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Raefindan (for LMP)
"Nethwador?" Mellonin glanced around, and then sighed. "His horse is gone. Well, since the danger is here with us, I will not fear for him."
"Nevertheless," said Roy, "too many of our number have wandered off. Incidentally, where is Jorje? I haven't seen him with anyone."
"Jorje!" Mellonin's eyes went wide. "I have not seen him either! Not since we left Marigold!"
"Marigold? Who is that?"
"She was an old woman who lived just outside the Entwash swamp. Well, she was not just an old woman. I wonder if Jorje stayed with her?"
"You stayed with this old, not old woman?" Roy asked.
Mellonin looked at Roy a long moment, then laughed quietly a moment, shaking her head, looking to the snow covered ground. "We do not know what she is. I think, did she say, mayhap, she was a Riverdaughter? I know not."
Roy stared into the fire.
"What are you thinking, Raefindan?" Mellonin asked.
"That I should go to her and Jorje and recuse myself from this quest."
"Re.... coos?" Mellonin shook her head. "To chirp like a pigeon over again? I do not understand you."
Roy allowed a small smile and faced her. "It is one of the reasons I should go to this Marigold. It means to remove myself, for my presence is unhelpful to the quest."
"Unhelpful! How can you say that?"
Roy regarded Mellonin with eyes as sad as she had ever seen from him. "I cannot tell you. If I did, it would make things so much the worse."
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