[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami looked up, startled to see Gilly come racing into the room with this disturbing piece of news. Before she could even move from her chair, Piosenniel had already sprinted over to the door and darted out into the courtyard, vainly trying to get a closer look at the miscreant before he disappeared under the inky cover of night

Pio caught the slightest glimpse of a shadowy-cloaked form fading into the bushes. The prowler was already a good ways off, clearly heading northward. But the foliage obstructed her sight, and the Elf could not see whether his path lay straight ahead, perhaps across the river, or veered off in one direction or the other.

Pio cursed her lumbering form which prevented her from giving swift and immediate chase on foot and successfuly bringing the Man to bay. In one final gesture of futility, she raced to the stables and threw herself across Falmar's back, and clattered out of the courtyard, attempting to give pursuit. About an hour later, she reappeared with a grim look upon her face. Her expression clearly showed that, like the others who'd pursued the Men, she'd met with little success.

The Elf glanced briefly in Cami's direction and muttered under her breath, "The countryside swallowed him up. I couldn't find him anywhere." Then Pio quickly retired to her room. Whatever she'd meant to tell Cami earlier was now left unsaid.

In complete frustration, Cami sat down at the table and brought her clasped hands up to cover her eyes, wanting to shut out all the events of the past day. For one moment, her thoughts turned bitter as she assessed her own situation and that of her friends. Anger swelled up. Anger directed against herself as well as a desire to strike out at whoever was behind these nefarious doings. She had so little time with Maura, so few minutes to be together, yet it was all to be tainted by this travesty.

At the same time, another voice inside her mind guiltily suggested that she herself was to blame for these problems, or at least for the fact that her dear friends were here. If she had never come, her friend Piosenniel would have left many months ago, returning to Gondor and avoiding all this unpleasantness. Mithdan and Bird would never even have come.

But they were here. And, as much as Cami cared for Bird and Pio and Mith, she could not turn a blind eye on the needs of her own people, especially the children who'd done nothing to deserve such a fate. She walked slowly over to the kitchen and secured a small saucer filled with ale to set out on the ledge, hoping to attract the wayward Bird.

She wasn't sure how long she'd sat there waiting, slowly nodding off. It wasn't until a hour or so later that she awoke. There was no Bird, and the saucer sat untouched. She quietly rose to her feet, and left the Inn, going back down to the burrow to await Maura's return from the meeting.

[ April 02, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]