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THE LONG ROAD TO HOPE (resubmitted)
Author's note: I had not really intended this to be an AU Middle Earth tale, except I had been laboring under a misconception concerning the facts of a certain character when I thought of this tale originally...but because I think it is a decent idea, here it is....
I am resubmitting this tale, because, one I liked it a lot and two, I had five parts that I uploaded separately all over creation and I would like to rectify that, along with more spacing now that I know how to add chapters...coherently........pretty much (Now if I can just figure out how to make ellipsis stay put and not show up as a period in the middle of a sentence!!
I will give you here at the outset, because it helps so much to set the mood, the music I have been listening to while writing this:
Most importantly and consistently, the sound track to The Black Stallion by Danny Elfman (appropriate name!)
the soundtrack to Restoration by James Newton Howard.
And the LOTR soundtrack by Howard Shore.
Thera Dalmain looked at the drawing that five-year old Wemm held up for inspection.
"Why, that is a very good tree Wemm," she said smiling at the brown stick topped with a riot of green squiggly lines. "Very pretty. I'll put it next to your cat."
Wemm, his blond curls bouncing happily, looked up at her, a smudge of gooseberry jam obvious under his nose. "It's the tree my cat Tommy climbs all the time."
"Of course, I am sure---"
Thera was interrupted by one of her student's parents, Lis Fergan who stood framed in the open doorway.
"Sorry to disturb you Mistress Dalmain, but my boy's got to come home. His da, well his da didn't finish the planting."
Thera nodded and indicated with a nod that 10-year-old Rad could go. She silently went to the careworn woman nervously wrapping her hands in her apron. "It's all right Lis, I understand."
Masrale Fergan was one of Bree's more notorious tipplers and probably had slept half the day and awakened in a terrible temper. Rad was the only thing keeping the family from falling apart all together. It was a rare week when he wasn't called home several times. But for all that, he was a bright boy and quick with his numbers. But Thera despaired of his ever seeing a brighter future.
"Rad, you know where to find me, when you get a break from your chores." He nodded and left reluctantly with his mom.
Thera went to his stool and looked at his slate. And he had done the math problem she had given correctly. With a sigh, Thera put the slate on her table and was about to address the class, when they heard the town crier announce it was 4 p.m. Her small clutch of students all looked at her and smiling, she waved them off. With a cheer and a clatter of slates and scraping of stools, the class bounded happily for the door.
With a sigh, Thera took the next half an hour to clean up the little school room that Mayor Barley had set aside for her use here at his warehouse. It still smelled slightly of the ale barrels that had been stored there.
Wrapping her shawl across her shoulders, she rushed from the school room to The Owls' Roost where in the evenings, she helped Mistress Ruffo serve the dinner crowd and sometimes, stayed later to help with the serious drinkers afterwards.
Entering the Roost from the kitchen door, she exchanged her shawl for an apron hanging on a nearby peg. As she tied it around her, the amply- endowed Mistress Magda Ruffo bustled in, all in a dither. "Oh dearie, I am so glad you are on time this evening. We've a crowd of farmers on their way to Brickman's horse sale. Pick up that platter of tatters and the dish of sauce and follow me."
Nodding, Thera did as she was asked and spent the rest of the evening with her hostess running food and drinks to the boisterous group.
In a spare moment with Iris the barmaid as she filled a tray of tankards, Thera commented, "Well, I imagine they won't be so cheerful once they come back from Brickman's!"
Iris nodded. "He does have a bumper crop of fillies and colts this year, he does. They'll cost this lot a pretty penny, that's for sure!"
"We'll be lucky if they buy one pitcher amongst them all when they're done with the sale."
"There goes my tip!" Thera laughed but inwardly groaned. Iris was right. Big spenders now, but after the sale, misers all. She jingled the few coins she had received so far this evening. Every little bit help.
