Chapter 9: In plain sight….

CeKay was very pleased with her achievements. After some short months she had managed to teach quite a lot of elves new things and new ways to get stuff done. She had vastly improved the quality of the cloth woven there, she had also taught them quite a lot about how to extract certain chemicals from plants and other things and she was now eagerly readying herself for the carpenters area of the city. She had a mission and it felt surprisingly good. She spent her free time accessing her memory banks, digging forth old methods of creating things and it was more fun than she had expected.

Her success with the cloth had given her a name already, some thought she was a maia while others firmly believed that she was some sort of blessed elleth, sent from the valar to help them all. Anyhow, she was treated with respect and she tried to be kind and respectful in return. Since she knew so much about chemistry she was able to show them how to develop new and interesting colours with which to dye the new fabrics and soon the place became even more colourful than before. The wood workers were a stubborn bunch who firmly believed that their methods were the best and that she didn't have much new to show them but they were wrong. She had already managed to talk some of the blacksmiths into creating a steam chamber in which pieces of wood could be heated and prepared for shaping and she had tested it herself.

The demonstration she did was a roaring success, soon she had to explain even more and before long new furniture began to pop up everywhere, with shapes before unseen anywhere. It felt good knowing that she made things easier and yet she knew it would all end. She just didn't know when. Being there she was effectively cut off from receiving any news from up north, and that did bug her not to a small extent but some sacrifices had to be made. She kept herself busy most of the time and many came to her asking for advice of different kind.

From wood working she now set her eyes on those working with pottery, also there she had new information to bring and she spent some winters teaching them about techniques which improved the quality of ceramics a lot. She also showed them how to make ceramic arrowheads which were strong and sharp and yet not brittle and she was starting to wonder if she could start to talk about armour in a similar manner. Some of the special forces she had come by had worn a sort of intelligent armour which could change its properties according to the situation at hand. That would of course be impossible to achieve here where that sort of technology was impossible to replicate but she had some ideas.

The smiths already knew of her and wanted her advice and she gave it gladly, by now she had become an integrated part of the city but she did see that many still treated Angrod and Galadriel and the other noldor with suspicion. She couldn't do anything about that but she hoped that the suspicions wouldn't turn into hostility. Sooner or later the truth would come forth as it always does and she knew that the king did have a temper and that he also had his own very adamant beliefs.

CeKay was busy with metallurgy for some years, she was teaching and yet she learned a lot and the dwarves who visited soon did notice her and they treated her with both respect and a bit of confusion. To them it was odd that a female would care about such matters. She even started making jewellery but she stayed clear of making gems. She already knew that such actions could be frowned upon later so she used only natural ones, even if the ones she could have made would have been way more dazzling. She wondered how Fëanor had managed to come by this art, he had to have been extremely talented and yet a bit mad in some ways. He didn't sound like a person who cared much for the consequences of what he did and that made her think of him as a person way too driven by his own ambitions.

She often spoke with Melian and she did notice that the queen had taken quite a liking to Artanis, Angrod's sister. Now they called her Galadriel since Celeborn had given her that name and CeKay sort of sensed something in the air between those two. She couldn't be too sure but she felt that these two possibly could become more than just good friends. CeKay often joined the court in hunts and other activities and she found great joy in their simple way of living. But everything wasn't sunshine and flowers. The girdle was attacked every day almost by orcs and other foul creatures and the marchwardens and their warriors were kept busy all the time. CeKay tried to avoid fighting, she knew that the enemy had eyes and ears everywhere and she didn't want to draw attention to herself, nor the realm which sheltered her.

Sometimes elves from the areas around the girdle would come by and they were welcome there, she now saw elves of other tribes and some were avari and rather primitive looking. She learned about the sundering and the way the elves had split apart earlier and she realized that Thingol had regarded Finwë as a brother and that the truth about the departure from Valinor could trigger some rather violent reactions.

CeKay had finished teaching some ellith about the art of using minerals to create good dye when she heard an alarm and she immediately knew that something was up. She told the young ladies that they could leave and then she ran off to see what the fuss was about. When she arrived she saw that some of the warriors had gathered in the throne room, some avarin elves were there too and they seemed to be in despair, she did see some ellith among them and judging from the gestures and the crying something rather serious had happened. Thingol tried to calm everybody down and Melian stood there looking confused. A tall avarin warrior managed to shush everybody and he told with a loud and clear voice that their village had been attacked and that several ellith and elflings had been taken by the enemy.

