[piosenniel]

Elora’s character:

NAME: Uien Aduial

AGE: 579

RACE: Sindarin Elf

GENDER: Female

WEAPONS:

Uien carries no weapons of her own. As a rule, Uien avoids weapons for they represent only pain, suffering and death to her.

APPEARANCE:

Uien is a silvan Elf. She is tall and slender, with long golden hair that falls in a cascade to her waist. She has clear grey eyes and the timeless beauty of her people. Her eyes show her years and the experiences that fill them when she permits it. Uien has a light step and the innate grace of her kindred. Her hand is gentle. She appears ephemeral, giving occasion to the saying of her kin that twilight lives within her and her name.

PERSONALITY:

Uien is a creative soul inextricably bound to the life and beauty of Middle-earth. Gentle of spirit, Uien is rarely given to anger unless it is on the behalf of those dear to her. She can be fierce when roused. As with many who hail from Lothlórien, she can appear lofty and insular, particularly when displeased with someone. Normally, she is given to quiet laughter. She is introspective and given to dreaming, with a love of all things living or growing.

Uien is particularly enamoured of twilight. It is the time of day she most loves, where the world can become magical. She is given to dance at such times, when she believes herself alone and unwatched. Once a creature of much mirth, Uien has quietened in latter days. A sadness lingers beneath the surface that many mistake as aloof pride. Yet her generosity of spirit has not been broken entirely and her friendship once given is true and eternal.

STRENGTHS:

Uien is a healer. She is also a painter. Clever with her hands, with deft and quick fingers, Uien is capable of most tasks that she comes across. She can be swift and silent as a shadow and has the ability to see the true natures of those around her if given the opportunity to look. Her insight can be both valuable and dangerous, for not all things revealed are wholesome.

Quiet, Uien’s strength of will and determination often comes as a surprise. She is often mistaken as meek or distant. She will speak her mind when she thinks it necessary and she is given to follow her own will and instincts. She has acquired the wisdom of one who has observed those around her over the years. She had the blessing of a loving family in the closely knit community of the Galadhrim and formed close attachments to her parents and siblings. These attachments have remained with her.

WEAKNESSES:

Uien struggles with a sense of alienation and abandonment as well as shame. She can sometimes wander unwisely and this has led her into grave peril in the past. She is alone utterly, her kin gone, and found it hard initially to make her way in the mortal lands. She had a protected childhood that little prepared her for the harsh realities of life beyond Lothlórien’s protected borders.

Uien overcame this over time, but carries with her the shadow of a turbulent period of adjustment. She thrives when home, but has none in these later days to call her own. As a result, she is troubled by her itinerant state and wonders if she would have made the same choices had she known what the future held.

Uien’s gentle heart is perhaps a burden as well as a boon, for gentle hearts don’t seem to last very long in mortal lands. A sense of purposeless and hopelessness pervades her darker moments and it can be hard for others to penetrate that fog of sadness that she is sometimes wrapped in. Uien has survived black moments, but at great cost to her innocence and joy in the act of living.

HISTORY:

Uien was born in Lothlórien in the year 2454 of the Third Age to Sindarin parents. Her family had abided with the Galadhrim since their people migrated to the lands of the wood elves at the Breaking of Thangorodrim. Her parents were taken in with reverence, for they had suffered much along side those who had survived the First Age and the inundation of their lands. Uien was the third child, the youngest and only daughter.

She had two older brothers, both born during the sporadic periods of peace in the dark Second Age of Middle-earth.
She was born late in Lothlórien and was amongst the last generation born in that land. For that reason, she was treasured by her people knew that children would be scarce. Sauron returned to the lands six years after her birth and the Watchful Peace ended. There was a growing belief that peace would not come again and that the Elves were indeed losing this battle as surely as each year passed.

Behind Lórien’s protected borders, Uien enjoyed a calm peace largely unaware of the troubles of the wider world but the air had changed and the people around her grew grave and wary. War did indeed break out, and in the end was fought beneath the very boughs of Lothlórien and Mirkwood. The Galadhrim were a force in the breaking of Dol Guldor, and paid a heavy price to bring down that bastion of Sauron’s evil.