When the farmers had finally stumbled upstairs, Thera looked around and sighed. Well, maybe she could get her dinner and take something up to her brother Thim. Her eyes softened as she headed back to the kitchen, idly waving away pipe smoke. Maybe she could coax him with the fine barley soup Mistress Ruffo had made for lunch. Magda told her during a lull in serving that Thim had been asleep when she brought up lunch, and she hadn't the heart to wake him.
Pulling her apron off, she went into the kitchen, where Magda was tearing at a chicken leg and when she asked for supper, Magda waved her towards the simmering pots.
Gathering up what she wanted and what she thought she could tempt Thim with, she carefully carried their tray up to the attic room she shared with her eight-year-old brother.
Thim, who had always been sickly had contracted a wasting sickness in the winter, and now, during late spring, he still could not shake it. And though Thera saved all the coins she earned from teaching and serving and gave them to every doctor and quack that came through Bree, Thim was no better.
And none seemed to know exactly what was the matter. But he had no appetite and slept a lot. Thera could barely tempt him with food, no matter how special. He ate like a bird. The only thing that he loved was tales and sagas. So whenever Thera had time, she would recite a poem or lay and sometimes Thim would join her. He was a sweet boy and didn't complain much. But Thera despaired of ever seeing him well again. And he was all the family she had.
Pushing open the door to their room, she went and set the laden tray down on the table and went over to the bed they shared. Thim lay tangled in their faded quilt, his tousled hair practically hiding his thin, pinched features.
Coming up to him quietly, Thera shook his shoulder gently.
"What momma?"
"It's not momma Thim, its me Thera. I've brought you some dinner. I've got some nice barley soup and soft, fresh bread. Come on sweetheart, sit up."
She lifted him and with a small groan, his head lolled back against her chest. "Come on Thim. Sit up, that's my boy." She picked him up and took him over to the table where she fed him.
But even sitting in her lap, Thim would only take a few sips and then he brushed her hand away. "That's enough Thera. I am full." He drank a half cup of milk while Thera ate her supper. But somehow tonight, watching Thim, she wasn't hungry either and most of the soup sat on the table cooling.
Thim, playing with the end of her thick auburn braid, asked, as he frequently did, "When am I going to get better Thera? When can I go play with Willy down in the barnyard? When can I go see the new chicks?" He buried his face in her vest. "I am so tired Thera. I want to stop being so tired." She brushed his hair back and began to sing an old song about butterfly warriors and dandelion kings until he slipped back into the slumber that so easily took him.
Carrying him back to bed and tucking him in, Thera sat on the bed and watched him sleep by candlelight. Tears came and Thera put her head in her hands and wept silently, as she had so often. What was she going to do? Was there nothing to be done but watch him waste away into nothing?
Taking the tray back downstairs, she cleaned up the dishes that were there. Thankfully she was left with her morose thoughts while Mistress Ruffo handled the late crowd. She could hear snatches of song and laughter through the door as she rinsed the last of the dishes.
The door banged open as Magda brought in a tray with a few tankards and small bowls on it. "How's the wee one then?"
"Oh the same Magda. He only drank a half cup of milk and a few mouthfuls of soup." She stared sightless at the big hanging soup tureens. "I do not see how he can survive." She looked at Magda, "I-I just can't let him go. He is all I have." She pointed with her chin. "Is there anyone out there tonight? Any new doctors or healers?"
Magda shook her head regretfully and went to dump the tankards in the soapy water Thera had been using.
Just then Iris leaned in around the door, "Got a big group just now." Seeing Magda up to her elbows cleaning tankards she looked at Thera. "Can you give me a hand?"
Nodding, Thera grabbed her apron and followed Iris out. You never knew.
"I'm sorry, what was that again?"
The bearded, grubby traveler growled around a mouthful of bread, "Can ye get me a tankard of beer miss?"
"Beer? Certainly." Thera hurried off to Iris and gave her order. Taking the six full tankards in both hands, she went over to the table and started to lay out the drinks. As she did that and picked up stray dirty dishes, she idly listened to their talk.
"Yah, I heard tell of them up that ways. Never seen any though."
