[Elora]

The midday rushed had slowly abated into the afternoon and Uien was permitted to quit her post at the room reservations book. There was work to be done in the stables and Derufin was preoccupied with some of the newer arrivals. Uien had watched all with interest, sparked in particular by the Dwarven woman and her axe. It had roused memories of her own time in Dwarven halls along with surprise at the presence of the woman. The Seven Fathers did not often send their women out into the wider world.

The afternoon had brought several new arrivals, but most seemed after refreshment which was capably under Aman, Ruby and Buttercup's purview. Uien slipped out the door, past the girl who spoke with a newly arrived Elf, and took in the afternoon. More rain, mayhaps, Uien thought to herself as she crossed to the day pasture. She'd need to get the horses in out of that before it struck, else there would be a stable full of unwell horses and her hide would be fit to be flayed for that oversight.

Still, Uien judged by her inspection of the sky that there were some hours of daylight left and the rain was not about to press upon them yet. There was time. She checked the water and grain troughs to be sure there was ample of both, scratched a curious horse under his chin and then made her way to the stables.

A quick review of that revealed two discoveries. The horse that had gone missing was back. Uien smiled, for Derufin would be pleased. Her second discovery was that Lira's horse was gone. Uien sighed a little. A second one lost before you've even set out. As the hours passed, Uien became more and more certain that she was only giving Falowik the reasons to turn away from her. He'd left her with an important task, and she was failing him.

Uien ran her hands over the herbs she had bundled and left tied to a rafter and nimbly climbled the ladder to the loft. She retrieved some wood and her belt knife, climbed back down, found a stool towards the back that Derufin often sat in to carve his own fine work, and settled into that. After holding her raw block for a moment in her fingers, Uien's thoughts cleared a little and she smiled sadly as she recognised what lay within the wood.

Then, she set her blade to its work, head bent over it in the afternoon rays of sunlight that reached through the open stable doors.