Lilleduil would not have wanted to track Dolthafaer in a forest. Could her friends have found him? Most likely. But to send a bear or lynx or perhaps even an Eagle to spy upon the Lord of Arrows would be dangerous, a violation of their bond with her. Fortuitously, she actually happened upon him outside the Last Homely House. She paused for a moment before approaching.
Dolthafaer seemed a bit surprised to see her. She wondered why. But he smiled that charming smile that had half the elleths in the Valley practicing archery and dipped into a half bow. “Lillduil,“ he said cordially.
She bowed in turn. “I would like to speak to you, if I may.”
The Arrow Lord eyed Mornfaron with curiosity, but nodded once. “Certainly. How might I be of service?”
Lilleduil supposed she could beat around the bush a bit for politeness sake. This was a Caun of Vanimar after all. But she’d never considered herself very good at either politeness or subterfuge. “I would like to know your side of the business between you and Thendryt Morson, starting with the Hithaeglir. I am particularly interested in why Vanimar asked the Warband to participate with them on a mission, then set a watcher on one of their number.” Her lips skinned back from her teeth in what she knew was a very toothy smile. “That is something I am very, very interested in.”
Dolthafaer went still as if he were stalking deer in the forest as the accusation was laid upon him. He met Lilleduil's eyes and held them, though his expression was carefully blank. His voice, when he spoke was equally cautious.
"Who told you that he was watched?"
“Thendryt told me he was watched! Annunghil, Daegond and Raolor all seemed very antagonistic today. If I hadn't happened upon him, an unfortunate altercation might have developed.” She considered this for a moment, then added, “Not that I happened upon him, exactly.”
Dolthafaer seemed confused. His brow furrowed. “An altercation?” he said.
“It would appear that you need some history. Caun Danel and Hiril Manadhlaer were talking outside the HoF the other night. They said that Raolor was looking for Thendryt to bring him to justice for what he had done to Yrill.”
Dolthafaer tensed. “I see.”
“Faorie and I managed to prevail upon Raolor to not confront Thendryt unless Faorie was with him. Bound him with a promise, in fact. Since then, I've had my friends watching Thendryt. One of my cats-the regular sort, not this fellow-“ she interjected with a fond look and a scratch behind the ears for Mornfaron, “- told me Thendryt was outside the library, talking to Daegond and Annunghil. They were not under such constraints as Raolor, so I went to him.”
Dolthafaer waited patiently for the story to end, though his expression grew darker with every passing moment.
“And helped get him out of the House. Whereupon I told him it was past time for him to tell me what has been going on. Which he did.” She studied Dolthafaer for a long moment. “I am beginning to think that perhaps I should apply to Tur Anglachelm for satisfaction. The Warband is no more, but make no mistake, its members are still my sword-brothers and -sisters.”
Dolthafaer held up one hand, a hard glint in his eye.
“Let me begin by assuring you, Lilleduil, that the Lords and Ladies of Bar-en-Vanimar do not as yet condone violence against Thendryt Morson.”
Lilleduil took note of that qualifier. As yet... “Raolor seemed to think that Caun Danel had told him to bring Thendryt before them able to talk and not much else was said about his condition.”
“If any were to raise their hand - or their swords - against him, they would be questioned and likely punished severely. Warband is no more, but ties remain between our house and yours. Unprovoked aggression will not be abided.”
“That is something of a reassurance.” Dolthafaer folded his hands behind his back.
“Is that all that Thendryt told you of the Hithaeglir? That we set a watch upon him?”
Lilleduil shook her head. “Oh no. He told me about the blizzard, you shooting him, him stabbing you and punching you in the face. I always did wonder about that goblin story.” Dolthafaer smiled tightly at this. She dropped her hand to Mornfaron once more, scratching his ears. The cat could feel her unease and it was affecting him. “He told me about Delossad and the exchange with Yrill as well.”
Dolthafaer remarked, wryly, "And I am certain that he acknowledges the part he had to play in catching the attention of the Lord of the Arrow."
“As I said, I would like to know why you set a watch. So why don't you tell me why he caught your attention?”
Dolthafaer rolled one of his shoulders, the tension slowly easing from his frame. “Very well,” he said. “I was not the one who initially set watch upon Thendryt, but I was told -- afterwards -- that it was done as much for the Man's protection as for ours. His behavior was seen as rough and... one might say disrespectful. The Hammer is proud, and might not take well towards imagined slights from one of the Secondborn.”
Lilleduil lifted an eyebrow “The Warband had several Secondborn.” She shrugged, and smiled wryly. “Though admittedly, most were fairer spoken than Thendryt.”
