A Tale of Time

Chapter 3: Bears and Wargs

Chapter 3: Bears and Wargs

After confiding in Fili the previous night, Gailien does admit she feels somewhat better about the prospects of her life after the quest has finished. Maybe this is the advice she needed to hear – to learn to ignore the opinions of others. As strange as it sounds, the thought never occurred to her. She was a member of the court in Mirkwood and people's opinions meant everything. It determined whether they trust you, who you could marry, where your influence lies. So to hear that she has the option of disregarding them came to her like a rock on the head.

But it is not as simple as closing her ears off to the world. Words will still reach them, wriggling around like bugs across her mind as they seek to penetrate her thoughts. Even now, just thinking over things she has heard being said creates pinpricks in her heart.

And even though Fili assured her that Thorin would not hesitate to open his doors to her, she can't help but have a little doubt that he would be so willing to let an Elf into his Dwarvish kingdom, no matter how friendly they are.

Gailien shoves her worries and thoughts to the back of her mind. Focus on the present and foresee the future. Unfortunately, the previous night was an emotional mess and by the time she returned to camp, most of the Dwarves were already well asleep and her own eyes barely stayed open. She fell asleep without meditating and no visions have to come to her this morning unexpectedly so now they are relying on Bilbo's scouting skills.

The Orcs have changed direction overnight and now step on their heels. The woodland grass scenery has changed as the rocks become even more common and the Dwarves (plus Gandalf and Gailien) wait hidden in the valley as their burglar-Hobbit scurries ahead. They wait quietly, murmuring amongst themselves as they wait for Bilbo's return.

"I'm starving," she mutters to Dwalin, rubbing her stomach. Even though the sun is well past the middle of the sky, they have not had the time to stop for lunch and they awoke too early for her stomach to feel hungry. So now, she faces the consequences of a growling stomach.

"You and me both, lass," Dwalin growls with the same displeasure. "Don't have any of those nuts left do ya'?"

"No, Kili's slimy fingers stole them all the other day." She glares over her shoulder at the young prince who is conversing with his brother, not noticing her eyes. Not that she is truly mad. In fact, she had watched him sneakily dive into her pack and watched in amusement as he pulled them out, sneaking away. She turns back to Dwalin, smirking slightly. "You must be hungry if you're asking for nuts. Last I remember, you turned your nose up at them."

"All I can say is that the grass is looking tempting right about now." He goes to say something more, glancing back at the woman but her eyes are planted forward, hazed over. He calls over Thorin quietly. Thorin breaks his conversation with Balin, sauntering over as Dwalin gestures to Gailien.

Not that she knows, but they've taken a habit of watching over her while she is in her vision and not in meditation, not wanting another accident to happen. She joked about it one night, telling them how she nearly got trampled by horses on the main road of Gondor years ago and after the incident with the fire, they decided not to take any more risks.

Gailien breaks from her vision, stumbling slightly as she brings herself back into the present. Thorin's arms reach out, holding her bicep to steady her. She blinks, making a perplexed face. "I saw...Bees," she says vacantly. "Giant...Bees." She shakes her head, giving both Dwarves an apologetic face. "I'm sorry, I didn't see anything helpful."

Not all of her visions are what she desires to see, naturally. She sees all sorts of things – the weather, the next day's meal, odd glimpses of scenery. She refrains from annoying Thorin with the mundane things.