Many had departed the lands for the safety of Eldamar, but Uien and her kindred remained. Uien’s mother was a healer and thus in need. Her father and brothers took up arms and fought in the skirmishes and then the open battle. Uien herself was not ready to depart Middle-earth, even when the days in the golden wood darkened. She loved the trees and the twilight too much to abandon them, and her family all the more.

Sauron was defeated and his forces overthrown. Uien rejoiced until she came to know the cost of that victory. Her father and eldest brother had fallen in Mirkwood. Her younger brother returned, haunted by the death of the War of the Ring. He was a shadow of his merry, joyful self and it shocked Uien to her core. It was then that she developed her aversion to weapons and things of war. No one could aid him and he was unable to remain in mortal lands any longer. Uien’s mother too saw only grief and death now, having lost her husband and her son and endured Three Ages in Middle-earth. Thus the decision was made to seek the Grey Havens.

Uien was grieved at this, but resolved to go with them. Lothlórien was emptying now that the power of Galadriel’s ring had ended. She set out with her family in the last party to leave Lothlórien. Uien could not bear to leave earlier and still her heart misgave her as they departed. Moria was still closed to them and her people did not take that dark road. As with those before them, they made for the Pass of Caradhras. Her brother was eager to ensure they remained together on the pass and often shepherded Uien on.

The urge to linger was still strong within her. Already she had begun to consider remaining at Imladris. The choice was never presented to her. Sauron may have been defeated, but the Misty Mountains continued to be plagued by the pestilence of orcs. They knew that the Elves took the Caradhras pass and would wait for their opportunity to strike at them in that treacherous place.

It was a place of great danger and peril, and her brother took up a sword one last time to ensure they were able to pass it in relative safety. His sword was of no effect in staving off the sudden storm that crashed upon them once they had entered the pass. Cutting snow and ice was hurled, the wind shrieking as if it sought to pluck them up and cast them either into the ravine or the clutches of the waiting orcs.

The party took what cover they could, forced to wait out the raging blizzard. Uien found herself separated from them, forced to take shelter beneath an overhang. Her last sight was of her brother reaching for her through a gap in the snow that closes before she could take his outstretched hand. The wind tore her cries from her, robbing her in that furious storm. Caradhras spared neither Elf, Man nor orc it’s anger.

When the storm passed, Uien found herself alone. She set out in search, disorientated and frightened for her family. What Uien found as she wandered, calling names, would test her to her very limits. Uien found orcs instead of her mother and brother. Their numbers were severely depleted by the storm, and they snatched up the lone Elf eagerly and made off with their prize without delay. Uien found no trace of her party and could not know if they had perished or been forced to go down from the pass to escape the storm and the orcs.

Uien, who had wished to remain in Middle-earth, found herself in the darkness of an orc den. She doggedly managed to survive as she endured torment and cruelty. However, despite her resilience, Uien was only saved from death by the unexpected arrival of Dwarves. They were undertaking a cleansing push to rid their mountains of the vermin. To their surprise and shock, they discovered Uien badly injured and almost beyond recognition, in an orc pit. Having narrowly averted slaying her for an orc herself, they brought up out of the darkness and discovered that she was no orc but an Elf.

After fitful debate, they decided they could not leave her in the mountains and so took her with them. Uien slowly recovered in their care, alienated as an Elf amongst Dwarves. Uien had no awareness of passing time, yet it took her many months to heal and that did not fully take. An Elf of Lothlórien, Uien found it difficult to live amongst the Dwarves and once she was able, she took their leave and set out in search of her kin. She emerged on dusk, just as twilight was beginning on a clear summer’s night, but the maiden of twilight was irrevocably changed.

She found her way back to Lothlórien and found it empty. She fought the urge to lie down between the trees and possessed by a great grief, wandered aimlessly. Her travels took her into Rhûn and once the people got over her Elven nature, for Sauron had told her many lies, she found temporary home. It was her first encounter with the Edain and she was little prepared for them.

A wasting illness swept through the village, preying on the elderly and the very young. Uien attempted the impossible and managed to heal a small girl. However, no healer can stave off death or stand in the way of Illúvator’s gift of mortality. Uien was unable to repeat her chance healing on the others that fell sick. The villagers believed her to be capable of healing them but choosing instead to consign them to death.

The village exploded into conflict in that climate of fear, death and superstition. Uien was forced to flee and once again was without a home. She had come to believe that it was her own fault that such woes came to her, being unwise and foolish. North she made for once more, not knowing what she was looking for aside from peace and rest. She kept to herself, aware that the world had changed and was not safe, and wondering if her family would have found her had she not been so foolish as to linger and become lost in the storm.