CeKay cringed, she could just imagine what the orcs would do to prisoners and she saw that Thingol was facing a dilemma. She took a deep breath, would they leave these poor elves to their horrible fate or would the king take action. The attack had been outside of the girdle and she already knew that he was a bit of an isolationist. Melian appeared to whisper something to him rather fast and he nodded almost imperceptibly, then he raised a hand. "Those of you who wish to aid these elves in recovering their kin may do so, but I will not order anyone to leave."

Some of the warriors did grumble a bit but several gathered and CeKay tried to analyse the sensation she got. They could very well be heading into a trap and she took a deep breath and stepped forth as well, they would need her and if she managed to camouflage herself the enemy could perhaps be tricked into believing that there was nothing out of the ordinary happening. She hadn't ridden her horse for a while and as she walked towards the armoury she felt some sort of anticipation. By protecting them all she did repay them for the kindness and trust everyone had placed in her and she decided to fight and fight mean. Orcs were not worthy of any sort of mercy and she got some good weapons of the new design she had taught them and pulled on some light armour. With it on she looked just like an ordinary elleth and she made a grim smile as she joined the others outside of the gates. Beleg was the one to lead the group and CeKay followed the elves silently.

The village was in a narrow valley not far from the border and it was completely demolished, everything burned or torn apart and there had been some deaths. She felt the anger and sorrow of these elves as something almost physical and swore to herself that the orcs responsible would die horribly. They left their horses at the village since the area ahead was thick forest and CeKay saw that the scouts had found the tracks rather easily. Beleg warned them all that this was a sure sign of a trap, the orcs could have tried to cover their tracks otherwise and CeKay was grinning to herself. Without being noticed she slipped away from the group and ran through the trees ahead of them all. She was faster than anyone else and went into camouflage mode.

Now she couldn't be seen as anything else than a faint shimmering in the air and she cursed the fact that she was wearing clothes and armour. Had she been naked she could have become even less visible but that wasn't possible now. She switched to infrared vision and saw heat up ahead, the orcs had planned an ambush. There were orcs hidden within a small gorge with rocky sides and at the end of it some elflings were held as a sort of bait, tied to a tree. The poor little ones were terrified and a couple were wounded and she growled as she tried to come up with a plan. The elflings were her first priority, they had to get out of there before they could get even more hurt and she ran around the gorge and entered from the top, behind the orcs. There were more orcs at the top but they weren't that alert and she could slip by them easily. She slid down the tree and knew that the elflings were unable to control themselves the way an adult warrior would, if they saw her they would react and that would give her presence away so she gathered her energy and sent small jolts of it into their heads, making them pass out.

The orcs didn't notice and CeKay then did something which required both skill and insane amounts of energy. She created a simple and yet realistic hologram of the elflings before she grasped them and camouflaged them as well. To the orcs they were still there and she carried the little ones with her into the trees. She was feeling tired when she was done, being a part of this world had somehow limited her possibilities but she wasn't going to give up yet. She hid the elflings in a hollow tree and marked it with hidden elven runes before she returned to the gorge. The warriors were not far away and the orcs were eager for more slaughter. In fact they could barely control themselves and CeKay wished that she could have laughed as she sent forth a hologram of some elven warriors. The orcs immediately fired their crude arrows at the elves they saw and hit their brethren on the other side of the gorge and a veritable battle started, both sides believed that they were being attacked by elves and when Beleg and the others arrived there were few orcs left unscathed and the elves had heard them from afar. The surprise was gone and the elves did kill off the orcs with ease. CeKay didn't want the elves to know that she was the reason why the orcs had killed each other, she just stayed hidden and she was soon in hot pursuit of the remaining orc and their prisoners. They obviously believed that the group they had left behind would be able to stop anyone following them for they had slowed down and didn't do much to hide their tracks anymore. CeKay was appalled to see that they had killed a couple of the grown elves they had captured, probably through torture and she felt a sort of simmering rage starting to grow within.

These creatures were an abomination in more ways than one and she remembered Angband and its horrors. The elves would catch up with this pack soon enough but she didn't want to risk the lives of her friends so she decided to change the odds a bit. The cruelty of the orcs was beyond description and she felt no pity for them whatsoever, being cruel in return was just righteous in her eyes. She released some nanites, not many but enough and they started to replicate themselves very fast using the elements they could find at the site. The orcs were moving forth but the pace was slow and thus she laid a trap ahead of them. It was a small area which seemingly was covered with a thin mist along the ground, quite normal in this dense forest. Nobody would find anything odd about that at all. But as the orcs entered the mist and breathed it in it started to wreak havoc within their lungs. CeKay could still control the nanites and they ripped the fragile lung tissue apart with frightening speed. The orcs stopped, coughing blood and gasping for air and when the troop lead by Beleg arrived moments later the orcs were on the ground, writhing in agony and barely breathing.

