((neatly penned in Lumi-kieli))
Nalleni was very happy when we found out that the curse was lifted. I've been wearing the necklace ever since. I wrote a list of questions down on a scrap of parchment and every day I go through it and make sure I remember the answers to all of them easily, and so far there is no sign the curse lingers. So I suppose if I still believed in signs and the spirits setting paths before us, this would be a sign that all is well. That even when things try to come between us, we can overcome them together. But I guess I do not know if I do anymore. Everyone is so scornful of such thinking. When I go back and forth about this all I can decide is that it does not matter and there is no reason to even be thinking about it since it does not change anything. But it was nice to see Beri so pleased, after the way she had been the week before.
Rivendell was beautiful and very nice to explore, but by the end I felt like our welcome had worn out so much that I wondered if we had ever really been welcome. Some of the Elves were pleasant to us all along and others looked at us as if we were invaders. I suppose it is not that different from how we treat the etelä-vieras back in Lumi-mâ. We are glad to see them come and just as glad to see them leave with our trade goods on their wagons and in their packs. But were we as rude, as bumbling, as disrespectful as many of the etelä-vieras are? I did not think so, but I cannot be sure. I do not know their ways. I suppose we are not likely to have more reason to visit so that, also, is not worth thinking about.
The journey back without Frimsi was quiet. I suppose anything that does not have Frimsi in it is likely to be quieter than anything that does. I hope is way to Erebor is safe. Traveling through the woods means of course Beri will use her ihonvaihtaja ways more. Sometimes she speaks of that as her true form. Sometimes I feel like she would rather live always in the woods like that. I wonder sometimes if she would be happier with another ihonvaihtaja. Or should I at least try to become woodcrafty? Learn how to hunt and track and forage and such? At least I will not have difficulty with dealing with the weather. I wonder how I could learn such things? Or if I even could. Godwin once promised to teach me how to use a bow and was even going to get one made for me. Or was it Baraque? Either way I remember I was doubtful that it was something I could learn.
As I expected Mister Butterbur and Nob have made a mess of the kitchen, but not as bad as I feared. I guess they did not have time to move things, so most things are where they were. The Pony was quite quiet. Well, not quiet really; there was one very loud and boisterous dwarf ordering a round for the table but then ignoring me when I tried to find out what he wanted. Otherwise, Miss Cat and Miss Aellwenn teasing one another and ignoring me, and a few others I did not really see, and no one placing any orders. I was hoping to see Rue since it was her study that helped us find the curse, and since I want to see if she will believe this was the right course, but I did not see her. I wonder if Mister Night is still visiting from time to time. Or Tacita.
I will need to get back to work on making soaps and candles. Winter should be the best time of year for selling candles, though it seems that the nights are not as long here as in Lumi-mâ. Even that is more mild. Beri is back into the woods. I suppose after so much time amongst vanha-väki she needs more time there before she is ready to be amongst the Bree-väki. The people in the market are just as ever; a few are glad to see me, and more clearly wished the foreigner would have stayed away. So I suppose I can understand how Beri feels.
Spring is not that far away. Maybe it is time to start thinking about when and how we will make for Lumi-mâ. That sled that the dwarf whose name I do not know made for me, I cannot think of how to bring it. How would we drag it over so many leagues of grass and road, just to get to a small part of Lumi-mâ where it might help? Maybe it is best not to try to bring it. If it is just the two of us, we can carry enough food in backpacks, and forage or fish to supplement it. It is much harder with Beri not eating meat, but she is quite good at foraging. I think I know the route, going through the city of the bridge to the woods that lead to the brown river, then north, though maybe we should visit with the Rangers by the risen lake first on the way. If we leave in about a moon and a half, we will be in Sûri-kylä at the time of the hilla gathering. How hard will be the journey east after we return? I do not know what to expect. Not even how long it will take. Or what Beri's family will think of me, a frail candle-maker from so far away.
Maybe if she teaches me how to make her honey-cakes, I can impress them with my cooking. It is odd that people think of me as a good cook here when back home Äiti despaired of me ever learning more than the basics.
Reminders:
• Find fine linen or hemp cloth for a gâkti, and buttons
• Get caught up on soap for Fritzie's orphanage
• Find somewhere better to store the sled
• Make a list of things to bring with us to Lumi-mâ
• Seek if anyone else is going that way at that time of year this year
• Ask Beri about when we should go, but not too soon, not when we just came back
• Maybe find out about learning to be more woodcrafty?