Uien found herself at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree, penniless and exhausted. She felt too shamed to seek her people at Imladris, the orc pits surely hanging over her in their eyes. In Bree, Uien was somewhat of a novelty. Elves did not frequent the settlement. She managed to secure work in the stables, her ability with horses as with all living things emerging. She found she could heal them, and that they did not react with anger or hatred. However, Uien was still alone. She keeps to herself generally, found in the stables or at a quiet table at the inn, troubled by her memories and her sense of disconnection.

At twilight she disappears and stands by the trees beneath the stars hoping to recapture that beauty of life in Middle-earth. Uien lingers still, and only rarely does she smile or laugh or raise her voice in song now.

_________________________________________

Elora’s post

Uien checked the gait of her horse in the early dawn light with a pleased smile. She had ridden through the night and Bree waited before her, it's Western Gate awaiting her. She leant to whisper to her roan gelding in soft elvish words that elicited a whicker of pleasure from Thalion. He flicked his ears and shivered beneath her and she smoothed a hand over his shoulder.

Thalion was a fine gift and she would see him returned to the Stablemaster in as fine a condition as he left it. With slight pressure to his flanks, Thalion moved on once more, arriving at the gate of Bree proper.

"Who goes there?" The man's voice sounded through the wood of the gate before the small window shutter was opened. Uien remained as she was, smiling through the window when the young man's face appeared. His brows shot up. An Elf, at the Western Gate!

"Pardon, Miss," he stammered. Uien was keen to be through, to find Falowik and Doderic and Gorby. "We don't expect to find your folk knocking at our gates." Uien waved aside his explanation.

"No matter, Gatekeeper. I seek the Prancing Pony. I have business there." He examined her, still surprised. A lone Elf woman... unarmed with only a pack... not even tack or saddle and only a single blanket. Odd, to be sure, but then it was hard to explain the comings and goings of the fair folk.

He nodded, closed the window and pulled the wooden gate back. Uien was soon moving through. She shot a fleeting glance of appreciation at the bewildered man and gazed up the street that led into Bree. Falowik's home, she thought.

"Will there be others, Miss...." Uien blinked, realising that the man had asked a question. She shook her thoughts and paid renewed attention to him.

"Yes, three others... no four actually," she amended as she recalled how Falco Boffin had caught them up on the road to Bree some days ago. She'd left her companions with him, seeking the Old Forest to complete her preparations for the journey.

"They will arrive soon, I hope. Should any ask after Uien or mention the matter of a search party that the Master of Buckland has called together, please direct them to the Prancing Pony." The man nodded, understanding coming into his face as Uien spoke.

"The search party," he said. Obviously he knew something of it already. "Yes, Miss Uien." He tugged at his hair and nodded confidently. Uien shot him another smile and moved off then. Perhaps they'd arrived before her. She'd not seen trace of them upon the road when she had re-joined it.

As Uien sought the Prancing Pony her debate within herself continued. She could have risked setting out without the herbs she had found in the Old Forest. They may have left her behind already. But her mother's training was too strong in her. Too many passed into death on account of a healer not having the necessary resources to see to them. Uien had deferred in favour of that, fretting at the possible delay in finding Eodwine and moreso, dare she admit it, to see Falowik once more.

She pulled up in front of the Prancing Pony and slid from Thalion's back. A few whispered words and he snorted at her in slight reproach. He did not have to be told to remain at a hitching post, having done so countless times before. Uien glanced at the distinctly mannish stone buildings on the street.

A few had already started on the day's business and walked by, glancing curiously at her as they passed. They wore the same expressions as the man at the gate. Laurëatan she murmured to herself and in that took heart. Uien gathered herself and her now full pack and entered the inn.

The light was dimmer within, the commonroom close as was the manner of inns she had come to learn. Uien pushed back her travel stained cloak and scanned the commonroom for Falowik, his companions or hers. Conversation faltered as she passed tables by, those occupying them peering curiously at the Elf who had entered. With Falowik's name on her lips, Uien paid them no heed and pushed on.

"May I help you, m'lady?" The voice of Barliman Butterbur was kindly and curious. Uien blinked in surprise at the title. The innkeeper smiled at her as she took him in. She moved closer to the bar, conscious of those listening.

