[Pippin Pondlily]

Back at the house, Esmerelda washed the dirt off of Daisy's face and arms and cleaned out the minor cuts and scrapes on her knees and bare feet. The wind had started to settle down a bit, which had helped calm the trembling eight year old.

"Will you hold that square on your knee for me dear?," Esmerelda moved her fingers to let Daisy get a good hold on the square fabric that held the aloe cream to her particularly abused knee. "Make sure none of the paste slips out, there, you've got it." She was working very fast and as she went about she was tossing things such as some medicinal effects into a bag that she set on the table. Daisy saw it.

"Mama?" she asked looking at the bag. "Are we leaving?"

Esmerelda stopped somewhat suddenly and looked at her daughter. "I don't know dear," she paused and ran her fingers down the slack of her waist-sash. "When your father gets home we'll decide what we're going to do." She glanced out the window for any sign of her husband or son. She would wait about five more minutes for them and then she'd get Daisy over to the Millwinds'; Arinn might be home and it would be safer there with them than just the two of them at their house alone.

Suddenly a great shadow passed over their house and Esmerelda rushed to cup her hand over Daisy's mouth preventing a scream. "No, dear," she whispered hurriedly, crouching down behind the back of the small stool the small girl sat on, "No, darling, don't scream. Stay very still, and very quiet." Her daughter squinted her eyes shut and closed her mouth. The two waited for desperately long seconds until the sun again shone easily onto their yard in a wicked mockery of the early, sunny morning when dragons were not part of the people of Dale's everyday worries.

Esmerelda kissed her daughter gently on the forehead and moved away her hand, stroking her daughter's hair. She pressed her cheek to the top of her head and hugged her close. "You're very brave, Daisy. You're such a brave girl." She kissed her again and stood, moving carefully to the window and looking out. She was breathing quite briskly and her heart fluttered uncomfortably. She tried very hard to hide her nervousness from her daughter as she pulled in the blinds and latched them shut.

Esmerelda turned back to her daughter, placing her hands on the windowsill behind her and closing her eyes. She took a deep breath before opening them again.

"How's your knee, darling?" she asked softly. Daisy nodded and readjusted the square on her knee. Esmerelda lifted a long piece of linen off the table and wrapped it around her daughter's leg, keeping the square in place. "Keep the fabric pressed to it, dear," she said.

"It's itchy, Mama," Daisy whispered.

"It's alright, you can fold it under so the loose threads don't itch too much." She tucked the ends under the folds of the bandage. "How's that?"

"That's alright." Daisy took a deep breath. Esmerelda smiled at her but her heart was worried. Where was Rhysdan and Elian?

*************************************

Child of the 7th Age's post

With great difficulty, Elanor and Elian picked their way through the rocks and boulders that dotted the foothills east of Dale. At their backs were the vertical slopes of the Lonely Mountain rising tall and proud over the plain. Half walking and half stumbling up the hill, the teens gradually managed to inch forward and upward so that they now had a better view of the town of Dale and everything that was going on.

Gazing towards her left, Elanor heard the familiar sound of a dog barking and made out the image of Rhysdan who'd come bounding up onto the base of the hill. Hawkweed started trotting up for a moment but then pulled back, daunted by the large boulders, and went racing back to his master.

From her lofty vantage, Elanor could see the familiar rooftops of the houses and stores that made up the core of the city. The mountain itself had six ridges that reached out onto the plain: between two of these on the southern fringe sat Dale. The town was literally surounded by the mountain on three sides, and was situated no more than one to two miles distant from its towering peaks.

There were dozens of small farmsteads scattered over the outer plain from the base of the foothills all the way down to the banks of the Running River. Her family's own farmhouse lay about a mile south of the main town, not too far from the river's edge. The source of the river lay in the mountain. Two sparkling falls cascaded outward, their waters coming together as they dropped down onto the flatlands. The wide loop of the Running River bulged around Dale in an easterly direction.

From her lofty perch, Elanor could see the hazy outline of Long Lake that stood about twenty miles to the south and east. She had been there only once, when she had come along with her father on a trip to sell produce in Esgaroth.

The great dragon no longer perched in the farmyard where Elanor had spied him before. She had no idea where he was. For the moment, at least, everything appeared quiet. She could see groups of people milling in the streets of Dale, but they looked no bigger than ants.

Carefully making their way back down the slopes, the hikers finally came to the flat plain on which the houses and farms were nestled. Taking a final look over their shoulder and seeing no dragon in sight, they sprinted towards their homes. Elian made a hasty goodbye at the outer gate that led across the garden to the farmstead, while Elanor continued on, rushing next door to her home. Running across the front yard and slamming the door behind her, she raced inside yelling, "Mother, Father, Eric, Eli.... I'm back. Where's everybody?"