Ashes ⇝Legolas

†3†

CHAPTER THREE
A FRIEND

Nesryn took in the notice of an elven princess, her fairness that reminded the young ednonian of a well known story many generations of men and  woman have aleady spoken about. Purely the way she sat showed her grace and ancestory, upright as white as snow pelerine that gently ran over her pale arms flew with every movement she made.

Slow words spoken in elven language have slowly faded as quickly Arwen kneeled down next to Strider. His every move was urgent and fast paced as Nesryn shook the brown strands off her pale forehead. She stood light and tall next to a slightly distressed Hobbit. Quietly the young ednonian turned away, the sight in her wake not the one she wanted to witness.

"Nesryn?" Ranger's voice reached her ears, begin carried away by raging wind that made its cold mark on her cheeks. She had feared the moment Strider would stop her, she despised the whole decision yet she was needed in Rivendell.

"Strider, I must leave for Rivendell now." The green scenery gave no special comfort to the young warrior and traveller, the night sky full of unmoving sprinkles of white that were not a reason enough to stay.

"It is six days to Rivendell on foot. You will never reach it."

"None said I was on foot." A light smile just barely folding her lips upward found its way on the youthful features of the woman whose partially in worry creased forehead and crystalline eyes restlessly searched for one thing she had always considered a friend. 

Quelestia. Her loyal horse.

Looking, she spotted white against the wide leaves that flapped on pure, gold mane. The woman hadn't yet questioned who did the horse belong to, but she very well presumed it must have been one of elven horses, for deep care was visible on the animal. The two had found a connection almost immediately, one that even most loyal of animals could not have with a human.

Silently the woman whispered words only people of her kind were taught, a melody of a song that had been lost for an eternity and still hadn't been found. They were swept into the wind, mere murmurs in a forgotten language that spurred horse's interest.

The silent galloping, left after the horse already rushed between bewildered Hobbits and a sight of her have faded into the night. 

††

From wet grass beneath Quelestia's hooves, to dirt which her galloping threw aside, Nesry found no place to rest. In her wake, the first few lights of a new day have broken the lonely blue rhythm of night sky, the horizon now a lighter shade as it shifted above Nesryn's figure. Bathed in light, she noticed the taller pine trees weren't the color of black anymore as they were in just bare few moments shr broke through their foliage, but green of a perfectly trimmed grass.

Nesryn didn't stop in any moment, perhaps she had given Quelestia a job too heavy, yet she knew her friend was been waiting for her arrival in Rivendell. By her calculation, reaching the beam of nearest water stream would take to the safety of Imladris and its elven inhabitants.

She forgot the forest behind, its waves of green and brown, the earthy smell emitted from all familiar tree species as she about a mile ahead saw a ripple of crystal clear on now, risen sun. She spurred Quelestia to a stop, feeling sudden danger lurk behind and cold, the ice that embraced her heart every time she made contact with it; the Ring Wraiths were not far behind.

She shook her head, ridding herself of another wave of fear that crashed her from the inside and gently spurred Quelestia to move again. Her rhythmic galloping sounded against the valley, a lonely sound in comparison to deathly silence that wasn't cut through by birds of any beasts; the world feared it. Feared Him.