Dolthafaer inclined his head . “That is so. Vanimar, however, has few dealings with them. Some bear grudges from Ages past.”
She couldn’t help herself. “Perhaps that should have been considered more carefully before the invitation was issued.” Dolthafaer gave Lilleduil a chiding look, but she soldiered on. “And while I am sure that this watch-you do not know who issued the first one, do you?-was simply for his protection, surely you can acknowledge that knowing one is being watched would make one suspicious and watchful. I know I would be.”
“Suspicious and watchful, certainly,” Dolthafaer had the grace to acknowledge, even as he ignored her question. “But what came to pass had little to do with suspicion and watchfulness. As I said, I was unaware of the first watch when I encountered him in the blizzard.”
Mornfaron was calming beneath her hand, so Lilleduil continued to scratch the cat's ears, intent upon Dolthafaer's tale.
“We were in contested territory, and I could not make out his face in the storm. I called out for him to identify himself -- twice -- and set off a warning shot when he made no reply,” the Arrow Lord said.
“He said he didn't know who you were, and jumped to the side to run past you.”
Dolthafaer’s eyes flashed at that.
“Did you know if your shot had gone higher you would have taken him in the throat?”
“The Man was traveling with a large company of elves. Should not he have made himself known when he heard our tongue on the wind?” He added sharply, “I do not miss.”
“But did he hear you? The wind was strong that night and the Secondborn do not have our hearing.”
“He claims otherwise, but I do not see how it could be so. He attacked after my warning shot, Lilleduil, and when he advanced upon me, that is when I shot him true.”
“Perhaps he took it for an attack,” Lilleduil mused. “I'm willing to believe that that whole business was a confused misunderstanding. He mentioned he thought you were his watcher.”
Dolthafaer chuckled darkly. “I accepted that it might have been a misunderstanding at first, Lilleduil, and that is why I did not take it immediately to the Lady Elisbeth or Lord Khalis.”
“Perhaps it would have been better if you had. Because this business seems to have festered.”
“But I still have my doubts that it was as much of a misunderstanding as he claims,” the Arrow Lord said. “In the heat of the fight, I recognized my error, and attempted to disengage. When he saw my face, he fought all the harder. He would have killed me had I let him.”
Lilleduil considered this for a long moment. Would Thendryt have done so? If he thought Dolthafaer was the one dogging his steps? And if he thought the storm would cover it? After all, it is hard to determine if a goblin sword or one of ours makes wound. Aloud, she said, “He says he stabbed you with your arrow. I assume that was the arrow you'd shot into him.” Dolthafaer gave her a look. “How did you stop him from killing you?”
Dolthafaer’s response was the next best thing to a growl. “By moving my damned face out of the way!” Despite herself, Lilleduil 's lips twitched. “The arrow imbedded four fingerbreadths into my shoulder. That might have been my face, had I been a moment slower. So forgive me, Lilleduil, if I held suspicions of my own after that night.”
“You say that you do no miss. Do you consider that he might not either?” Lilleduil shrugged. “In any event, you had your suspicions. Did anything else pass between you before this Delossad business?” Her fingers moved down to Mornfaron’s shoulders and the huge cat pushed up as appreciatively against her hand as his smaller cousins might.
Dolthafaer says, “Certainly. Several times throughout the campaign. Every time, he took great care to let me know that he was perfectly capable of the darkness he is accused of -- whilst simultaneously balking against my watch, assuring me that the Warband alone keeps him in check and to watch my back lest that ever cease to be true.” Dolthafaer gave her a tight smile. “He showed me his face to demonstrate the darkness Men are capable of.”
Lilleduil cocked her head. “I don't suppose you're the one who sent word to Glan Vraig that the Warband was disbanded and Thendryt no longer the Watcher?”
The Lord of Arrows snorted. “Certainly not.”
“Good to know.”
“I was perhaps the last to know of the matter. I was on patrol in the Trollshaws at the time. And as for the matter of Delossad…”
“There was nothing between you between the campaign and Delossad then?” Lilleduil interjected. Dolthafaer shook his head.
“I revoked my watch when we returned to Imladris. I could not determine that he was a threat, and in the Valley, even if he was a threat, it was not an immediate one.”
“He didn't know if you had or had not.”
Dolthafaer shrugged and gave her a bit of a look. “I do not normally go out of my way to inform the people I watch that I am watching them-or when I have ceased to do so. And as for Delossad, I was investigating a matter completely unrelated to Morson at the time. There were Northmen in the Trollshaws -- aggressive ones, thought to be behind the abduction of Wood-Elves -- and I thought perhaps they might be found in the ruin.”
