Nimuviel’s Diary: Page 16

Iavas day 41, Weather Hills No goodbyes then and no last words. We made camp in the Weather Hills nearby a crop of trees, though we dared not make a fire for fear it would alarm enemies, for there was no cover other than some small foliage to protect us from their sight. Randir told me that he must go north and east from there, and I nodded and said that I would go south and east, for we had spotted banners with the image of a white hand in that direction. He said that he would miss my company, and I that I would his, as well, and he thanked me again for the little wooden swan and said that he would carry it with him always; and it gladdened my heart that my gift is to be thus borne across the land, and that it will serve him as a small reminder of friendship found in unlikely places on a lonely road. Then I walked some way to the south and the east, only to see what road I should take after our rest, but when I returned to our camp, my companion had gone, and now I remain alone again with no comfort excepting my bow and daggers. There is a ruin to the south that my companion had told me is called Minas Eiriol and I had intended to go see it, but upon arriving at the place I found that it was overrun with goblins and wargs, and decided to turn back again, for they would with their noses be as like to notice my presence as I theirs. So then I returned to the hills and now am unsure what to do. I cannot return to Aldalin and Liwurien after so long a journey and tell them that I chanced upon goblins carrying banners with a white hand in the Weather Hills but decided to turn back at the very sight of them. I shall travel further east again. Something will happen that will tell me what to do from here.