❝ a mermaid belongs to the sea. she cannot stay on land without the guarantee of her death. ❞
❝ yes, but her heart belongs here. ❞
↳ gandalf the grey to queen marella
╔═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╗
she belonged...
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WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT HER FRIENDS would walk with her through every step of their journey, Vera was in a much better mood. She lets her eyes wander freely over the towering, thick barks of trees over her head, keeping in pace with Gimli's footsteps, and following behind Legolas and Aragorn. She didn't quite like how dark it was in the wooded area, finding it irksome, not that it mattered — she was more focused on finding her Hobbit friends, anyway.
The group took the task of inspecting their surroundings. Vera lets her eyes stick closely to the trees, feeling a strange ambiance overcome her features. Her feä shifts disturbingly at the new presence that welcomes itself into her body. Vera couldn't place a name on the sensation but she could decipher the difference between it and the evilness that normally lurks whenever danger is around. In fact, the tangibility of their environment reminds Vera of something old, something ancient, and something with much history.
She distinctly remembered grasping a familiar feeling in her feä during her younger years, at the early ages of her exploration phase. She had found Bainas Castle, the castle in which Queen Aeriel took refuge in after being abandoned at the deep trenches just on the verge of her labor, heavily pregnant and in dire need of help. However, the Queen persisted and delivered her own baby in the darkness of the castle, abandoned and desolate. Vera discovered the history of the castle after searching for the story in her library.
Vera's eyes tries to seek the blazing sun but her actions die once her gaze falls onto a strange shape on one of the trees. Stopping, she brings Gimli's attention to her unintentionally. He follows her gaze and raises an eyebrow at the speck of, what seems like, blood. Alarmed and slightly confused, Vera notices the blackness of the fluid substance, noting that it is Orc Blood. Hope settles in her chest; Merry and Pippin must've found a way to escape and injure the Orc, perhaps even kill it.
Gimli doesn't seem to want to take a chance, stomping towards the leaf and easily picking it onto his hands before bringing the substance to his lips to taste it and confirm the origins, despite Vera's disgusted protests. "Orc blood!" Gimli states, spitting profoundly to remove the taste from his tongue.
She shares a look with Legolas, both of them smiling at the Dwarf. "Just like I said. You didn't need to waste your appetite, Gimli," Vera teases.
They continue onwards, picking the pace as they hop over a river. Aragorn crouches down once again, Legolas standing guard, observing the marks left behind by someone — or, something — that walked the same ground before them. Vera didn't notice they were following a trail, her main focus laying on the strange atmosphere around her that seems to bother her feä and her.
