Nethrida watched the pyre a moment longer before lowering her arm from the salute and simply nodded at Lyra. "I... Am ready to speak..."

Lyra focused her attention on Neth....and pretending she wasn’t crying anymore.

Across the Ice-Bay is almost too far to imagine. All the way around the Ice-Bay is, how much, maybe five or six times as far? That's how long the expedition was to be, more than Ristiinná could dream of, or rather, such dreams were nightmares, full of fears. Wild beasts, freezing to death, starvation, yes, but more than that, failing the rest of the company.

After three weeks of travel, Fenley and I arrived safely and in one piece. I'd never been to this land, never set a foot this far outside of Bree-land, and it's everything I expected and nothing I expected at the same time. The first Enedwaith-dwellers we encountered seem to be a Hobbit-like race, just as short with the same welcoming warmth as the Hobbits of the Shire.

I had scarcely resolved to return more often to my journal when everything was overturned, and I've not come back to it in about a month now. Most of that time spent in unexpected travel. Having apparently nearly finished her mysterious business in Bree, Liffey very casually asked how I felt about a journey to Enedwaith, and scarcely a week later, we'd set out.