[Horse-Maiden of the Shire]

Elwing swallowed the last bit of her food and sighed in contentment. Every bite had been delicious. The Horse had excellent cooks, it seemed. She pushed her stool back from the bar and got up to check on Dae. Stepping out of the inn, she inhaled the crisp air. Elwing walked over to the stable and stepped in. As she went over to Dae's stall, she hesitated, then grabbed the bridle. A short ride would be fine. She needed to be out of the inn for a while and Dae needed exercising anyway.

She led Dae out of the stable and mounted. Trotting out of Edoras, quite forgetting everything for a while as she rode into the country, Elwing was lost in a dream world (as she always was when she rode; it was her passion). She ignored everything until she heard a shrill cry on the wind. She pulled up Dae sharply and stopped moving. Thinking it was just her imagination, she began to urge Dae on again when she heard it yet one more time. It sounded like a distressed animal. Knowing the risks, knowing that it might be a trap, Elwing turned Dae and rode like mad toward the sound. She had a soft spot for animals. While with the Elves (strangely enough, she had become immune to getting misty-eyed and achy-hearted when hearing or thinking of Elves) she had had many pets and the Elves had even come to her at times to ask for advice on their horses.

The sound got louder and louder as she continued riding. Then, so fast she almost galloped over it, she came upon a hawk floundering upon the ground. Elwing immediately felt a pang of pity for the poor thing, for it had a thorny branch stuck halfway through its wing, near the tip. She dismounted Dae and approached the frightened bird, talking to it soothingly in Elvish. The bird continued to cry shrilly and flap its wings pitifully. Seeing that she would need something else, Elwing rummaged in her saddlebag and came up with a sleeping-potion that she had put together. Seizing the bird's head, she squeezed a drop into its beak. Almost immediately the hawk slumped onto the ground. Putting her hand on its breast, Elwing was relieved to feel that it was still breathing regularly. Now was the part she hated.

She could heal animals, she knew she could, but she hated to think she was causing them pain even if she was healing them. Now she worked the branch out carefully, finally getting it out. The poor hawk had a nasty hole in its wing now. Elwing bathed it with herbs and bandaged it. Soon it would be able to fly again, hopefully. She knew she couldn't just leave it here, so she picked it up carefully and set it in front of her on the saddle. The sleeping potion would keep working until they got to Edoras, she was sure. To cause it no pain when it awoke, she rode as carefully as she could.