Old Road along the edge of the forest
A wide path of well-packed dirt and small pebbles skirts along the western edge of a forest of silvery birchs. The sun's rays, unimpeded by tree limbs here, shine down brightly on an expanse of green grass dotted with brightly colored wild flowers and herbs. A faint track veers to the east, shadows lengthening as it nears the close growing trees. From high in the branches, several birds sing a sweet melody, the ruffle of leaves and twigs signaling the presence of one of the many small animals that live in the forest.

Early evening has found a comfortable muse in the forest of Brethil near the crossings, and taunts the brightness of the silvery birches with its insistent lowering of color as the sun slips down to just touch the western horizon. Though the sun is long gone from sight in the forest, the sky is yet given to light--though mellowed--and the long summer days seem to sigh with a cool breath of relief at the orb's passing below the tall treeline. Already in this checkpoint camp of the Haladin, a fire is started to burning, though left unattended while the sentries--ever watchful--perch in the trees nearby, though occasionally their quiet conversations can be heard with the shifting of the wind.

Near the fireside, but sitting lazily against the base of a sturdy birch sits the healer Aldawin. Her eyes are half-closed, and she looks approaching weary--as if from a long day's journey--though no frown nor unpleasant expression crosses her face, and as the fire sputters and catches the lick of flames anew upon a stubborn piece of wood, she opens her eyes and watches the merry flicker of light as it dances in the firepit before her.

The quiet voices of the sentries is momentarily hushed as someone approaches the camp, then raised again in greeting when they recognize some of their own. The conversation between the various parties is brief, however, and the footsteps of the new arrivals, for there are two of them soon approach the place where the Beorian healer sits by the fire.

"I have found one of your own." The familiar voice of Corrin son of Corso sounds, possibly breaking into the quiet reverie of the tired healer. Though his hands are full, with a small sack and what appears to be a fairly plump, if dead, rabbit, he still manages to gesture towards the person accompanying him as he comes into view, indicating that that person is whom he was referring to in his speech.

Grazing the pebbles with her booted feet, the tanned features and unmistakable copper haired messenger comes into view , as she steps into the circle of flickering firelight. A rueful twitch of the lips is given, at perhaps being found, one cannot say for the messenger is oddly quiet, her gaze falling in recognition to the healer. "Thank you...Mi'lord.."she says quietly, granting a slight smile for her deilverance, though the sheepish look in the grey eyes woul indicate her displeasure at losing herself amidst the shadowed woods. Indeed, those that would call the Beorian woman less than "woodsy" would be correct in their opinion.

"Aldawin?" The next of her words is directed to the lounging figure, surprise writ in the sharp gaze. "I had not expected to find you here...It is good to see you " She smiles, widely, looking to the Haladin.."Corrin..has brought you dinner...Mi'lady."

Indeed, only caught in a partial muse, the healer's half-shut eyes widen immediately upon the familiar voice of Corrin and she near-springs to her feet to see that Sionell accompanies the warden. "What a glad meeting of friends," she says, her smile broadening as the two approach. And while the rabbit bound for the pot is given a glance, Aldawin's gaze is upon her friends far longer as she approaches them, the slight cast of weariness faded with her smile. "I was told you were here, Sionell," she says. "Our arrival was only recently made, and I am only here for the moment."

Corrin nods, a slight smile touching his face as the two Beorians are reunited. For his own part, the reticent Haladin settles down nearby, busying himself with the preparation of dinner for those present. The rabbit having already been skinned and cleaned where he caught it, the Haladin carefully prepares a surface to work with, then begins cutting the meat into small pieces. The contents of the sack are also taken out, revealing a number of small tubers, the dirt still on them, what appears to be a bunch of leeks.

Shifting uncomfortably bneath the long cloak heavy on her shoulders, Sionell nods, her fingers moving to untie the strings drawing the thick fabric about her neck. A smile rides still upon her lips, "It is indeed good to be among friends again.."she says slowly, her head half swiveling to look behind them. "I fear..I wandered a bit away, from our camp...those scouts will be looking for me soon. "The last is animated with a mysterious smirk and one cannot be certain whether the woman is delighted or displeased by the idea. "You...will be leaving here soon? Where are you going Aldawin?"she asks, tunring her attention to the healer, when the sight of the Haladin preparing the repast catches her eyes. She chuckles softly, "Might I give you a hand with that Mi'lord? tis a small price to offer in return for your services." The wind blows overhead rustling the leaves above and lifting the wisps of copper hair framing the messenger's face, to reveal a dark bruise at her temples.

