The dry, pungent smell of herbs wafted out of the open door. Uilossiel stepped inside, the flagstones cool and smooth against her slippered feet. Under one arm she carried a large tome, and in the other hand a small journal.
"Tinwen? Are you there?" She peered around the corner and saw her younger sister Tinwen seated at a table, crushing herbs with a mortar and pestle. Her silvery-fair hair, so like their mother's, was pulled into a coif atop her head. Although it was late in the afternoon, not a single fold of Tinwen's pale blue dress was out of place.
"What brings you here, Uilossiel?" Tinwen looked up from her work, surprise etched across her usually tranquil face. Her eyes flickered from the volume in Uilossiel's hands to the small journal, then back to her face. "Are you in need of any salves or medicines?"
"No, Tinwen, I was merely ... I need your advice on something." Slowly and a bit unwillingly, Uilossiel set the heavy volume on the table.
Tinwen put aside the mortar and pestle and stood up to peer at the book.
"Of Poisons and their Treatment, Volume V: Afflictions and Venoms of the Greenwood. Why, Uilossiel, what ever possessed you to read such a thing?" She raised a perfectly-arched brow at her sister. "Have you finally had enough of scholarship, and desire now to be a healer?"
"That is none of your concern, Tinwen. I am free to do as I like with my time, am I not?" Uilossiel frowned, her sister's lilting voice grating on her nerves. "I wish to know of what poisons may be found in the Greenwood, now that it lies under Shadow, and what cures there may be to treat them."
Tinwen's eyebrows rose even higher, if that were possible, and she sighed. "I do hope this is not one of your silly whims, sister. The poisons of the Greenwood make for depressing reading and even more dismal study. At any rate, I would not expect a scholar such as you to understand the book fully. It is written with a more ... practiced audience in mind, such as ply their work daily in the halls of healing."
Uilossiel drew a hand over her brow in frustration. "Yes, I understand, Tinwen. But if you really must know why I am reading this, know then that I do this out of love for my House, and concern for its future, not for any academic reasons." She fell silent for a moment, looking east through the window, towards the gloaming darkness over the Greenwood.
"Even now, Bar-en-Vanimar readies for war in the East. Come spring, our warriors will ride to the aid of our kin in the Golden Wood in their campaign against Dol Guldur." She folded her hands, knuckles whitening as she pressed them together. "And I must do what I can to aid those with whom I have sworn to stand against the Shadow ."
There was a clink of stone against stone as Tinwen dropped the pestle into the bowl of herbs she was grinding, and then a long silence. A multitude of emotions flitted across Tinwen's comely face, which finally settled into a disinterested moue.
"Surely you do not mean to go with them?" she replied. There was an edge in her voice which betrayed her otherwise composed appearance. "The road is dangerous and you would be of no use to a band of warriors, save as a hindrance and a burden."
Uilossiel pressed her lips together and fixed her younger sister with a firm gaze. "Again, that is no concern of yours. I never even suggested that I was intending to travel east with them, but now that you mention it, I think I shall give the matter some thought."
"Why come to me with your questions, then? If you do indeed prize the favour of your House over that of your family, why not ask someone within Vanimar?" Tinwen replied frigidly. "Is this some jest, sister, that you speak of leaving Imladris for certain death, without regard for those you leave behind?"
Uilossiel huffed. It had been a long and wearying day of manuscript-copying, and she was in no mood to prolong their argument. Though she and Tinwen had become closer as children when their brother had departed, there had never been an easy companionship between them, such as had existed between Uilossiel and her older brother.
"No, Tinwen, you do not understand." Uilossiel hoped her voice sounded as placating as she intended. "My duty towards Vanimar does not cause me to regard you, or our parents, any less. I would not leave you willingly, but only if need demands it. And even if I were to depart eastward, I would go only to the Golden Wood, and there abide for a time to aid my kinsfolk in their campaign against Dol Guldur. You remember the road to Lórien, do you not, sister? We have both taken it and encountered no great danger on the way."
"Do not be deluded, sister. Much has changed since we journeyed to the Golden Wood. Do not think that the road is still without peril if the shadow upon the Greenwood troubles even the folk of Imladris." Tinwen shook her head, and absently turned over the silver ring upon her hand. "Perhaps it is well that you have not wed, all these years." Her voice held a thinly veiled sarcasm. "You are free to pursue your studies and whatever absurd ideas you have, without the hindrance of tending a hearth, or raising a family."
Her sister's comment stung deeply, but Uilossiel drew a deep breath and attempted a smile. "There are several choice things I could say in reply to your accusation, but I do think we ought to make better use of our time." She opened the book to the first page, and readied her journal for note-taking. "You misheard me; I was not planning to leave straightaway with the warriors of Vanimar, but only thinking of helping to prepare some draughts and salves against the possibility of the poisons they will encounter in the Greenwood."
" Ah, that sounds much more like the rational older sister I know. " A hint of curiosity crept into Tinwen's voice, which warmed slightly. "But you never answered my question. Why come to me for advice?"
"Well, you know that the Galadhrim of Lórien are well-versed in treating such ills, as many of their folk have done battle against the Shadow in the Greenwood. And I thought ... " She smiled at her sister, attempting to recall happier times in Lórien when it had just been the two of them, together. "You spent much time learning from the healers in the Golden Wood, when we were there. I thought it would not hurt to ask someone with such first-hand experience."
A smile began to steal over Tinwen's face. "It is true that one of my teachers in Lórien contributed greatly to this volume. And I have prepared nearly all the draughts in this book, so I could teach you, if you wish. Yet you may find it harder than you think, for it is not as straightforward as research or study." She checked herself for a moment. "About what I said earlier ... I should not have insulted you, or your field of work. I have my family and my herbs, you your studies and books. We are different, yes, but still sisters, no?"
Uilossiel smiled gratefully, sliding the book closer to her sister. "It reminds me of all the times we would quarrel over silly things when we were girls. And then the next minute we would be friends again. It seems things have not changed much, have they, Tinwen?"
Tinwen's laughter rang like silver bells in the stone-arched room. "To think that I would see my elder sister come to me for advice, when I was always the one who came to you for help with my book-work. You have always been a fine student - I must take care or you will soon surpass me in healing, even."
"Oh no, Tinwen, you should be afraid indeed. you know that I rest not until I excel at each study I undertake." Uilossiel gave her sister a playful nudge with her shoulder.
But Tinwen's face fell slightly, and she looked east over the grim peaks of the Hithaeglir. "Do promise me you will be careful, sister. A call to war is no small thing, and a safe return is not assured."
"It has not yet come to that, sister. Perhaps I shall stay in Imladris, if I am not needed elsewhere. But no more of these forebodings. Let us begin on the first chapter now. I have read it, but have little idea what these herbs look like, or how they may be prepared." She pointed to the first recipe on the page. "Show me how you prepare this draught here. It says that it is some antidote for spider venom?"
"Let me see ... " Tinwen began to take down several small bottles from a shelf above the table, arraying them in front of the text. "Sit down, muinthel. It seems that we will be here for a bit longer if you want a full explanation."
With a smile, Uilossiel pulled up a chair, listening to her sister intently. They remained there until evening came, raven-haired head and silver-fair head bent over the same book together. And in the hallway behind, all those who passed smiled to see them there.
muinthel - "dear sister" in Sindarin, used as a term of endearment