Lilleduil nodded. “I was sad that we never found any sign but those few bodies in the mountains.”
“In the ruin, we came upon one of the missing Wood-Elves -- terrified out of his wits by a Man stalking him. That Man was Thendryt.” Dolthafaer shook his head-in genuine frustration, it seemed. “What was I to think, Lilleduil? He laughed and taunted us from the shadows. He told us to leave. He hid from us. He was half-mad, bleeding from wounds not of my making.”
“For his part, Thendryt says he heard something come in and came out to see what it was. But it was too dark.” She stopped suddenly, arrested by something the Arrow Lord had said. “Bleeding, you say?”
Dolthafaer also seemed to be considering something for a moment before he looked at her again. “Bleeding. I believe the wounds were self-inflicted.”
Annoyance that Dolthafaer knew something about her sword-brother that she did not aside, this was an important piece of information. He was tortured, and now he tortures himself? Towards what end? Did what happened raise a darkness within him, the darkness he spoke to Dolthafaer of, that can only be contained by more of the same? Lilleduil absorbed this for a long moment, then nodded. As if following her thought, Dolthafaer nodded back at her.
“We cornered him, I questioned him -- and I released him, for the Elf could not convince me that Thendryt was part of the company that had abducted him.”
“He was not.”
The Lord of Arrows narrowed his eyes at her. She sighed.
“Perhaps not,“ he conceded. “But his behavior was fey, Lilleduil, and I will not apologize for suspecting him.”
“You were in Delossad. He's...protective about that place.”
Dolthafaer shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then finally sighed. “He is. And I know why.” Lilleduil 's gaze sharpened.
“Perhaps you'd care to tell me?”
“There is a room in Delossad…“ Dolthafaer said slowly. “Or there was. Perhaps he has destroyed it by now.” He gave Lilleduil a quizzical look.
“Have you ever seen a magpie's nest?”
Lilleduil snorted.
“I cannot number the kinds of nests I've seen. Think who you’re talking to.” The Arrow Lord shrugged.
“He collects...things,” he said in that same slow, cautious way.
“What sorts of things?”
“Trinkets from Angmar. Bones of Angmarim. Tools.”
Tools? Implements of torture, do you mean?’
Dolthafaer chuckled darkly. “There was a book, a journal of sorts. You would not imagine what pours forth from the corners of this Man's mind. He is mad. He cages his madness, keeps it at bay. But it is curled within him like a snake, ready to strike.” Dolthafaer hesitated. Lilleduil regarded him with an expression that was oddly gentle, and after a moment, he continued.
“I... sent him a page from that book. I wished him to know that I was aware of the danger he posed. You know how he responded to my warning.” He inclined his head to her.
In a mild tone, Lilleduil said, “So...you invaded his most secret place, read all his innermost secrets, then bragged to him about it? Is that basically it?”
Dolthafaer narrowed his eyes. “I warned him. There is no bond between me and this Man, Lilleduil. There is no loyalty sworn or trust won. From the day I met Thendryt Morson, he has loomed like a spectre in my mind. A danger to be watched.”
“Lord Dolthafaer, has it never occurred to you that if he were truly evil, he wouldn't keep that part of him contained in an out-of-the-way place, that he wouldn't try to repress it? He'd just go somewhere where he could let it run free.”
“Like the Coldfells?” Dolthafaer’s chuckle was dark as tarn water.
Lilleduil nodded, then stopped herself. I didn’t mean it that way!
“Like the Coldfells,” she said reluctantly. “Where I got him out of the dungeons because they didn't like the fact that he was hanging dead Angmarrim from trees as a warning. Which they were apparently listening to.”
“That was not my doing.” The Arrow Lord’s voice was firm. “The day he struck Yrill was the last of my dealings with him.”
“He says he threw a rock half the size of his palm, from the bottom of the ravine. He didn't expect to hit her. But given that he'd just discovered you'd rooted through all his things, I can see where he might have been provoked.”
Dolthafaer gritted his teeth at that. “I let him go, did I not?”
“Yes, you did.”
“I withdrew my watch. I allowed him to let his madness run free in the Coldfells.”
“The question is, where do we go from here, now that he‘s not in the Coldfells? So far, no one has been seriously hurt. I'd like to keep it that way.”
Dolthafaer glanced darkly down the path. “As do I. That is why I took great care in keeping what I knew to a very few.“ He glanced sidelong at Lilleduil. “Including, I might add, Faorie. Though I only told her part of the tale.”
