[Nurumaiel]

Nurumaiel slowed Menethon to a walk and quickly dismounted. A smile on her face, she half-ran to the door of the inn. It had been too long, she thought, though it had only been a few months since she had left. Pushing open the door, she wondered which one of her friends were still her. Belladonna, a hobbit woman... Rie, the red-headed young woman with a wonderful personality... Donnamira, or Don, the hobbit girl she had befriended, and, along with Rie, hidden from her angry aunt. Pio, the innkeeper, there was as well. Nuru could well remember helping her in the kitchen when she saw how busy the Elf was. Had she had her twins yet? And there were others besides them whose names had slipped from her mind. The Green Dragon had always been a place to make new friends and find old ones.

Nurumaiel Firithbor was tall and slender with light brown hair that fell to her waist and bright blue eyes. She was an Elf from Rivendell, but for some reason she didn't yet understand, she was often mistaken for a Man rather than an Elf. She didn't know much about her past, if you could say that. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say nothing of her birth was known. She had been raised in Lothlorien by an Elf named Rinnanwen, but she had been told that she was not born there. She had a longing for adventure and so she had traveled from Rivendell often. To Rohan and Lothlorien, and she went to the Shire as much as she possibly could. She had met a young hobbit named Robin Brandybuck once when the lass had gone to Rivendell. An odd thing for a hobbit to do, but Robin was much like herself. She had always wanted to see Imladris, and so one day she got up, packed, and went there. Now Nuru often traveled to the Shire to visit Robin and her friend- no, her husband Dinodas. She hadn't seen Robin and Dinodas in a long while now and from what she had heard they had three children and another one was on the way.

Nuru cast back the dark hood she was wearing as she entered the inn and glanced quickly around the busy room, trying to locate any of her friends. There was a redhead sitting at the table. Nuru hurried forward with a soft call of, "Rie?" The redhead turned and Nuru saw that it was not Rie, but a man. Yet he looked almost exactly like her. "Please accept my apologies," said Nuru with a little bow. "I mistook you for an old friend of mine."

"Did you say the name Rie?" the man asked eagerly. Too eagerly, Nuru thought. There must be something concerning him and Rie. He obviously knew her, and he looked so much like her…

"Yes, I did," the Elf replied. "I met her a few months back here, and you looked so much like her that I thought for a moment you were her. Of course when you turned around I saw - "

"Of course," the man interrupted. "Tell me… is Rie here?"

"How should I know if she's still here?" Nuru demanded. "I haven't been here for months, remember, and I haven't seen her at Rivendell, most certainly." She paused for a moment, debating whether she should ask the question that was most on her mind. "Why do you care? Are you a friend of Rie's?"

"Do I look like a friend?" the man asked with a laugh. "It seems as though 'are you a relative' would be more appropriate. I'm Rie's twin brother."

"Oh, I see," said Nuru, backing up a few paces, resisting the urge to put her hand to her mouth. She knew she had said too much. The last thing Rie wanted was for her twin brother to find her. "Well, maybe she's still around… now I have to go get something to eat… I've had a long journey… and…"

"I understand completely," said the man with an amused smile. "If you see Rie around, let me know at once?"

"I… suppose…" Nuru gave a quick nod and retreated to the counter, hoping she could find Pio there. After all, she thought, the nod was only a nod of parting, not of an agreement. I won't betray Rie, of course. But I wish I could find her…