[piosenniel]

Elora’s post - Uien

Uien checked the gait of her horse in the early dawn light with a pleased smile. She had ridden through the night and Bree waited before her, it's Western Gate awaiting her. She leant to whisper to her roan gelding in soft elvish words that elicited a whicker of pleasure from Thalion. He flicked his ears and shivered beneath her and she smoothed a hand over his shoulder.

Thalion was a fine gift and she would see him returned to the Stablemaster in as fine a condition as he left it. With slight pressure to his flanks, Thalion moved on once more, arriving at the gate of Bree proper.

"Who goes there?" The man's voice sounded through the wood of the gate before the small window shutter was opened. Uien remained as she was, smiling through the window when the young man's face appeared. His brows shot up. An Elf, at the Western Gate!

"Pardon, Miss," he stammered. Uien was keen to be through, to find Falowik and Doderic and Gorby. "We don't expect to find your folk knocking at our gates." Uien waved aside his explanation.

"No matter, Gatekeeper. I seek the Prancing Pony. I have business there." He examined her, still surprised. A lone Elf woman... unarmed with only a pack... not even tack or saddle and only a single blanket. Odd, to be sure, but then it was hard to explain the comings and goings of the fair folk.

He nodded, closed the window and pulled the wooden gate back. Uien was soon moving through. She shot a fleeting glance of appreciation at the bewildered man and gazed up the street that led into Bree. Falowik's home, she thought.

"Will there be others, Miss...." Uien blinked, realising that the man had asked a question. She shook her thoughts and paid renewed attention to him.

"Yes, three others... no four actually," she amended as she recalled how Falco Boffin had caught them up on the road to Bree some days ago. She'd left her companions with him, seeking the Old Forest to complete her preparations for the journey.

"They will arrive soon, I hope. Should any ask after Uien or mention the matter of a search party that the Master of Buckland has called together, please direct them to the Prancing Pony." The man nodded, understanding coming into his face as Uien spoke.

"The search party," he said. Obviously he knew something of it already. "Yes, Miss Uien." He tugged at his hair and nodded confidently. Uien shot him another smile and moved off then. Perhaps they'd arrived before her. She'd not seen trace of them upon the road when she had re-joined it.

As Uien sought the Prancing Pony her debate within herself continued. She could have risked setting out without the herbs she had found in the Old Forest. They may have left her behind already. But her mother's training was too strong in her. Too many passed into death on account of a healer not having the necessary resources to see to them. Uien had deferred in favour of that, fretting at the possible delay in finding Eodwine and moreso, dare she admit it, to see Falowik once more.

She pulled up in front of the Prancing Pony and slid from Thalion's back. A few whispered words and he snorted at her in slight reproach. He did not have to be told to remain at a hitching post, having done so countless times before. Uien glanced at the distinctly mannish stone buildings on the street.

A few had already started on the day's business and walked by, glancing curiously at her as they passed. They wore the same expressions as the man at the gate. Laurëatan she murmured to herself and in that took heart. Uien gathered herself and her now full pack and entered the inn.

The light was dimmer within, the commonroom close as was the manner of inns she had come to learn. Uien pushed back her travel stained cloak and scanned the commonroom for Falowik, his companions or hers. Conversation faltered as she passed tables by, those occupying them peering curiously at the Elf who had entered. With Falowik's name on her lips, Uien paid them no heed and pushed on.

"May I help you, m'lady?" The voice of Barliman Butterbur was kindly and curious. Uien blinked in surprise at the title. The innkeeper smiled at her as she took him in. She moved closer to the bar, conscious of those listening.

"I am come to meet someone," she replied, scanning the room and tables.

"You've just arrived then. Is your horse out the front?" Uien nodded her confirmation as her gaze settled on Falowik. Her carefully guarded expression softened then and her smile light her features.

