@Romeran
Ranger Tirdinen
Duinion Raedor
A meadow in the mountains
The sound of the gentle rain was a relaxing sound. It penetrated through his subconscious, manifesting in Duinion's dreams as the swirl of a current in a very familiar stream.
The water swept by, merrily without care, despite the cares of those who sat upon its banks. A faint sound of hoof beats seemed to echo in his memory, though perhaps it was really the sound of raindrops drumming upon the tarp. The heartache seemed distant, but it was there, mingled with the guilt of his failures.
“You should have let me die with my friends!” The despairing words of a drunken friend rang through his mind, stinging just as harshly as they did then.
If only he had gotten there sooner. If only he'd had his bow ready...
“Some lessons are learned in the hardest way possible. But, those are often the hardest ones to forget.” Her voice was soft, but full of understanding.
He looked down at their joined hands, then up again. With her gaze focused downward, a curtain of dark hair hid her face, and seemed to taunt him. Why could he not see her face? That troubled him, and he focused on the water again as it parted and swirled around the stones that rose up from the shallow water.
“Duinion.”
Her voice, though gentle and soft, cut through the mental anguish and called to him, as if compelling him to turn and look at her. He did, and became lost in those lovely gray eyes that gazed at him with sorrow and kindness. “Stop asking why, Duinion,” She whispered in his ear, her arms wrapped around him.
He found himself in even more wonder of this beautiful, unique, wonderful girl. How was it that she knew just what to say to help him get through this?
"...Duinion, I think my watch is over,"
These words clashed with his memory of how that conversation had gone. There were large chunks of it missing, some things had been in the wrong order, but that particular sentence didn't even belong there. Confused, his subconscious mind tried to place when such a thing had been said. Gradually, his consciousness withdrew from the world of dreams, and he slowly blinked his eyes open. It was dark... too dark to see anything. His breath caught in his throat, tensing as he stared at the void of darkness around him. It took a couple of seconds to register that it was also raining. The faint smell of wildflowers mingling with the scent of rain next hit him, and he remembered where he was. Then he was aware of someone kneeling near him. Romeran. Right, that's who had spoken. That made a lot more sense. He relaxed as his brain confirmed where he was and who was with him. And, though he wanted to roll over and go back to sleep now that the puzzlement had been solved, Duinion's sleepy brain put together what the words meant. Rome's watch was over, which meant it was Duinion's turn. "Hm, right." He mumbled, still a bit sleepy as he sat up with a sigh. After taking a moment to stretch, he put a hand out to catch some of the rain water, and rubbed it onto his face.
"I trust all was quiet for your watch?" He assumed that must be the case, if he hadn't been awakened until the watch was over. But it didn't hurt to ask, just to check. Once confirmed that all had gone well, the ranger nodded and pulled his cloak around himself. It ought to keep out the worst of the rain, at least. "Sleep well," He told Rome quietly, fastening his quiver into place at his side. As Romeran got comfortable under the shelter, Duinion pulled the hood of his cloak up over his head, and tried to hold his bow under the waxed fabric as he headed out into the rain to try and find a semi sheltered spot apart from their camp, where he could watch without getting too wet. He grew thoughtful as he gazed out across the lake, listening to the sounds of the night and the storm, remembering the events from that dream. Her kind words, how she had helped him deal with things. It had been an interesting coincidence that she had come along at just that moment, that day so long ago. That she had come into his life at all had been an incredible blessing he had never expected. But why did he dream about that
now? That all happened ages ago. He hadn't thought about that incident in years.
A flicker of lightning briefly flashed in the sky as Duinion looked out across the meadow, from his spot beside a thick-foliaged tree. Moments later, a low rumble of thunder rolled in the distance. Glancing around, he guessed that the storm was moving their way, and would be upon them in an hour or two, probably. He debated whether he wanted to stay out in it for the sake of better watching the camp, or move under the tarp and not have quite as good a view, should any dangers come upon them. Standing under a tree while there was lightning certainly didn't seem like a great idea. He frowned, wide awake now that the cold rain had been hitting his face. He waited to see if there would be any more lightning. As the minutes passed by, the storm gradually drew nearer. A few gusts of wind drove the rain straight at him, and another, bigger fork of lightning split the sky, closely followed by a clash of thunder.
