Long Lost Leaves - part II

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine laughed out loud at Nami's comments.
"Let's hope not everyone becomes couples," She took a deep breath. "That smells so good,"

[Amael]

After days of doing and saying absolutely nothing, A'mael parted from Ingwionis for a brief time to go around listening to what was being said around the camp. She was feeling strange, and needed to feel wind, so she tried to find higher ground, at least high enough so that the wind was greater.

A'mael then started to feel weak, and began to have some pain. She began to collapse and she felt strange.

"How am I going to get through this, I surely can't be having the baby now unless it's some type of malfunction?" she said to herself. She was in a panic, because everyone was readying to traverse the river, and she figured she might be left behind now. She looked at her husband with a scared expression. "I can't have this happen now! This is the worst time! But it must not be...hmm...what is it then?"

Ingwionis would undoubtedly have A'mael accompanied back with him to just to the west of Urd, from whence they came, or they could make haste to Ithilien, which is weeks and weeks away. Time was running out though, and the baby or babies would not be safe on a journey such as this. Perhaps A'mael had not thought on the time that had passed since she found she was pregnant, nor on the time she had spent in the unknown regions of the world. She was nations away from true safety now. Things would become ever-more perilous.

[Midge]

Aerin's face turned bright red as she heard people around her murmuring words like "couples" and "privacy" and "something in the air". She looked at Magor again, now the Elf she was when she picked up a tag-along once more.

She said, "It would appear our supper is ready. I believe the horses have had their fair share of exercise, and now they must be fed, as well as us." She turned very quickly and practically dragged Glaeren back towards where the other horses were picketed. Magor's grin dissipated into a look of acute confusion until he heard the murmurs that Aerin must have heard long before him with her Elvish ears. He smiled once more and hurried after her, his mare cantering after him.

He reached her before she reached the camp and caught her elbow. Then he leaned down and said in her ear where no one could hear, "I'm not looking for a lover, whatever the others may say. I'll do quite well with a friend, and I'd guess you could do with one too. In that way, we may help each other." Then he raised his voice to a normal octave and said, "And horse-sense too, I suppose." He looked around pointedly at the Company, his statement having a double meaning.

With that, he took the reins of both Glaeren and his own mare and picketed them while Aerin fetched two bowls of pike and soup.

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf sat contently by the crackling fire, feasting on the most splendid of meals that he had come across in years. His heart was more at peace than it had been for a while. Although the companionship of the group was pleasant he had much longed to hear from his Elven cousins in the north, though there would be little tidings from Lorien. But stories from places abroad he had not visited caught his ears and he listened with interest.

While feasting amongst the Raft-Elves they spoke of strange places downriver along the Celduin and towards the Rhûn. And beasts of burden with tall, slim legs and fur the colour of sand. There was curious news from northern Greenwood and beyond in places of Rhovanion that Quickleaf never had travelled, Esgaroth, Erebor and further up the Forest River to the northwest.

Quickleaf's eyes glittered as the light from the fire played upon his face and he remembered what he had nearly forgotten to ask,
"Thainûr! Mälenion! Forgive a Lorien elf simple ignorance, I have listened with joy and fascination of the places you have been, yet little have I heard of the Iron Hills. Do the Raft-Elves ever go there for trade?"

[orithil]

Hedrim stretched his neck and sat down on a log near the fire taking a plate of the delightful smelling food, one thing the elves do well is cook. He though to himself.

[Coffeehouse]

- "Little trade do we have with the Dwarves of the Iron Hills. They mine deep in the mountain for iron and other ore, but it is of no interest to us." revealed Mälenion, one of the elder Elves, before he turned and asked for a barrel of wine to be brought to the fire.

Bringing out many chalices to drink from the Raft-Elves then went about pouring wine to the company.

Thainûr picked up on where his brother Mälenion had left off, - "..And where the Celduin meets the coloured waters of the Carnen we often come upon Men of Trade from the East, Duin-gwaith of the Rhûn, and they travel upriver to the Dwarves. They bring with them hardwood, spice and wine to the Dwarves and on occasion we carry with us messages from our Lord to King Thorin III Stonehelm when he stays in the Iron Hills."