"I travelled here from Amon Obel with Istadris," Aldawin says. "Corrin here, brought word two days ago of Finnabair missing from your group, and Istadris wished to join in the search, while I insisted upon coming in case a healer was needed." The young Beorian woman's grey eyes look to the Haladin warden now, busy as he is preparing the rabbit and vegetables for the stew. "So there is no news on Finnabair's whereabouts?" she asks, but the tone suggests that she well knows the answer already.

Looking over at the two Beorians as they address him, Corrin chooses to answer Aldawin's query first. "No," he says briefly, "I'm afraid not." Turning then to regard Sionell, he notes first, pointing to the bruise on her temple, "Did you have a knock there, recently?" Then, moving on to her offer of assistance, he adds with a nod in the direction of those objects, "You might clean and peel the tubers and leeks, if you wish."

Sionell nods moving swiftly to kneel by the warden's side, her hands going in search of the tubers. "I hope no ill has befallen the lady.."she says quietly, her voice strangely subdued, as the grey eyes lift to flicker from the face of the healer to the warden. "We parted at the shores of the Teiglin...she had said she would go ahead to scout and such...and after we crossed, we...have not seen the lady." She trails off, drawing a small knife from her sleeves to skin the tubers, when the Haladin's last question causes a slight flush to rise to her cheeks, though indiscernable in the long evening shadows. "Yes...there was a slight mishap on the river...knocked my head on a rock.."she concludes lamely, setting to the task of peeling the tubers with sudden energy.

Talk of the messenger's mishap draws Aldawin's attention from the meal being prepared to the bruises now visible on the side of Sionell's head. "That must have hurt at the time," the Beorian healer muses, withdrawing her own hunting knife and taking up one of the leeks and peeling off the outer layer to reveal the fine silty dirt hidden between. "Might I take a look at it after we have finished here, Sionell?" she asks, stripping another of the leeks in quick fashion and then opening the flask of her waterskin to rinse the dirt away before motioning to the vegetables with her knife. "Shall I cut these?" she asks with an enquiring look to the warden.

Corrin nods to Sionell as she describes her parting with Finnabair and accident at the river, having heard the first story before albeit secondhand, but quietly attentive nonetheless. The healer's offer to see to Sionell's bruise gains her a brief look of approval, though the Haladin, as usual, does not say anything. When Aldawin asks about the leeks, however, he nods, saying succinctly, "Yes, please." Then, pausing in his cutting of the meat, he wipes his hands and goes to set a large cooking pot half-full of water placed nearby earlier by another Haladin, on the fire to boil.

Dusting the dirt off the tubers with her hands, rubbing over them vigourously Sionell looks to the healer, quietly. "Might I pour some of your water on these I fear to have left my own pouch at the campsite.." Another disatisfied twitch of the lips accompanies the words, rueful in tone. She lifts a hand to touch the bruise , slightly, nodding her consent to the healer's offer, a brief smile touching her lips. "If you would I'd be grateful Mi'lady.."she says, softly before returning to removing the hard skin of the rough tubers.

Handing the waterskin to Sionell and offering the messenger a grin, Aldawin next moves to kneel nearer the board where Corrin prepares the other food, and quickly cuts the leeks crosswise neatly, going about the task of a practiced hand. Her glance flicks upwards intermittently, though the eyes are mostly hidden in her lowered gaze. "What news is there of the yrch?" she asks quietly at last, perhaps betraying previously unvoiced worries by the solemn look that accompanies the question. "How closely do they approach the borders of the woodlands?"

"Close, but not in great numbers," replies Corrin, returning to cutting up the meat and removing the bones, "I ventured across the Teiglin towards the borders the lands belonging to the King of Nargothrond in search of Finnabair, and saw signs of their presence there. They were not unnoticed by the elves of Nargothrond, however, I think. Though it seemed like the elf was fleeing from the yrch from the tracks I saw."

Sloshing the water carelessly over the tubers, Sionell smiles nodding to Aldawin, before her gaze centres on the task at hand. She listens quietly to the talk of the yrch, her eyes darkening recalling the encounter with the fouls beasts many nights ago...and a frown settles on her lips. Shoving the tubers to the side, she gives them a final rinse before handing them to the Haldadin, a slight smile brief on her lips. " We came across some of the beasts ourselves.."she murmers. "I wonder if it is the same ones..."

Aldawin slows in her motions of slicing the vegetables as Corrin speaks, listening intently, her mouth set in a determinedly neutral expression, though her eyes are more given to the betrayal of her worry. "I see," she says in response after he has spoken, though says naught else in the interim before Sionell speaks out. With the messenger's own confirmation, Aldawin's mouth twitches to a frown at last. "Some...how many? And where?" the Beorian healer asks, leaving the last half of the leek uncut.