If he had intended to annoy her with Faorie’s reticence, it did not succeed. Lilleduil knew that Faorie and Thendryt shared much more history than did Thendryt and herself. “Ah, she did not tell me that. Though she did not seem overmuch surprised at my tale.”
“I am very unhappy to know that Yrill decided to share any part of this. I will speak to her, and learn how far this tale has spread.”
“I would like to hear what she has to say as well. I told Raolor that I thought the only fair thing to do was to hear them both out.”
Dolthafaer narrowed his eyes. “The only fair thing to do would be for him to stand down and allow his superiors to handle a situation beyond him.”
“I actually thought about going down to Enedwaith to find her, but the chance of missing Yrill was too great…" What he was saying sank in and Lilleduil narrowed her eyes right back at him.
“Are we talking about Raolor or Thendryt?”
The Lord of Arrows raised an eyebrow. “Raolor. Though if Thendryt were wise, he would stop acting like a damned madman every time he crossed my path.” Dolthafaer shook his head slowly, and Lilleduil smiled.
“The absolute worst thing you could do would be to simply ignore him. You do know that, don't you?”
Dolthafaer snorted, then as if caught by a thought, looked at her very gravely. “Are you telling me to take up my watch again, lady?”
“No, I'm telling you not to let him know that he bothers you. Because there's a part of him that enjoys being the reviled outsider.”
That got her a wry smile in return. “I told him as much myself, once.” His head shook again. “I admit -- my suspicion of him has not lessened. His behavior was erratic even when he was not leashed with his oath. He has told me plain on several occasions that Warband is all that holds him in check.”
Lilleduil sighed and rolled her shoulders at that. Did Lord Elrond know what the disbandment of the Warband would do? And if so, why had he allowed it to occur?
“I worry now that he might have nothing to keep him from his... darker impulses,” the Lord of Arrows concluded.
“Well, perhaps another oath is needed,” Lilleduil said. “I've been thinking that myself. I'll see what I can do in that vein.”
Dolthafaer gave her a measured look. “Will you watch him?”
“Of course. And help him, if I can. Which will most likely have to be done so that he doesn't know he's being helped...There is reason for his darker impulses, as you well know. But they are directed towards himself. He doesn't like betrayal. And he just had another dose of it.”
“You watch him with the eyes of a friend.“ The Arrow Lord crossed his arms. “With friends, sometimes we overlook signs of danger. One's better nature does not always win out over darkness.”
“I know a rabid animal when I see one, Dolthafaer. And I've put down my share. Some of whom I'd known beforehand.”
Dolthafaer absorbed this for a moment. “Then I will not have him shadowed. For the time being.”
Lilleduil inclined her head. “Thank you.”
“But I am not convinced of his strength, Lilleduil. I will not trust a snake, even a sleeping one.”
“His strength is bolstered by the trust of his friends. We will do what we can to give him that strength. I have known my share of Men. Quite a few, in many lands. I am not old enough to have that hate. I did not experience that betrayal.”
Dolthafaer shook his head, a wry expression on his face. “I am old enough for that hate, but I do not partake in it. I have had dealings with Men before. I fought beside them in the battle of the Last Alliance. I harbor no grudge.”
“I trust him at my back, Dolthafaer. And believe it or not, I am not the most trusting person either.”
Dolthafaer smiled grimly. “I hope that trust is not misplaced.”
“And I will not go off and leave him without a word of farewell.” Lilleduil looked grim in her turn for a moment.
With a surprisingly sympathetic look, the Arrow Lord said, “No friend would.”
“Time will tell if my trust is displaced. And time will ultimately solve the problem of Thendryt Morson. Though I do not consider him a problem and on that day, I will grieve.”
“I hope that you are right -- and I mean that truly. I wish him no ill intent. But by the Valar, does he try my patience!“ Dolthafaer ran a hand down his face.
“Oh, he tries my patience too!” Lilleduil chuckled. “Don't think he doesn't!” Dolthafaer smiled faintly. “I would appreciate it if you could do what you can to defuse this situation. I'm not a caun, but I will do what I can from my end.”
“I will do my best,” the Arrow Lord promised. “I pray he finds some way to keep out of trouble.”
Lilleduil rubbed her forehead wearily. “I’ll be very surprised if he does.” She bowed to Dolthafaer. “Thank you for your time, Lord Dolthafaer. And your account. A good day to you, sir.”
He bowed to her in turn. “It was no trouble. If you have any more questions, feel free to find me.”
