Daughter of Starlight

Chapter Three: Things Have Changed

At the top is just a little Polyvore set I made to go along with the story like the one I had in the first chapter. I'm going to have maybe one or two more sets to go with the rest of the story just to help give you an idea of what Laerornien looks like. The clothes in the set above are basically what Laerornien wears while traveling.

The company left Beorn's house soon after they finished their lunch. I informed Gandalf of the detour I would be taking, and he reluctantly agreed with my decision. It seemed that he had wished I would stay close to the company. I, however, wasn't very eager to meet my death so soon. I still had hope in the adventure to the Lonely Mountain, that I would recover the gems of my people and return home. I would prefer not to return with an arrow in my chest.

We made our way quickly to the edge of Mirkwood, apprehension growing inside of me with every step my horse took. Closer and closer to the forest we went, until we were literally right at the border.

I remained farthest from the tree line, nervous about even getting off my horse, but Gandalf beckoned me over encouragingly after making sure there was no danger to me.

"The elven gate," he murmured, then turned to the dwarves. "Here lies our path through Mirkwood."

"No sign of the orcs," Dwalin said smugly. "We have luck on our side."

Gandalf gave him a warning look, then his gaze was diverted to the top of the distant craggy hill, where Beorn's bear form stood guard over us.

"Set the ponies loose," Gandalf said. "Let them return to their master."

"This forest feels . . . sick," Bilbo commented. "As if a disease lies upon it."

I stepped up to the elven gate, not daring to step past it while I studied the trees in shock.

"Is there no way around?" Bilbo asked.

"Not unless you travel two hundred miles north," Gandalf replied absentmindedly, studying the statues at the gate. "Or twice that distance south."

"This is not the same forest I left," I said to myself. Mirkwood's trees were a beautiful brown and their leaves should have been a glowing amber in this time of autumn, their color enriched by the sun. The forest before me was almost unrecognizable. The trunks were black, the soil on the ground grey and covered with decaying plant life. No birds chirped, no squirrels or chipmunks scurried up and down the tree trunks. Only the ominous blowing of the wind rustling the remaining dark leaves on the trees could be heard.

"Gandalf," I uttered the wizard's name in dread. "I don't think they should go through here. There's something within the forest that I don't like."

I recalled Beorn's words of the darkness that laid upon the forest, wishing I had paid them mind much sooner. These woods were deep and complex, and the elven road was the only path that led you directly through it. But with this amount of darkness shrouding it, I knew the dwarves would not last long.

"Gandalf?" He had not responded to me.

I turned to look at him as he ripped a cloak of growing ivy off the front of a statue at the gate. I saw some red paint on the statue's chest, but was distracted from the sight as Gandalf suddenly hurried away from the trees, a panicked look in his eye.

Nori had been setting all the ponies loose so that they could go back to their home, but Gandalf said, "Not my horse! I need it."

I looked at Gandalf in stunned silence, frozen in shock before I went after him.

"You're not leaving us," Bilbo said fearfully, hoping that his words were true, but Gandalf was in fact leaving us.

"I would not do this if I did not have to," he assured Bilbo. He spared a second to talk with the hobbit, a conversation that was muffled to our ears, then headed towards his horse.

"Gandalf, you can't leave!" I cried. I stepped in front of his horse, grabbing the reigns and holding the horse in place. "They need someone to guide them, someone to make sure they won't stray from the path."

"They do have someone," he said, climbing onto his horse and gently prying the reigns from my fingers. "You."

"Me?" My voice was shocked and frightful. "I can't--"

"You know those paths like no one else, Laerornien," he said. "You must find a way to guide the company and avoid revealing yourself." He then looked to the dwarves.

"I will be waiting for you at the overlook before the slopes of Erebor. Keep the map and key safe," he told Thorin, giving him a firm look. "Do not enter that mountain without me."

I couldn't find any words to express my shock and even fear at Gandalf's sudden need to leave us so quickly. "Gandalf, please," I pleaded, but he was already galloping away.

That was how he left us, barely able to register that he had been here one moment and gone the next.

Why? I thought. Why does he have to leave? I can't do this!

I finally turned to the dwarf company once again. They all looked up to me, literally. I was their guardian now, and they my charges. No matter what Thorin said, that was how it was now.

"Laerornien."

I looked to Kili, who was looking at me earnestly, along with the rest of the company. Well, except Thorin. He was standing at the edge of the forest, ready to go, but was listening to what was transpiring over here.

"You know you don't have to come with us," Kili said. "We can do this by ourselves."

I looked to Thorin, but he didn't say anything. His silence seemed to be saying that it was my decision.

With Gandalf's words ringing in my head, I said, "Set my horse loose, Nori."

I stepped past Thorin, my first step past the borders of Mirkwood in sixty years. "It looks like I'm coming with you idiots."

I heard Thorin sigh and his comrades laugh. I, however, was in no laughing mood. I clutched my bow tightly in my hand and and squared my shoulders. I couldn't just leave the men that had grown to be my friends to fend for themselves in these woods. While they looked completely unfamiliar, I hoped that if we stayed on the road, we would make it to the lake on the other side without much trouble. But seeing as trouble always seemed to find me, we would undoubtedly encounter something that stood in our way.

I just hoped that it wouldn't be my father's wrath.