"They don't like to be seen now, do they? They're always mighty secretive. Speak a different language too."
Shaking her head, Thera was about to leave, when a small man spoke up at the other end of the table. "Ya know my da actually met up with a group of them once, said he thought they was headed for the sea."
"Didn't know they was sailors."
"Naw, they was traveling somewheres, he says. And what's west of us but the sea? But that's not what I mention it for. My da told me they gave him a hand when he lost a wheel on his cart and it being full of grain for Deepening Market."
"Ya don't say! What did they do? Turn it all to fairy bread and cakes?" A ripple of laughter ran around the table.
The little man took a deep swig of his beer. "Naw, one of them fixed my da's ankle. He says it were broke. It were trapped under the axle in soft mud. It was after those big rains we had in '31 remember? And the bridge at the end of town washed out, and---"
"Get on with the story Rafe!"
Thera now made no effort to look busy. The man's story had utterly caught her attention.
"Aw right then. Le'see, ma da lost the cart off the Great East Road, way past Michel Delving, though at that point the road were more west, if you get my meaning. It slipped and broke the right front wheel and him trapped under the axle when he tried to unhitch the horse. He was there for hours and had practically swooned away like a girl--begging yer pardon miss--"
Thera nodded and smiled ruefully.
"So there he were in an agony for his ankle and they showed up, a whole troop of them he says, horses and all. He couldn't understand a flipping word neither. Says they sounded like birds. Sweet birds, but birds anyhow. Then a couple of them lift the cart off of him smart as you please and another pulled him out and lay him on the side of the road. They undid Dolly from the cart and let her get to the grass."
"They weren't planning to rob him now were they Rafe?"
"Naw! Let me finish here! The one, he seemed the leader, cuz he had been doing all the directing, bent down to my da and looked at him square in the face, said something in his language and then put his hands around the bad ankle. My da says he finally up and swoons at that point."
"Okay, so what happened then? He waked up and all his belongings were gone and---"
"I told you they didn't rob him! He wakes up and the cart is there, Dolly is there, the grain is there and his ankle ain't broke no more."
Finished, the man takes a deep swallow of beer and looks around the table, which has gone silent.
Thera shakes her head at the story, not sure if she believes it. Taking the dirty dishes back thoughtfully to the kitchen, she dumps them back in the now cool water. She can't get what the man said about his dad's ankle out of her mind. Could someone actually heal a broken ankle like that? Maybe it wasn't really broken?
Rushing past a laden Magda, she went over to the table and asked the small man, her hands wrapped nervously in her apron, like Lis Fergan earlier that day.
"Excuse me sir, but you didn't say who had done this for your dad. I mean cured his ankle and all?"
He looked up at her his face serious. "It was elves miss. A whole bunch of elves."
"Elves! I never knew..." Thera looked at him, biting her lip. "You say you know where they live?"
"Somewheres in the Misty Mountains I heard tell. Place called Riverdale...Way out beyond the Last Bridge."
"Riverdale. You wouldn't know how to get there would you?"
The farmer grinned. "Want to see if my tale is true, do you?"
"Yes." Thera folded her hands in front of her apron. "Exactly."
She pulled a chair around and sat. Taking out one of her hard earned coins, she lay it on the table between them. "Can you draw me a map?"
Thera looked around the school room and bit her lip. She really hated giving up the school. The little ones really needed this. But if Marjorie Bottom could be spared from her dad's dry goods store, perhaps she'd be able to teach. Rubbing her hand slowly along her old table, she sighed deeply and left. Her brother's health had to come first.
Going to the stables next to the Owl's Roost, Thera went up to the horse she purchased, whose name was Lily. She was a sturdy bay farm horse in the prime of health. If anyone could make the fearsomely long journey to Riverdale, Lily would. The cart they were going to use was also a sturdy construction, a spare from Farmer Gamlin's house.
And bless Mistress Ruffo, she was going to provide as much food as could be cured, preserved and packed away.
