[Firefoot]

Adranel hurried over to the site of the commotion. It was a pleasant break after the monotony of her day, even the shout was “assault!”. By now, Adranel had come to recognize the voice of Ingemar, and she did not take the threat seriously, though many of the soldiers around her were. As she drew nearer, pushing her way through the ranks of confused Gondorians, the scene that had unfolded confirmed her suspicions: the mass disorder had once again been caused by a confused Ingemar. A red-faced Uther was issuing commands and sending bewildered troops back to their tents. There was some grumbling about the disturbance, but Adranel supposed the whole episode would soon be forgotten.

Already a new rumor was spreading through the camp that Gundabad would be attacked tomorrow. Adranel questioned the veracity of such a statement, but supposed it would be confirmed or negated soon. The soldiers seemed hopeful about such a prospect - Adranel reasoned that it could only be grounded in the confidence of their commander, for they were far outnumbered, and had the disadvantage of being far away from home, in cold weather, and on the offensive side besides. She realized that if she were to die tomorrow in the attack, which seemed likely enough, then there was something she needed to do. Not because she wanted to, but so that her mind would rest easy.

Quickly, she looked around but didn’t find who she was looking for, so she headed back to the small encampment she still shared with Sjorging and his companions. Adranel was frustrated to find that he was not there either; the tent was deserted. He can’t have gone far... she tried to convince herself, and set off in a randomly selected direction. It was only by chance that she found him at all.

“Beluf!” she called, hurrying toward him. He waited for her, his features betraying nothing of his emotions. “I need to talk to you.” He nodded as she fell into step beside him, but did not say anything. Adranel raked her hand through her knotted hair and as she contemplated where to begin she realized how long it had been since she had brushed it. She smiled inwardly at the thought and how misplaced it was in the current situation. “Beluf...” she began, and stopped again with a sigh. She hadn’t thought that this would be so hard. “I realize that I’ve been, ah, rather rude to you these past couple days,” she said slowly, and then picked up her pace until she was no longer listening to herself but simply saying what came to mind. “I know you think that I’m angry with you, but I’m really not, and I actually thought you were annoyed with me. Then you came yesterday and asked for my forgiveness, even though I felt terrible about the way I had yelled at you. You were just curious, and I can see why, I mean I was being pretty close-mouthed about myself, and I wasn’t really mad at you. It’s just that it hurt to bring back all those memories after I had bottled them up for so long and I was really just mad at the Orcs for... everything they did. So when you ask my forgiveness, I feel it’s really me who needs forgiveness and you just seemed, well, nicer to me than I ever was to you. So I thought that it would be better for both of us if I just kept you out of my troubles since I had nothing to offer you. So I’m sorry, Beluf - I know that I’m just making things worse for all of us and I hope you understand that I just had to tell you this now that I heard the battle will take place tomorrow-”

“Yes. Sjorging told me, before,” interrupted Beluf. It was the only time; he just heard her out mutely.

“So with the size of our force and the size of the Orkish forces I don’t see how any of us are going to survive the day,” she continued, and her voice began to grow hollow. “I am not afraid to die. I think it might be a welcome relief after living these past few days, but first I just had to make things right with you.” Adranel gave a shuddering sigh of relief at having said her mind and let go of the stress which had been building up. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She had always hated apologizing and explaining herself, and this had been much harder than usual.

Beluf still said nothing, as if processing her words, and Adranel hastened to add, “I know I’ve made this hard on you, but despite what it seems I really am grateful to you for being so understanding. So Beluf, yes, I will forgive you, though I do not see much to forgive, and ask instead that you would forgive me. I need my conscience clear.” She could go on no longer, and could do nothing but wait for his reply.