[Folwren]

Thornden didn’t trust Falco and his innocent appearance of staying behind with Garmund. He kept looking back towards the hobbit and boy as long as he was in sight, but the thick foliage and trees and crumbling wall soon hid them. He walked in silence by Trystan’s side.

What was he even doing? He didn’t want to find the man! That hadn’t been his purpose at all, from the very beginning. He wanted to leave the stranger alone. A man unprovoked likely doesn’t do anything dangerous, and that’s exactly how Thornden wanted it. He stopped abruptly and plucked Trystan’s sleeve.

“Hold on, lad,” he said. Trystan turned towards him. “I don’t think we want to go hunting him. He didn’t mean any harm, I’m certain of it, and I don’t think he will cause any harm, unless he thinks he’s being hurt, or about to be hurt. If we go poking about this place he might get angry. He called it his place and therefore, I think, might consider our walking about it in search of him as trespassing.”

“But, we-”

“What makes you so anxious to find him anyway?” Thornden asked, interrupted Trystan before he had scarcely begun. “Is there any reason?”