The pink blush of dawn began to rise across the cheeks of the dark sky as Eliriael reentered the valley. The time to blend into the shadows had passed and she placed her fingers around the rim of her hood to slowly pull her cloak away from her body. A small sigh escaped her lips, letting the fears of night pass from her and allowing the calm of the valley to fill her.
Ever since Daegond returned with his reports and Lord Anglachelm increased his vigilance upon the moors, Eliriael had been wandering along the outskirts of the valley under the cover of night. Thus far, she had passed without incident, but she felt an increasing disturbance in the land. A stifling sense of foreboding crept upon her heart with greater intensity each night. She closed her eyes and the memories of her excursions returned to her. Eliriael walked forward, her eyes seeing not where she walked but the unmarked paths she traversed during the night. In her eyes, the fauna trembled uneasily and the animals lay in their dens restlessly. Something passed unwelcome in these lands.
When her feet brought her to the edge of a knoll of violets under a ring of trees, she removed her light slippers and let her feet sink into the long grass. The tremor that had begun to grow in her heart that night shook her now, consuming and possessing. A shuddering breath escaped her body and Eliriael let herself sink into the bed of purple stars that blanketed the grass.
She lay still, an inexplicable sense of anxiety gripping her. It came unprecedented and for some time she gazed unmoving through the circle of trees to the sky above. Her mind tried to wander upward into the freeing expanse of blue and airy clouds but her fears entangled her and bound her down.
It was only when the sun reached its fullest height in the sky and its golden light beamed onto the crown of trees like a halo that Eliriael awoke from her reverie. The warmth stirred life in the knoll - the violets turned up their petals and stretched toward the sky, and Eliriael's body thawed through the cold clasp that held her.
The sudden sound of hurried steps entered Eliriael's range of hearing and fully awoke her from stillness. In a fluid motion, she stood up on the grass and peered around the closes tree to look down at the road. She recognized the hauberk worn by the wardens of the Fountain on an elf she did not know. But she saw a pained and urgent expression etched upon his face and she instinctively knew that all was far from well. This elf perhaps brought the news that she had been anticipating and fearing ever since she began roaming outside of the valley.
Eliriael lightly hurried down the hill after the elf. Following his path led her to the front steps of the Last Homely House, where her fellow Vanimarians stood gathered. All was silent except for the words rapidly being spoken by the unknown warden in gasps. Hushed whispers began to rise as everyone heard the news - there had been an assault on the outpost held by Lord Tindir.
After a brief discussion among the leaders of the Hammer, Lord Veryacano ordered everyone to prepare themselves. They were heading out of the valley in search of survivors at the outpost.