"Hi HOB! There's horses needing stabling quickly," Barliman bellowed. He paused, looking sideways at Uien and resumed his dull roar. "An elvish mount, so mind you bring a bridle and don't set it skittering on the streets!" Barliman lowered his voice to a more reassuring tone. "He's quite good with horses, but handling one without a bridle is a challenge for most."

Uien nodded absently and then shot her attention back to the innkeeper who was smiling at her. "I take it you've found the people you are to meet then." Uien nodded once more, somewhat apologetically.

"I have, good sir," she said as graciously as she could.

"Then I'll leave you in their care for the time being." Barliman slung his dish cloth over his shoulder and turned, bellowing for Hob to move his wooly pated belly. Distantly , the sound of bare feet slapping on the floor in a run could be heard, a bridle jingling as Hob ran to see to the horse and ponies without.

Uien crossed to where Doderic, Gorbilac and Falowik sat at a table. Doderic and Gorbalic were in conversation that stilled as she neared, but her attention was elsewhere. Uien let her pack rest on the floor as she smiled down at Falowik's face. It was a joy to see him once more and it shone in her eyes.

"I see you've arrived then Mizz... Mizz," Doderic said, reaching for her name.

"Uien," she replied softly, bestirring herself.

"That's right... the healer. What of the others?" Doderic and Gorbilac peered around her. "Your companions?"

"I left them not long after you departed from Stonebows, Master Doderic. Shiriff Falco Boffin caught us up and I had need to fetch some things from the Old Forest. I left them in his care and expect them to arrive shortly." Try as she might, Uien could not keep her voice neutral as she mentioned Falco.

The hobbit had trotted up, puffing, on a pony midafternoon after Falowik had departed. He had insisted on accompanying them and of his expertise. "Good sensible hobbits," were what they needed apparently. This was all well and good. Uien did her best to hold her tongue as Falco clucked and tutted over Elvish merry riding parties. Yet, that night as Uien had announced her desire to arrive at Bree via the Old Forest, Falco and her had come to yet another disagreement.

"The Old Forest," he had spluttered. "What business has anyone with some sense with that place? I would have thought Elves knew better." Her companions had thought Falco amusing, his concern at the prospect of venturing into the infamous Old Forest clear in his flushed cheeks and wide eyes.

The result of that argument was that Uien had gone alone, and happily so truth be told, and left Falco with her companions to meet up at Bree. Gorbalic stared up at Uien with a queer expression once she mentioned the Old Forest. It was as though she had sprouted wings and proceeded to float about the common room, dodging rafters and singing a jolly ditty.

"I had need of herbs from that place for this business," Uien explained. It made little dint on Gorby. Like Falco, Gorby knew only those somewhat mad voluntarily entered the Old Forest. Doderic himself seemed somewhat at a loss as to what to make of her.

"No matter," he said, deciding to drop the issue of the Old Forest for now. "What's important is that they arrive soon. Every hour lost is begrudged." He glanced to the door and then at Uien's pack, filled with mysterious plants of the Old Forest as well as those she had already harvested with Falowik. Cautiously, he pushed that away with his toes.

"We have not yet had the chance to discuss your companions, Uien," he said as he motioned for her to sit. Uien did so gratefully, taking a chair next to Falowik and again smiling into his face. What she read by way of return sent questions spinning into her. Mayhap he is tired, she allowed. What she wanted to do was take his hand and hold it to her lips once more. She would have to wait.

For now, she soaked in his nearness and turned to the matter of those that had set out with her. Doderic and Gorbilac followed her closely as she ran through what she knew of them.

"They just volunteered," Gorbilac asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yes. Once they heard the matter, they may their offers in true heart," Uien replied. It had been the best she could have done. No doubt Falowik would have acquired a legion of those willing to aid him. She swallowed her disappointment in her own efforts, so few, and fell silent. Doderic and Gorbilac reviewed the state of affairs.

"We need more, going by Falowik's support,' Doderic assessed.

"We shall get them," Uien replied softly.