[Nerindel]

Arato and Maranwe now sat at the small table she had first pointed out on their arrival, it was close enough to the fire to share in it’s warmth and glow, but not yet close enough that it’s heat would fuel their weariness and bring them to sleep too soon. While it was true that they had not slept that night, neither looked for rest, both accustomed to rationing sleep as was their need in the paths they each chose to tread. Besides they had only just arrived and it would be rude to not sit awhile, they had both reasoned silently. As luck had had it they had arrived just as breakfast had begun being served. Once introduced to the Innkeeper, Carr Dagnysson and the procurement of bed and board agreed upon and coin exchanged, the innkeeper had seen to it that both the breakfast and mead requested was brought to them.

As he ate Arato listened to Mara, (he oft shortened her name thinking it less elvish than the full name given her) as she describe how dark things had been said to have taken up residence in the woodlands of her adoptive parents homelands, explaining that that was where she had been for the past several months. She off course had no need to explain herself to anyone least of all him, but he let her continue regardless, understanding that she sometimes needed to talk things through to either sort them out in her own head or to get another’s fresh objective.

“And did you find anything interesting?” he asked casually, before removing another mouthful of fluffy, yellow eggs from his fork.

“No, not at first ,” she answered after swallowing a morsel of her own breakfast, “the usual, dangers of the woods off course, Wild bears and other forest dwellers, a bandit or two chancing their luck on the forest road, but nothing to cause any undue alarm. In fact I was all for giving up and turning back when I noticed the branches of the trees above my head shaking,”

“Not Just the wind then?” Ataro asked nonchalantly, waving his fork before him as he spoke.

“No the Autumn winds blew northwards yet the branches above my head pulled south, Strange I thought to myself.”

“Strange, indeed.” Ataro replied, his fork forgotten halfway to his mouth and his left brow raised in contemplation, his interest now truly captured as he waited for Mara to continue.

“So I followed the pull and as I walked I became aware in the fading light that several of the trees where connected by a fine thread of some sort and the further south I went the more of this fine thread was to be found. But not just stretched from tree to tree no it was woven,”

“Like spider webs?” Arato interrupted astounded at what she was implying.

“Yes and that is exactly what they were and as soon as I realised it I was most anxious to get myself and the two elven hunters with me out of there. That’s when we heard it, the clicking a horrible sound never before heard in the greenwood. It sent chills down my very spine and as we executed a hasty retreat I could feel the pull of many hungry eyes watching our every move, it was too much for one of my companions and he ran blindly forwards into one of the webs…” Pausing for a moment to wet her lips and a tightness in her throat with the mead in her tankard, Arato noted a light of sadness in her eyes.

“Did you manage to free him?” he asked quietly as she again set down her Tankard.

“I did,” she nodded. “But not without cost, as I hacked at the sticky threads that held him fast I set my other companion to keep watch for the thing that followed…no hunted us. The clicking sound grew louder and louder as I worked hastily to loosen the hunter from his sticky prison, but as he finally fell free it all went quiet not a natural silence mind you but the deathly sort. ‘Do you think it’s gone’ the freed hunter ask me, but before I could answer a scream from the direction of other hunter who I had sent to watch gave us our answer. We both ran to his aid, but there was no trace of him, he was simply gone. We searched for hours but found nothing but half eaten animal carcasses and bones, some of them not only animals which stole what little hope we had. As the clicking sounds return it became too dangerous to stay so we were forced to leave and report what we had found to the elven king.”

Arato did not miss her sigh at the mention of the elven king, “let me guess !” he sighed shaking his head, “ the danger was too far south to be of concern to the elves and that he would warn his people not wander so far south and he would set patrols to watch the borders!” With an aspirated sigh she nodded that his assumptions were corrected and braced herself for another rebuke from the seasoned warrior about how elves thought of none but themselves, but she knew this was not true, they had their reasons for closing themselves off, just as Arato himself did from time to time. However no rebuke came and they finished off their breakfast in silence, listening only to the crackle of the yule log as it burned and the sound of low voices around them.

His hunger sated and his thirst quenched Arato took out a long wooden pipe and a small leather pouch and proceeded to pack the bowl with a dark brown weed, that smelled particularly earthy as he lit it, he puffed gently and blew out a thin line of white smoke that curled about his head for a moment before floating up towards the rafters. Leaning back in his chair and wondering if anyone would noticed if he closed his eyes for only a moment, he began to hear snippets of the conversation going on at the table next to them.

"Worse it was, and the hairs on my neck hackled. It was there and it wasn't, this shadow, as if it was made of the dusk and the wind. No troll nor warg nor orc was this, and I thought I was dead or soon to be. I ran, leaving the skin uncut, pulling my deers along with me. Once I got me under some firs, I looked back. The shadow had settle itself over the felled beast. And I saw it rise, a fell light in its eyes, its skin hanging off it where I'd cut, and it started walking toward me. I fled."

At this Arato was suddenly aroused from his relaxed stooper and pulling the pipe from between his teeth he quite suddenly reached across the table to pull Maranwe forwards. “ouch!” she gasped as the needle she had taken out to mend a pair of torn breeches pricked her finger.

“Avathar!” he whispered his eyes widening, ignoring her scowl as she put down both the needle and breeches and sucked on her now bleeding thumb.

“Avathar!” she whispered back surprised, taking her thumb from her mouth.

“Yes, Avathar” he repeated looking back at the table behind him.

Maranwe frowned not quite understanding, “There is no Avathar here?” she whispered.

“No ,off course not” Arato replied turning back as he realised that she could not have possibly heard what the young woman had said.

“The young woman at the table behind me, claims to have seen one!” he whispered he eyes narrowing in contemplation of what this could mean, if anything at all.

“Are you sure Arato that is not simply another fireside tale told to make the fire of the yule log seem more inviting and preferable to the cold dark shadows of these long nights?” Maranwe smiled affectionately.

“Perhaps” Arato shrugged, now feeling a little silly for assuming the strangers words to be truth. “But isn’t it true also that many stories are built from truths?” he grinned back unable to entirely admit defeat.

Realising now that Arato would not be satisfied until he learned if there was any truth in this matter, she conceded, packing away her needle and thread into a small leather pouch that hung from her waist and folding the half mended breeches into her pack, she rose.

“Well do you want to learn the truth of this matter or not?” she grinned at the sudden surprised look on her companions face, then grinning back he too rose. But as they turned to ask weather the table would mind if they joined them they where beaten to it by a rather unsettled Dwarf, enquiring as to weather the young woman had been followed by her shadow!

Maranwe almost laughed as the thought of the young woman being chased by her own shadow suddenly popped into her mind, but she bit it back as Arato glared at her smugly, as if to say, see I’m not the only one to hear what I heard said and take it as truth.

“Excuse us we are sorry to interrupt but my friend Arato here was intrigued by your little tale and wondered if we might join you?” Maranwe enquired politely of the small group.

“Intrigued!” the hobbit at the table replied eyeing Arato with astonishment, his gaze lingering briefly on the scared face. But Arato simply smiled giving the hobbit a short courteous nod of his head.

“Off course you are welcome to join us,” the older woman replied to their request, gesturing to Arato that he might wish to pull up the other table to accommodate their increase in numbers. Which he did with little effort or trouble.

Once they were all seated the dwarf again asked the young woman if she had been followed. Maranwe sat back in her chair waiting to hear how this story would unfold, but from the look in the young skinners eyes Arato had already decided that this was no mere tale and he was as interested as the dwarf to learn if it had followed her out of the north, but for entirely different reasons.