[Nerindel]

Taurëwen felt right at home walking through the forest, she spoke little instead content to listen to what the others had to say. They were now two days away from the safety of their elven realm. Taurëwen recalled the cold shiver that had ran down her back as they passed under the eaves of the two large silver barked trees that stood either side of the south gate. She had always thought of them as silent sentries, that protected the gate from unwanted intruders. But as they had passed under them it seemed to Taurëwen that their bark was now a dark grey and that their branches now banged on the gates trying to break them down. She shivered again and shook the thought from her mind.

Other thoughts quickly replaced them, the wolf that Ihwesta and Arië had spoke of for one bothered her, she was quite attuned to sensing the pains of others be it elf or beast, it is what made her such a good healer. Hearing the trackers words she had stretched out her innate senses to find the beast, she had sensed nothing. Having no idea how far the two elven women had scouted ahead, she concluded that the wolf was either not injured and been frightened off by the elves presence or that the poor thing had died of it's wounds. the latter had saddened her.

But as they continued their journey, questions crept into her mind, one in particular plagued her. If the beast was injured why had Ihwesta and Arië found no trace of this? tracks? traces of blood? Something? she thought. She in no way doubted either elf's abilities, but something just didn't seem right to her. As she thought these things the company came to a stop, As she looked forwards she could she Ihwesta beckoning Ceros and Arië forwards. She watched intently as Ihwesta bent down and traced her hands across the ground.

"I believe we have found a sign of the enemy," she heard Ceros sigh, as she and the others drew closer. Taurëwen regarded Ceros for a moment, Had he secretly hoped, that he was wrong? if this was the case she could understand, no one would wish such things to be true. Or did their leader see something else that worried him, she sifted her gaze from the elf to the foot print the three had been examining, it was nothing she had ever seen before, her tracking skills were limited to the animals of the forest and her fellow elves, who's tracks were light on the ground and only close inspection would reveal them, but this print was course and marked the ground clearly, but still she could not guest as to what would make such a heavy print.

Ceros moved them on and they continued at a slow pace, Taurëwen now held her bow in her hand, she had thought that the print did not seem all that old and she wished to be prepared if they should come across it's owner. Her elven ears listened to the sounds of the woods listening for something new or unfamiliar. Shortly before dusk Ceros again stopped the company, they had left the broken path and found a small clearing, it is there that they set up camp. Taurëwen began gathering fire wood, hoping beyond hope that she would not be asked to hunt, for she could see that some of the elves were growing tired of Lembas and dried fruits.

As she fleeted silently in and out of the trees searching for fallen branches and dead wood, she sensed another followed her doing the same, she smiled that the thought of not being alone, she normally preferred to be alone, but the wood seemed less friendly here, and although it saddened her greatly, she was gratified that another was with her. She turned her head slightly to see which elf aided her in her task...