I returned home today to a layer of dust over all of my furniture and empty cabinets that contained no food to satisfy my stomach. After spending a little over a month in Ost Guruth, though, the dusty furniture and empty home were welcoming to me. I had written a letter for Blid, intending to return when they were drawing close and on their way back to Bree. I desperately wish to be back in their company again, with Maddoct and Maurr and maybe even Arlis too. I mentioned little of Fenley, who wishes to accompany me back to Ost Guruth when I return to surprise the dwarves.
There couldn't have been a greater shock than seeing Fenley Plumwood stepping into Ost Guruth. I couldn't say exactly why I had spent so much time away from Bree, what kept me tied to such a desolate place. The easy answer is that Ost Guruth is where I was born and raised, but even so, it was like a dark cloud had settled over my mind and I couldn't think of anything else. My mother did not teach me medicines for unseen illnesses, sicknesses that reside in your mind that isn't tangible.
Perhaps the decision to return to Bree with Fenley shouldn't have been as easy as it was, but I didn't have to spend much time mulling it over. I spent the next day packing my things and buying rations for the journey home and saying goodbye to people that I would miss. The morning after that, Fenley and I left, traveling half-way and stopping to rest at a campsite that I had not used in many months.
We slept through the night and though I tried to teach him a bit of swordplay in the morning, he wasn't getting the hang of it until eventually, I told him that we would have to continue once we got to Bree and had wooden swords to use, for he was too afraid of mishandling his and giving either one of us an injury. The ride back into Bree-land was easy and didn't take long and the conversation was light.
I won't even dare to write the events that transpired in the yard, which left me short of breath and my cheeks pink. I do not think I could even begin to write the words if I tried to. Despite my best wishes that I daren't say out loud, Fenley returned to the Inn, with promises to return tonight, to let his sister know he had arrived home safely, and I went into Bree to eat my first proper meal in a while.