The elves did finish the orcs off rather fast, then freed the surviving prisoners and started marching back to Menegroth, many needed healers and she knew that some of the elves were in danger of fading from their ordeal. CeKay made sure that the elflings were found too, and nobody did understand how they had ended up in a tree like that, and in special one marked with runes but she wouldn't be the one to tell, they were saved and that was all she cared about. She knew that elves were tougher than most other races physically but psychological damage could kill them. She joined the troop again, and nobody did notice that she had been gone, she just slid back among the other soldiers and they were so busy they didn't react to her presence at all. The march back to the city was a fast one, many were carried and she knew that Beleg was worried, an attack this close to the girdle meant that the orcs had become very bold and that something had to be done. They couldn't stuff every elf in Beleriand into the protected area, it wasn't room nor food enough for everyone and the lack of freedom would not be appreciated neither. Thingol didn't like the idea of troops leaving his realm and CeKay could only hope that the noldor elves truly were spreading out and establishing strongholds. Their help could be needed if they were to keep the orcs at bay.

CeKay had taught the healers some new tricks as well, she knew a lot about most of the races she had encountered and the elves were in basic human when it came to their physical being but it was as if they were made from some other more durable matter. The healers started working on the wounded right away and CeKay retreated to her rooms, she needed to think. The girdle was a strong protection but was it enough? Could she do something to strengthen it? She was thinking hard about her options and they weren't really that good, she could of course release nanites and they would reproduce and over time they could form a sort of defence but that meant that they had to be separate units, not controlled by her. That in turn meant that the enemy could get his hands on them if something went wrong. She doubted that the fallen vala was clever enough to understand that sort of hi tech but what if he was? At least he would understand that he was dealing with something out of this world and that in itself would be bad. No, it had to be something else, something nobody would be able to trace back to her. She sat down in her armchair, nibbling at an apple. She didn't need to eat but she had found that she liked to, simply because of all the different smells and flavours which were out there. She had grown very fond of wine for her palate was so fine she could distinguish between flavours nobody else were able to trace and she also enjoyed different spices a lot.

She had to smile when remembering the food of some of the cultures she had come across. The Hurumgai of the Asceran system had enjoyed a dish made from the eggs of a local type of fish, found only on the moon of one of the larger gas planets in that quadrant. The eggs were the size of a human skull, mostly just jelly with the consistency of an old booger and they were left to ferment until very few species except the hurumgai could tolerate the smell. It was said that you always would know the moment a hurumgai ship had docked onto some space station, the smell would spread like wildfire. To them the eggs were an exquisite delicacy which was expensive and a symbol of status but to all others the dish was so horrible some races defined it as a biological weapon of mass destruction and forbid it from being brought into their quadrant. And the Xha'khng of Ishtab, they had a dish which supposedly tasted so good the overflow of endorphins created in the brain actually killed anyone eating it. The race who had discovered it could survive but no other races would and it was used only in very elaborate religious ceremonies since it would trigger a sort of deep ecstasy which enabled them to see visions of the future. CeKay had to smile, it was almost a smile of melancholy. She had no idea of whether or not these cultures would survive or not, if they would grow and thrive or if they would perish into the dark night which was the universe.

She sat there thinking when she heard a tiny sound and she frowned and turned around, the rooms in this city were not very sealed off, and there were nooks and crannies everywhere. In a corner she saw something small move and she saw that it was a mouse. A tiny soft and fluffy little being occupied with searching for food for itself and its offspring. The mouse was a rare shade of brown mixed with red and beige and it was very cute. CeKay tilted her head, it was tiny, in fact extremely small even for a mouse and if she hadn't had ears better than anyone else she wouldn't have noticed that it was there. Mice were not anything people did think about, they were there alright but nobody cared unless they got too many and became a pest. CeKay stared at the tiny rodent, her mind was working overtime. The mouse sat there grooming itself for a moment before it continued its frantic search for food and CeKay knew that there were mice everywhere. An idea did take form and she suddenly knew how she could help keeping the realm safe.

