Nighttime Visitors

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.  There are many sturdy houses and smaller huts clustered on a hill here, safely  ensconced behind a deep ditch and wall. The ditch is filled with thorn bushes ...  and the gate to the village is by a removable walkway over that ditch. Clearly  the possibility of attack, whether from trolls or something worse, has not been  ignored.  A long, low, whitewashed building, sprawling along the hillside below the  caravanserai, appears to the south. The thatched roof spills down to the tops of  its lead-paned windows, thick glass aglow with firelight. Contents: Mobeorn (Cordelia) Ninniach Large Ballista Finest Herd Obvious exits: Gathering House, Caravanserai, and Great East Road  ================== Eldarin Calendar  =================== IC time is:    Dusk < About  7:09 PM > IC day is:     Ormenel  IC date is:    33 Firith  Moon phase:    Waning Crescent   Earendil:      Gil-Estel is not visible. IC year is:    Loa 22 o Yen 22, Nelandran o Endor  --------------------------------------------------------------------- RL time:    Wed May 06 20:23:05 2009 =====================================================================

Dusk settles like a pall over the forest, nightlike tendrils knotting overhead  like branches. There is light here, however: the windows of the village glow and  drive away, for tonight, the darkness.  Travelers are uncommon on the Great East Road these days. With increased  vigiliance of the forest-dwelling orcs, few would be able to cross the Shaws  from the west, and fewer wanting to cross from the east. But a shadow breaks now  from the forest, cloaked and hooded and slender. His eyes glitter briefly as he  turns to the gate, laying a hand upon it. Then he looks back to the night,  suggesting that he is not the only one...

[Mobeorn(#22365)]  At the edge of the village is a small house, its windows lit by a cheerfully  dancing fire inside. It is Muirgheal\'s and Seeker\'s house, though nothing marks  it as such. Its front door offers a good view of the village gate, though no  light from the window breaks the darkness of that front step. Tonight, standing  perfectly still, turned outward to the gate is a smallish figure, swathed in a  dark grey cloak, hood up, hiding its face and eyes.

[Ninniach(#20106)] Another hooded figure joins the first, peering at the little  village that sprawls beyond the gate, surrounded by the forest. This one is  clearly female, with long strands of reddish gold hair escaping her hood.  Ninniach raises a finger to point at the figure turned toward the gate, standing  still in the darkness. In her eyes is an inquisitive look.

The other\'s eyes hold a measure of caution, and he shakes his head briefly  before pushing the gate. Without words, he slips in first.

[Mobeorn(#22365)]  On the front step, the figure shifts, squinting into the night to look at the  new arrivals. The cloak is shifted, too--pushed back over the wearer\'s right  shoulder so that her arm (for with their vision, the elves surely could see this  is a woman wearing a dress) is free. Cordelia glances, worried, toward the  firelit windows, but makes no move to go into the house. Instead, she stares  into the darkness at the approaching pair. \"Who are you?\" she challenges.

[Ninniach(#20106)] Swift and seeming nothing more than a tall shadow in her grey  cloak, Ninniach follows her companion inside the gate. Her eyes are bright and  curious as she takes in the woman\'s worried expression and dark features. She  defers to her companion, however, inclining her head to him: she\'ll let him  speak first, and set the tone for this late meeting, no matter how many  questions are already on the tip of her tongue.

\"Travellers upon the road,\" Elathrad replies, bell-like and clear and without  threat. He remains hooded, however, as he continues: \"We merely seek a night\'s  rest, and news, ere we continue on our journey. Is this common?\"

[Mobeorn(#22365)]  \"It is -not- common, not at all,\" Cordelia answers. \"Travelers are scarce and  not often trusted. And I cannot see your faces and do not know your business,  other than what you claim. How do I know that you are not here to rob us? Why  should I not raise the alarm about travelers who dare the trollshaws in the  darkness, even?\"

[Ninniach(#20106)] \"You wish to see our faces? I am happy to oblige,\" says a  smooth, soft female voice. Ninniach pulls back her hood, letting it fall,  revealing a head of red-gold curls and intensely blue eyes, if Cordelia can see  this by the dull light glowing from the windows of the little house. Ninniach  smiles, and gestures with one hand toward the dwelling. \"Is this your home?\" She  adds quite diplomatically, \"You can see, I have no weapons in my hands, and no  wish in my heart to harm you.\" Ninniach splays her empty hands out in front of  Cordelia. The other questions that the woman has demanded are left to her  companion.