..The fire crackled brightly and the companionship drank the scarlet wine from their deep chalices with much delight.
- "And how does the King of the Iron Hills bring messages back hither, westwards?" Quickleaf asked, drinking the fine water of the vine which he had tasted little of before. It was strangely tasting and it seemed to creep through his body in a great joy as if Galadriel, the blessed Lady of the Light stood before him herself in all her glory.
- "The Duin-gwaith travel back to the Sea of Rhûn, to Dorwinion, and when they do so they bring with them heavy burdens of iron, silver and gold and they must go slowly down the Carnen or else their boats will smother upon the rocks, for the Carnen's current is hard to steer through and many a wreckage lie splintered in its deep. The Duin-gwaith always stop at the meeting with the Celduin, where the river widens and strengthens in force. And there if there is news to hear we collect their messages from the Iron Hills and bring them back with us."

The elf held his chalice up and smiled, - "It is in that direction, to Dorwinion, where we trade for this splendid wine!"
And Quickleaf grinned broadly, his teeth having turned a darkblue colour, but he did not know it.
- "Indeed! The wine is excellent! From there does it come from?"
Having sat back down by the fire, Mälenion pointed to the starry skies, - "It hails from far away.. Where these stars are but distant specks hanging low on the horizon and other different ones shine brighter", and he drew his finger across the skies until he pointed to the Rhûn.
- "Lucky you are to have travelled all that way Mälenion, I would very much want to go there" Quickleaf remarked and drank yet more wine.
- "We have traveled far indeed, but further in the east, in the Far Rhûn we have not gone. When the river runs into the Sea of Rhûn we make landfall in the land of Dorwinion. Here meets many paths, by land and sea, and there is a great market-place where many things are traded. It is of size and richness that none here westwards can rival!", and Mälenion put his one hand on the finely decorated barrel of wine that rested on his side.

Nodding in agreement a blue-clad elf, Sirengil, smiled and declared - "But we, we come for wine! There is much to choose from and whatever taste the tongue desires can be found there my friends! But for the Elves back home only the deepest and heavy wine will do. Fine produce there is in Dorwinion, but unrest and war in this land has thwarted plentiful trade and so there are never large stocks to buy.. And so we look for wine from other places.. And we have learned that goods of trade also move beyond the Sea of Rhûn, over to the eastern side and from there they are carried by beasts, due southeast. From there truly strange goods arrive, as well as the wine you are drinking! There the trees are different and the sun shines hot",
And everyone's gaze seemed to draw towards the fire in the middle which was fed more wood as the cooling air filled the night.

A bit hypnotized, though he knew not from what, Quickleaf's eyes looked deep into the burning light and he asked again, - "And who makes this wine, from beyond Dorwinion and the Sea of Rhûn? It must be a green and fertile land that produces juices that are so watery on the tongue and taste so many different things all at once!"

- "It is a rare gift of the Far Rhûn from almighty Eru indeed!" Mälenion declared, and then Deivenèl a younger elf, who had been standing just outside the ring spoke,
"But we not know for sure who has made that wine. The Duin-gwaith say none of their people make it and neither their neigbours, and that they receive great deliveries twice a month from across a desert southeast of the Sea.. from the Far Rhûn. Traders from thither they say speak a language that is not all-together different from ours and we have asked them if they have seen any Elves since it is so, but they do not know for sure.. it is a strange tale all of it."

Quickleaf raised his chalice in agreement, - "It may be strange, but this wine is real enough for me!" his voice leaning a bit as if he was drowsy. - "The wine warms the body well.. and whoever.." the Lorien elf grinned broadly, .."made it I shall toast my health to! Is not that so Orithil?" Quickleaf exclaimed, giving him a good nudge to the shoulder. And so Quickleaf stood up, swaying slightly in the cool air and announced a toast,
- "To the Raft-Elves and good company and Wine from Dorwinion and other Strange far-away places! May the wine never stop flowing!"

[feawen]

Nami took two full bowls and handed one to Branwyn, then settled her self down by the fire somewhere between Aelfwine and Hedrim. She payed little attension to the story of wine. Instead she entertained her self by slowly eating the pleasent food and looking up at the dark clouds that seemed to weave in and out of the bright stars.
A small movement in the tree tops around them turned her attension away. Looking towards it her sharp eyes meet the small green eyes of a squirral looking down at the camp. Nami shivered, "Evil little things," she muttered as she turned her attension back to her soup.

[Earniel]

"May the wine never stops flowing," repeated Sirandion with a smile as he lifted his goblet. "But yet this peace and good trade we have now is but of recent date. But a few years ago, shipping the wine from Dorwinion to Greenwood was a veritable risky business. The people barely trusted or traded with each other, and there were often skirmishes, if not open war between the different people of this region. We never travelled on the Carnen-river back then, because it meant certain death. And even the Dwarves of the Iron Hills would not have welcomed us either.

