[Tevildo]

Tevildo's post

Dorran pulled the edges of his cloak tightly about his shoulders and shivered slightly, as a gust of wind blew down from the north and went rattling through the trees. After finishing dinner, almost everyone had settled down for the night, buried under as many blankets as they could find. The entire camp had quickly fallen asleep. Dorran had volunteered to take the first watch. He had not explained his reasons for wanting to do this to the others. The real truth was that, although his body was tired, he couldn't stop thinking. The events of the past few days still weighed heavily on his mind. He'd checked the outer perimeter of the camp several times and then sat down close to the fire, finishing up some cooking duties left over from the evening.

He found himself thinking about his sister, wondering what she was doing and whether he would ever be with her again. The carnage in the village had been a grim reminder of the fragility of life and the uncertain ways of the world. He was so engrossed in his reflections that he barely noticed when Athwen slipped up beside him and sat down on a nearby log. Seeing the young woman's weary face, Dorran stood up and offered her a cup of herbal tea that he'd just finished brewing.

"Can't sleep?" he inquired gently. "Neither can I. I figured I might as well take the first watch rather than lie in my blankets and toss." The young man glanced over at Athwen and added softly, "I really did mean it. I have some idea what you're feeling. When I was little, I lived with my parents in a small village just to the south and east of Gondor. One day the Orcs came through, burning and killing everything in their path. The next morning the Easterlings arrived and anyone left alive was dragged off to work on the plantations as slaves." Dorran shuddered slightly as memories came flooding in. "not that there were too many, of course. The stupid Orcs were so bloodthirsty that very few made it through the night.'

"We were lucky....or so my mother said. Both my parents survived and also one of my aunts. But all my other cousins and neighbors perished in the first attack, and my little brother....." Dorran stopped for a moment and shook his head before going on. "My younger brother was killed. Anyways, we had little time to mourn. The next morning the Easterlings dragged the rest of us off in chains to work on the big plantations under the great smoking mountain. A horrible land, just horrible, with Orcs everywhere you looked. Nothing like Rohan, where we managed to escape later on."

Dorran took a gulp of air and forged ahead, afraid that if he stopped talking for a moment, he would never get the words out. "So I do have some idea what you're feeling.....the bad pictures running through your head and the times when you wonder why everyone else died when you're still here alive. Anyways, i'm sorry, terribly sorry for what happened. If we had only gotten there sooner, maybe..... But it's no good thinking like that. We all do what we can and learn to live with the rest. But that learning to live, it'll take time, lots of time. It will get better, though, after a while. I can promise you that." Dorran picked up a long stick and poked it into the dirt, drawing a series of circles and wondering if he'd said too much.

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Folwren's post


Athwen lay in the dark, her eyes blinking wearily in the fire light. But she couldn’t sleep, for all the tiredness in the world. She sighed and tried to get comfortable, turning her back to the flickering flames. It was impossible, she knew. Try as she might, keeping her eyes closed, and lying very still, she just couldn’t entice sleep to come and take her. It didn’t. It positively refused and soothing slumber was kept out at bay, as though waiting for a particular wave to b ring it in.

With another sigh, she sat up, letting the blankets fall away. She shivered suddenly as the outer air caught her on unawares and she reached out her hand as she stood up to pick up one of the blankets. She turned her back to the campfire and as she walked away, she wrapped the blanket around her head and shoulders, her hands grasping it about her throat securely. She left ring of firelight and looked about for Dorran. She knew he had taken first watch and she didn’t want to be alone. To him she went and when she reached him, she said nothing, but slowly sat down on a large fallen tree near him.

Dorran saw her and rose to his feet, taking in his hand a cup. As he drew near she looked up at him.

‘Can’t sleep?’ he queried. Athwen shook her head. He extended the cup towards her and she stuck one hand out from beneath the folds of her blanket to take it. ‘Neither can I. I figured I might as well take the first watch rather than lie in my blankets and toss.’ There was a pause. Athwen was looking at her tea and was unaware that Dorran stood considering her. ‘I really did mean it,’ he said softly in a moment. ‘I have some idea of what you’re feeling. When I was little. . .’