She sat down onto the floor and stared at the tiny mouse, doing this wouldn't be easy in any way but she knew she could do it. The mouse didn't react to her presence, she didn't smell like a predator and she knew how to mask herself even to animals. The tiny animal had a very simple mind, its brainwaves told her that and it was thinking first and foremost about its basic needs, food, water, shelter, safety. CeKay beaconed the mouse to come closer, it felt an irresistible pull but none of its instincts told of danger so it obeyed and CeKay did reward it with some crumbs from the delicious honey cake she had eaten. Her body could process food when she was in this elven form and she had found that she in fact found the workings of this nearly biological body fascinating. She had played around with it a bit, synthesized hormones and other substances and watched their effect upon it and thus she had learned a lot. But this mouse was so much more complex biologically and she didn't want to harm the cute little rascal. She gently shaped new instincts and implanted them into its brain and then she imprinted a new urge within it, an urge to bring its kin to this place. She also increased its intelligence but not too much, just enough to make sure that it would survive for a wee bit longer than usual. CeKay felt an odd tenderness towards the hairy little life, it was so innocent and pure and not even Morgoth had bothered tampering with creatures as insignificant as mice. The mouse got some more crumbs and scurried off, eager to bring this wonderful food to its family.

Over the next days mice started arriving in CeKay's room and she altered them all, their minds now held some hidden commands and unless they were triggered the mice would go on living their ordinary lives just like before. She wouldn't have to use any energy controlling them and they wouldn't go rogue like nanites sometimes were prone to do. CeKay then did up her efforts, she started to do the same with other animals. Some did notice that there suddenly were more squirrels than normal in the city and the tiny brown birds which searched for bugs in the bushes were also seen rather often. She was thinking about using bugs too but they didn't have a mind and so she forgot about that idea. Her influence spread, squirrels and birds, badgers and mice and other animals too. They all became her silent sentinels, her servants and yet they were oblivious to the fact that their minds had been hijacked somehow. She made sure that they would thrive and live good lives within the woods and if anyone did notice they didn't say anything.

She now had a network of spies and if something of a sinister nature did approach the realm she would know immediately. She was told that the sons of Fëanor had created realms of their own and that fortresses and stronghold were being built, she did get some hope hearing this but she also feared that the enemy could use new and unknown methods with which he could split them apart and weaken the defences. That the noldor had gathered and held a great feast to celebrate the reunion of their leaders was of course a good thing but she somehow doubted that the peace would last. The burden of the oath lay too heavily upon the family of Fëanor and she knew it would bring even more death and destruction in the future.

She did notice some changes within the realm now, it was rather obvious that Celeborn was rather taken with Galadriel and that he was trying to woo her and CeKay had to admit that she found these strange rituals and customs of the elves rather intriguing. It was very obvious that this race took this kind of thing very seriously and that they didn't take any chances when it came to finding a spouse and she already knew that the golden haired maiden was interested but she tried very hard to pretend that she was not. It was a game as old as time itself and CeKay knew that Celeborn already had been hooked and now Galadriel was reeling him in, slowly. It was like a slow and deliberate dance and CeKay knew that elves did court slowly, it was wise and she often sought out the huge library the king had gathered and tried to store as much information as she could. She read through as many books as possible and she was kept rather busy most of the time. She knew that Galadriel spent much time with Melian and was taught by her and also the daughter of the king and queen was often seen at court.

CeKay knew that Luthien was regarded as being very beautiful even among the elves and she realized that the princess was being a bit overprotected. She was half maia after all and CeKay sensed what few others did, the young one was very powerful, more so than anyone could guess. At the moment the young half maia seemed to be satisfied with life within Doriath but CeKay had seen what was to come, it was both grand and tragic at the same time.

The dwarves who had visited rather often didn't come as often anymore, some said that they were involved in some secret project somewhere and CeKay sensed that the noldor had something to do with it. But now news started to arrive claiming that the noldor were rallying against Morgoth and that they soon would attack Angband. CeKay felt torn for a while. She wanted to participate and do as much good as possible and yet she didn't really want to leave Doriath. She didn't know if she would be welcome back if she did leave but she felt that there wasn't much choice after all. She couldn't change the course of history by fighting but she could save lives and so she did more or less sneak out one quite night and rode hard towards the north. This time she did cloak both herself and the horse and she used all his speed for all it was worth. She reached the first encampment in a very short time and realized that Morgoth had tried to split the noldor by sending orcs into their realms and thus blocking them off from each other. But the elves had proved to be smarter than he had anticipated and the orcs were driven back by the combined forces of all the elven leaders. Cavalry pursued the orcs relentlessly and she saw that this in fact could lead to victory.

