Lusseriel was sitting near the fire in Barnavon, wide awake. Nearby she could see one of her companions sleeping. She knew that Ardirien was standing guard nearby.
She picked up her notebook from her backpack and started writing:
"I went to hunt last night, and found orcs. I got the fight I wanted out of it. Mostly. I was uninjured, but the proximity of those beings was somewhat worrying.
I knew they had a camp nearby, I found it though I didn't go in search of it.
I got enough rest regardless and this morning I felt like playing music while we were still in a village where we were welcomed as visitors.
I stayed in the middle of the market platform so my companions would have no problem finding me, and enjoyed playing for a little while.
Ardirien, Ilthirian and Andrahir joined me there while I was playing and I soon stopped as we'd no doubt be on our way soon.
Ilthirian told us that despite the order not to leave the village alone she went scouting...
Which somewhat made me smile.
I mean, we did have the order to not leave the "camp" on our own. Yet, this morning Arcangar wasn't there. During the night Ilthirian went scouting and I went hunting.
I'm afraid the only ones who actually followed that order were Ardirien and Andrahir himself.
And before we decided to go on our way, we were joined there by our hobbit companion. Master Noakes apparently stayed behind in Tal Methedhras in order to help the Falcon Clan prepare further.
Admittedly I'm not convinced that they really needed the help or that they're really our allies. Their opinion seems a bit too... divided for that and it seems to me they'll ally themselves with those who have the majority of the other clans as allies.
I'm afraid master Noakes is far too trusting but everyone has the right to act depending on their own feelings. And I must admit that I'm rather impressed by his ability to sneak around and move through Dunland unbothered while the land is so wild and occupied by enemy forces.
It was good to see that Rolegard joining us, though I'm pretty sure he disliked the swamp.
Probably something about walking barefoot in it...
Ilthirian said she had something to show us, something she found during her scouting. I wanted to ask where and what, but she seemed to find it amusing to start riding without answering because in her words : "well, that would be telling!"
There's ORCS in the area.
I swear she spent too long speaking with Athlardal, his carefree behavior is apparently catching!
We caught up to her on the bank of a river, or a slightly deeper part of the swamp at least, and far, far too close to the orc camp for my peace of mind.
We could almost see the camp from where we stood and I didn't think that staying around here was a safe thing.
The orcs were living within an occupied dunlending village. Ilthirian asked if we should try to avoid them or pay them a visit.
Sure, let's go charge an orc camp with just the 5 of us.
One could argue I wasn't any better since I went hunting for them specifically yesterday night, *but* I looked for isolated orcs, I didn't look to go charging a whole camp on my lonesome.
One is doable, the other is suicidal.
In any case, we crossed the "river" and Ilthirian led us to what looked like the entrance of a cave. A guarded cave.
And when we got in... Surprise, the cave wasn't close off, and inside was what the local people call the "Pristine Glade" and well does it deserve that name.
The place was... Surprising, beautiful, and felt so peaceful. It felt a bit like being back to Imladris. There were waterfall around the place, the water was clear and fresh, and in the middle of the clearing was a giant tree that must have been at least a millennium old considering its size.
Seeing that Ardirien went on her own a bit further away from the group I went to her, and we discussed for a while.
And she asked me a difficult question to answer: did I ever wish I had not gone further in our journey?
If I had a choice and nothing could come of that choice then yes, sure, I'd be better on the roads between Lothlorien, Mirkwood, Eregion, Lin Giliath and Imladris. I'd be better off where I know the area like the back of my hand and where I think I can handle the danger, and where I know I can walk barefoot if I so wish because it's safe and I can have some fun.
But in effect, what do I have to lose? I lived a long life, longer than most living in these times. Void, I'm actually older now than both my parents combined were when they died. I experienced many wondrous things, also terrible things. I lost far more than I ever wished or thought I'd ever do. And all that time I was haunted by first Morgoth and his army and then Morgoth's Lieutenant and his armies.
This here? It's a disaster in the making, but has been long in coming and it's a bit of tidying to do left over from the first age.
So it's only right if I participate in the "cleaning" effort. Besides, what do I have to lose? When I lost my home in Eregion the last time I purposefully refused to rebuild it anywhere else. As a result I don't have many close friends left. Most have sailed by now. I certainly have no family I can call my own, thankfully because I'd hate to think I'd been raising children in an environment where orcs and wargs, giant spiders, undead, and necromancers are a thing... I've also lived my life to the fullest for a long time.
It'd be sadder to see someone younger and less experienced take my place in this journey and possibly die in the end.
