I stand on the edge of the circle of firelight, looking out into the night. The hunter has already left, vanishing into the gloom, and as Lady Athlidhrael turns back to the gathering behind us there is a moment when the whole night seems to stretch emptily before me. The slight breeze lifts my hair, sending strands of it dancing across my face. Without the encircling mountains of Rivendell, the carpet of stars above seems almost endless. I remember previous journeys here: riding at night, moving like a shadow among these mournful lands.
Athlidhrael pauses for a moment and I turn to follow her back to the group clustered around the fire, my eyes automatically finding the well-known figure crouched across it from me. The leaping flames chase shadows across his face, blue eyes lit in an expression of fierce concentration. The fire gives his normally golden hair an almost ruddy glow, so that for a moment as I watch him bend over his task he seems almost strange to me, out here in the world beyond the valley. For so long we travelled separately, and then we did not travel at all. Now that we are here, everything is more unfamiliar than I expected.
In some ways Mistalion's watchful posture on this side of the fire is comfortingly familiar – almost a touchstone, reminding me of chance meetings at similar camp sites. We have never really travelled together, but from time to time we'd run across one another, sharing tales and plans before we went our separate ways. In others, it reminds me how different everything is now. Now I travel at the command of Lord Tyelepoma. We move slowly, always alert for threats. There is little freedom in such a journey.
As I move around the fire, sitting next to Galdorion, watching him cook, I cannot help but wonder whether it was worth it. I know that he did not wish to leave – however much I pretend not to have noticed, I cannot forget the dismayed look on his face as we prepared to ride out. I know that I cannot keep asking him to change so much for me. He has risked the anger of his house, their scorn, even his own wishes for my sake. There must come a time when this must end, surely. Yet for the moment, looking up at the stars, hearing his voice beside me as he talks to the others, I find it easier to put such worries aside. It is a moment of peace that even my fears cannot interrupt.
