The next morning, Elandria and Gabriel were up and heading down the road shortly after dawn. Elandria wanted to get as far away from Denerim as fast as she could. She and Gabriel were following The West Road out of Denerim, and she planned to travel down the road as far as the Southron Hills. The first place she wanted to look for Lanaya's clan was southwest of where they had been camping at the edge of the Brecilian Forest or possibly even farther southeast towards Gwaren. She only hoped she and Gabriel wouldn't have to wander alone for very long as they only had the basic camp supplies she and Morrigan had split between them in the ruins. As they traveled, Elandria had to take frequent breaks, but as the days passed, her stamina began to return.

Running into Gabriel had been extremely fortunate for her. She had never traveled by herself and never realized just how time consuming all the camp chores were when you had to do them all by yourself. When she had traveled with her friends, they had always had many hands to split the chores among. For such a big animal, Gabriel was extremely talented at lying in wait and catching small game. He did most of their hunting for food as they were traveling during the day. He would take off for a bit and catch something and then return to the road and find Elandria. When Elandria told him he must have some cat in him, he was offended for two days.

As fast as the days passed with traveling, after setting up camp, the evenings seemed to drag on forever. Then, Elandria truly missed the friends she had traveled with for so long. She had little to talk about with Gabriel and much time to think over what had happened in the past few months. Her emotions would swing widely during these times. Sometimes she would curse herself for fleeing the city without confronting Alistair, and at others, she was glad she had done so. If only she had arrived in Denerim sooner. At times, she just wanted to lie down and give up, but the thought of the baby and her own strong self-preservation streak kept her moving. If she cried at night into Gabriel's fur, he wasn't going to tell anyone.

Elandria wasn't too worried about running into trouble from other people. Even if she didn't have her staff, she still had the ability to cast spells, and she still had the dagger she had found in the ruins. The one thing she worried about was darkspawn. She had only felt a slight flaring every now and then just against the edge of her senses, but nothing that alarmed her too much. Even with the Blight over, she knew that there would still be darkspawn about, and her main worry was that they would encounter a larger band of them.

After a few days, they were able to turn off the road and start searching the surrounding countryside. Elandria really had only the most general idea of where the clan would be and so was hoping it wouldn't take too long to locate them. She and Gabriel had been searching for days in the area south of The West Road, west of the Brecilian Forest, and east of the Korcari Wilds. Elandria was starting to get worried as time passed, and she didn't find anyone, human or elf. Time was passing, and the baby would be coming soon, in about two-three months, she guessed. She needed to be somewhere safe before that. She was also starting to notice how difficult it was to move around and do things as the baby grew, and she was afraid it would become a serious problem in the next few weeks if she didn't find Lanaya's clan soon.

After about a week of traveling, Elandria and Gabriel had been following a game track one morning when suddenly two figures jumped out in front of them. "Hold, outsider-By the halla, Warden, is that you?" asked Mithra.

"Yes, Mithra," said Elandria. "It's me."

"But we thought-I mean we had heard-well, that you were dead," said Mithra.

"Not dead, just filthy and tired," said Elandria with a small smile. "It's been a rough couple of months."

"Stay here, lethallin. I'll take our visitor to camp," said Mithra to the male elf accompanying her.

"Yes, Mithra," he replied. If Elandria had met him the last time she was here, she didn't remember him.

"Come, it's this way," said Mithra starting down the path. "I can't believe it's you. I barely recognized you," Mithra said.

"I'm sure I look the worse for wear," said Elandria. "Is Lanaya here?"

"No," said Mithra. "She's been in Denerim for the king's wedding, but we expect her back soon."

Elandria felt a stab of pain at that. Of course, Lanaya would have been invited for the occasion.

"I'll take you to my aravel," said Mithra. "You can get cleaned up and we'll get some food into you."

"That would be wonderful," said Elandria. "I would about kill for a bath." As they broke over a hill and Elandria saw the camp laid out below her, she thought she had never seen anything that looked so good. Now, hopefully she would be able to stay for a while.

"How did you find us?" asked Mithra as they threaded their way towards her aravel both of them ignoring the murmurs that followed them.

"When we camped with you before, Lanaya mentioned the general path the clan tends to follow, so I came this way hoping to find you," Elandria said. "Gabe and I have been wandering around for days hoping to run into you."

"Oh," said Mithra. "If you don't mind me asking, why have you come?"

How much should I say? "Well," said Elandria. "I really came to speak with Lanaya. You did say she was due back soon, right?"

"Yes," said Mithra. "We expect her any day now."

"Can I stay until she gets here?" asked Elandria.

"Of course, you can," said Mithra. "After what you did for our clan, I imagine you can stay as long as you like. Here we are," said Mithra as they arrived at her aravel. "Come on in."

"Gabriel, stay out here please," Elandria asked. The dog settled down for a nap in the shade at the side of the aravel.

Mithra took her inside and showed her the washing area. She even dug out a robe that Elandria could put on once she had had her bath. Elandria was looking forward to getting out of the rancid clothes she had been wearing since leaving the ruins. She had tried to wash them and herself on the road, but there was only so much she could do in running streams without a change of clothes. After she was clean, Mithra had a snack of fruit and dried meat rolls for her.

"It's not much," said Mithra, "but it should hold you until the evening meal." Mithra also had a set of clothes she had borrowed from one of her friends as Elandria wouldn't fit into Mithra's with her expanding waistline.

"It's fine," said Elandria. "I haven't had fruit in what seems like forever."

Mithra had to go back and resume her guard duty so Elandria stayed at her aravel that afternoon with Gabriel. It was so wonderful to be clean and not have to be traveling. Mithra came back shortly before the communal evening meal and Elandria accompanied her. She saw some of the elves she had met before and met some others as well, including the elf that had been on guard duty with Mithra this morning. His name was Menarin. Mithra explained that he had come from one of the other clans to take over training of the hunters from Athras. Since the death of his wife Danyla, Athras had decided to step down as the clan's trainer. She also saw Master Varathorn and asked if she could visit him the next morning. He told her to come by whenever was convenient.

After the meal was over, she went back to Mithra's aravel with her. It was decided she would stay with Mithra until Lanaya arrived back from Denerim. As she was lying on her pallet waiting to drift off to sleep, she thought it was strange that not one person had mentioned her pregnancy, which was rather obvious. Maybe it is considered rude or bad luck or something. I will ask Lanaya. I just hope she isn't too much longer getting back here.

A.N.: I know this chapter wasn't very exciting as it was more transitional than anything else. Things will pick back up again. Thanks to Melismo for the beta.