Much has changed since then. But even today, not all the tribes and people between us and the Iron Hills can be called friends. Some still resent the outcome of the War of the Ring, having sworn allegiance to the ruler of the Black Land of Mordor. I hope you will not run into them on your journey to the Iron Hills and I imagine the Brown Wizard has gone ahead of you to sort out exactly that.

But even on the river, not all is entirely well. Sometimes raiders still waylay our transports taking both goods and lives, although they have diminished in numbers and strenght greatly over the past few years. Evenso, we still bear arms and are prepared for sour meetings."

[Coffeehouse]

To this news Quickleaf's mood dropped considerably and his eyes went very cold and then he emptied his chalice and put his hand on the hilt of his sword,
- "What wicked news that is! Thieves and followers of the Eye, I was under the impression that such dark activities had withered away.." and he left his sword be and sat down,
- "But I hear you say it and has it not always been true that Elvish opulence and the Good trade has been the envy of lesser people! If indeed we come upon a sour meeting as you say you can count on your guests!" Quickleaf declared and he found it good to make another toast,
- "To companionship in dire times!.. And excellent wine!" he added with a smile.

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine tried to keep a chuckle from escaping, but couldn't keep and amused snort from escaping. She didn't pay attention to the wine story, mostly because it was Quickleaf telling the story. She touched her bow at the mention of raiders

[Willow Oran]

Haldis had taken the oppurtunity provided by somebody else doing the cooking for once and wandered a little ways from the camp to see what she could find. Returning now, several interesting plants located, for the tools she'd need to collect them, Haldis nearly tripped over the elven couple.

"I can't have this happen now! This is the worst time!"
The woman was saying, clearly panicking, had she said something about a baby?
"Look, everyone is leaving!"

Haldis looked back at the camp. People were indeed congregating nearer to where the rafts were tethered, but from the smell of it...
"They are only going to the campfire, for supper," Haldis said in thickly accented sindarin, kneeling next to the couple.
"This is not the worst time for being ill, we are stopped. Can you calm her?" she asked, turning to the husband... Ingwionis, that was the name, "Help her up. You can walk a little distance, yes?" she asked A'mael, "I have things to help if you not feel well, will be easier if you're settled near them."

As they helped A'mael to her feet, Haldis asked her how many months she had been pregnant.

Only three. Haldis patted A'mael on the back, they would probably be returning from this quest by the time she gave birth, Haldis told her, no need to worry yet, just have to not tell Radagast. A little achy, nauseated now and then shouldn't be too much a problem.

Silly elves. Probably nothing to worry about, but Haldis had them come with her anyway, she had something for A'mael that would help prevent those sorts of pains, Haldis said; and did not add that she would be watching them more closely, just in case.

[Amael]

As Haldis had Ingwionis help A'mael up, her dress went up slightly and she could see that she had a vicious bite on her left ankle. "No, you're right. This isn't what I thought it was. False alarm, or maybe not ... I think I have another problem here."

Spider bite? Something else? Obviously it was no human illness as no such thing could really have that much of an affect on her. So it was poison.

"Ingwionis, I think I've got a nasty problem here! Somebody help!!"

Ingwionis checked out the bite. It was recent, probably just within the past hour, maybe minutes. But it was sure not a good thing.

[Willow Oran]

Haldis cursed under her breath as she bent around to look at the bite, "You woudln't see a spider bite," she said, "Unless it was from a large spider, we would have noticed one of those biting you, I think."
She grimaced, then motioned the elves to speed up their pace, asking as she did, "You pay close attention to the ground, yes? See any snakes?"

[Amael]

A'mael had seen bees floating here and there, but none of them could be 'that' poisonous ... could they? "Bees", she snapped. Maybe that was it.

"Nevermind, it's probably snakes." Ingwionis smiled at her, holding her by the waist as she was beginning to show a lot of pain. Ingwionis being with her helped to keep the pain down, and A'mael did have a high tolerance for pain.

"Accursed snakes! Curse them! If indeed it was a snake. If it was, snakes are soon to see the end of their world." A'mael pulled out her short sword, and as she got angrier the sword glowed. It was one of A'mael's 'powers' so to speak. No doubt, even touching a snake or anything else with that blade right now could do a lot of damage.

A'mael wet a finger with saliva and put the saliva on her ankle, to see if perhaps it could lessen the effects of the poison. It only just made it sting more. Everything did.

