================== Eldarin Calendar <in Sindarin> ===================
IC time is: Nighttime < About 11:05 PM >
IC day is: Orithil <Moon-day>
IC date is: 38 Rhiw <Winter>
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent <HIDDEN>
Earendil: Gil-Estel is not visible.
IC year is: Loa 17 o Yen 22, Nelandran o Endor <TA 3041>
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RL time: Fri Sep 14 20:02:03 2007
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Field Hospital
You are in a small clearing cut into the thickets. All about you, the bushes and trees grow thick and unwavering, blocking
out most of the sunlight and dimming the atmosphere. Despite the lack of sunlight or moonlight, the clearing gives of a
calm, quiet, secure feeling. Here is where the Cuigrithweg have made their Field Hospital. Several woven mats are laid about
on the ground in neat rows and a pair of small chests rest at the north side of the Hospital. High above the mats, a large
tarp is strung to provide some shelter on the off chance that it should rain.

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The night air is crisp and calm. The leaves rustle gently, tickled by the wind; a deer moves in the trees. But the sun is
long set, and the moon is hidden at this hour.

The stars reign in the sky. Faint light picks out leaves, golden in the winter; a white sheet, pale lamps. Maglind's
shoulders fall in the starlight, traced with bandages and new scars, but his eyes are dark, fixed on the sleep of another
patient.

With practiced ease, the Guard Tolur enters into the Field Hospital. Just as the path opens into the hallowed place, he sits
his bow and longsword, leaving them far from the healers and their charges. Weaving his wave through the cots, he pauses a
few times to speak to Sentinel's and Wardens who have been injured and now rest to heal. Looking up, he spies the still
slumbering Galharth and he frowns.

He looks not long to his brother-in-law, and after a moment he turns and seeks out another among the injured. "Maglind?" he
asks softly so not to disturb those resting and those administering aide. "How are you? Will it be long till you return to
the borders?"

"It will not be long." Maglind does not look at Tolur, instead turning to unwind a bandage on his arm. Bunching the loose
cloth in his hand, his eyes are still fixed on Galharth's bed. "Tolur ... my father told me everything about him. I ... I am
so sorry."

"Why are you sorry? Neither you nor I, or any here did this to him." Tolur says with a firmness in his voice that is
unwavering. "I still haven't told his sister, but somehow I think she knows." The Guard says with a glance to the Tailor.

Looking back upon the Warden, he eyes the removed bandage. Do the Attendants and Healers now permit their patients to change
their own dressings?" He asks with a grin.

"Why are you sorry? Neither you nor I, or any here did this to him." Tolur says with a firmness in his voice that is
unwavering. "I still haven't told his sister, but somehow I think she knows." The Guard says with a glance to the Tailor.

Looking back upon the Warden, he eyes the removed bandage. Do the Attendants and Healers now permit their patients to change
their own dressings?" He asks with a grin.

"I might have stopped him from coming under attack again. That ellon..." Maglind lowers his eyes. "What do I say to him when
he wakes up?"

Tightening the fistful of bandages, the warden stealthily stows it under the sheets. "See, it's nearly healed. I would think
they know by now." He holds out his right arm, lined with white scars, for inspection. And hides a wince.

A silent shadow moves near, her movements so soft that she barely stirs the air around her--for it is Lostiriel who draws
closer. And indeed there is a shadow about her, for her normally light nature is darkened by a veil of melancholy and
sadness, and her normally smooth brow is lined with worry. There is no twinkle in her grey-blue eyes, indeed, even they
appear darker, like a starless sky in the bleakest of nights. She glances to Maglind and Tolur, but says nothing, for her
gaze then begins sliding to Galharth. Finally she speaks, and her words are whispered into the night, "How is he?"

"If he wakes friend, be joyous that he does. The flame within him is weak." The Guard says flatly. Tolur's words are
neutral, but his eyes flicker with a deep worry. "Alas, there is not that we can do, let him in peace with the healers so
that they might nurture his ills and bring him home so that he might open his eyes once more."

With careful inspection, the Guard nods. "And of your strength? Are you ready to take bow in hand? Looks alone speak not of
the condition." Opening his mouth to say more, the ellon falls silent as Lostiriel speaks. A brief glance towards the still
form of the crafter is given. "He is weak, and still under care for his ills."

"Yes," says Maglind, hiding his face with long fingers. "I will join you soon on the borders. Oh, they are cruel. I would
that we destroyed that catapult sooner, that the attention of the foul yrch might never come this direction."

At Tolur's words, Lostitiel's eyelashes flutter closed for a moment. And yet her expression does not change, for it seems to
be frozen in place. Whatever her eyes are saying goes unread for they are shuttered, momentarily unwilling to meet the gaze
of anyone else. "I see," is her reply, and when she looks up again, her gaze is filled with barely masked sadness. She then
turns to Maglind, "And you? You seem better."

"From their actions and behaviors, it did not seem that these creatures had much care for the catapult. There is suspicion
that this is something more." Tolur says with a short glance to the North.

Glancing towards the Courier, the Guard lifts a brow. "Has there been any word within the Royal Court? Any messages that
might hint of activity that affects all firstborn?"

Maglind peeks through his fingers at the tailor; afraid to look, he parts his hands again. "What more could happen?" he asks
himself, quietly bitter.

Turning, Lostiriel calls over her shoulder, "No, I have heard nothing." And then, silently, she melts back into the
darkness, becoming one with the shadows blanketing the earth.

"That is a small comfort" he says to the Courier. As she turns to leave he nods and watches until she is gone. Glancing back
to the injured Guard, his voice grows soft. "While I can not say for sure, there are rumors." Tolur says as he lowers to sit
himself upon the Warden's cot. Glancing to his right and then his left, the Guard bends his head closer to the Warden. "It's
suggested that the Uruk we've seen are not but a patrol, and the fact that they stayed this long might hint that they
prepared for a larger force."

"What?" stutters Maglind, jerking sharply. "It couldn't be. The group was large enough and yet they took down so many..."
The warden's voice sinks to a mumble as his head droops low. "Revered Elbereth ... let it not be so ... they are just
rumors."

"It was not one camp Maglind, but two." Tolur says softly so not to alarm the patient who now rest. "When we charged, one
camp fled to the west whilst the other to the northeast." Holding up two fingers, the Guard speaks. "Two camps.... each with
distinct markings. Two clans, tribes, or whatever else they call themselves. Watch will certainly be doubled so to be
ready."

"It was not one camp Maglind, but two." Tolur says softly so not to alarm the patient who now rest. "When we charged, one
camp fled to the west whilst the other to the northeast." Holding up two fingers, the Guard speaks. "Two camps.... each with
distinct markings. Two clans, tribes, or whatever else they call themselves. Watch will certainly be doubled so to be
ready."

"I feared that would be so," mutters Maglind. "That day I saw two and they met."

He looks up to Tolur, eyes trembling with sharp light. "We'll shoot them all the same. In a few days I will ask to be
released, and perhaps we will meet on the borders."

"Then you saw the same as others," Tolur says, looking down into his hands. "We must ready ourselves for a coming storm"
Looking up and into the Warden's eyes, he nods. "I'll be glad to see your company return, mellon."

Rising to his feet, he takes a few steps to stand beside the Tailor, Bending low he places his lips to the injured edhel's
ear. "We need you brother, do not loose yourself or many more will join you." Rising up, he nods towards Maglind and makes
his way to the path that would leave the Hospital. Picking up his weapons, he turns once and glances back over the faces
that watch him leave. An instant later he is gone.