None among them were perfect individuals but if anyone ever accuses Anié of attention-seeking or of being over-demanding, Legolas thought, he will have to strangle them. After a tense hour of careful monitoring and assessment, Anié insisted that her initial weakness was mostly the shock of the incident and that she had been very lucky not to be more seriously hurt. She said the wound was deep but bearable and that she did not wish to delay their journey home any longer.
With her past experience helping in the healing houses, she assisted them in making a sustainable bandage and cautiously – much to Legolas' concern – rose to her feet. They had no horses and home was their nearest point for help. They had no choice but to walk.
Back out of the Withered Heath they came, walking endlessly through desolate, dusty, dry wasteland. It seemed a strange location for such an extraordinary event to have taken place, but they did not think of it and moved on step by step as though possessed. The scholars looked back on their journey in their minds and pondered on what they had achieved and what their work would be once they returned to the palace – for those who study and learn, work is never completed, there is always more. The guards kept an eye out for Gornon in case he reappeared (which he didn't) but otherwise felt privileged to have witnessed what they had and obliged to protect their new leader. Or rather, they thought nothing and kept their minds focused on their surroundings – they were in charge of protecting the group, after all.
The soon-to-be-King should have had many things on his mind regarding his new responsibilities and position, and it wasn't that he gave them no consideration, but he could not distract himself for the moment from Anié's inevitable suffering. No matter how often she denied it or how much she tried to walk normally to prove she could complete the journey, of course she was pain, of course she was weakened, she couldn't not be. One of her major flaws was a fear of being a burden to others. She also did not want to be the centre of this tale; she had played her part, but this journey was about Legolas.
Above all, she revelled in her greatest asset yet – her sight. It was not like she had never seen before; being able to see was not a new experience, but she had lived in the darkness for years since the battle and her gratitude for having her independence re-granted and the orc's malicious work undone made everything glisten and gleam. The colours seemed richer than she remembered, the light a little brighter, and every sensation was now accompanied by a sight that completed the memory: with the warmth of the sun was the glorious sunshine brightening the road before them (it was in fact only light sunshine often covered by clouds, but it seemed more wonderful to Anié), when the wind blew she could see the leaves rustle in the trees and the grass tremble, she could wash her hands in cool water and see its deep blue or river green. At the moment it was hardly so glamorous, the dust she could smell was the dust that she could see, but she was thankful nonetheless.
She could also appreciate the journey more: she could avoid plant-life that she would otherwise have thoughtlessly trodden on, she could prepare for when their path went up or descended, she could judge height and depth and no longer needed to position her next step based on the word of mouth from another. All in all, it was a lot easier to walk!
Though she could only walk and could not skip or run as she felt she'd like to, she was as delighted as an excited child and grinned at everything, almost oblivious of any plight or trouble. Legolas watched her as she walked, sometimes by his side sometimes ahead, and feared in his heart: they had several days walk ahead of them and the terrain would get no easier.
The first day of their return back to Greenwood passed smoothly. The walk itself was dull and the ambiance was tense and un-cheerful as their previous burst of gladness and astonishment began to fade, but it was also uneventful which they were grateful for in their hearts. It was very early the next morning, before dawn, when they halted for a brief rest. They drank what little they had, rested their limbs and planned the ideal route for the following day. They were also aware that Anié had shown great strength to walk so far wounded without a complaint, and she had to admit that tiredness was creeping up on her. (In hindsight, Legolas felt he had shown great strength to resist asking how she was feeling at every possible moment). However, she was weary in body rather than heart and she sat happily at the foot of a large rock, staring up into the clear sky where she could gaze into the eternal blanket of twinkling stars in the dark. Their lights reflected in her eyes and she felt at peace. Despite her injury, Legolas thought she had never looked more beautiful.
As the sun rose they set off again, now approaching the mountains and starting to climb. Once more they would not be climbing to its summits and instead traversing the precarious, smooth boulders. The terrain became difficult for the injured member of the party, who struggled on regardless, whilst the others looked worryingly to the sky. As the day drew on, the weather became worse. Dark ominous clouds moved across the sky – they thought it may rain, but none fell, though Anié was still saddened that there would be no stars tonight. The wind blew stronger and harsher and the chill in the air meant that they could no longer enjoy the sun's warmth. It hid high in the sky above the clouds – it knew what was coming.
It seemed that day that everything changed for the company in every respect: both weather and the terrain had changed for the worse, any joy from the Withered Heath had all been spent and though none complained openly, they felt they would only be glad again once they left these forsaken mountains.
For this reason, again restricted to individual thought only, some of the group became somewhat aggravated by their lack of progress. They could only move so fast on this terrain, the endless peaks of grey made the time drag, and they could progress so far without leaving Anié behind, whose injury forbade her from climbing as swiftly as the others could. Legolas kept the group together as best he could and in high spirits, but nothing he could say would resolve the situation or their inner conflicts.
They rested again that evening in the shelter of some rocks – they would not normally have done, especially with such a will to go home, but it had become clear that Anié could not carry on without a pause. She had lagged behind all day with only a few kind councillors to keep her company, and she looked significantly paler.
Legolas and one of the guards changed Anié's bandages. Upon inspection it turned out that the wound was struggling to heal whilst Anié was constantly moving. The wound was also deeper than they first feared – the blade had pierced her at an angle, so although the wound at skin level appeared straight, the deep purple-black bruising suggested otherwise. They re-applied a clean section of bandage – they had no other supplies with them, though one of the councillors did offer his cloak, which Anié refused on the grounds that it was too valuable to stain – and made her as comfortable as they could. They all knew she was struggling more than most.
It was, in fact, a couple of the guards who had noticed Anié's struggle and suggested they halted for the night whilst they went ahead to check for any signs of Orcs or danger. They said this purely as a ruse (understood by the Prince) to allow Anié to rest a while. However they had no idea how close they were to the truth of what awaited them the following day.