[me9996]

"If only we knew what exactly it was" muttered Ferrus rather loudly "surely between the lot of us one of us would know a specific cure..."

[Earniel]

After Haldis and the two Elves had returned to the campsite, and Haldis had explained what had happened, Sirandion sent one of the Elves back to the rafts to bring him an item out of his pack.

"Have no fear," he said, addressing A'mael, and Ingwionis who stood by looking worried. "There are no dangerous snakes in these parts, but some occasionally have a bit of a bad temper. But we have come prepared for those eventualities."

The other Elf returned and handed Sirandion a package which he unwrapped.

"These are snakestones," he said as he showed a smooth, black stone to A'mael. "They soothe the wound and draw out any remains of poison. They come from the Far East, where they are said to have saved many a Man and Elf from dire poison. They are considerably valuable there."

Sirandion placed the stone on the wound and tied it around A'mael's ankle with a piece of cloth.

"You'll have to wear it like this for a few days, as soon as the poison is drained and the wound healing, it will fall off by itself."

[me9996]

"I knew between a hobbit, a wizard, an ent, a dwarf, a hermit and 15 elves we'd find a cure" Laughed Ferrus to himself -but having been on a mountian sense who knows when, everyone heard it.

[Amael]

A'mael spoke aloud in reply to Ferrus, "isn't that certainly the case!?" A'mael did notice a strange peculiarity in the group: the majority were Elves!!! She turned to Ingwionis. "Weren't most of us supposed to be gone already?"

Ingwionis turned to A'mael and smiled, "not any time soon I'm afraid, at least for us."

"I'm starting to feel better already from the snake stone. Well they sure have all kinds of stones in Middle Earth. Ingwionis, if your kin have much more knowledge in lore and magic, stones and staffs, I can imagine we'll be seeing plenty of those, if we ever get to Valinor. I mean here they have snake stones, purity stones, water stones, stones that make armor that's lighter than grass and stronger than a Balrog's hide, stones for this, stones for that! I wonder if they have stones for teleportation? That is something that would be useful!"

A'mael could hear a few in the group laughing, and Ingwionis quickly began to laugh too as he didn't want A'mael to think her joke wasn't funny. Ingwionis seemed to have plenty on his mind. A'mael noticed that her husband kept looking to the northeast, as if he was faintly seeing something in the distance that he couldn't quite make out. A'mael tried to stare into the northeast as well. She did feel that something disturbing was in the east, beyond the river. This next step in the group's journey may not be so bad, but the one after A'mael almost certainly knew would result in either tragedy, a disaster, or some other form of huge turning point that would turn the tide, for better or for worse. The air didn't smell so friendly anymore to A'mael. She was always able to smell when something wasn't right, like a wild dog. As far as she could see in the distance, nothing in sight seemed dangerous ... but whatever threat there is, it must be hidden within the mountain ranges, the sparser forests located in the next steps of the journey, or perhaps even right under everyone's feet as they passed by.

The poison from the snake wound was already beginning to lose its hold, and A'mael felt stronger, but her mind was burdened yet again. Then she remembered Elyssa's foretelling, that some extreme event would put at least a few of the group in jeopardy, if not them all. Surely if Radagast were lost at any point, the group would no doubt have to turn back and quickly. Enemy territory was now all around the group. 4 years since Sauron was defeated: 4 years that were not enough to dispel the influence of other neighboring enemies of Gondor. Alas, Gondor was long off. Even Mirkwood, as close as it was before, was now as far away as Minas Tirith, Lothlorien, and Rohan. No safe places here, no ... none at all!!!

One thing was for certain: the marring of Middle Earth would never be undone. Morgoth was long ago vanquished, almost 2 ages before A'mael was even conceived. And eventually Sauron was destroyed, but it did not undo the evil and damage that had been done: particularly to the rising world of men. Much of Middle Earth was evidently not living under any kind of peace. A'mael thought to herself, I had thought this journey to be more or less a picnic after the troubles of the Third Age were done, but now it seems the dominion of men is not as secure as most of my people had supposed. Their weaknesses still linger, while their strengths are over-shadowed both those weaknesses. Will they not again return to their uncivilized unrest? Surely they will. The curse of the Elves to stay and fade away, or to live on and leave Middle Earth to its fate is the curse that will eventually destroy this new dominion of men, sometime in the future. The Elves and Wizards, Ents and Eagles, all were here to keep a watch on evil, but now that the powers of evil have vanished, a new power rises to take its place. Is it going to really be any different than if Sauron were to rule over it all?

