"You seem to know this Inn well, why visit you here?"
"Why do I visit?" Soronume repeated Vanataurien's question aloud then thought on the answer for a few moments. "I initially was just, 'passing through' you might say. As most to the inn, I was travelling and needed a place to stop and the inn presented itself. Quite easily I became accustomed to it, the diversity of its inhabitants and the warmth that it offers to those as us. I seemed to be able to just 'slip' into the inn and my existance hardly noticable at first, at least when I did not mean to be noticed." He paused realising that was no longer the case, but then cleared his mind and continued to answer the question.
"I made a friend here, well there are of course others," he glanced over to the two tables where both Niniel and Christienne and Elwen and Dorelnar sat. "But one inparticular, the first I made some time ago, when the inn was still in the hands of a dwarf." this last comment seemed to surprise Vanataurien, but Soronume continued regardless. "Her name was Eruwen, a shy maiden she was but very warm." He smiled. "We left the inn and seemed to quite literally 'fall' into a small company, and a quest to Cirith Ungol." Soronume paused and sighed heavily. Vanataurien noticed that Soronume seemed to be holding this matter very close to his heart still, but before she could say anything he quickly continued. "It claimed her life. The quest. And in doing so, it left scars that will never fade, or ease with time" he was sure to brush quickly over that last part. It was true that the tale still pained him, and he moved his hand away from the table and to his side.
Vanataurien remained silent. "I suppose that although we achieved what we had set out to achieve," Soronume continued, "the losses on the way meant I couldn't be content where I was, and having never felt at home any where, this inn seemed the nearest thing." "Because you met Eruwen here?" Vanataurien questionned carefully. Soronume just nodded. The maidens voice was soft, "I'm sorry." "There is no need to be sorry m'lady, there was nothing anyone could have done, least of all someone who was not there" He tried to force a smile but he could see in Vanataurien's face that it did not appear as such. Not knowing how to continue after such a moment he sat back in his chair and fell into the shadow of an overhanging wall...
|