Following on from "Where the Road Darkens (Kin RP - Entry 02)"
Setting: Post-War: Othrikar
Featuring: Naridalis, Lonoric, Alairif, Raspi, Deorla
Naridalis' Diary
Othrikar, North Downs, Late at Night
The fire crackles in the hearth, but I find little warmth in its glow. The stone halls of Othrikar are a refuge of sorts, yet no wall of rock can keep out the thoughts that trouble my heart.
I cannot sleep. Not for the snores of my companions or those of our host Dwarves, but for the weight of what has been said about the Company… about our leader… about me (by my association with them). The accusations linger in the air like mist in a tangled wood—impossible to grasp but choking all the same.
Deorla... the fury that these Rangers possess for you cuts me deeply. I have not known you or indeed many in this Company all too long, and yet, I feel kinship with you… Alas! The Rangers of Esteldín have presented us with wanted posters signed by the King himself! Who am I to argue with such things?
And yet why does it feel that the truth lies hidden, just beyond my reach.
To rest my mind, while my companions Alairif and Raspi take some well-earned rest, I turned to my satchel—seeking anything that might offer comfort or distraction. And there, creased and forgotten, I found a letter.
It had arrived in Bree days past, before we set out north. In our haste to reach the Woodworkers and secure lumbar for the Company’s new kin house, I had tucked it away for later reading.
It is from Lonoric.
Sweet, curious Lonoric—the hobbit minstrel with ink-stained fingers and a heart too large for the Shire. He writes to me from the Mathom House, where it seems he has stumbled upon a crate of records…. Papers, ledgers, scraps of old tale… all bearing the name of our Company. He writes with the thrill of discovery, noting strange inconsistencies and half-told truths in what he’s found….
The timing cannot be chance.
The wind shifts, and I feel the hand of fate in this. Perhaps even the will of the Valar. Lonoric may hold the key to understanding what happened before—to uncovering the full shape of the story we now find ourselves trapped within.
I will write to him.
He must delve deeper into those records, and send word of what he finds—quietly, and with haste. He is to look for any mention of such activities as alleged by the Rangers, or other such records.
We cannot move forward while we are blinded by half-truths. If Lonoric can piece together even part of the tale, it may guide our next steps. I trust him more than most. For what is a minstrel, if not a keeper of memory?
Let the candle burn low tonight. The shadows whisper, but perhaps—at last—light begins to stir in the dark.
—N.
Continues with “Beneath the Bark (Kin RP - Entry 04)”