Lowering his head discontentedly, Elathrad removes his hood as well. Dark-haired  and pale-faced, with an expression that hints of restrained displeasure, he  replies, \"And no need to rob, or to pause here, but only to gain word and give  warning. But surely you have heard that something more dangerous lurks in the  woods of late.\"

[Mobeorn(#22365)]  A sigh of relief comes from the woman guarding the door, and her right hand-- which had wandered toward her hip and possibly a dagger worn there?--now drops  to her side. \"Elves,\" she breaths, then sighs a little. \"I cannot see in the  dark as your folk can, and strangers arriving here so late, hooded and moving in  the dark--of course one must be wary. This is not my house, but the home of my  friend\'s with whom I am visiting for a short time. But...I know they will  welcome you. Just now they are sleeping--their children have tired them out and  I came out here so as to not disturb them.\"  \"Danger? Lurking? WHat now?\" she asks, worried.

[Ninniach(#20106)] \"And you often stand in the doorway of your friend\'s house at  night, serving as guard?\" Ninniach asks, though her eyes are neither mocking nor  judging, and her voice is neutral. The elleth smiles faintly. \"Surely you must  know of the danger already, if you have been traveling so recently to come here  and visit with friends. Where have you come from?\" Ninniach wonders. She gives a  long, thoughtful glance to the house behind Cordelia, likely wondering about the  folk who sleep within.

\" They may have not perceived the darkness,\" Elathrad murmurs to his  companion quietly, lowering his eyes to the ground, ere settling into silence.

[Mobeorn(#22365)]  \"There are trolls and there are goblins and terrible things,\" Cordelia answers  the elleth, her chin lifting slightly in defiance. \"Of course I knew of these  things and was warned of them, but my friend is missing. Gone a month now  without telling me, and I braved coming out here to see if anyone has heard of  him. Perhaps -you- have heard of him?\" she presses, staring at the two elves in  turn. \"He was a friend of the elves--of the elf named Giliath and his wife, who  gave him some sort of pendant once and took him out to the elven valley or so I  think. His name is Keldean.\"  She gives a sharp look to Elathrad, frowning, but then turns back to Ninniach.  \"As to where I am from, I am from Bree, where I live with my aunt and uncle.  What darkness, I ask again? More so than before?\" Certainly Cordelia\'s hair is  far darker than any Breelander\'s, and her eyes have that subtle shape to them  but then...men...

[Ninniach(#20106)] Blue eyes rest on her companion for a few moments, and then  Ninniach nods in understanding. She looks back to Cordelia then. \"I agree, they  are quite terrible. The black face of an orc is the most horrible thing to look  upon,\" the elleth tells the woman, her countenance solemn and grave. \"Keldean..I  am sorry, but I do not know that name. Perhaps..?\" Ninniach turns her gaze to  Elathrad, questioning. \"I\'ve seen Bree a time or two. It is a fine town, all  things considered, but..\" she falls silent, not pointing out what she\'s noticed  about Cordelia\'s darker features. \"The darkness is something we are trying to  understand, too,\" Ninniach adds softly.

Elathrad stirs, a flicker of recognition starting in his dark eyes before he  speaks. \"I met him, but a long time ago. He was ill for a winter, recovered  under my care, and was escorted back to his town. Has he found trouble again?\"  \"We should speak of graver news when the day comes,\" the Elf says to Ninniach  and Cordelia. \"Is there a place where the rare traveller might stay? I do not  wish to disturb you or your friends.\"

[Mobeorn(#22365)]  \"You know Keldean?\" Cordelia asks excitedly. \"You took care of him?\" She licks  her lips and nods. \"He\'s...he\'s gone missing from Bree. And he would have told  me. That time when he left Bree to go with Giliath--he was angry then, but he  told me even then. And now we\'re friends again and I haven\'t heard a thing from  him...\" She looks very worried and glances back briefly at the house. \"There\'s a  guest house..but Muirgheal and Rhif..Seeker would surely want you to stay here.  They\'ve been in the elven valley, too. Muirgheal told me, and Rh..Seeker got  angry at her for it. But...try not to wake them up. The babies wore them out.\"  She turns to quietly push open the door.

[Ninniach(#20106)] Finally, there is recognition in Ninniach\'s eyes. Her voice  rises in pitch slightly: she\'s excited. \"I remember them the man with the  tattoos, and the surly woman...they used to come to the training field and  practice with each other. And their children were born under the care of my  friend Rochwen.\" Now, when she lifts her gaze to the little house again, it\'s  with some affection. She gives a smile to

Elathrad, too, before she makes to  silently follow Cordelia inside.    This time it is the ellon\'s turn to appear questioning these names are  unfamiliar. The sound of Elathrad following is the creak of the village gate, as  he closes it, and the quiet sound of the house door shutting, as well.