The First Branch upon 'The Burl of Hárvang'
There once was a Woodman settlement by the name of Hárvang. It was built upon the eastern bluffs overlooking Hadhodiant, and was sister-village to Málvang. The chieftain of Hárvang, Otacher, and his wife, Agilda, had but one child between them: a son, named Adel. Adel was born in the spring. To the worry of the midwives, he cried very quietly, and wheezed softly with each breath.
The high, flowery moor upon which Hárvang was built compelled its people to believe the village was naturally fortified and unassailable. To be sure, thick wooden palisades were erected around the village, and a watchtower was built to overlook the roads below. Little did they know, an orcish incursion was already being plotted, and the surety of their safety was being undermined. A tunnel network had been dug into an undiscovered cave that ran under the village: a goblin encampment that would later be known as Fil Sulmog.
On the first new moon of summer, in the birth year of Adel, Hárvang was beset by the orcish incursion, a violent and fiery raid. Goblins and orcs burst from a sinkhole beneath the village larder, a shallow siege tunnel that they had purposefully collapsed. The defenders of Hárvang were overwhelmed within minutes, and the village's woodfolk were immediately scattered throughout the Vales of Anduin.
Like many, Adel's family fled south and resettled in Hultvís. Here, the refugees of Hárvang submitted themselves beneath the chieftain of Hultvís, the grandfather of Rikmar, and began their lives anew.
Throughout his youth, Adel suffered an affliction that impeded his ability to breathe clearly. Often, Adel became exhausted at even the mildest exertion, and he was prone to distressed bouts of coughing and gasping. One late summer morning, Adel's mother, Agilda, came across an odd sombre-lark. The somber lark had guided her—through twitterings and gestures—in the preparation of a mysterious remedy: an odorous, herbal extract to be mixed with liquor as a tincture and boiled; the resulting vapor, inhaled. Though skeptical at first, Agilda chose to trust the bird, having believed in the noble nature of non-carrion birds. Through this curious cure, Adel's condition disappeared within a year, and the wind within him gained a vigor unlike any other.
Overjoyed by his son's newfound health, Otacher declared the sombre-lark as the emblematic bird of his family and the remnants of Hárvang's woodfolk. Every day, seeds were placed upon the windowsills of their homes, and the birds of the Vale feasted well.
