Seeds of the White Tree

Chapter 25 - Footsteps Retraced

OoOoO

As promised, Arwen Undómiel set out from Minas Tirith with the last breath of winter fleeing before her. Eruthiawen and Almárëa went with her, as did Faramir and Elboron as well as Legolas. Éowyn, though regretful to miss the journey to Annúminas, was obliged to stay behind and govern Ithilien in Faramir's absence. Likewise Gimli sent his regrets and a few vague excuses, but as Aragorn had predicted the old dwarf could no longer manage such long travel on horseback with his leg. So it was that the party of six - as well as ten knights of Gondor for the road - set out across the lands of Anórien, then the Eastfold.

They stopped and stayed for a time at Edoras, where they were welcomed heartily by Éomer and his household. Eruthiawen, Almárëa, and Elboron were all delighted to see Elfwine, who had over the past two-and-some years grown into both his beard and role as Third Marshal. He was also courting again, a fact which provoked teasing without mercy from Almárëa. Arwen paid respects for herself and Aragorn at King Théoden's tomb, as well as enjoyed many fine evenings in the Golden Hall of Meduseld listening to the Rohirric poets recite their sagas. By the time they set out on the road once more, spring was already rapidly turning the rolling hills of the Westfold into a mosaic of early-blooming wildflowers.  Blue-eyed grass, groundplum, and dandelion peeked through the thaw to reveal their colourful faces to a robin's-egg-blue sky, and the earthy scent of life re-awakened blew over the hills.

The road bent along the edge of the Ered Nimrais until it reached the Gap of Rohan. Away to the north, the misty blue-green haze of Fangorn Forest could just be seen, as could a far lone spire of black stone. Legolas, shading his eyes against the midday sun, described a young forest sprung up around the crumbled walls of what had once been Isengard.

"Is that the place they call 'The Watchwood'?" Almárëa asked him.

Legolas nodded, still gazing at the now-empty tower from which Saruman had once commanded legions.

"It is, although properly it is named 'The Treegarth of Orthanc' by the Ents, who are its caretakers. There is a lake there now as well. It is a far different place from what it was when the fallen White Wizard was first defeated."

"Do you think we might stop and see the Ents, Your Grace?" Elboron asked Arwen.

Arwen sat for a moment looking at Orthanc from afar. Then she shook her head.

"I do not think so, Elboron. We count the Ents among our friends, but I think they wish to be left to themselves now. Let them keep their Watchwood in peace, we will not intrude upon it."

Thus they passed through the Gap of Rohan into the west of Middle-Earth. They kept to the old North-South Road across the vast grasslands of the Enedwaith. Once a void, emptied land, the Enedwaith was now being re-peopled by the folk of the Reunited Kingdoms. The humble beginnings of settlements which had sprung up since the end of the War of the Ring greeted them along the North-South road, and most nights they found inns only too happy to offer the Queen of Gondor and her party shelter from the elements. The Enedwaith was still a wild land though, and some nights they bedded down beneath the stars. Faramir told them stories around the fire on those nights, and Eruthiawen sang for them in the elvish tongue. Sometimes Almárëa or even Arwen joined her, and their voices mingled in sweet concert which put even the nightingales and meadowlarks to shame.

On the eve of the fifth day since passing through The Gap of Rohan, Arwen and her followers came to the town and ford of Tharbad. It was at Tharbad that the waters of the Mitheithel and Glanduin met and joined to become the mighty Gwathló, or Greyflood River, which flowed over a hundred miles to the shores of the western sea. Once devastated by war and The Great Plague of 1636, Tharbad had like so many other towns seen a return to life in the dawning days of the Fourth Age. Although it was no Minas Tirith, the town of Tharbad was a place of long history in Middle-Earth. Signs of the presence of early Númenor showed in the high, graceful arches of the buildings and the strength of the ford's pillars: still supporting the bridge across the Gwathló as it had done for near a thousand years.