All Who Wander Are Not Lost

Chapter 15

T.A. 2859

"So, how did it go?"

"It was really...boring?"

"I told you that patrols weren't that exciting."

"Yeah right, you told story after story about all the things that happened when you were out on patrol. It sounded super exciting!"

"Those were brief moments in longer periods of time, not everything was constantly interesting, or funny."

"Makes me wish something had actually happened. We didn't see anything! No orcs. No goblin. Not even a stray warg. There was nothing!" Mariam slumped onto her bed, groaning as she did so.

"I missed my bed though, I forgot how soft it was when were were sleeping out under the stars. The ground was so rocky, even when I thought that I had moved all the stones out of the way." she grumbled.

"You get used to it after a while," Thennil chuckled, eyes filled with amusement.

"Yeah, you never mentioned that. Or the fact that we would only eat Lembas! That was awful!"

"Again, you get used to if after a while."

"I'm sure."

Thennil leaned against the doorframe, watching the young woman strip off her armor, hanging it up on the hooks that lined the wall. She could hear her quiet groans as she was forced to move muscles that she had never known she had had, stretching them as she took care of her sword and numerous daggers. Her long hair had been braided back, her family braids interwoven through the strands. She rolled her sore shoulders, and stretched her arms above her head, popping a few vertebrae in her back as she pulled. Everything hurt, and her muscles were sore from sitting on her horse for long hours everyday. Why had she ever wanted to be apart of a patrol?

"I've prepared the bath for you, there's some oils that will help with those sore muscles of yours," she teased, ushering her adopted niece into the bathing room.

"Yeah, yeah, pick on me a little more. The other's probably aren't feeling a thing, being elves and all," Mariam teased back, untying her braid and using her fingers to separate the pieces, "The joys of being a dwarf!"

"You complain to much, you know that, right?"

"Whatever," Mariam muttered beneath her breath, fully knowing that her aunt could hear everything she said.

She began to strip down out of her dirty clothes, tossing them into the laundry basket that inhabited the corner of the bath. Upon entering the hot water, she let out a hiss as her muscles tensed, then relaxed It felt glorious, almost like she imagined heaven to be if there was one for her people. Settling in under the top of the water, she smiled tiredly.

"Where is Naneth? I didn't see her when I returned."

Thennil hesitated, knowing that she would have to address this cautiously. She finished pulling out a new pair of clothes for her niece, unfolding them so that the wrinkles would be smoothed out as the humidity from the hot water entered the air. Taking her time, she set everything up the way she wanted it, collecting her thoughts into a logical order.

Mariam sensed her trepidation, and instantly knew that something was wrong. "What is it?"

"Well, I don't really know how to tell you," she sighed, knowing that her next words might break the young woman.

"Tell me what?" Mariam's voice wavered as she rose out of the water.

Tears glistening in her eyes, Thennil turned to look at her young niece, emotions bubbling up underneath the surface. "She's fading, Mariam."