Marawendi

And Parnard passed Ruineth on the path, giving her a very wide berth. 

I waved a greeting to our Mirkwood friend, and Estarfin nodded to him.

“We are ready to ride, Parnard,” I said.

(This takes place before 'A New Dress' by Parnard )

After grieving some time at the place where Aearlinn was buried, Parnard lifted his head, and taking Marawendi by the hand, walked down a path to a small house beside a crystal-clear lake. Beside the house was a small stone gazebo of the whitest marble, its top and sides hanging thick with a canopy of pink roses and white jasmine, their flowers just opening from the rising sun, that provided a sweet-smelling and delightful shade during the hottest hours of the afternoon.

Estarfin walked over to stand before me, even as Parnard ran from the hall, all but dragging the sobbing Marawendi behind him. There was a mixture of controlled rage and concern on his face. 

“Do not blame yourself,” he said, knowing my thoughts. 

My heart was lightened when Estarfin pushed open the double doors to the outside world. The exit from Moria had been on my mind. I could remember the entry password, a simple utterance of the word ‘friend’, but I could not recall one for departing. 

“If it is true that a Valarauko yet haunts this place, if we come across it, there will be no escape,” he said.

We continued, Estarfin doubtlessly thinking of what could await us in the Halls of Moria…as indeed was I. Parnard was likely thinking of dark tales he had heard of Moria, without any clear idea of what it was really like, and Marawendi unable to differentiate one danger from another. But at least we were leaving Mirkwood. 

I watched Parnard with a sad expression. This journey had brought him nothing he had hoped for. Far from it. It had confirmed his worst fears. We were about to depart Felegoth - what need was there for us to remain?- but only with a new apprentice for me, that being Marawendi. None of us had seen or spoken with Parnard’s hoped for betrothed. That door was closed to him.