Long Lost Leaves - part II

[feawen]

Taking the smile to mean yes please for breakfast, Nami smiled and went about getting a pan hot for the mushrooms.

"Morning Aelfwine, Hedrim! Guess what i found this morning?...Well i found a shortcut back to the camp and i found these!" Nami smiled as she set about cutting up the mushrooms. She giggled slightly, "Hehe i guess i found a shortcut to mushrooms!"

A happy Nami sat humming and smiling as the smell of cooking mushrooms filled the camp air. All thoughts of the past day in Dol Gladur gone, Nami felt as if a weight had been lifted from her mind. It was a happy Nami, back to her normal cheerful if childish self who sat cooking breakfast for her fellows,

[Earniel]

"Yes, said Radagast with a smile. "If you seek Radagast the Brown, then I am most definitely whom you seek." He took the letter from the Elf, not sure what to do with it himself, but the Elf seemed to insist on it.

"Ah yes, Gandalf's letter," he said on recognising the hand-writing. "You've come quite a way then, if you have followed us from Rhosgobel. You are most welcome to join us, miss, our quest has only barely begun although I dare say we're finally getting somewhere. Come have some breakfast with us, I'll tell you what excitement you have missed yesterday and introduce you to the others. Oh, I'm afraid I didn't catch your name."

[Nixie]

The letter was taken from her hand and her shoulders slumped low in relief when Radagast spoke. "Ah yes, Gandalfs letter!" Nixie smiled and took his offer to sit and eat. She was very eager to meet everyone as she would like to know who she would be traveling with for however long. "I apologize, my name is Nixie, I hail from Rivendell. I was detained many days and thus it was very difficult to track you all. With the storm it made it harder to find you, but this is no time for my story. Radagast, you speak first, then if you desire my story I'll tell it." She said, sitting down and waiting intently to learn of everyone's name and what the group had been up to. She smiled at Nami, waiting patiently for her breakfast.

[orithil]

"Yes we did find Elyssa" Hedrim assured Aelfwine. He turned his attention back to the new elf "Ah yes, Gandalfs letter!" Hedrim heard Radagast say. He morning to Nami who was even more cheerful then she usally was. Hedrim thought it may be best to let Radagast speak first.

[Coffeehouse]

Taking Aerin's outreached hand Quickleaf rose up and out of the tent he was, standing in the sunlight that he could not see, listening to voices from people he could not see, yet he felt good, the air was warming and he had slept well.
Quickleaf put his hand on Aerin's shoulder and whispered to her if she could perhaps help him over to the others without him turning the camp upside down..

[Midge]

At Quickleaf's whispered request, Aerin situated her arm around Quickleaf's torso in a way that would allow her easy steering. She walked with him over to the edge of the group, close to the fire, but not close enough that he would march right into the middle of everything. Aerin figured the last thing Quickleaf needed was pity from everyone else. They eased down onto the grass near where Aerin had been sitting before.

The new elf still held everyone's attention. Apparently she'd been invited on this venture. 'Oh...' thought Aerin. 'These people were chosen to come. In that case, I certainly do not belong, though I'd like some excitement like this. The Lady left too soon for me; I feel too young to depart yet. I wonder if the chances of me joining this venture are still any at all...'

She leaned over and quietly told Quickleaf:
"No doubt you hear a voice that is strange to you. A new elf walked brazenly into your camp this morning, bearing a letter from Gandalf. I doubt it truly is a letter from he, for he has long left these shores... with my Lady years ago, in fact. Do you still have your letter of invitation? Do you know why you were chosen to come?"

She leaned back into the grass and awaited his answer.

[Amael]

"Ingwionis, we have a new journeyer it seems! I shall have to introduce myself."

[feawen]

With the mushrooms cooked Nami plated up the breakfast and set about giving out plates while still leaving some food for the fellows still sleeping.

Setting a plate into the new elfs hands Nami smiled her welcome, she would talk to the elf later when tales had been told. Nami couldnot help laughing slightly at the thought of all the elfs they kept finding.

Coming to the edge of the camp Nami approached Quickleaf and Aerin.

"Breakfast is served!" she beamed as she placed the plates into waiting hands. "You look better today Quickleaf, how are you feeling?"

[Coffeehouse]

Sitting down in the grass with Aerin, Quickleaf looked ahead, trying to imagine where who sat and where in the camp he himself was. He imagined bright colours, and green grass as fresh as the swiftly rising sun. He now heard a new voice, of an elf that had just arrived. He tried to make out where she sat, but they were sitting not very far apart and so distinguishing was hard.
Hearing Nami's cheerful voice Quickleaf smiled up to where he thought she stood and greatfully received the food. He was starving. Not caring about the pain in his eyes, nor the wound.
Quickleaf turned to Aerin and looked into black oblivion, at her, as she asked.
"Far into the north I was Aerin, traveling the woods of northern Greenwood. I have been roaming for four years now, quelling the few dangers that still lurk in this forest, save Dol Guldur where I have not dared venture alone. I came upon this company not long ago, a few weeks back. The quest Radaghast has set out upon is noble, and it is worthy, and it is my pleasure to help" Quickleaf smiled blindly at the elven maid from Lorien. "It would please my heart if you too joined" and so Quickleaf picked up the food Nami had given him and ate slowly.