Ingwionis looked at A'mael, knowing that something was troubling her. She was growing keen to the true forces at work around her. She was no longer the youngling Elf girl who aided Galadriel in her younger years. She was coming into her own, and with that, the ignorance that held her bliss was losing foot. Though she was shedding her shyness, she was also shedding her positive outlook on the new world the destruction of Sauron had created. Perhaps Aragorn, King of Gondor and Arnor, would bring these warring nations to a compromise or even to some sort of peace, but with how vast these lands were, there were bound to be stragglers and bandits, criminals and vermin amongst them with or without such a peace. It is now that A'mael knew her place would eventually be in Valinor, for what more good could the Elves do here? Staying and fading did not sound like a good end for her, and she knew that if she made it through this journey alive that her and Ingwionis would be going to a land that he had once seen but one that she has not: across the western seas to white shores and green lands, away from turmoil, despair, and frustration.

But this one last task had to be completed. If the Ents were truly to remain through the ages, dormant or not so dormant, they would need the Entwives. If we came this far only to fail in our task, then we would be no different than Isildur, or Feanor, or countless others who learned their lessons the hard way. And time was not something this fellowship had the luxury of wasting. The ships had to be readied, and the call has been heard. Many hard steps and countless miles now stood between the fellowship ... along with whatever unknown threat they would be dealing with ... perhaps the Balchoth, the Variags may even occupy some lands in alliance with Rhun, who knows? I have courage, but my strength will wane should the journey become far too long. 9 months ... 9 months was all that was now lying before her until the moment when she would not be allowed to persevere any longer. And where we were really going is anyone's guess, besides for those like Ingwionis and likely Radagast who have been here before ... hard to believe anyone had actually been here before. What a place to be! The foundations of stone from which Elves, Dwarves, and Men were spawned, a foundation that lies in some unknown and far area of the east, perhaps beyond the distant red hills near the Lands of Dawn, near the eastern seas, and perhaps they would go further north, not far from where Helcar the Great fell. For someone as young as me, a trip such as this is very rare. But for the Dwarves and Men, it is unfathomable. But I have faith in them. They have shown courage, and the other side of men I rarely hear about: devotion to such a cause at the risk of anything. All other concerns are being placed as secondary to that of finding the Entwives. I certainly hope that if we do find them, they will appreciate what we have done ... but somehow I do not expect any kind welcome. If they are lost in this vast eastern wilderness, perhaps they want to stay lost here. Maybe the Entwives became annoyed with the Ents, and decided to fake their own demise?

A'mael then uttered the same humorous but possible thought to Ingwionis. "Do you think that it is possible the Entwives got annoyed enough with the Ents that they faked their own demise and sought to be lost as they are?"

Ingwionis gave her a strange look. "What are you implying, A'mael?", he asked A'mael. A'mael just laughed.

[Earniel]

The rest of the meal and night was pleasant and peaceful, perhaps mostly due to the Raft-Elves personal supply of wine which they shared generously. The following day at least was dry but cloudy.

After a quick breakfast the rafts were once again loaded and the horses led on board. The river bore them along swiftly until noon, then the river widened and the currents were less strong. The scenery around them started changing, trees became very sparse and shrub land and bushes spread out as far as the eye could see.

In the afternoon a cry went out from the Raft-Elves on the last boats of the little fleet: they had spotted more boats behind them. Sirandion calmly started issuing orders. The rafts were brought closer to one another and the rafts with the horses was moved in front so the other rafts would be between the horse-rafts and the newcomers. Thick rolls of reed mats which were often used to sit on, were now unrolled at each side of the rafts and raised to two feet to offer a make-shift protection against arrows. The Elves themselves unwrapped some of their small but powerful bows out of water-tight cloth and started readying them.

Sirandion then addressed his guests. "There are boats behind us, twenty canoes by the look of it, so they will catch up quickly with our larger and heavier rafts. I do not wish to alarm you but such meetings on the river are seldom friendly."

"It may be our great number will deter them, but river-raiders often are very reckless in their choice of victim. May I ask the non-combatants among you to take place at the center of the raft and stay low for protection. I'm afraid I must ask the rest of you to prepare yourself. None of you are familiar with battle on water, so I must stress that you are to follow instructions of myself and my companions and not strike out on your own."

[Mari]

Ellysa moved to the center of the raft she was on to make room for people better equipped for fighting. She could push small canoes away with her bo maybe, but in order for her to wield it properly she needed more space and she couldn't risk it.
"But maybe it won't get to that..." Ellysa hoped.