"Well? How did it go?"
Maltariel jumped, looking up at the mirror to catch sight of the grey-clad scout regarding her from the doorway. At her surprise he grinned unrepentantly, crossing the room to stand beside her and repeat the question. Maltariel shrugged, quick fingers re-braiding her golden hair as she considered. She could already guess that he had heard what had happened, the tension in his usually easy manner was clear. Still, he asked nonetheless – giving her the chance to talk.
Turning round to meet his eyes, she finally answered, “One of the new recruits will be out of action for a while – he took an arrow in the leg. It was pointless - he shouldn't have been there, he wasn't ready. Torion nearly got stuck helping him back.”
Her friend nodded slowly, one hand coming to rest on her shoulder in sympathy. Maltariel leaned her head against it for a moment, taking strength from his support, before she sat up once more and with an effort brought her habitual smile back to her face.
“I'm all right. It's just frustrating sometimes – we are pressed harder every day, and so we are forced to take recruits out before they can handle it.”
The scout nodded again, giving her shoulder a last sympathetic squeeze before withdrawing his hand to pull out a thin set of tightly-rolled papers from his sleeve.
“I have something that might cheer you up,” he remarked brightly, putting the papers down on the table in front of her. Maltariel looked enquiringly up at him, and he continued with a grin, “It's a letter from Rainith. It looks like we've missed a few – but this bird managed to get over the mountains relatively unmolested.”
“From Rainith?” Maltariel's face broke into a wide smile, and she began leafing through the papers eagerly. “How is she?”
“Married, apparently, and about to leave on a journey with her new 'husband'.”
“Married?! For how long? To that scout I suppose – what was his name? Gold-something. Why didn't we hear before now?”
Her friend grimaced slightly, but nodded as he corrected her, “Galdorion was not exactly a scout, but yes, of course. That seemed a foregone conclusion long before they arrived here.”
Maltariel nodded, her keen blue eyes scanning the handwritten lines quickly. The scout watched her for a few moments more, expression thoughtful, relieved that she seemed to have shaken off her unusual dark mood.
“There's more,” he remarked, reaching over her shoulder to turn to the last page. “Look here.”
She looked confused for a moment, but obediently followed his pointing finger, reading aloud as she did.
“There is some news for the House as a whole, too – Lord Vorongwe is raising the Order of the Fountain to renewed strength, and calls his wardens back to the valley to serve. I suppose in such times, the need for their company is even greater.”
Maltariel fell silent, expression thoughtful, only a slight smile still lingering around her lips. The scout watched her for a moment before he sighed, stepping away with a rueful smile.
“So, after all this, you will leave us too.”
She looked up guiltily, blue eyes seeking his. Her friend shook his head, as if feigning disappointment, but his expression was rather more reassuring.
“You know... I have lived here a long time,” Maltariel began, regarding herself thoughtfully in the mirror once more. A laughing-eyed maiden looked back at her from the glass, seeming almost unchanged by the generations since she'd first sat here and called it home. She had dwelt in Lorien so long that there were very few who still remembered that it had not always been her home – she had almost entirely become one of their people.
“I have shed blood for these lands, I have celebrated their festivals and mourned their losses. I have served the Lady with all my strength. But this...”
The scout came to stand behind her once more, soft grey eyes looking into hers with a quiet understanding.
“This is a summons home,” she finished, tone almost longing. “My parents died with the death of this order... I can think of no greater honour than to answer this call, and follow in their footsteps.”
Maltariel was almost startled by the alarmed frown that appeared on her friend's face, before she realised exactly what she had said.
“You know what I meant!” She exclaimed, her merry laugh chasing away his half-feigned concern. He sighed, grinning in return, one hand reaching for the letter on her desk.
“Very well,” he agreed, expression softening in support. “Let's go tell the captain of your planned abandonment. I doubt he'll take it as well as I do!”
Maltariel grimaced in acknowledgement, snatching up her cloak before moving to follow him out of the small room. For a moment, as she paused in the doorway, the sound of the wind whispering through the leaves of the tree-city almost sounded like the playing of water in fountains. Maltariel turned her face up to the sunlight slanting through the canopy of trees, a slow smile beginning to spread across her face. Somehow, home no longer seemed such an empty idea as it once had.