With bowed head, Athwen listened to Dorran’s own story. He told her about the attack on his village when he was just a boy. He had seen it. . .and he had been just a child. Tears brimmed in her eyes to overflowing and when her dark lashes fell, the drops broke free and ran like little rivers down her cold and pale cheeks.

‘So I do have some idea what you're feeling. . .the bad pictures running through your head and the times when you wonder why everyone else died when you're still here alive. Anyways, I'm sorry, terribly sorry for what happened. If we had only gotten there sooner, maybe. . .But it's no good thinking like that. We all do what we can and learn to live with the rest. But that learning to live, it'll take time, lots of time. It will get better, though, after a while. I can promise you that.’

Athwen lifted her head and looked up at him. He was trying to give her hope. . .hope of the future, and he was also offering her strength. And somehow, she felt she was receiving it. He knew, and that was enough.

‘Dorran,’ she said after he had finished and had stood in silence for a moment. ‘You were just a child then, weren’t you? How did you get away from the Easterling’s plantation? And did your parents live?’ She wanted to know. Did he come out of his hardships quite as alone as she had? How had he learned to live, even in time? To her eyes, her future looked bleak. She would be with these companions until they reached Edoras, and then what? Where would she go next?

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Tevildo's post


Dorran shook his head and then replied softly, "That was over five years ago. I try not to think about it. My mother and I, plus my little sister Creide and my brother Wulf, worked on the plantations several years. They were large spreads on the outskirts of Mordor......grim and dark places, with the land so blighted that it was hard to grow anything. Not that those in charge would brook any excuses if you could not turn out what they wanted."

"My father worked in an iron mine some distance away. He tried smuggling messages to us, and sometimes he was able to slip something to those who came and delivered the supplies. We thought of trying to escape, but we couldn't just leave my father behind and there was no way to get through to him."

"We didn't hear news for a long time. Then, one day, the word came from some workers who'd been sent to the mines with a wagon of food. They heard my father had died, killed by one of the Orc masters. They brought us the medallion he kept about about his neck so I knew they spoke the truth." Dorran's fingers inched upward to feel the raised outline underneath his tunic where the necklace lay nestled against his chest.

"Once he was gone, there was no reason to remain. My mother and aunts ran errands for the Easterling captains, hauling things in two wagons. We managed to slip out under the load of supplies that was supposedly being taken from one plantation to the next....my mother and I, my sister, my aunt and my older brother. It was a tough journey out of Mordor. My sister and I made it along with my aunt, but not my mother or older brother." Dorran continued speaking without a break in his voice or any further explanation.

"We made our way north and west, and eventually ended up in Wulfham. My aunt died shortly after we came. Since then, I've helped to raise my sister. We both went into service. Anyways, she's all I have, but I am lucky we're together. Wulfham has been good to us and especially the Lord of the hall. I just hope the village is alright and my sister and all the others will come through safely to Edoras. I don't want to lose her."

Athwen sat silent as Dorran finished his story. Then he jumped to his feet and added, "I have to go check the outskirts of camp. You'd best get to bed now. Going without sleep won't change anything, and we have to get through to Edoras as quickly as we can." With that, Dorran walked off into the distance.

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Folwren's post

Athwen was silent and very still for some time, even after Dorran had left her. She followed his retreating figure with her eyes until the darkness hid him and then she turned and dully looked out towards the trees. A sigh came to her lips and she dropped her eyes to the half drunk tea in her hand.

'Poor chap,' she murmured to herself. 'But at least. . .at least his sister was spared him.' She found herself on the verge of crying again. She lifted her hand and covered her eyes while at the same time tried to swallow the hard lump in her throat. 'I would that someone else had lived for me, though,' she whispered. Only the wind heard her, and that was just as well, for no one could give her that wish.

After another moment she rose and walked back towards the camp. The fire was dying down. Athwen knelt beside it, drained the rest of her tea, and then put the cup down. She glanced around herself quickly and then reached out and grasped one of the larger peices of wood earlier brought in by Sythric. With it she stirred up the old logs and then she laid it across the new flames. It would keep it going for a little while and after that, the person on watch would have to enliven it. She was going to take Dorran's advise and go to sleep.