[Earendil Halfelven]

He sighed heavily. Rangar's spur of the moment journey was turning into a jumbled mess. Turthôl figured that if Rangar wanted to go to Harad and see this Seer, why not just the two of them go? It would be easier and faster. Now, they were going to be hampered down by this bunch of people who thought that they could handle this. To them, this seemed like a walk-they would go to Harad, see the Seer, than walk back, and that would be it. No, they were going to find out that hard way. They would see that this would be a hard journey, one that they could die by starvation, exposure, or orcs.
There were still many orcs wandering the wilds of Middle-Earth. Oh well, if they want to take this chance, then let them. He decided that he wouldn't be mean to them. On this journey, they would need him and Rangar's experience in the wild to get them through this. Despite Rangar's amnesia, the man was almost as good as a Dúnedain. He had already earned the title "Ranger," at least in Turthôl's eyes.

He saw that a boy, who claimed that he was a master of lore and geography, wanted to go. Then, to add to that, a lady, who Turthôl could tell had a child, wanted to come to, claiming that she was a nurse. For some reason, he had no reason for the boy to not come but the lady, he was't so sure about. He went and sat down next Rangar and muttered, "Take the child, I have my doubts about the women from Gondor."

"You have doubts about anyone from Gondor." Rangar countered.

"Too true. And I don't like the mother."

"You figured it out too?"

"It's not prudent to live a child behind."

"And yet you tell me to take the boy?"

"You already took the boy." said Turthol, finishing his thought.

"Fine then, they both can come. You're no healer." Turthôl was about to say something, like, I'm a Ranger, of course I can heal, but Rangar said first, "Of course you may come, anyone else?"

Turthôl sighed again and said to Rangar, "Oh well, its your journey. At least you have me." There was a little sarcasm in that last bit as Turthôl chuckled to himself. He lifted the mug to his mouth...but it was empty.

"I can't believe you've accepted a noblewoman from Gondor." he said to Rangar.

"Well, whats wrong with that?" Rangar replied.

"You know what how its going to turn out. Its going to be just like that time we helped that rich caravan from Lond Daer find their way to Fornost. Do you remember that? A one week journey turned into three weeks and they expected us to wait on them hand and foot. I was tempted to abandon them in the Barrow-Downs. Lucky for them that you stopped me."

"Yes, I remember. But this is just one woman, and she seems to be alone. I don't think she's going expect us to be her servants. If she can get up to Bree from Gondor, than I think she knows how to take care of herself. Does her having to be from Gondor have anything to do with this conversation?"

Turthôl didn't answer. Instead, he rose to go refill his mug at the counter.

Ranger said,"Not all Gondorians will betray you. Not everything is as it seems."

"Exactly, not everything is as it seems," Turthôl replied. "Just be careful who you accept on this journey, my friend."

Memories of long ago suddenly returned to him. Memories of a company attacked by orcs...of the traitor from Gondor...
He just hoped that it wouldn't happen again.

He returned from having his mug filled. Looking up at whoever else would volunteer, he sat next to Rangar and drank deeply.