Late Night Conversation

Shepherding Village

This is the home of a small, proud, and independent people who live primarily by herding sheep in the open lands south of the Great East Road. Once driven from this region by troll depredations, they have returned and appear to be prospering, perhaps because they can also profit by trade on the Great East Road.

Or rather.... we should say it /was/ the home of these people. The many sturdy houses and smaller huts clustered on a hill here have mostly been burned. Some are yet standing, more are nothing more than charred timbers. Once, they were safely ensconced behind a deep ditch and wall. The ditch is filled with the ashy ghosts of thorn bushes ... and the gate hangs crookedly, black as charcoal.

But a stone wall is being built by a group of industrious dwarves, and many of the buildings that were still standing have been repaired. The village is now a mixture of the charred, skeletons of houses, and shiny new ones.

A long, low, smoke-stained building, sprawling along the hillside below the caravanserai, appears to the south. Its thatched roof has miraculously escaped burning - though there are black patches across it. Thick lead-paned windows are dark. A group of industrious men and dwarves and a few elves are camped in the open area.

Contents:

Nurenhir

Hraefengar

Ered-Luin Encampment

Talbinor

Ollie

Large Ballista

Finest Herd

Obvious exits:

Gathering House, Caravanserai, and Great East Road

[+TIME] Middle-earth time is:

Late Night on Hevensday, Day 14 of September.

Execute the +TIMEFRAME command for year information.

Real time is: 17:03:09 MDT on Sat Apr 17 2010.

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

The fires burn low, still bearing the fragrant scents of spiced stew and -- what\'s that? bacon? There is the soft sound of night birds and snoring Men and Dwarves fortunately, no clash of enemy weapons might be heard this night. For now.

Nurenhir sits by a smaller fire partially ringed by grey tents. His cloak wrapped tightly about his form, the Elf remains fitfully awake.

[Ollie(#15066)] Gidon had fallen asleep as soon as he crawled under his blanket but now, for some reason, he has woken up.

Twisting and turning uncomfortably, he finally gets up, pulling the blanket around his shoulders. Quietly, he makes his way through the huddled tents towards the half-built wall.

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

From the corner of one eye, Nurenhir spots something moving. \"Who\'s there?\" he calls quietly to the blanket-wrapped figure near the wall. He is tense, and a cloth-wrapped scabbard is laid close to him upon the ground.

[Ollie(#15066)] Gidon turns, startled his eyes wide in the darkness. He hadn\'t noticed anyone else up. He takes a few steps back towards the camp, saying, \"Me.. uh, Gidon. Who\'s that?\"

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"Nurenhir.\" The Elf relaxes visibly, although he wobbles a little as he rises to stand, stepping towards Gidon. \"Are you well? It is very late, and we will be working on another house tomorrow.\"

[Ollie(#15066)] \"Couldn\'t sleep,\" Gidon says his voice is calmer too, now that the voice out of the night has identified itself. Although it had clearly been an elf - still... He watches Nurenhir\'s unsteadiness and says, \"You alright?\"

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"Yes,\" says Nurenhir briefly, although he finds a stack of lumber and sits upon it once more. \"I encountered multiple creatures outside our wall, Gidon. I would not recommend that we leave it.\"

[Ollie(#15066)] The boy looks at him doubtfully, but says nothing more about it. \"Orcs?\" he asks, glancing uneasily over the wall. It is none too high...

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"Orcs and others,\" the other replies, dark eyes glittering as he turns to the fire. \"I do not think they will cross the wall, though. The guards are sufficient warning, and the defenses are already strong...\"

[Ollie(#15066)] \"...Others?\" Gidon\'s voice cracks in the middle of the word, and he flushes. He looks a little reassured by Nurenhir\'s reminder that they have guards, and other defenses than just a half-built wall.

