Mining and meeting Dunlendings

It was just before the Dawn and Fiontann woke up from the comfort of his bed, he wore his clothes and lit the fireplace to keep Nellye warm until she'd wake up. He sat near her and caressed her head gently and leaned over her whispering "I am leaving, I'm going to Eregion to find some ores, I will be back soon." and kissed her forehead. Nellye opened her eyes and a faint smile was seen, she nodded in her sleep and got back to it. Fiontann took his weapons and the supplies he gathered and rode Bertnar through the gates of the homesteads, galloping towards Eregion.

After a long travel he reached Gwingris, where he renewed his supplies and strapped a cart on Bertnar's back, ready set out towards the land in search of ores. He moved East and South, slowly gathering whatever ores he could find, it was calming his mind, being in the open, having to do nothing but gather pieces of rocks in his own pace. His pickaxe's echo could sometimes be heard through the mountains as it hit the veins of the mines. Most of the time he was alone, but, sometimes he would find some travelers long the road, with whom he would exchange some words or learn the tidings of the South.

One night, as he was resting by the fire he heard footsteps approaching, he got up quickly trying to reach his sword, some steps beside him, but he saw a bow aiming at him, held by a dark-skinned man and slowly others joined him, surrounding Fiontann. By the looks he guessed they were Dunlendings, which made him curious because as far as he knew there weren't any of them in that part of Eregion. Calmly he stood by, showing that he had no intention of attacking them and waited for their reaction, measuring his chances of surviving in case of fighting if they attacked. But he saw none...

The strange men surrounded him and and started looking at his supplies and cart curiously, as if seeing those ores for a first time. he made no attempt to try and talk, or explain himself, all he did was observe them. After a while they turned to him and asked in the common speech what was he doing there. He answered that he was simply traveling through those parts, heading North, they looked at him in disbelief and ordered him to follow, he was to be their "guest" for some time, to see if he was lying.

He spent two weeks with them, getting to know their ways and manners as they did with him, slowly they realized he wasn't a spy of some sort, since he didn't ask for his weapon or try to run away. Fiontann noticed they had strange marks on their skin, as if someone painted or wrote on them, he attempted to touch one to see if it was a drawing or a scar and saw that it was a drawing. He asked about it and they told him that they were writing in the persons skins, that writing could be anything. Words of power or protection, a drawing of a loved person or animal, anything. Fiontann asked if he could have that drawing too, and that question made them look at him curious and they response was "If you can handle pain.".

The following days Fiontann endured the pain of those markings, he had the word "LOYALTY" written on his left arm with runes and the sigil of the Blood Dawn an inch below his left shoulder. The Dunlendings were impressed by his endurance, they thought that men who lived in great towns were cowards who could not endure any hardships. Fiontann forged some swords for them to thank them for their hospitality and before leaving he had three more marks. All of which were not easy to be seen on him.

He left their camp and started traveling North, heading back to Bree, he was longing to see Nellye and the rest of the company and he wanted to know what he had missed all that time.