The more Lyfrid thought about it, the more angry she became. When she thought back to that morning when she and Brulk had their tiff in the street in Bree, something popped into her mind that she had overlooked before. Patch had some kind of salve around his missing eye, a medicinal salve recalling the scent of it. Where had he come by that! Why hadn't he asked her for help? He knew of her skill with healing, after all!
Pacing across the floor in her room at Mercer Manor, the young woman could not let the thought go that Brulk had snubbed her. She stopped suddenly from wearing the rug thin and the blood rushed to her face. "It's some other witch!" she blurted out to no one. It was in that moment she decided she would begin to follow Brulk. She had gotten pretty good at sneaking around, tailing people, but Brulk was easy. As long as you stayed on this 'bad' side, he never noticed much.
Days of following, however, had produced no clue to from where the ointment Brulk had been applying to his eye socket had come. She had seen him using it regularly. He had been doing some business in Bree, however, gathering what looked to her like some supplies and warm clothing. Odd she thought, it's summer. He must be going somewhere cold. With that in mind, she made sure she had some warm things in her own pack and it was a good plan. By the end of that week, she would have followed him all the way to Ered Luin.
Ered Luin is located in the far west of Eriador, north-west of and connected through the Hobbit's lands in the Shire. The further she followed Brulk into Ered Luin, the colder the air had become, even in summer. Eventually they moved into the mountains where there was still snow falling and on the ground. She followed the Man into a small fortress where he met up with three dwarves. Not surprising being one of the great halls of the dwarves was nearby. Lyfrid made her way up a steep embankment without being seen and hid inside the branches of a snow covered evergreen tree. She was well hidden from view and undetectable unless someone below could hear her teeth chattering.
The first dwarf to greet Brulk had a long red beard that spread out over his round belly like a apron. They seemed to know each other. Another one, who's beard looked like that of a red haired person who'd gone more grey with age, was the second to greet Brulk. And lastly, one very stoic looking black bearded dwarf stood by the gathering, clearly on his guard. They apparently didn't notice the Seer blending into the tree. There were some pleasantries exchanged and then Lyfrid was rewarded with her snooping, she discovered the source of the salve.
It had been the first dwarf, he had been the source of the ointment! Lyfrid's eavesdropping and paid off. She forgot for a moment that she was trying to remain unseen and burst out into roucous laughter when she realized it hadn't been another witch at all, just one red haired round dwarf! The sound of her cackling laughter bounced off the stone and pillars, which was lucky for the woman, making the location of the sound difficult to determine. The onxy beard snapped to attention and immediately surveyed the area but Lyfrid remained motionless and undetected.
One of dwarrow kept mentioning the weather and the decision was made for the four of them to continue on their way to Thorin's Hall. Lyfrid was very glad they decided to move. Standing inside a snow covered pine tree wasn't much protection from the cold and standing in place wasn't helping either. One of the dwarves was on foot, the other on a small pony, Brulk on his scruffy horse and the onyx beard on a goat! Lyfrid had left her horse tied to a nearby tree, but didn't ride, she pulled him along by his reins. The snowy footing helped keep his clippity-clopping hooves quieted.
As the band headed on a north west heading, Lyfrid skirted along behind them using the pillars and trees to hide herself and her handsome horse. There was no reason for her to be following now other than the curiosity of a cat, which she had in spades. It was an adventure at this point, and she wasn't ready to return to her domestic duties at the Manor. Her inquisitiveness, would see no further results though. There was a large stone arch in the road and on either side of it were two heavily armed dwarven guards. She had come to the end of her snooping. There would be no way to remain hidden and even more unlikely they would allow her to pass. She ended her trip born of curiosity with a string of expletives, turned on the spot, jumped into her saddle and tore back down the snow road on which she had come.