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"Yes,\" says Nurenhir distantly, and fails to elaborate. He looks over the crackling flames a moment, then continues: \"Still, winter is coming. I hope we finish soon, else the Dwarves will find travel difficult and become upset.\" His voice is faintly amused. \"Where will you go, Gidon?\"

[Ollie(#15066)] \"Home,\" the boy says simply. Somehow it is easy to talk here in the darkness to this unhuman being. \"Da, he won\' be there no more, but I reckon I can make out all right.\" He has grown in the last year and a half, to be able to say this with no distress, only a calm conviction. He tries to see the elf\'s face better, but the shadows are thick, and the fire doesn\'t do much beyond brightening its own vicinity. \"Where d\'you live?\"

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"Bree?\" At least a smile is visible, sketched in thin lines by the firelight. \"I call Imladris my home. The riven dell, not far from this place. At times we go to the lands in the west, but this forest is often too dangerous a barrier.\"

[Ollie(#15066)] Gidon looks over the wall again, as if he might spy an elven home right to hand! \"Im-la-dris?\" he repeats carefully. There is nothing out there save the dark twisted trees looming against the sky. \"Not - not /here/?\" he says, half in protest, half in question. He can\'t put into words his conviction that there is nothing elven-like in this place.

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"Not in the Trollshaws,\" laughs the Elf, rubbing a shoulder ruefully. \"But close! Should you find it, you would be keen of eye, indeed. It has stood long without being beleaguered, or even found.\" Nurenhir\'s voice saddens a little, but he says nothing else.

[Ollie(#15066)] The boy nods, though it isn\'t clear if he has understood entirely. But he hears the sadness without comprehending it, and says stumblingly, \"You - you stay hidden? Why?\"

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"It is better that it remain unknown in this age,\" Nurenhir replies, wrapping his cloak tighter about thin shoulders. \"For this is not the age of Elves, but Men -- and Men already have troubles enough without an enchanted valley in their midst.\"

[Ollie(#15066)] A frown wrinkles Gidon\'s forehead as he struggles to make sense of this. Finally, he says, confused, \"This age? What d\'you mean by that? Age of Men? But... there are elves and dwarves and... everyone.\"

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

Nurenhir smiles apologetically. \"And orcs and trolls. Yes. But it is the Men who will prevail and grow strong, and the rest of us will become quaint and characters of legend. Already we are strange.\" He speaks without accusation or sadness, as if this statement is merely an observation.

[Ollie(#15066)] A vision opens up before Gidon a world with no orcs, no trolls... he smiles a little at the thought, but then - no elves? And unbidden, his right hand lifts to rub the left. It was a man who crippled him not an orc. \"I can\'t - \" he starts, then shakes his head. \"Sounds awful strange,\" he admits. \"What will you do? I mean, you won\'t all die or anything, will you?\" Worriedly, he looks more closely at Nurenhir - will the elf just fade away to nothing right there in front of him?

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

\"No,\" the Elf says quickly, reassuringly reaching out a hand. \"Not if we can help it. But long before your kin awoke, mine received a summons to lands beyond this land. It is there, eventually, that we all are drawn. Or we must fade to nothing. But the gift of death is not ours to take.\"

Nurenhir blinks a little, peering at the boy to see if he has confused him. He smiles again. \"In the meantime ... I am going to prepare breakfast. Would you like to come?\"

[Ollie(#15066)] Gift of death.. lands beyond this land... Before he awoke? Gidon\'s frown grows more and more perplexed. But what to ask first? And how to understand the answer?? Nurenhir (thankfully!) speaks of breakfast, and the boy\'s stomach wakes up and grumbles. And leaving the deeper matters of life behind, he returns gladly to tangible ones. \"Aye, I\'ll come. M\'hungry.\"

[Nurenhir(#14756)]

The elven steward laughs, merrily, then slips off the wooden seat, picking a path cautiously between sleeping Men and Dwarves. And soon, the sizzling smell of bacon and toasted bread is upon the air...

[Narshaak(#16331)]

And while breakfast cooks, the black line of the distant Shaws shelters things unseen, things that watch from afar the fires in the camps, and the figures within. An assortment of fell pinpoints of light gaze from the trees -- some glow yellow, and others red. A breeze blows, shifting the undergrowth and the eyes are gone.