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Making their way toward the lakeside towards the rest of the townsfolk was proving rather difficult but with the guidance of Zaya, Bard was making progress towards finding his children. The woman he recognised as someone people would often talk rumours about, suggesting she was a witch or something or other, never in his life had he expected it to be true.
"What are you Miss..." "Sirius... Zaya Sirius. And I'm-... it's complicated but have faith in me." She shivered a little and summoned upon a silver cloak and hood with flowers sewn into the fabric that held the front together, it was so elegant and fine that Bard could've mistaken her for royalty.
And in a way, she was.
"Come, we are close now." He was exhausted and helping him across the multitudes of wooden obstacles from fallen and burnt houses was a mere favour in return for helping her kill the dragon. "You are... something out of a fairytale Miss Sirius." He said, and she smiled at him weakly.
"DA!" A little girls voice yelled and here came three children of an assortment of ages. One being a tall girl of perhaps 17, the other a boy Zaya was familiar with who was nearing 15 and a small girl who couldn't have been more than 11. All bore their fathers good looks. She looked around at multitude of eyes all leering at her and she frowned at their confusion at her attire.
"It was Bard and Zaya, I saw em, they bought the dragon down with a black arrow." A stranger of a man announced, coming out from the crowd and they began to cheer and congratulate them. Zaya managed to get through the crowd, leaving the town to fawn over Bards heroics. She eyed the entering prince who she had encountered only a day ago.
"You-..." he began, coming down from the horse. "Was it you? You who killed the dragon?" "Well, it wasn't just me..." she turned and smirked a little "it's hardly the first dragon I have slain." He stepped forward and turned her to face him. "What are you?" He muttered and she smiled before looking into his eyes, and truly into his mind.
"Gundabad..." she muttered and Legolas grabbed her upper arm. "How do you know that?" "You set out to go to Angmar with the Silvan elf but she is..." Zaya turned and watch the interaction between her and a dwarf "occupied for now." "I must go to discover their schemes, people will look to the mountain for its position and wealth once the news of Smaug's demise has spread."
"Then I will go with you." She confirmed, picking up her dress and walking to Bard. "Take them to the mountain but be wary, there is something a miss." He nodded before she began to set off but he grabbed her arm to stop her. "Where are you going?" "A band of gundabad orcs attacked the town last night me and the elf prince are gonna hunt them together. Look after your children, they will be safe for now." She said before walking toward the prince.
"You still haven't answered my question as to who and what you are." She turned back and smiled. "I'm a friend... now go."
She made her way towards the white stallion the elf had rode in on. She had suddenly created an apple in her hand and fed it to the horse with a smile. Legolas couldn't help but admire her now in her clothes and the glow of her skin.
She was a truly angelic woman.
"Come, we must ride." She said and he went to assist her to get on the horse but she didn't allow such a thing and got on it herself. The horse neighed happily and she smiled while stroking its mane. Her connection with nature showing through and the animals instinctively trusting her.
Legolas was taken aback by her limberness in the task of getting on an extremely large horse. He jumped on with ease and looked at her behind him as he motioned for the horse to move on. The harsh ride bought them to the fortress of Gundabad beside the misty mountains. They dismounted the horse and they crawled up to spy the fortress from a distance.
"A light... I saw a light." She muttered and Legolas looked at her, her face was full of exhaustion and fright but she kept a mask of composure well. "My mother died here." He breathed, not even caring if she had heard him or not, which she obviously had. "I'm sorry..." Zaya had known Legolas' mother but chose not to mention it at such a fragile moment. "There is no grave, no memory." He showed little emotion in his voice but the storminess in his iris' gave her other ideas. A battle against showing any sort of emotive display at the passing of his mother was not unnoticed by Zaya. "It's okay to be sorrowful Legolas, I've lost a fair few people in my time and to say I had tried to not be be unhappy about it... well it doesn't work." He stared into her eyes, the pain of a swarm of memories filled the rims of her pupils and it was like legolas was looking through glass as images of great pain were reflected in her eyes.
They shone like no star had before, they're deep brown colour brought Legolas back to the woods he had run through as a child ellon, the bark of the overgrown trees being so similar to every shade of nature that resonated through the strands of brown and a sprinkle of a gold hue like the sun. Never before had he felt so captivated by someone, and to think he hadn't have taken a second look at her until she revealed her true form to him.
But now he had realised it was not her ensemble that had re-embellished his perception of her, for it was her regal attitude. Long had her lowly attitudes of pretending to be what she was not and her new and real self had been revealed in truth. It was refreshing beyond measure. But even with such comfort, he still felt this depressive grief.
He looked away from her in anguish.
"We wait for the cover of nightfall to investigate."
