diary

My travels have bought me far and wide, up through the North of the Lone Lands I went and then East, to pass over the Trollshaws and into the Ettenmoors.

The big day is finally here! Mam and Dad cooked a great, big breakfast full of all of me favourites (including those scrumptiously tasty cheese and mushroom muffins Grammy would make when she came to visit). I already have a basket full of goodies, enough for the road and for second breakfast. Aconite tells me that there’s a tavern right over the Brandywine Bridge that serves one of the best beers in the farthing. I tell him I didn’t know rating beers of the Shire was part of a bounder’s duty!

As I make arrangements to set out on this ardous journey, I am stifled with doubt and regret. Is it really the time to return to the Realm? I have not heard much about it, only whispered rumors of foul creatures; spiders, ghouls and worse things that prowl those once so glorious wooden halls. I do not even know if my people is still alive. Is even Thranduil still breathing? Anything else would be unthinkable of course, but still. What if I return, and my native land is a naught but a tomb?

The way south is troublesome. The road we have been roughly following (even if we cannot walk it, it served as a guide to us while we rode hidden) lead into a pass through a rocky vale. We have no choice but to either brave the road or find a way around the range. It seems to be sprouting out westwards from the mountains, but if the map is to be trusted, it should not be too wide. I do not wish to risk the road. It is most certainly watched, and a good place for an ambush, too.
But it means a detour, and we are already delayed.

Dear Father,

Hello there!

Dear Diary,

I find myself in the lands of Men, oddly enough.  Bree, specifically.  Were it up to me, I wouldn't be here.  It's a dirty place, filled with roguish and unsavory folk.  Well, I have met a few kind people, to be truthful, but not enough to make me wish my stay were longer.  I am only here because of the work that needs doing.  I pledged my services, and they shall be given.  But I wish I could move further on down the long road, or at least have need to spend more of my time among more...cultured folk.