My dearest journal,
I finally know what it is I have been searching for all these years! All those patrols on the moors, scouting for enemies and beasts, yes...but also more. Something tugging at my mind.
Up in the misty Mountains with my captain and fellow Arrows...I tasted it on the crisp air, heard it with the wargs' howls and felt it as the snow and wind nipped at my face. The thrill, the adventure of being somewhere I had never been. Danger waiting on the next hill. Every movement and sound, a sign that meant life or death.
And finding that fair-faced lady, her hair a crown of fire around her head, lying covered under the snow...and carrying the ancient Noldor warrior on a shield through the mountain passes. It was all worth it. I would face Naneth's wrath a hundred years to do it again. To scout with meaning and importance. Returning down that last slope to the valley and seeing the troubled but relieved faces of the lords and healers...I knew the Arrow had done well.
Well enough, that my our captain has been promoted to a lord! And the Arrows to a full Order of Bar-en-Vanimar! Captain Dolthafaer... Lord Dolthafaer...I do not think he ever looked so stately, noble, and brave all at once as when he was striding through the passes, the snow all around him, dusting his hair and shoulders, whipping past his cloak...
Even that icicle of an elf Limiriel did not seem half so bad in the snowy passes. When I first met her in the Hall of Fire, she looked at me all haughty-like as if I were some vermin beneath her...and I did do not like her. But she has proved to be a most dutiful soldier and stalwart warrior, I will admit. She carried the Lord Estarfin upon her shield all through the mountainside without complaint, and I could see she cared for his well-being in her own way. Her personal opinions cast aside - "You, with the big mouth, help me carry the shield up" she had said to me - she did what was necessary to bear the mighty lord to safety. She must have some heart after all and maybe less disdain for others of the house. But I will be the last to ever say so to her face! Luckily, I hear she is not of the Arrow and we will cross paths less often.
