|
"Yes, you are correct. I do come from the lands of Far Harad," Kellan remarked, nodding slowly. "And yes, it was a very long journey, and some part of it made without Grimm. I took the Harad Road to go north, for I was meaning to meet someone in Minas Tirith...someone who also watched the stars. However, I took some sort of wrong turn, I suppose, and made it to Dol Amroth near the Bay of Belfalas. That is where I met Grimm. He, a lone hound wandering where the folk of that town buried their dead and I, a wandering girl who had taken a road that did not lead to my desitation."
"You traveled all alone before that?" Rochadan asked, bringing a smile to Kellan's face without quite meaning to.
"Nay, I walked the roads with my brother. When we got to Minas Tirith, his plan was to part with me and take up jobs and lodgings there, for his dreams were never in the heat of the south lands," Kellan replied, her smile still bright and Rochadan's eyes still questioning. "He was the one who got us lost. In any case, I stayed in Minas Tirith with Grimm for near to a month, talking and studying and watching stars with the stargazer. He was such a funny man, and rather more obsessed than I am about the stars. One day he suggested that I see the view farther north, and he gave me the name of a friend of his, a man in Dale who might take me in and speak of the stars with me. I have not found him yet, and I think that perhaps tragedy befell him in the attack last year."
"That is quite a story, Miss Kellan," Rochadan murmured, looking back now and then to check on his little girl and make certain that she did not get into mischief.
"A long one, I'm afraid, and I apologize if I took too much of your time," Kellan replied ruefully and honestly. "And I must thank you once again for offering to take your time to fix the ladder."
|