She found the camp of Fingolfin and he was stunned when he saw her again, she hadn't changed naturally enough and he was thrilled to see that she had come to fight with them. CeKay didn't want to reveal that she was more than an elf, she would fight with blades like the others there but she wouldn't tire and she had a greater understanding of the orc's and their capabilities than the others by now. She knew how their minds worked and thus she came up with a strategy of her own. She prepared carefully and as they rode out the next morning she had camouflaged her silvery steed as an ordinary brown horse. She had been given a rather anonymous uniform by Fingolfin and she hid her hair and her face with a helmet. Maedhros and his army were pushing the orcs forth from the other direction and the orcs were in fact fleeing towards the Thangorodrim but they were not as fast as the elves and would be caught. CeKay didn't follow the troops, she had her own agenda now and she soon realized that it was very efficient. She went for the officers, the leaders. Orcs are like sheep, they follow where the chief goes and when there wasn't anybody to give orders they scattered and became easy prey.

She hid among the other elven warriors and attacked suddenly, out of the blue. Raced forth much faster than normal and killed with surgical precision. A swift flash of something brown and shiny and then an orc captain laid there headless and nobody had had the time nor the level headedness to see what had happened. The orcs started to become more and more paranoid, the other elves did see that this tactic was valid and started to copy her and before long the orc army was in reality defenceless. The orcs had become a terrified herd instead of a well organized army and the elves drove them forth relentlessly. CeKay enjoyed herself, she knew she was efficient and since there wasn't anything about her which set her apart from the others she knew that the enemy probably wouldn't suspect that she was there. She had taught the cavalry some of her tricks now and they were so in tune with their horses it was no problem copying the techniques. She also invented new and better protection for the steeds and as they closed in on Angband the number of orcs dropped drastically by the hour. The orcs did try to fight back, it was in their blood so to speak but when they didn't act organized it wasn't really a huge problem. Some elves got injured and some killed but fewer than expected and CeKay seemed to be everywhere. She guided the healers and helped rescue the wounded and the last orcs were slaughtered within sight from Angband. CeKay knew that the elves had wounded the moral of the orcs, that it would take time before the armies of Angband would dare to burst forth again.

There was a celebration and the elves built strongholds and fortresses to put Angband under siege. CeKay sensed that this peace would last for a while but not forever, the forces of the dark lord would regroup again and become strong. She did participate in some of the building, gave advice to the stone masons and the other workers and made sure that the fortresses didn't have weak points. Many there wondered who she was but she didn't stay to answer questions, she just moved on, always busy. Fingolfin was very grateful and wished to honour her in every way possible but she didn't want attention. She just slipped away from the camps and disappeared and by now she sort of knew that the dark lord himself was absent. She could sense it, the sort of heavy dark feeling she got when she looked towards the huge fortress was gone. It still felt bad and just wrong but its main source of power was gone. She didn't like it even a bit.

She returned to Doriath after having ridden through much of Beleriand, sometimes hidden and sometimes in plain view, she needed to get a real impression of the situation and she encouraged the elves she met to take caution and build stronger homes and to stay alert. She was welcomed by Melian, CeKay had been absent for some years since she had taken her time exploring the lands and the queen was visibly upset. Things had been calm within the realm these past years since the great battle which had become known as the Dagor Aglareb but Galadriel had at last told Melian of the Silmarils. CeKay cringed, she knew that naught good would come from this and she hadn't even seen a silmaril but she did share her suspicions with the maia. She believed that the silmarils weren't as much created as allowing themselves to take form and Melian did agree. It was possible that these gems in fact were some sort of sentient entity, perhaps even ainur in a shapeless form and that their powers were too great for anyone to control.

Melian was very worried about the consequences of Morgoth having acquired all three of them, she feared that they would be turned into horrible weapons but CeKay remembered her stay in Angband and knew that the power of the three gems had been somehow subdued. She hadn't sensed them that much. They had probably been shiny and pretty and all that but their true nature had been hidden, even from Morgoth. They didn't want the dark lord to know of their true potential and Melian found some solace in that.

