Sometime around three years ago...
Something was wrong. Dark had come, but Emmawynn and Bansil had not returned. Leofnof, her father, and her two brothers saddled up horses, carefully lit lanterns and set out to look for her. Thankfully it was spring and the weather was warm enough that she was not going to freeze, but everyone was concerned, it was not like Emmawynn to be so late. By morning they knew she was not on their farm, and they rode to enlist the neighbors help in their search.
Three days passed and still they had not found her. However, from another village nearby, a man told his story. He had been riding his black horse when something had happened, and he was found the next day unconscious with a big lump on the back of his head, his horse was gone, and he could not remember what had transpired.
For the next months, until it was time for the summer trade fairs in Edoras, Leofnof and his sons took turns riding out to villages and settlements, traveling further and further, looking for Emmawyn, or anyone who might have seen her.
They never did find any signs of Emmawynn, but when they asked everyone they could find at the trade fairs, they finally heard another story. An older woman from a town north of Edoras spoke of four Dunlendings that surrounded her while she was riding to a neighbor's house. They had demanded that she dismount and give them her horse. She had complied and they had taken the horse leaving her to walk home. Leofnof might not have paid much attention to the story, except that she was also riding a black horse. While there were no other connections, Emmawynn’s family all occasionally wondered if that is what had happened to the girl and horse.
Upon their return from the trade fairs they reluctantly gave up their search. Whatever had happened to Emmawynn they could not change, and they could no longer afford the search. The cost was too high, both financially and emotionally.
