'‘Elgaraen’’ said Randir. ‘’She would appear as nought but a young man to your eyes, have you seen her?’’ He looked upon his kinsmen, seeing only the bewildered shakes of their heads in return. With a quirked brow he strode on through the encampment.
‘’Garbed in hues not dissimilar from mine, yet upon her chest she wears the mantle of our kindred from Tinnudir.’’ said Randir, now posing his inquiry to another Warden. ‘‘The armour wrought in memory of Nenuial?’’ asked the Warden, breaking his watchful stance as he ponders. ‘’A fine gift then! Nay, no woman of our kin fitting that description has passed my vigilance. Goheno nín.’’ Randir parted with a conceding nod, now prowling under the towering firs, approaching any and all.
‘’ Garbed in hues of green and brown you say?’’ asked one warden. ‘’Yes, I have seen this híril Elgaraen before. Her cloak, it is too big for her I note, and her stride is un-lady like. Alas I have not seen her for several days, the last of which was in the armoury. Quite the bow she wields too.’’ ‘’Where did she go?’’ asked Randir. ‘’Out’’ said the warden. ‘’What did she do?’’ ‘’Everything.’’ The warden cocked his head toward the archery range and the ring of arrows neatly penetrating every hay bale. Randir nodded gravely, unsatisfied. He ambled past the littered boxes of supplies outside the great doors to the Keep and wandered up the small steps.
‘’Aye!’’ said one of the doormen. ‘’She seemed dour of face and her gaze steely. She passed yonder through the keep only an hour before. I almost missed her. She’s as slippery as a fox when need presses her.’’ ‘’Tell me, Randir.’’ asked another, leaning in. ‘’surely a lady of our kin is not fit, nor allowed to walk the path of the wild as our Men do?’’ Randir regarded them with a wry smile. ‘’Pose your doubts to her, if it concerns you greatly. However, be sure your sword-arm is prepared. She will not take kindly to your words, mellon.’’
Leaving the muttering doormen behind, the great doors opened and the ragged wanderer entered the musty hallway, seeing the ancient ascending stairs lost into the gloom.With each step, he could hear growing louder the repetitive strokes of stone upon steel ringing down the vast hall as the towering visage of Elendil the Tall greeted him. Beside the pool, a dour-handed figure swathed in earthly hues was nestled unceremoniously at the feet of the tall King, and moved her broad strokes across the glimmering blade. Elgaraen looked up at the sight of Randir’s disapproving gaze with her own hawk-eyed defiance, a brief smirk flashing across her weathered face.
‘’I was beginning to wonder what kept you so long’’ she grinned, her voice echoing through the nearly deserted keep.
