Lusseriel was sitting on the edge of the talan, enjoying the feel of being in an elven city. Caras Galadhon was perhaps not her favorite place to be, but its security was good and anything beat sleeping near or in a marsh, more so when a nazgul was around.
A light of mischief was in her eyes and she pulled her notebook out of her pack:
“Some of us took to rest in Caras Galadhon better than others. Salhael and Rhudorn didn’t seem to quite enjoy being here.
This morning, Ilthirian told me that Galadriel wished to see her privately. The poor dear… She offered to come discuss Galadriel’s revelations with me if I wanted to.
The less I hear of Galadriel’s little revelations, the better I feel, so as I told her, she could come discuss it only if it concerned the group or she wanted to, but otherwise…
Ilthirian came back to us looking less than pleased in a beautifully unpractical dress the like that would see you killed in short order in case of emergency.
I suggested that she burn the thing but it didn’t seem like an option she appreciated. It would be a clear message though, if she changed her mind one day.
Salhael and Rhudorn were really frustrated by the pace of our conversation and our lack of discussion regarding our soon to be departure from Caras Galadhon.
They were so anxious to go back to Stangard for its safety… Really, they should learn that no city is ever eternal and there’ll always be something to destroy it one day. I mean, with Saruman on one side and Mordor on the other side… It’s not like Stangard’s people are innocent civilians, they’re all soldiers. Drafted, perhaps, but they are soldiers, so they know what to do in case of attack, which is already far more than most cities can say.
There are no innocent children or defenseless people in there, so, considering it’s a reserve of soldiers, it’ll attract the enemy’s attention sooner or later anyway, they’d better get used to the idea, stronger cities have fallen over the years.
Galadriel summoned our group again, to show us something from her mirror. The experience was quite the let down and very high on my “never again” list, and when we know what is actually on that list...
Her mirror gave me the headache of this yen, and to top that off I don’t even trust that what I saw in her mirror was the actual truth. Result of the matter: I got a headache for… Nothing. Next time I’ll let Andrahir and Ilthirian bother with it. They have just the patience and cruel lack of survival instinct to actually enjoy bothering with it.
We left Galadriel’s garden (and I love that garden, that at least it has been well made) and Salhael was expressing her desire to go back to Stangard.
It appeared that Ilthirian and Andrahir put full trust in what the mirror showed and wanted to go on the trail of the vision, to the Argonath, which had Rolegard asking what are the Argonath.
I think my answer to that was less helpful than I thought, oh well...
I don’t mind going there and I had great hope that Salhael, Brunnadan and Rhudorn would elect to go back to Stangard or to wherever they came from.
Alas, it’s not to be, they all elected to stay with us, which of course Andrahir welcomed with the words: “I believe I speak on behalf of everyone when I say your help is more than welcome.”
… Has he met me? I don’t welcome their help, thank you very much, and if one of them appears to be a spy of the enemy I’ll take the right to tell Andrahir that I told him so! That is, of course, if we're not killed before I can.
Speaking of, Brunnadan has either no idea of the evil of Galadriel’s little prophecies, or is far nosier than he should for anyone’s good.
One does NOT ask another what Galadriel told them. That’s only a source of headache and frustration!
I think the only good thing that comes of meeting Galadriel is that we’ll get a guide to get to the Argonath. And so we decided to go meet him, his name is Corudan and he’s apparently Sigileth’s brother…. Which I find a bit awkward, to be honest.
He sent us check with two other elves for supplies. Quite frankly as night was falling, we shelved doing that for tomorrow morning. We sat somewhere under the mellyrn. And that’s when Ilthirian told us that she had news about Ardirien.
I was hoping it was clear news, but it was news from Galadriel so…
Apparently if Ilthirian understood well the message (it’s from Galadriel, I give it a hopeful 50% chance of it being properly interpreted) Ardirien went to look for Arcangar’s kin.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t somehow mean she’s dead now.
Ilthirian seemed to take offense to the fact I said that Galadriel has been speaking in riddle for thousands of years, and that if she was still doing it by now when it’s more than clear that people never understand it properly, it’s that she’s doing it on purpose to mess with us.
Ilthirian seems to think that the trees have ears.
More to the point, the elves close to those trees have ears longer than should be tolerated, and really should learn to respect people’s privacy if they don’t want to overhear things they don’t like.
I do wonder if I could get banished from Caras Galadhon again though. Last time was fun.
Also apparently Brunnadan’s been having dreams regarding Arcangar and Ardirien. That is, if he’s truthful and not just fishing for information about our missing friend.”
Lusseriel swore in a low voice when she spilt a bit of ink on the side of the page, and used her tissue to try and blot up the ink, ending up with spots of black on her fingers.
Annoyed, she closed her notebook and put it back where it belonged and decided to go for a walk instead, imagining various ways she could end up banned from Caras Galadhon.