Maybe an hour after standing out in the storm, another jagged fork of lightning split the sky, followed closely by another, then a double clash of thunder. Duinion swiftly ducked under the edge of the shelter at that point, deciding the lightning was a bit too close for comfort. Hopefully, the storm had not awakened Rome, but Duinion was definitely no longer sleepy, himself. The fire was quenched by this point, and he saw no point in even trying to revive it. The blankets ought to be warm enough, he hoped.
The storm continued for a little while. Duinion stepped out from the shelter every few minutes to take a brief walk around and check the area before returning. In this way he waited out the worst of the storm while still keeping vigilant for attack. After another hour or so, the lightning and thunder had moved on, although the rain was still coming down pretty steadily. He moved out from under the shelter and took up his place under the tree again, half-wishing they had set up a secondary shelter for the sentry. He had guessed it would rain, maybe even storm, but he hadn't planned quite as well as he might have. Perhaps they'd alter that in the morning, in case it rained any more while they were here. He took a glance up, thoughtfully, at the tree, picturing how he might string up a shelter, just enough to keep the sentry from getting too drenched, without such a structure being too obvious.
Turning his attention back toward the land, he scanned the meadow again, paying special attention to the treeline, though it was so dark it was difficult to see much. Then he turned his gaze across the lake, squinting to try and keep the rain out of his eyes. A moment later, he blinked, wiped a hand across his face, and peered more closely. Did something just move, or was that his imagination? He frowned, staring intently at the spot. Maybe it was just a boulder. Perhaps he'd only seen the shadow of that tree near the boulder, moving in the wind. Regardless, a shiver went down his back, and he tilted his head and tried to get a look from a slightly different angle, one hand gripping the handle of his bow while the fingers of the other felt for the arrows in his quiver, just in case. After staring for several minutes, he finally relaxed slightly, and turned to scan the meadow again.
Then he froze, feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise up. There was something in the meadow that hadn't been there before, some distance away still but too close for comfort. It was large, though he could only see the general bulk of it, from here. The creature was still far across the meadow, but he didn't like that it seemed to be moving toward them. Not steadily, as if it were aware of them, but in more of a meandering way, as if it were just wandering. But if it continued the way it was going, it would come upon them before long. Grimacing, the ranger mentally berated himself for having spent so long staring at one spot, while whatever this was had been moving nearer, unnoticed. It must have come out of the treeline. Was it a bear? It didn't move quite like a bear, and if it was, then it was definitely a very large bear. His arrow clicked softly onto the string, and he swiftly brushed rain out of his eyes, trying to get a better look at the thing through the darkness. Then, somewhere on the other side of one of the mountains, a branch of lightning lit up the sky. The brief flicker gave him just enough light to see that it was...
a troll!
Pulse racing, the sight of the monster set Duinion's mind racing frantically. What to do? He'd faced orcs plenty of times in Ithilien, and during the battle in the Pelennor... but trolls? Those were far less common in his experience. They were highly dangerous, even against skilled warriors... and Rome was still in training.
Shoot, this was bad. Having so little experience with trolls, he was a bit unsure how difficult they would be to kill, and decided he would much rather not try to take it on by himself. Besides which, he thought it might be a lot better to alert Rome to the threat, and perhaps..could they sneak away and avoid a fight? Would that be the best option? All the while he was debating, the creature was roaming nearer. It wouldn't be long before it discovered their shelter. Hastily darting under the shelter, Duinion carefully shook Rome while putting a hand lightly over his mouth to stifle any potential sounds he might make while waking. "Romeran, wake up," He whispered with urgency. "Shh, there's danger near." He told him, removing his hand once he was sure that Rome was awake enough to heed his warning. "We need to get away from here, quickly. Grab your bow... make sure it's ready." He instructed him in a whisper, hoping the trainee would keep quiet so not to alert the troll to their presence.
