[Feanor of the Peredhil]

The party had continued onward some two hours after the fall. Inzillomi gave her reins over to a willing hostler and rode in a cart beside the man. His leg was well-bound and his symptoms were uncomfortable. She felt bad about the rash, but they had washed the oils off his hands before it could spread beyond his leg. They had managed to bandage him before the itching had began, and so all that the guards could see was a bruised swelling. The swelling itself was impressive... she hadn't been sure if the liquid would work. Inzillomi had been rushed through her brewing of the three-leaved plant... she had almost splashed herself with the mixture more than once, but when finished, she had almost a half dozen vials of the deep purple stuff. She chastised herself over the rash... she needed to think of a way to separate out the effects of the plant... In the mean time, the man beside her was the very picture of hidden discomfort. She knew that he must itch like mad, given the expanse of skin that he had "bruised" for the sake of the cause.

She favored him with a smile, assuring him that the rash would clear up quite soon with the old woman's remedy and that his leg would stay swollen for awhile, but that he was quite brave and that he was quite deserving of praise. He smiled back and stretched out as much as he could in the cramped space. He longed to be back on his mount, but good actor though he was, it would be entirely too hard to convince suspicious guards that the recipient of a very recent broken leg was comfortable enough to ride.

Inzillomi stayed with him until the crushed herbs began to soothe him, speaking softly of sea shores and salty winds. As he dozed, she left him, walking for a time beside the children. Eagerly they showed her what they had found during their "break". As she praised them over the discoveries of shimmering black stones and delicate white blossems, small hands found their way into hers. A short time later, she found her mount once more and rode with the young ladies, gossiping about the handsome young men said to inhabit the eastern shores. Time passed slowly and all the while, her mind rested on her husband... she could only hope that the rescuers were making as good progress as she was.