Suntide's Glory

"I used to brush my sister's hair when she was still a little child." Daerundros said soothingly as she tugged gently against the mess that was Ariagne's hair. It was a fair-clad gloomy night, a lantern seated beside Daerundros to give her illumination as she battled with the tangled bush of Ariagne's untidy and unkempt hair.
"I though' Elves were immor'al?" Ariagne's voice piped up in the dark. Daerundros smiled to herself as she took a small section of Ariagne's hair and began weaving it into a delicate braid.
"We are, but as children we are much like men." Daerundros stated, flipping one strand of hair over the other expertly, "Slow to grow in body, yet fast in mind and soul."
The Depression of having lost Faeranir had been pushed back at bay now that her camp became somewhat of a makeshift refuge for travellers gone astray. A few days before she had met Guvadan, whom she often referred to as "Huntsman". The Hunter had been thrown off his horse as it appeared to catch the scent of a terrifying creature. Daerundros did shoot an arrow at him out of self-defense, but she could not land a hit, for a mere moment later, the Man had been knocked senseless and came rolling down the stream. She had been tending to Guvadan and been in his company ever since.
Ariagne and Carlotta stumbled upon the camp in one of their wanderings throughout Bree-land. Carlotta she knew from her days in Imladris and acknowledged fondly, but Ariagne was met with suspicion and distrust, where the memory of an erratic, self-obsessed and vain girl was still all too sharp for Daerundros, who had a special grudge against such Narcisstic people. It was not until she looked at Ariagne's eyes and saw the emptiness in them that she realized the girl was no longer who she was, and was instead an empty, guilt-ridden shell who doubted herself.
The splash of Guvadan returning did not make her turn away from her current task, but Daerundros was surprised to hear a second female voice accompanying Guvadan's own low baritone. She did not turn away from her task, continuing to braid as she silently listened to splashing in the stream.
"Do you grow old?" Ariagne asked, seemingly somewhat curious. Daerundros chuckled.
"Not quite, we can retain this appearance for thousands of years." She said, smiling lightly. Ariagne sighed.
"Mus' be nice ter keep the same pre'y face fer years an' years." She said, twitching a bit as Daerundros gently laid the neatly-formed side-braid a few inches over Ariagne's hairline, before fixing the position with a few hairpins.
"Not quite. It gets tiring to see the same face everyday." Daerundros chuckled to herself before sparing a glance at the river. Her reflection gazed back at her, but she was hooded and could only see the sparkle of two crystal sea-blue eyes staring back at her.
"I don' think I'll ever ge' tired o' seein' faces like yers." Ariagne admitted, her voice sounding a little unsure of herself.
"A face like this will become rarer and rarer until it is finally gone." Daerundros said as she began brushing down at the free parts of Ariagne's hair with her silver comb.
"Why?" This prompted a slight reaction from the young girl. She tensed slightly as she straightened up, and Daerundros sighed.
"Because we will soon be gone from this land, young one." Daerundros calmly stated, "We will sail west, were we belong. Middle-Earth was never our land."
"Bu'... yer older than me, so this land is much yours than mine." Ariagne replied, looking rather abashed as she turned to face Daerundros for a moment.
"No. This was never our land. It is only a matter of time before the Dominion of Men reigns here, and soon all Elves shall be gone from this land."
"So, this sailin' place yer talkin' abou'... wha's i' like?" Ariagne asked.
"I do not know. I have never been there myself, but my Mother told me it was like paradise."
"Mus' be nice." Ariagne sounded rather bitter, "Do men ever go there?"
"Men are forbidden from the Blessed Realm." Daerundros spoke a slight bit sterner this time; Ariagne flinched. Perhaps Daerundros had sensed a hidden desire within Ariagne to set sail for Valinor, "They have tried once. The Great One sank their Island and their civilization was destroyed."
Ariagne seemed to sigh. However, she could feel Daerundros' gentle hands leaving her head. Daerundros had stood up and was now facing the Huntsman, and a new companion. A girl whose face was covered by the hood, though Daerundros could catch a gleam of sallow, rather black-tinted irises staring at Daerundros herself. She looked rather small for her kind, reaching up only to Daerundros' chest, and appeared too small to wield the sword sheathed at her side. There was nothing appealing about this waif of a girl, but Daerundros smiled.
"I am back." Guvadan stated, "And this is my companion, Rinni." He gestured at the Woman called Rinni. Daerundros promptly extended her hand.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance." She stated pleasantly. Rinni herself appeared rather doubtful as she slowly reached forward to shake Daerundros' hand, and slowly drew back after a few moments, staring at her own hand as though something had changed.
"I didn't catch your name...?" Rinni asked rather insecurely. Perhaps Guvadan had told her that he was in the company of an Elf, but the girl herself appeared rather unsure and disbelieving over Guvadan's tale.
"My name is Daerundros." The Elf said. After a few moments however, there was questioning for Ariagne, who had crept behind Daerundros and was watching Rinni wearily. Daerundros, herself rather disinterested as she made no attempt to listen to Rinni's interrogation, seated herself upon a rock and began whittling her fine Elven sword.
"Do men ever tell the truth..." Daerundros overheard Rinni's statement and smiled to herself. Although she was aware she was somewhat at the center of Rinni's attention, she made no attempt to look up to Rinni pointing and gesturing towards her, in particularly silently communicating to Guvadan over the hidden nature of Daerundros' face, and her apparent lack of leaf-shaped ears. Daerundros bent down to reach into her pack for an apple.
"I'm not one for tall tales, Rinni." Guvadan stated. At this moment Daerundros stood up and surveyed Rinni's doubtful expression, smiling pleasantly.
"I could deny the fact that I was Elf, but alas, that would be a waste on the Huntsman's part." And with this she let the hood covering her face fall, exposing the lush, Neck-cut Dark hair, the sea-blue eyes, the leaf-shaped ears, and the fair face.
"Bloody damnation." Rinni gasped as she set her eyes on Daerundros, and promptly averted her eyes from Daerundros. Daerundros could immediately tell the girl seemed somewhat embarassed for her rather "uncivilized" ramblings earlier on, but she shrugged and turned away to whittle her blade again, taking occasional bites from her apple.
"Did I say something wrong...?" Rinni asked in a low voice. Daerundros simply chuckled as she shook her head.
"You have done nothing wrong, dear." Yet Rinni ignored her and Daerundros hardly looked up, being engrossed in her own task.
"Why...?" A bewildered Rinni asked and pointed behind Daerundros, prompting a reaction from the Elf, who looked behind her to see Ariagne wandering off into the distance. She sighed and said, "Leave her, she needs some time and rest. A lot has been going on today."
At this Rinni quieted down, reducing her communication to simple hand gestures aimed at Guvadan, who was interestedly peering at the gestures Rinni was making. Daerundros looked up briefly and smiled, understanding the sign language, before she sprang up to her full height and sheathed her blade, drawing out her bow.
"Perhaps it is time to hunt the giant?" Guvadan asked. Daerundros was dimly aware they had been consulting about a giant, but she was hardly paying attention, only listening when the words "Giant", "Tracking", and "Daerundros", came up.
"I am already two steps ahead of you, friends." Daerundros smiled pleasantly as she hopped to the top of the rock.
Rinni, in the meantime, had chosen to finally steal a glance at Daerundros, yet her gaze was turned to a stare as she affixed herself to the amazing and impressive stature of the Elf; She easily towered above the pair of friends, looking towards the Brandywood as the light bathed her in the Suntide's Glory.