I own nothing.

"I hope they don't wander too far ahead," Maitimo muttered as he pushed aside another tree branch.

Findekáno looked at him quizzically. "I thought you liked watching over your brothers, and your cousins."

"I do, I do. But if this undergrowth gets any denser, I'm either not going to be able to follow them any longer, or I'll be decapitated by a tree branch."

"And that is enough to stop you?"

"If I am dead, Finno, I don't see that I'll have any choice but to stop."

Findekáno laughed and continued on, picking his way carefully through the dense forest. Maitimo, he supposed, did have something to worry about—his cousin was much taller than him, and did seem to be having trouble with the branches—but the dense undergrowth was soon to give way to more open ground. He kept track of the three small children running on ahead of them, his sister, Maitimo's youngest brother and their currently youngest cousin, hoping that he wouldn't lose track of them in the bushes.

-0-0-0-

Irissë felt more at peace here. She wasn't sure about the others, wasn't sure if they felt the same way, but she knew that about herself. Home was rather claustrophobic, and didn't have nearly enough open space. At home, she couldn't run about and shriek and shout. She had to be a proper lady when her parents were watching, and that grew boring very quickly.

"There aren't this many gnats in Alqualondë," Findaráto mumbled, swatting at the air around him with a small, pudgy hand.

Tyelkormo snorted. "You're bothered by gnats? They don't even bite, or sting! Bees are what you should be worried about."

"And hornets," Irissë added, grinning at her cousin. "One of them stung me once. My hand was all swollen for days."

Findaráto stared at them, eyes round with horror.

"Can we possibly avoid giving each other bad dreams?" Maitimo called from further back.

"And do any of you know where you're going?" Findekáno added his voice in questioning the three leading the way through the forest.

"No," Irissë responded cheerfully, running to keep up with her cousins.

Irissë got the sense, sometimes, that home was a place that was forever growing smaller. Perhaps that was only her sense of claustrophobia affecting her judgment; she couldn't really be sure. As she got older, she felt more and more like her home was small and stale. There was no clean air, no real breeze, no sense of freedom.

Here, in the forest, things were different. The company she kept out here was part of it. Tyelkormo and Findaráto were of a like mind to her, that the outside world was by far preferable to the cobblestone streets of Tirion and their walled homes. Her brothers and older cousins seemed to understand this desire of hers, even if they did not share it. Out here, she was with friends, and her sense of freedom was preserved.

Irissë tried to tell herself that being allowed to wander would let her put up with being behind walls, with being the proper lady her parents wanted her to be. Yet every time she returned to Tirion, she desired ever more strongly to return to the forest, to the fields, the wilderness.

She looked on her friends and smiled at them. Irissë looked inside of herself, and thought a fateful thought. I belong out here.

Maitimo—Maedhros
Findekáno, Finno—Fingon
Irissë—Aredhel
Findaráto—Finrod
Tyelkormo—Celegorm