[Larien Telemnar]

'Lady Telemnar..? Is something wrong?'

Larien looked up suddenly, bringing her mind out of the memories of the past and tried to conentrate on the future. She gave a half-hearted smile.

'Forgive me sir. It seems as if I have returned to the road leading to the past, a place I often find myself these days.' She looked down at her hands uncomfortably, her fingers rubbing against the cloth of her skirt, as they always seemed to do when she was anxious. Perhaps I should tell tell this stranger my troubles. She thought. Perhaps he will not think ill of me.

She glanced at him to see a look of concern on his face, his eyes sincere and kind. After a short moment of deliberation, she resolved to tell her tale at last.

'I have only told the fair people at this inn about the early events of my life, bu only one other knows of my guilt, and the events that happened only within the last few years. I am the daughter of two Hobbits who wer travellers. One night while travelling through the misty mountains they were ambushed by Orcs. I was just an infant, so it was an easy task for my mother to hide me. Lord Elrond of Rivendell was travelling through the mountains and found me, took me home and raised me as his own daughter.' Here she paused to take a sip of her tea.

'I lived there for many years, untill the War of the Ring. I was lurking in the shadows during a council that was held, concerning Isildur's Bane. I thought to aid Middle-Earth in some way, so I ran away, against my father's wishes. A friend went with me, a young Elf by the name of Tyaro, as well as a few others. We had travelled to Rohan ten years before that, and decided that we would travel there first. After travelling to Rohan, we wandered about, fighting small bands of Orcs. One night Tyaro and I were seperated from our group, and were attacked by Wargs.' Here a small tear trailed down her cheek. 'We tried to fight them, but there were too many. Tyaro knew there was no hope of defeating them; he had already been mortally wounded, so he hid me in a rock clef- against my wishes- and drew them away. I can still hear his screams at night.'

Her voice trailed off as the tears streamed down her cheeks. 'I could not fight after that, so I sent the rest of our band away, back to Imladris.'

She gave a weak smile through her tears. 'Forgive me, sir. I should not be troubling you with this tale.'