[littlemanpoet]

Ravion stopped and faced Aeron, his face impassive. "If you must take it so, so be it. Lying is not the worst offense of all my days. You are freed of the vow. Do what you will." He turned again and left them.

Aeron let out a whoop of glee. "Time to go, Gwyllion. Let us be gone from here! Back to Minas Tirith and good thieving!"

This was not good, thought Raefindan. Especially not in the darksome chill of the night. Ravion had made it quite clear why he was leaving, being somehow of the opinion that his leadership of the group was too flawed to continue further. It was absurd.

"I do not want to go," Gwyllion said in a forlorn voice. "I am too tired. I want to sleep."

"Fine, then sleep. We'll leave in the morning." Aeron sat down next to his sister and stared into the fire again.

From what Raefindan knew of other rangers - from what he had read? (he shook his head) - flawed leadership was no reason to quit. Quitting was a worse mistake than any made be persevering, short of betrayal or open murder. It revealed a worse flaw in character than admitting one's mistakes and making the best of bad situations. Quitting meant that Ravion did not really trust in the warp and weft of how the world worked, that a thing might be meant to happen.

And this, too, might be meant to happen, come full circle, for it made quite a few new things thinkable that had not been up until now. Among them were the departure of Aeron and Gwyllion. Another was that Mellonin and he would be free to move on, and perhaps at a quicker pace, unencumbered by the care of Aeron and Gwyllion. On the other hand, not having a Ranger to lead, meant that they were now at the mercy of the trail.

It also meant that Ravion might be free to search for Mellondu on his own, also free of the care of Aeron and Gwyllion, not to mention of Mellonin and himself! Ravion had been chiefly responsible for keeping him alive when he had had pneumonia.

"We shall simply have to not get sick, or lost, or injured, or overly hungry," he mumbled to himself.

"What, Raefindan?" Mellonin asked.

"We shall have to be very careful to stay healthy, and keep our wits about us, doubly hard with both you and I losing sleep from bad dreams." He stood suddenly. "I must catch him and convince him to come back to us. We need him too much." He strode past Mellonin.

"Raefindan, wait!" Mellonin blurted.

It was not in Raefindan to brush off anyone for any reason, no matter how urgent his purpose. His stride faltered and he faced her.

Having his attention, Mellonin's gaze faltered and she looked to the ground. "Let him go. Maybe it is better this way."

"You know it is not."

She threw up her hands and rubbed her forehead as if to massage some useful thought from an overtired mind. "Let him go anyway. Give him time."

Raefindan sighed. Very well then. He walked over to the fire and faced Aeron and Gwyllion. "You two are going back to Minas Tirith in the morning?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Aeron replied.

Raefindan walked back over to Mellonin. "I have no sleep left in me. I slept for a very short while and dreamed badly before Ravion left us. You have had no sleep, but I wager that sleep is not near you either."

"'Tis so," she nodded.

"Then let us leave." She nodded again. Raefindan turned to Aeron and Gwyllion. "Mellonin and I are leaving this place, for sleep is far from us. You must choose now if you will come with us, or stay here and sleep. Maybe you will catch up to us on the morrow, if that is your choice. So are you coming with, or staying here?"