[Elfhelm]

After Aerandir had left, Talendur turned his attention to the elves. Many of them had tragic pasts, and Talendur was saddened that such a noble race could experience such strife.

The waitress came by and dropped off his ale, and Talendur took a long gulp of it. He had not had any spirits in a long time, unless miruvor was counted as that sort of beverage.

"Aerandir is a good man" Talendur thought. He was trustworthy, loyal, and an expert fighter--the best of both races. Talendur would enjoy the journey to Bree with him. He would be a better companion than Sulohtar, a moody, brooding ranger who desired to be in charge whether he knew what was going on or not. It was Sulohtar's idea to split up and meet at Bree, though it would have been better if Talendur and his companion's had stuck together. But before Talendur could reason with Sulohtar, the other rangers had already gone off in other directions, and Talendur had no choice but to comply with the plan.

As Talendur sat at his table, he tried to engage a young hobbit in a conversation, but rangers who are used to solitude
are no good at making small-talk, and the hobbit soon drifted away to the opposite corner. Again he turned his attention to the elves and their sad life stories. Talendur's life had not been easy either. His mother had died giving birth to him, leaving his father Berenor to raise him as best he could. Berenor was one of the best rangers there was, and he was also a personal friend of the King Elessar. At a young age Talendur was already learning the arts of war from his father, being trained in the use of the longsword and the bow.

By the time he was in his teens, Talendur could perform all of the crafts of the rangers better than any of the other Dunedain of his age. He could tread almost as soundlessly as a hobbit, run like a horse of Rohan, track orcs for many days, and fight like a cornered animal. Talendur even bettered some elves with the bow, and beat experienced rangers in sword-fights. Life was good for the young son of Berenor, and his father was proud of him.

Then things changed the day Talendur turned 16. He, his father, and seven other Dunedain were journeying near the woody western slopes of the Misty Mountains near Dunland. Berenor had gone scouting that morning, but by late afternoon he was not back. Talendur remembered that he was not worried about his father, only a little nervous. By nightfall Berenor was still not back, and then the party of rangers began to believe something was wrong. Then, the ranger on watch said that he could barely here many people slowly moving through the wood.

At once they were set upon by a band of marauders. They were criminals and outlaws from all over Eriador, and they fought savagely to capture food and supplies. Immediately the watch and two other rangers were cut down in the fury of the attack, annd the five that remained formered a circle and fought off their opponents from all sides. Their number dwindled to four, then three, and finally only Talendur and a veteran named Ostoher were left. The ruthless outlaws plundered the Dunedain camp while others kept Talendur and Ostoher engaged. As they fought, a a huge outlaw wielding a pike came at Talendur's undefended back. Ostoher leapt in front of him and took the force of the blow before slaying the outlaw with his sword. Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone, and Talendur remembered hearing the marauders dashing hard through the woods to get away. They had successfully destroyed the Dunedain campsite, but at a cost of 15 of their men.

Talendur tended Ostoher's wound, but he knew it was fatal. Before he died, Ostoher made him promise to take care of his son, who was two years younger than Talendur was. Even at that moment Talendur felt extreme guilt that Ostoher had died saving him. And thus Talendur ended up looking after Sulohtar, who was the exact opposite of his father Ostoher.

After the horrible battle, Talendur remained waiting for his father at the campsite, but he never returned. To this day 10 years later, Talendur had stil not seen him. "Perhaps he is dead" Talendur thought, but he still did not give up searching for his lost father.

Deciding that his father would not return, Talendur began to walk northwards, for the marauders had taken the rangers' horses. He was bleeding badly from his right arm and side, so when he finally walked into a Dunlending village he collapsed. The Dunlendings cared for him and gave him a steed after he was well again. Since that day long ago, Talendur had sworn and oath to find out his father's fate. Searching, always searching for his father, while supervising a moody, self-centered teen. Life was hard now for Talendur son of Berenor.

Talendur finished his ale and stood up. He was tall, even for a ranger, and he towered over the hobbits who seemed to scurry about below him. Talendur went to the bar and asked the woman on duty if there were any free rooms. If there were not, Talendur did not mind. He was too used to sleeping in the wild anyway.

[ March 02, 2003: Message edited by: Elfhelm ]