Leoffrith

Before seeking the stables, I decided, after having some trouble finding the Hall of Fire without the help of Miss Adri, that I should learn my way around the Last Homely House a bit better. Simply meandering, taking in the beauty of the architecture and its many flourishes, I taught myself how to find the porch, the Hall of Fire, my rooms, the exit, and most importantly, the library. I didn't want to struggle to find it at sunset.

As Miss Adri had other things to do while in Imladris, once she'd helped me find breakfast (a sort of porridge full of fruit, though I couldn't tell what kind of grain it was made from, or even what all the fruits were), she led me to the library, and introduced me to Mirwen, then took her leave, reassuring me that the Elves could help me find whatever I needed.

The unseasonable warmth passed in the night, as the winds carried into the mountains and away, and by the time we rose and broke camp, the seasonal chill had settled in. We crossed the fords and began to climb, leaving all but the faintest traces of a path behind. When I had crossed these lands three years ago, I was navigating solely by direction, heading west, with no need for a marked path, but this time we had a destination in mind, and a hidden one.

Miss Adriellyn told me that the woods we would be crossing next were called the Trollshaws, because up in the mountains to the north, the Ettenmoors, there were trolls, and sometimes they come down into the woods. "They didn' use t', though the Elfs says they did long 'go, and they been startin' again," Miss Adri told me, "so we got to keep an eye out."

They call these the Lone Lands, and the name seems apt because there's almost no one and nothing here. I can see from the shapes and contours that there was once water aplenty, long ago. Streams, or perhaps rivers, maybe even lakes. But the land dried up, and rough-edged gorse displaced whatever vibrant green things once grew.

No further delays; when the sun rose, Miss Adriellyn and I were already making our way from Hookworth's gate along the road east. The weather was cold, though not as cold as it had been a few days earlier, and bright and sunny; more similar to my travels bringing a horse from Hengstacer Farms to the Forsaken Inn. Which in itself was worrying.

I was so nervous, waiting outside the gates of Hookworth watching for the sun to rise, everything packed for the journey to Imladris, worrying that something would go wrong. That I'd have forgotten something, that the weather would be too terrible, that despite all my reassuring reasons it would turn out to be dangerous, and most of all, that the Elves wouldn't be as welcoming as I'd hope.