sometime into the Fourth Age, southern lands of Middle Earth
The beating sun offered little mercy, even when hiding in the tall reed ridges lining the river shore. With its hot and dry climate unlike anything she ever experienced in the north of Middle Earth, Earcalie skulked among the reeds muttering against Arien who must have been in a particularly angry mood that day. Still, she swallowed her complaints and marched on.
That morning she eavesdropped a couple local villagers talk about "the breeding season of the giant lizards be near". Well, "giant lizard" could only mean one thing: drakes. Although she journeyed that far south for other reasons than drake hunting, she'd be damned if she passed on the opportunity to see if the drakes of Aradar were any different from those of Eriador. The villagers seemingly hinted at a spot near the river where reeds were tall and perfect to build nests, though Earcalie wondered why drakes would nest near water and so in the open, given that the ones she knew favored mountains and cold. Oh well, that was one of the things she was so curious about.
Being extremely careful to limit her movements to avoid making noise among the reeds, the elleth made her way to a point where the vegetation dwindled and she could see a clearing. She held an excited yelp when she also saw them.
There they were, the giant lizards, a group of four. The first impression was... that they looked nothing like the drakes she was used to. Long, broad snout, streamlined body that ended with a tail almost the same length.... or perhaps they were all tail? Very short legs, but they moved fast around the nests. They were definitely covered in scales like the drakes she knew though... what if they were descended from Glaurung? Earcalie read all about the first of the dragons, who had no wings but could still breathe fire. She assumed that the ones she was seeing blonged to the same species... so she crouched and pondered what to do. Her goal was to collect a few scales to show off back home but... four versus one was out of the question. She could see how they were circling the nests, so no chance of grabbing loose scales fallen on the ground either. How do I lure one away from the others.... hm....
Suddenly, she heard a snap coming from her left side. She spun around and met a pair of yellow eyes with slit pupils staring at her. Accompanied by the rest of a fifth giant lizard. Oh... well that solves my dilemma. She slowly backed away, followed by the growl of the lizard which made a few steps forward.
Very good, see if you catch me. She run. So did the giant lizard, surprisingly fast on those short legs... way faster than she anticipated. The lizard opened its mouth in a growl, showing a row of sharp teeth and the elleth braced herself to dodge the stream of fire that surely it was about to breathe, she raised her shield and...
"Get out of there!" A voice and an arrow hit the lizard right on the snout, forcing it to stop in its charge, growling in pain.
"What the..." a figure emerged from the reeds, grabbing her by the elbow "Let's flee before the other ones hunt us too". Making way through the reeds as fast as they could, the elleth and her rescuer stopped only when they reached a safe spot on top of some rocks
"What in the Abyss were you thinking Ristor???" Earcalie all but shouted at her companion
"PEN-CHANNAS!" shouted him in return, "You were about to be its meal! What were YOU thinking?"
"Don't you dare insult me, I had a plan---"
"A flawed one" the ellon sighed, shaking his head and swiping back some strands of dark hair. Ristor, the Sinda guiding her through these new lands, sighed exasperated. "Going against even one crocodile is not wise, not heroic and definitely not a good idea"
"Crocodile..."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, that's what the locals call them. Crocodiles. They are giant lizards... in the literal sense of the term. They are not any type of drake, they can't spit fire in any way" Ristor said in the most polite way he could find, seeing as the elleth was already fuming both at him and her own mistake
"Regardless, if you wanted to see them why didn't you tell me? I am supposed to be the guide here". She huffed and crossed her arms. "Remind me, why are we here? What is it that Lord Cirdan asked?"
"To gather information about the Elves beyond the oasis..." she muttered
"Yes and that is what we will do. No other fun ideas like chasing crocodiles, understood?". She angrily nodded. "Good, let us go back to camp... oh, catch these". He tossed her something shiny. She glared at him, clutching two greenish crocodile scales in her hands.
"You still have much to learn about the creatures of the southern lands" came the amused answer from Ristor ahead of her. Earcalie safely stored the scales in a satchel. When she would return home, she would make sure to not tell of this episode to anyone... and bribe Ristor to not utter a word either.
translation:
Ristor: "Render/Ripper/Cutter” in Sindarin
Pen-channas!: You idiot! in Sindarin