"I am come to meet someone," she replied, scanning the room and tables.

"You've just arrived then. Is your horse out the front?" Uien nodded her confirmation as her gaze settled on Falowik. Her carefully guarded expression softened then and her smile light her features.

"Hi HOB! There's horses needing stabling quickly," Barliman bellowed. He paused, looking sideways at Uien and resumed his dull roar. "An elvish mount, so mind you bring a bridle and don't set it skittering on the streets!" Barliman lowered his voice to a more reassuring tone. "He's quite good with horses, but handling one without a bridle is a challenge for most."

Uien nodded absently and then shot her attention back to the innkeeper who was smiling at her. "I take it you've found the people you are to meet then." Uien nodded once more, somewhat apologetically.

"I have, good sir," she said as graciously as she could.

"Then I'll leave you in their care for the time being." Barliman slung his dish cloth over his shoulder and turned, bellowing for Hob to move his wooly pated belly. Distantly , the sound of bare feet slapping on the floor in a run could be heard, a bridle jingling as Hob ran to see to the horse and ponies without.

Uien crossed to where Doderic, Gorbilac and Falowik sat at a table. Doderic and Gorbalic were in conversation that stilled as she neared, but her attention was elsewhere. Uien let her pack rest on the floor as she smiled down at Falowik's face. It was a joy to see him once more and it shone in her eyes.

"I see you've arrived then Mizz... Mizz," Doderic said, reaching for her name.

"Uien," she replied softly, bestirring herself.

"That's right... the healer. What of the others?" Doderic and Gorbilac peered around her. "Your companions?"

"I left them not long after you departed from Stonebows, Master Doderic. Shiriff Falco Boffin caught us up and I had need to fetch some things from the Old Forest. I left them in his care and expect them to arrive shortly." Try as she might, Uien could not keep her voice neutral as she mentioned Falco.

The hobbit had trotted up, puffing, on a pony midafternoon after Falowik had departed. He had insisted on accompanying them and of his expertise. "Good sensible hobbits," were what they needed apparently. This was all well and good. Uien did her best to hold her tongue as Falco clucked and tutted over Elvish merry riding parties. Yet, that night as Uien had announced her desire to arrive at Bree via the Old Forest, Falco and her had come to yet another disagreement.

"The Old Forest," he had spluttered. "What business has anyone with some sense with that place? I would have thought Elves knew better." Her companions had thought Falco amusing, his concern at the prospect of venturing into the infamous Old Forest clear in his flushed cheeks and wide eyes.

The result of that argument was that Uien had gone alone, and happily so truth be told, and left Falco with her companions to meet up at Bree. Gorbalic stared up at Uien with a queer expression once she mentioned the Old Forest. It was as though she had sprouted wings and proceeded to float about the common room, dodging rafters and singing a jolly ditty.

"I had need of herbs from that place for this business," Uien explained. It made little dint on Gorby. Like Falco, Gorby knew only those somewhat mad voluntarily entered the Old Forest. Doderic himself seemed somewhat at a loss as to what to make of her.

"No matter," he said, deciding to drop the issue of the Old Forest for now. "What's important is that they arrive soon. Every hour lost is begrudged." He glanced to the door and then at Uien's pack, filled with mysterious plants of the Old Forest as well as those she had already harvested with Falowik. Cautiously, he pushed that away with his toes.

"We have not yet had the chance to discuss your companions, Uien," he said as he motioned for her to sit. Uien did so gratefully, taking a chair next to Falowik and again smiling into his face. What she read by way of return sent questions spinning into her. Mayhap he is tired, she allowed. What she wanted to do was take his hand and hold it to her lips once more. She would have to wait.

For now, she soaked in his nearness and turned to the matter of those that had set out with her. Doderic and Gorbilac followed her closely as she ran through what she knew of them.

"They just volunteered," Gorbilac asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yes. Once they heard the matter, they may their offers in true heart," Uien replied. It had been the best she could have done. No doubt Falowik would have acquired a legion of those willing to aid him. She swallowed her disappointment in her own efforts, so few, and fell silent. Doderic and Gorbilac reviewed the state of affairs.

"We need more, going by Falowik's support,' Doderic assessed.

"We shall get them," Uien replied softly.