As the water begins to boil, Corrin quickly finishes cutting up the last of the meat, and cleans off his hands. "No more than a handful," he says carefully, with a glance towards the Beorian healer, "And if they were so careless as to be spotted by the Farothrim of Nargothrond, they will likely not be leaving that place alive." Picking up a smaller pot with a handle with one hand, he scoops a fair amount of the boiling water out of the cookpot, then sprinkles some of the contents from one of his pounches into the smaller pot. The fresh scent of a herbal tea soon fills the air. "Tea?" offers the Haladin gently, watching the two Beorian women with what might almost be construed as sympathy for their worry.

"I..am not certain..Mi'lady." is the messenger's embarrassed answer. "It all seemed so, hazy now..it was in the night, the scouts would tell you in greater detail, my part was to remain hidden I fear..."she says slowly, turning the knife over in her hands and wiping the blade across the sides of her breeches, to remove the wet dirt.Seemingly relieved that the Haladin afforded the lady more information than she could have, she sighs, nodding to his offer of tea with a grateful dip of the head. "I ..will return soon myself, lest they come to search for me..again." She remarks bleakly, referring to the scouts it would seem.

With an upward glance, Aldawin bids a quiet farewell to Sionell, then goes about finishing cutting the vegetables before cleaning and sheathing the hunting knife at her side, still largely silent of her own musings. "Aye, tea would be good," she says with a wan smile to the warden, drawing a hand up quickly to tuck her hair behind her ears before moving back from her kneel upon the ground to sitting crosslegged before the fire. "I will glad when they both have returned, safe," she finally says as a window to her thoughts.

In response, Corrin goes over to to where some supplies are kept and brings back some small wooden cups. He pours out the tea, which has now had time to brew, and hands one cup each to the Beorians, giving Aldawin a quiet nod when she speaks in silent acknowledgement of her words. Then, while waiting for his own cup to cool enough for drinking, he quickly adds the various prepared ingredients to the pot, finishing up by adding a sprinkling of dried garlic and fresh rosemary from his own stash of herbs, which the warden always seems to have when out at the periphery camps. It is only when that is all done and the pot covered that Corrin sits back to relax, and pick up his cup of tea.

Receiving the tea with a grateful "Thank you," to the warden, Aldawin studies Corrin's face a moment, though lowers her gaze to the tea in the wooden cup next. "Surely there must be some good news in all of the uncertain to be had lately..." she offers, looking back up to Corrin and the other Haladin that have come to take their tea near the fireside. The grey gaze travels to each in turn before the healer forces a smile and once again lowers her gaze--this time to the simmering pot of stew.

"Well," says Corrin as he leans against a tree trunk with his cup of tea, "My cousin has had a healthy baby girl, making me, in a way, an uncle. Leana's ankle has gotten better, and so she complains about it less. Old mother Sago fell off her table while trying to patch a hole in her roof, but claims that it did her no hurt and has miraculously cured the lower back pain she's had for years." The warden glances over at Aldawin with a wry smile at this point, and adds, "I suppose we must take our joy where we can find it, and cherish it all the more in times like this."

As Corrin obliges Aldawin with the better news of the village, the healer's mouth is coaxed from it's worried furrow to a smile, and she chuckles lightly at the accident of falling touted as cure. Her gaze flashing back to the warden, Aldawin nods with that same gentle smile, clutching the wooden cup in her hands and drawing in a deep breath. "Aye. There is truth in that," she agrees, bringing the cup of tea to her lips of a sip. "You speak as my brothers would were they here," she says quietly, the cup still raised close to her lips, her mouth twitching to a smile, but her gaze still trained downwards.

A warm smile softens Corrin's face for a few moments when Aldawin chuckles, but having said his piece, he falls into silence again, watching the other men come and help themselves to the tea till the pot is empty. One of the last to do so stops in front of the seated pair, and asks Corrin something in their language. The warden answers in a fairly relaxed tone, but nevertheless gets to his feet. As he prepares to accompany the other man to wherever their errand must take them, Corrin turns back to Aldawin and says politely before leaving, "Please excuse me for a moment, Aldawin. And if you could make sure the pot does not boil over, I would appreciate it."

With an upward glance from the cup of tea, Aldawin nods an affirmation to the warden. "Aye, I will do that," she says, taking another slow sip from the cup and glancing to the simmering stew in the pot. The last dying hints of sunlight begin to withdraw, but the fire is warm and flickering in the cooling evening, and with a last glance to the warden as he walks beyond her view, Aldawin settles once again to confer amongst her own concerns.