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Edhener was still riding alone, taking delight in the sense of speed, waitnig for his mind to rid itself of all thoughts and emotions, save only of that feeling of mad joy that he had come to associate with battles. He saw Cordelia ride past him. For one wild moment, he thought of overtaking her, but instead he slowed down. She probably wanted to talk to Mayonette without anyone intruding. And also, he prefered being alone with his thoughts.
So many things had happened in so short a time! He was beginning to understand the world more clearly, to see things that had been incomprehensible until then. Yet he found little comfort in his sudden wisdom. His young spirit felt startled of the things it was learning, things that those older took for granted and knew to be true.
Edhener pulled the reins, making his horse stop abruptly. He looked around him, expecting to see everything changed, frantically searching for something familiar that would comfort him. Yet the world had become strange, and the trees about him seemed to be whispering among themselves words in a language that he did not know, and also that he feared to understand. For the first time since he could remember, he hated being alone, and he longed for a human presence beside him, be it even that of one of his enemies. The entire Middle-earth seemed to be descending upon him, and he found all the things that he had done and wished to do bereft of their former glory and importance.
Edhener shook his head, trying to drive such thoughts out of his mind. He looked up at the trees that loomed, tall and ancient, above him.
"It is not true, is it?" he whispered, and his own voice startled him. "The things that are now in my mind, they cannot be true."
Yet he recieved no answer. The trees still stood there, dignified and immovable, as they had stood all those long ages that they had spent on that land. What cared they of one stray young soldier? What cared they of his desires and of all his brave deeds that he had boasted to have done? And why should they care of his despair and of his sudden terror? Why should they answer and comfort him?
Edhener lowered his head and drew a deep breath. He urged his horse to go forward, and he rode on, until he saw Mayonette and Cordelia in front of him. He stopped beside them, his eyes lowered, wishing to hide the gladness that he felt on seeing them, and knowing that he was no longer alone with his dark thoughts and the ancient trees of the forest.
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