bite at noon, he was now feeling hungry.
Just then, the last child woke up as hoped, and her Tegus mother was so overjoyed she was almost crying—with her place at the end of the line, she thought her turn would never come.
In previous blessing ceremonies, such things happened—when it got late, the last few children would have their blessing ceremony cancelled.
One could only say that the Druids really did live quite freely.
