[Imladris]

Lira

Lira, with a reassuring smile Esgallhugwen, left the dark elf to her own mournful thoughts. Dropping the ground, her back against a crumbling ruin, Lira gazed at the golden thing she had found in the wood before she had drifted into unconsciousness. Vines of gold and silver entwined about each other, while a tear drop pearl hung from the center. A silver leaf clasped into a golden eye. Lira recognized the necklace: her mother had one just like it. As she held the pearl in the palm of her hand, she could feel scratches upon the back. Turning it over, she saw that the word Liralwen was engraved in curling strokes upon the milky surface.

Blue eyes soft with tears, Lira let the necklace hang from her thin fingers as she searched the horizon. It was her mother’s necklace and as long as she had remembered it had never left her mother’s neck. Bringing the pearl to her lips, she kissed it and then clasped the necklace around her own neck.

Rising, she saw that Esgallhugwen was wrapped in her black cloak apart from the group. With a little sigh, she filled two cups with water and brought one to Esgallhugwen. With a smile, Lira said, “I thought you would be thirsty, Mellon.”

Staring into her own cup, she saw a bandaged face in the wavering reflection. With expert fingers, she nimbly unwound the linen wrappings and looked at her face once more. A purple bruise lingered over the injury which was now stiff with dried blood. “It will scar,” Lira said softly, tracing it with her finger, wincing at the sting the slight pressure caused.

Gorby

I didn’t answer Lumiel right away because I wasn’t sure of what to say. “Anson’s alright, I suppose,” I said cautiously. A guilty feeling washed over me: Anson and me really hadn’t spoken since the fight, but I figured he wouldn’t want to go Fornost. No sensible hobbit would.

The elf Lumiel appeared to be rather restless: her eyes kept flicking here and there, as if she was trying to peer through the trees to see if any enemy approached. “I’m glad that we found Uien and Falowik,” I said softly, a flash of smug satisfaction that that Falco had been proved wrong, for once. It was not blatantly clear that the elf and human had not set us up…clear, to me at least.

I looked at Lumiel, remembering her hesitance regarding Falowik before. But her face didn’t say anything to me and I let the matter drop. “Why did you want to join us, milady?” I asked, not out of curiosity but because it was awkward to sit there in silence.