He had caught the name of the new elf, Nixie, it was unknown to him, but she appeared to be from Rivendell, and that was good news. A skillful society of elves. Asking Aerin where she sat, Quickleaf looked in the direction of Nixie and bowed his head "Saesa omentien lle."

[Midge]

"Then you were not invited?" Aerin asked, not daring to believe that she might still join this motley crew in their venture. She hardly had the wits to think of anything else, as food was offered her and she quietly accepted. The company was still preoccupied by the new elf, who (it seemed) was from Rivendell. But Aerin, as she sat there by Quickleaf, was in thoughts of her own.

[Coffeehouse]

There was doubt in Aerin's voice, and no mistake, she was right, he had not joined the company from the start.
She feared, perhaps, that she would need to return back to Lorien, travelling alone, tired of the solitude the blackness of Dol Guldur had offered her.
But Quickleaf was sure Radaghast would invite her along. Her eyes and ears, and skills needed. Especially now that he himself was blinded.. for however long..
Quickleaf sighed, he held no love for the dark he now sat in.

He tried imagining the camp, the people, Radaghast, Nami, Aelfwine, Hedrim.. but their faces were clear and blurry at the same time and Quickleaf felt trapped. Wanting to visualise, desperate not to see the images of the world fade in his memory, Quickleaf turned to Aerin.. "What do you look like?"

[Mari]

Ellysa woke up to the sound of people talking. Disoriented she looked up at the tent roof. It wasn't her tent, so who had honoured her by sharing?
She thought back to the previous night when they had gotten out of Dol Guldur. She remembered seeing Nami, but she couldn't remember much else. She had been so tired.

Slowly she crawled out of the tent and stretched a bit. She noticed Abasi sitting on the ground sharpening his knifes. He seemed to be alone so Ellysa decided to walk over. She didn't notice Tabril until she got a bit closer, but didn't change direction.
"Good morning Abasi, Tabril. How are you today?"

[Curufin]

Abasi stopped sharpening his t'rai abruptly and looked up at her for a moment before lowering his eyes back to his weapon and sliding it hastily into his belt.

'I am well. We will move on soon? I see little point in remaining here. Did you find the Mysteries you sought?'

[Mari]

"I don't know. I guess that is for Radagast to decide. Yesterday Nami and I, uhm... we got lost. So we didn't really find anything, not even each other." Ellysa looked a bit embarrassed at admitting this.
"Actually, we probably only held up the entire search. Sorry Abasi!" She could understand that a warrior like Abasi would get bored waiting here. And their wanderings hadn't helped the search much either.

[Midge]

"Wha.. What do I look like?" Aerin looked at herself. She'd never thought about it much before. "Well... Uh.. I have long dark hair that ends past my waist, and I'm wearing a Messenger's raiment (have you seen that?). I suppose my face looks normal... my mouth is sort of full, but not very large or anything. I've never liked my nose... Does anybody? It is just a plain straight one. Not that I want a huge one or a crooked one, I suppose... Goodness, this is a hard question to answer, Quickleaf. My eyes are a blue-gray color that actually looks green in some lights. My teeth are very straight. I am not too tall, but not too short either. I walk lightly on my feet. Have I forgotten anything?"

[feawen]

After giving the food out Nami was about to go to her normal spot by Quickleaf, but finding it filled by Aerin Nami took her breakfast and sit a little way off by the fire.

Leaning against a tree stump and waited for someone to talk too.

[Acalewia]

"Yes we did find Elyssa" Aelfwine smiled at Hedrim's words
"Good," she said, releved her friend was safe. She said good mornig to Nami, who was back to her cheerful self. After the others had begun to gather for breakfast, she saw Nami had gone off and sat by herself. Aelfwine caught her eye and motioned for her to sit next to her and Hedrim. Perhaps together they could hear the new elf, Nixie's, story.

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf spoke to Aerin with a smile, "It is a fine description, and now I may imagine a fair face, along with the fair deed you performed helping me from the abyss of Dol Guldur"
and with that Quickleaf went quiet, his veiled gaze set upon the campfire, though he saw nothing he could feel its glow and waited to listen to the newcomer and any other talk among the fellowship.

[Nixie]

Radagast seemed to be taking his time with his thoughts so Nixie thanked Nami for the breakfast with a nod and a smile. She turned her attention back to Radagast and gave some insight to her journey to find him, though she thought it best to leave the details of how she received the letter late for another time, when not so many entrusting eyes were upon her. Well At least she needed to gain their trust, as they did hers.

"It took a while to find you, but the storm was my biggest challenge. It detained me from searching out your group and I had to leave a fellow traveler behind. He is headed back to Rivendell as of the previous night." She said smiling kindly with a soft face.

[Midge]

Aerin was quiet after Quickleaf had responded to her description of herself. She didn't really feel any need to continue talking, especially when she had so much catching up to do with the wind and the grass and the sunshine after that long sojourn underground.