Also I do want to make a dent in the army of Morgoth loyal little pet so there's that. The people of the House of Feanor are nothing if not stubborn and I'm no exception.
When I asked her the same question, Ardirien found I think the question as difficult to answer as I had found it. She certainly didn’t answer by a simple yes or no. But then she spoke, and as I understood it, it wasn’t that she regretted coming exactly, but that she came for Arcangar, that his disappearing acts left her wondering.
I can understand that, and I dearly hope she can talk to him and they can come to an understanding. The situation we're in is going to get bad enough sooner or later (even if I'm hoping for later) that I think that things left unsaid and little disagreement shouldn't have a place among us.
Not between friends.
Anyway, in the end, Ardirien suggested we get back to the others, and I told her that should Andrahir and Ilthirian start looking at each other and blushing I was pushing them in the water nearby. That seemed to lift her spirit up a bit.
So it was almost sad that there was no reason for me to do so though I had the distinct feeling we were interrupting something.
Ardirien saw Rolegard standing apart from the group nearby and went to join us and I followed her because... Whatever we were "not interrupting", Andrahir and Ilthirian could finish it and get back to us when they were ready to do so.
Rolegard didn't seem very happy to be here. My guess would be the place reminds him of the home he left behind perhaps. I don't really know.
I tried to offer some words of comfort, but I missed the mark.
He wasn't wrong when he told me off though. I spent most of my life among elves, and haven't talked to someone of another race that isn't an animal in decades before I decided to cross the Moria, and found this group, I have no way to relate to him and it probably showed. Oh well...
Before we left to go back on our way to find Nona in the next village as per our agreement with her, Ilthirian wanted to go speak to the tree.
That seemed to shock a bit Andrahir and Rolegard, funnily enough.
When she came back to us, Ilthirian told us that "if it was ever sentient, as the legends tell, it sleeps deeply."
It's possible of course that it's sleeping deeply. Or perhaps that tree was but one of the trees protected by an Ent and as the "last tree standing" left from that period of time, in the local legend, the tree was mistaken for the Ent.
Or there was never a sentient tree here specifically, and legends are only that. Who can tell now?
So we left the glade, and took our horses back. Avoided the orcs nearby, and rode on to this village. Barnavon is certainly bigger than the settlement in the swamp but then it's perhaps slightly easier to build something around here, and there are easier resources to use so...
We found Nona in the village.
The village is sadly still separated in two. One side those who believe in Saruman and agree to his rule, dangerous people all around, and on another side, those who disagree with Saruman, love their freedom too much and won't let that wizard enslave them.
Nona asked us to find proof of the dealings between Saruman and the people of the village.
I almost wanted to suggest going in and murdering one or two of the more vocals of them to check if they had proof of dealings with Saruman, but Andrahir and Rolegard seemed more inclined toward discretion and preserving people's lives.
Rolegard went there under the cover of the night and sneaked around I guess until he found what he sought. There was no tattletale sound of battle or shout of alarm in that side of the village, so I guess our sneaky friend was indeed good enough not to be caught.
We decided to get a bit farther away from the side of the village that agrees with Saruman and decided to spend the night there before going on our way tomorrow, Valar willing.
We'll take turn standing guard during the night. We wouldn't want our... ah, friendly hosts to get ideas after all.
Overall it wasn't a bad day though I really wish we'd stop staying in those villages.
I can't trust the dunlandings. It's terrible but I'd sleep better in the wild between villages than in one of the villages. Proper beds don't quite make up for the lack of trust.
Just look at *this* village.
For all we know Saruman paid off most of the members of the village and some of them are simply more discreet about it and report to him. We know already that about half the village is in his pocket. Nothing tells us more aren't and that we aren't just falling into a trap or that someone who isn't in his pockets isn't going to seize the occasion to try and prove his valor to him in hope of getting paid off too.
As far as I'm concerned, Dunland is a lost cause.
And let's be honest two minutes. Dunlandings are an enemy of the men of Rohan. Rohan has long been an ally of Gondor and the men in our company are men of Gondor. Rangers, yes, but still of Gondor.
Even those Dunlendings who have shown themselves to be somewhat friendly to us have had words about their distant past and the fact the Rohirrims stole their lands and so on and so forth.
We have no allies in these lands; we'd be better off finding our way somewhere else.
I don't know the Rohirrims really, but they're certainly a better bet going by their history with Gondor than the Dunlendings, and just accepting the hospitality of the locals like that with barely a proof of good will when even the friendliest Dunlanding is barely acting as if they tolerate us… Well, it’s waiting for a trap to spring on us."
Lusseriel looked up from her notebook and sighed. Perhaps she should suggest that next time.
