[Elora]

Vanwe walked in somewhat bemused silence beside Silvanis towards the hill. She did not know why he would wish to darken the beauty of the evening with her mother. Like much concerning the human folk that she found herself admist from the moment of her birth, Vanwe found herself at a loss for a reason to speak as asked. Yet, she had no reason to deny Silvanis. Indeed, the offer of company was welcome. particularly after the latest trying day.

The hill was a gentle rise towards the evening sky, the lights of the inn winking below through the trees that swayed with the summer breeze. She chanced a look into Silvanis' face as they walked, to see what little he would let her study. He was a guarded man, a trait that ran in more than one Ranger in her experience.

Her thoughts stumbled across Kaldir at that and she jerked them away. Silvanis was right in that he would sell he without question. As dread at that thought spun through her, Vanwe wondered what she dreaded most. She could not decide whether it was treatment at Kaldir's cruel hands. She had endured cruelty before and had the braided leather to remind her of her ability to survive that. Perhaps it was the thought of returning to the village, and what lay in wait for her there. Deeper still though, was being bought and sold, which reinforced yet again how little she was worth.

The stars were silent witnesses to all this, and an infinate number of other events within Middle-earth. Silvanis and Vanwe came to the hill top and Vanwe turned to study the sky once more. Nameless stars, to her at least, watched back and she was glad that she had her knife still with which to finish the carving she had started earlier. She would like to hang a star in the stable, if she could and if it pleased Derufin.

"They are beautiful," she said to the night sky and realising that she had spoken turned back to Silvanis with a faint smile. She moved to sit on the grass, settling quickly and running her hands over her skirts to smooth them. They fell into the grass which was a little cool. Smooth and refreshing, she wound fingers through the blades as she held her returned pouch in her other hand.

Silvanis sat also, somewhat of an enigma to her. She looked again into his face, as if to somehow peel back some of the mystery and he steadily held her gaze. Vanwe's cheeks coloured a little when she realised she was staring.

"I am sorry," she said, "I do not know where to begin... my mother..."

"Begin as best seems fit to you," Silvanis suggested. Vanwe nodded, gathering her thoughts and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she untied the pouch she was holding. She upended it into her lap, picking up the paper and ignored the purloined nub of a pencil and the coins that fell out with it.

"You probably know more of her than I do... she does not feel like a mother should," Vanwe admitted with sadness as she scanned the paper. Her notes, though sparse, represented a hard and dangerous road. She had risked much to gain what knowledge she had.

"Naiore Dannan is, by reputation alone, most unlike any woman," Silvanis added to soften the sadness that crept into Vanwe's voice. She nodded and smiled at him before she began.

"Some of what I know comes from the villagers I was left with. My mother fled to Harad immediately before the end of the War and there remained. She lived in small villages, moved around frequently.

Sometimes she left but always she returned. Once, she left for a long time, and returned with child. They said my father was dead, that she killed him, but I do not know for I cannot find him."

Silvanis nodded, gaze sweeping around the hilltop and coming back to rest on Vanwe as she spoke.

"His name, I think, is Menecin. She gave birth to me, left me with the villagers under the arrangement that I never leave the village, and left. She paid them well, but they were more concerned with the threats that accompanied the arrangement. She did not want me in her way. My name is a joke... I am the 'gift' she left behind."

Anger simmered beneath her words, and she shook her hair with some irritation from her eyes where the breeze had blown it. Vanwe took a deep breath and continued on.

"She never returned. When I left that place, I followed the road she was said to have taken when she left. It lead to Harondor. It was hard to find trace of her... the years since she had passed through were many in their count."

"What did you find," Silvanis asked with some interest.

"She was in Umbar. I found relatively recent traces of her there. She has a house, it is said, but I could not get into it. The City Guard mistook me for my mother and arrested me."

Vanwe continued through her list.

"Rumour has it she comes and goes from Umbar and uses the ports. She deals with buckaneers for her passage and few will refuse her. Belfalas is her home, and mine I suppose. I found her there too.

She was in Dol Amroth and Edhellond. The Rangers of Ithilien hunt her also. I could not speak to them on account of my difficulties in Umbar. Many do not wait to discern the colour of my eyes before they have the ropes ready. I could not get into Osgiliath, and her path seemed to lead north."

Vanwe went on to tick off locations where she had found some small trace of her mother. Minas Arnor appeared in the list, along with another period of incarcertaion, this time for being caught running goods for a cartel of thieves for the sake of some money. Many of the places Vanwe named were located in Rohan.

"She favours that land in particular. I do not know why," Vanwe said. She came then to her path as it led her towards Laurelindorenan.

"She was heading for Dol Guldur... an evil place as I am told. But I could not be sure, for Elves came and I could not stay," Vanwe said with a shudder.

Silvanis placed a hand on her arm to halt her.

"What is there to fear from your own kin?"
"What would my 'kin' as you say, make of me? Would they let me go on? I do not think so. Beyond that place, I have found rumour only of her and nothing of my father. I could not find his grave in Belfalas either.

Some rumours say she has gone south, and others that she is here in the north. I do not think she will be north long if she is here. It is too far from Rohan, and the south. My mother hates those lands with the most bitter of malice."

Vanwe fell silent for a long moment, staring at the view around the hill.

"Likely you have not learnt much from me at all. I make a poor spy. I will answer questions such as I can, if you think me any use. I have one of my own I would offer you."

Vanwe pointed to a bright star, the brightest in the sky to the north.

"Do you know the name of that star," she asked as it glimmered in fair beauty, casting back the shadow of her mother even as she spoke.