CeKay had been missed by many and she soon returned to her previous work, teaching the elves as much as possible. She was glad to see that they had taken her teachings seriously and that much had changed and they had even taken the weaving a step further and created cloth she had a hard time believing was real. Luthien had fallen in love with a sort of very sheer blue silk and she wore gowns made from that almost all the time. CeKay did also teach the young warriors some defensive techniques and how to defend themselves without weapons, she could of course crush rocks if she wanted to but she did see that these young ones had potential and some training did hone their skills a lot. Galadriel and Celeborn were still sort of circling each other like two hungry cats around a bowl of hot porridge and she found it amusing.

Then Thingol found out about the kinslayings and the whole truth of the noldor's arrival in middle earth and he became extremely angry. He forbade them all to have more contact with the noldor and quenya was forbidden. Nobody was allowed to use that language. CeKay saw that many now started to treat the few noldor present with open hostility and most did leave but Galadriel stayed, even though she was looked upon with suspicion now. It really hurt her and CeKay wished that there was something she could have done to help but she had to just watch and hope that things would change. The realm became more closed off than ever before and not even messengers were allowed in but some news did slip by anyhow. Elves living outside of the girdle did have some contact with the noldor and told of the odd disappearances which had started to occur. Elves seemed to vanish into thin air and CeKay knew that hidden cities had been built, meant to act as safe havens.

Now the dwarves started to return and CeKay began to slowly make contact with them again, she was still curious and their culture was fascinating but she did notice a change in them. They seemed to be more alert than before and less trusting and she realized that they too probably had felt the power of the dark lord somehow. Attacks by orcs could kill even strong dwarves and she knew that they were proud like few others. The trade did grow back to its old level but very slowly and through the dwarves they did get some new about the things which happened in the rest of Beleriand. Apparently Maedhros had recovered from his imprisonment pretty well, and he was fighting just as fiercely as before with a sort of blade attached to his right arm where his hand had been. They said that orcs fled in horror whenever he showed up. Fingon did visit him rather often and rumours said that they were more than just friends and cousins. CeKay didn't care, she was glad the tall redhead had overcome the trauma, it was really amazing that he had.

The fortress of the dark lord was under tight siege but still attacks happened every now and then, most were driven back by the elves and it seemed as if the powers of darkness had diminished somehow. CeKay knew that the leader was somewhere else, those in charge of Angband weren't as strong as him, nor as clever and thus the siege could continue. But changes were on the way, she sensed it. Sometimes she did leave Doriath again and rode out and she realized that Morgoth by now had seen that orcs weren't that reliable after all. They weren't enough. The peace and quiet simply meant that he was trying to conjure up something new and terrible and she did sometimes travel pretty close to the fortress to see if she could find something useful. She couldn't see anything but she did smell something on the air now, something unknown to her.

In Doriath she witnessed how Galadriel and Celeborn still were friends even though Thingol didn't like it, he sort of hated the noldor and regarded her with suspicion even if Melian still trusted her and taught her much. CeKay knew that the noldorin maiden was important and she tried to shield her from the worst gossip by making sure that people had other things to consider instead. The avarin elves sometimes visited to trade and CeKay did learn a lot about their culture and she also visited them sometimes and she was always welcome. The sons of Fêanor had created their own little kingdoms and not all she heard of them was good. They were seen as greedy and the way they cut down forests for wood and pastures was not seen as very good by the avari. CeKay agreed, they didn't think of the consequences but she did understand the situation. Now that Angband was under control they needed to reinforce their strongholds and make sure that everything was ready for the day when the siege broke, for sooner or later it would. The orcs were breeding in there and nobody doubted that the smithy's were warm and weapons being forged all day long. Everybody prepared for war but what came forth was something nobody had anticipated.

CeKay had seen many terrible creatures in her existence, some benign and others not but the monster which attacked Ard Galen was beyond anything she had seen so far. It was a fire breathing behemoth and it possessed great magic too. She realized that the dark lord had spent a lot of time creating this monstrosity, and that it probably was just the first of many. The beast was driven back to its evil layer but many died and CeKay suddenly was faced with a new challenge, how do you treat burns on the battle field. She started to explore the possibilities which existed and knew that she had to work fast. The dragons would be used for all they were worth and this one had been young and probably not even fully grown. Glaurung as the beast became known as had been a terrible foe and one much more powerful than any host of orcs. CeKay wondered if she would have been able to kill it, she probably could but she feared that it would cost her much of her strength. No, a dragon like that could probably only be killed with very special means and she knew from her visions that such weapons would be forged. Destiny was rolling on, unstoppable as a runaway cart down a steep hill and she knew that she just had to hang on for the ride. Come what may, she had to witness it all, one day her knowledge would be needed.