[Elora]

Vanwe cast about the undergrowth with growing haste. All she needed was some Calendula and some Clary Sage! Certain she had seen the former only that morning, she pushed a little deeper into the trees. Silvanis' warning about wandering alone was drowned out by her need to quickly locate the necessary herbs to make the tincture for Lespheria.

The summer morning light shone clearly through the leave overhead in places, making it easier to search. Vanwe held little hope of finding Sage in the wetter and colder north. She was counting on Cook's foresight in stocking her larder for that ingredient. However, Calendula should be somewhere here, surely. She frowned at the growth around her which refused to give up what she needed, and pushed a little further.

More than once she passed a low, spreading plant that bore white flowers and gave off a pleasant wholesome scent when the leaves were crushed. Hoping it had some possible benefit, provided she could identify it in time for use, Vanwe snatched up a healthy store of the plant and continued her search. It occured to her that her lack of knowledge of northern plant life was working against her, a fact that she did not well like at all.

Brow creased with urgency, Vanwe bent over yet another plant and with a small cry of triumph realised that she had found the Calendula again. She crouched and began to harvest, uncomfortably aware of the time that had passed and that she had no idea where Kaldir was. The shadows between the trees offered her little reassurance.

Knowing where Vanwe was, brows rising at the girl's untrained abilities and how they roamed to and fro with little discipline at all, Naiore turned her own senses wider. Honed to a finely edged weapon that could be turned as easily to one of detection and search, she slipped easily beneath her daughter's unfocused "static" as though she was diving beneath the water's surface.

Naiore had an excellent vantage in her tree, a perch that afforded her a full view of the inn and the surrounds. Combining sharp sight, hearing and empathy, Naiore detected the faintest snag in the erstwhile ocean she swam through with smooth and stealthy strokes. There was something vaguely familiar. She knew whomever it was she sensed. When shadow below shifted fractionally, Naiore realised with a sudden and brilliant smile that Kaldir himself was present.

Two treasures in the one forest, how fortuitous! Vanwe, on the other hand, seemed unaware of both her and Kaldir and was still doing something no doubt menial with the plant. Beside her lay a small pile of the herbs she had already gathered. Should she be snatched by either one, only those herbs would be witness and only another Ranger or similiarly skilled individual would mark that. She sensed no other Rangers nearby.

There was one last thing to take care of before moving. Naiore had no idea how her daughter came to be here, in the north, at an inn no less. She had no way of knowing whether the girl would be missed if she was taken, and if so how soon she would be missed. Observation was necessary still, Naiore noted. It was not likely that the girl would be missed, she postulated, but the risk in the unknown factor was too great to entertain it.

Naiore settled in to where she was perched, studying her daughter who was both alike as a mirror and not. Girl, Naiore thought, although traces of womanhood were in her unconscious movements whether she knew it at all. Still, Vanwe had the dubious talent of blending in to anywhere: which made her kidnapping so much more easier, for who would miss her. Naiore waited to see if her answer of noone was proved right.