Found:
I struck out for the East in the end. Following the stones to Angmar may have been easier, it may have promised the peace I've so long sought, but I just couldn't take that path. Not yet. I've been trying to actively meet my end for so long now and each time I have failed. Spectacularly in some cases. In hindsight, it seems that I have expended a lot of energy and effort upon something that should be so simple and in so doing I have wasted so much else that could, or should, be of worth.
My days of giving-in are done. It's time again to fight. To fight for life, for love - in whatever guise that takes - for laughter and, ultimately, a new kind of peace. I don't believe for a moment that it will be easy, however I must believe that it will be worth it in the end.
So, East.
The first few miles were unpleasant. After that, the terrain became quite tricky. Uphill all the damned way! Normally, such slopes would be considered gentle and easy traversing for me, but my current physical state makes everything much harder than it needs to be. Damned warg!
Spying a thin plume of smoke over a rise, I headed for it and, to my surprise, found a small hut hidden in a tiny valley. I should have been wary. It's rare that any good comes of disturbing the solitude of people who choose to live apart like this. Desperation alone drove me forth to the door.
The woman who lived there seemed strange and shy, though not unkind. Coherent sentences harbored some difficulty for her and that single eye peering out through the crack in the door never stayed in one place for long. Nervous and not altogether there, I think. Still, she freely gave me a meal and pointed me toward the road back to Trestlebridge. I'm a few days away yet and I think I can feel a fever coming on.
Onwards, Silver.
I can see the road now. It's not far. It is also not prudent to sleep upon it. So, I set my weary bones down beneath another tree, wrap myself in my coat against the chill wind and hope that I will again awaken come morning.
I need rest. I just need to rest a while.
