[Elora]

The warmth of Falowik's lips on her fingers pushed the heavy chill of her memories back a little. Another moment took crystalline shape in her memory and her face softened with relief and something else that shone in her eyes. The thump of two soup bowls meeting with the tabletop shook her from that moment. Too soon, she lamented. She wished it to stretch and enfold them both, but it could not be.

When Falowik asked her tell him of herself, she wondered how to. For surely if she did there would be no further moments such as the two bright gems that glistened within her, already given to her to keep alive this day. Halfred's arrival spared her a moment's time. It would be days before they set out and recruits were needed.

Uien recalled Falowik's lament at the time that had already passed. She had seen how it weighed on him when he had spoken of it to her. If they were to wait, then to good use was that time to be put. Recruits they would find. She watched Halfred walk away from their table and be swallowed by the press of people in the inn's common room. Falowik repeated his request to hear of her.

No, no reprieve then. But then, perhaps she did not need to fear. For Falowik was a man of clear sight and honour. Perhaps he would not see her past as she herself did. Perhaps... Uien broke the crusty bread that Ruby had brought out with the soup as she collected her thoughts.

"In Lothlorien I was born, when it was immortal and golden still. Dusk though sat on its borders and a parting lay heavy in the air of that wood. War was coming and the time of my people was ending."

Uien spoke softly, remembering a childhood both calm and restless.

"Often would I wander in the twilight as a child, beneath the stars and between day and night. That is why I am named as I am." She smiled then, remembering the faces of those who would speak that name. She smiled into Falowik's eyes.

"How you would have loved those woods, where the leaves and light were as golden as your hair Laurëatan. The years did not weigh so heavily and even in those latter years there was much to be glad for."

Uien paused, dipping a small piece of bread into the aromatic soup.

"Go on," Falowik said. Uien looked up at him in surprise and realised he indeed wished to hear. She pressed on.

"Two brothers did I have, older than I for I was born late in Lothlorien. There were no more children after us. Then the War spread through the lands and it changed. My father and brothers fought beneath the eaves of Mirkwood and upon our very borders.

We did overthrow the Enemy, but at great cost. My mother received only one son back when all was done. He could no longer abide for the land was now only a sorrow to him and so he took my mother and I into the West with many of our kindred. Lothlorien became rejoined with the land around it, time flowed freely between the boughs once more and I found it empty when I returned."

Falowik was listening intently, Uien wrapped now in her memories that were darkening by the moment.

"I was not yet ready to forsake Middle-earth. The wide spaces and wild things called me yet, but my place was with my family and so I travelled with them for the Grey Havens."

There Uien faltered and she heard Falowik's voice thrum with warmth through the darkness.

"Forgive me Fair One," he said with grave concern. Uien shook her head and looked up.

"You have done no wrong, Falowik Laurëatan, to forgive." Uien set down her bread in fingers numb. It could not be turned aside from now. She had chosen to tell it and she would not pull away. Perhaps he could know and not turn away himself. Perhaps, for he was a man of honour and so much more.

"There was a terrible storm that fell upon us as we made our way through the pass of the Misty Mountains. We do not go to Moria, not even after the War. I... my feet tarried for I did not want to go and in the storm I lost my way." Falowik had to lean in to hear Uien, for she was murmuring, only a whisper, as the shriek of icy winds filled her hearing and the shards of ice and snow sliced through her.

"When it passed, so too had my family. They were gone. Long I searched the mountains. My fear made me hasty and I wandered into darker places... terrible... foul..." Uien shuddered and fell quiet then. After a long silence, she spoke again, as though from the very depths of the orc den she had fallen into.

"A long time passed before I was able to wander freely again. To Lothlorien I returned to find it empty. South I went then... to Rhûn and then north. I had my wish. I remained in Middle-earth, a great price I paid for it. Now, I wander it."

And until Falowik the price she paid to wander it had been too much. She looked at the man across the table from her and took a deep breath to bring him to her and push the other things away from her. Her fingers tingled where his kiss had fallen.

"And so now you know. Uien is but a foolish maiden who did not wish to go, tarried and was lost." Uien smiled sadly at Falowik, wondering what he made of such an account.

"The mountains," he said quietly, gazing into her eyes. Uien shook her head, long hair swaying with the movement.

"Not here," she said. He nodded and dropped his gaze. She could not know that perhaps he saw something in her that resonated within him. Uien reached this time, her fingers light brushing the back of Falowik's hand where it rested by his ale. He looked sharply up at her touch.

"And you, Falowik, will you speak now of yourself?" Uien's gaze urged him. She needed his voice, that warmth, to fill her. She wished to know how it came to be that Falowik's road had carried him here. A deep desire to know all she could of the man moved within her. She need to know him, and forget herself also.

"Please?"