Of Wraiths and Kings, and Friends and Rings (Calling All Nazgul)

[Earniel]

Eärniel had left the party as soon as her interview was over, there was no one she had to wait for. On her way out she passed the serving girl of the Red Herring, talking to another woman. The poor girl seemed nearly in tears. The Chancellor must have made an enormous impression on her, Eärniel wondered what he could have said to have distressed her so.

The evening was cold but Eärniel hardly noticed it. The street-cobbles still glowed with the warmth they had received from the sun during daylight. She could feel the warmth through her light shoes.

She heard a well-known cry overhead and looked up. Above her, in the shadowy sky she glimpsed a vague, white form circle. Se smiled and called to the gull in its own tongue. Gull-speech, thank the Valar, was a language Eärniel spoke fluidly from her years of living at the coast. It still irked her that she couldn't pick up Swan-speech as easily.

"Good wind and gentle sea to you, Faénn, what brings you so far from your cliffs?"

"Bright sky and steady wind to you, Seachild," the gull Faénn greeted. "There is not much food out at sea, so we move inland from time to time. But I also bring news, I saw something that might interest you."

"Oh?" Eärniel's curiosity was woken. "And what would that be?"

"An old friend of yours. RÃ*an. Saw her here in Tharbad."

"RÃ*an!?" Eärniel cried in surprise. Memories flooded in so quickly that Eärniel nearly staggered under their impact. Images of fear and fire, of a long dark path and of a beautiful woman with long dark hair.
"Is she here?" she asked breathlessly. " But where is she? Faénn, please bring me there!"

The gull looked pleased that its news was appreciated and took off to the sky.

"Follow me!" It cried as it flew across the street, its white shape like a beacon to Eärniel in the falling darkness.

She ran after it through the streets. The gull led her to a part of town Eärniel had not yet explored fully and finally it settled down on the roof of a big house. Flushed with excitement, Eärniel knocked at the door.