Based on what the farmer knew and others had added to his knowledge, the trip to Riverdale would take almost a month. But Thera knew lots of the plants growing about and knew what was edible and what wasn't, as well as what herbs might be useful for Thim. There was at least plenty of water and grass for the horse along the way.
The only big worry was there were no inns or towns between here and the elves home. Possibly a few isolated farmsteads, but that was all. Thera had not traveled far from Bree, but before setting out, she spent a couple of weeks to take practice drives with Thim, just to see how he would fare. They also spent a few nights making camp just for practice. And luckily, as near as anyone could determine, Riverdale was a straight shot down the Great East Road up into the Misty Mountains, which meant she would have to work hard to get lost.
And all the travelers she had talked to assured her that at this time, there didn't seem to be any tales of bandits or other fell things hanging about looking for unprotected single women travelers.
Well, the day arrived for she and Thim to be on their way. She had only told Thim they were going to search for some other healers. She didn't want him getting his hopes up about the elves. She had not been able to find anyone else who had seen or talked with elves. So the farmers story was all she had to go on. She prayed it was true. Because if it wasn't, Thim was going to suffer for her believing in fairy tales. Well, in this case, elf tales.
Mistress Ruffo and Farmer Gamlin, along with the gaggle of her students and their folks, came out to see her leave early one morning. The mist was rising and Thim was bundled up warmly in the bed of the cart, propped up so he would be able to see the countryside as they passed. There was a cover for the cart, but the day was starting off beautifully, so Thera left it off.
"Well, take care of yourself and Master Thim here. I hope you find the elves!" Mistress Ruffo gave her a big hug and Thera, teary-eyed, hugged her back. She shook hands with some of the others and hugged some of her students. Then with a flick of her reins, Lily pulled into the harness, and they were off!
Thim waved to their friends until they went around a curve and they were all lost to sight. Nervous that she was making a foolish mistake, Thera kept quiet until they were out of Bree, a good hour later. She was so afraid her nerve would fail her and she'd turn the cart back. But she couldn't. She just couldn't.
The elves were her only hope.
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THE LONG ROAD TO HOPE (resubmitted)
Author's note: I had not really intended this to be an AU Middle Earth tale, except I had been laboring under a misconception concerning the facts of a certain character when I thought of this tale originally...but because I think it is a decent idea, here it is....
I am resubmitting this tale, because, one I liked it a lot and two, I had five parts that I uploaded separately all over creation and I would like to rectify that, along with more spacing now that I know how to add chapters...coherently........pretty much (Now if I can just figure out how to make ellipsis stay put and not show up as a period in the middle of a sentence!!
I will give you here at the outset, because it helps so much to set the mood, the music I have been listening to while writing this:
Most importantly and consistently, the sound track to The Black Stallion by Danny Elfman (appropriate name!)
the soundtrack to Restoration by James Newton Howard.
And the LOTR soundtrack by Howard Shore.
Thera Dalmain looked at the drawing that five-year old Wemm held up for inspection.
"Why, that is a very good tree Wemm," she said smiling at the brown stick topped with a riot of green squiggly lines. "Very pretty. I'll put it next to your cat."
Wemm, his blond curls bouncing happily, looked up at her, a smudge of gooseberry jam obvious under his nose. "It's the tree my cat Tommy climbs all the time."
"Of course, I am sure---"
Thera was interrupted by one of her student's parents, Lis Fergan who stood framed in the open doorway.
"Sorry to disturb you Mistress Dalmain, but my boy's got to come home. His da, well his da didn't finish the planting."
Thera nodded and indicated with a nod that 10-year-old Rad could go. She silently went to the careworn woman nervously wrapping her hands in her apron. "It's all right Lis, I understand."
Masrale Fergan was one of Bree's more notorious tipplers and probably had slept half the day and awakened in a terrible temper. Rad was the only thing keeping the family from falling apart all together. It was a rare week when he wasn't called home several times. But for all that, he was a bright boy and quick with his numbers. But Thera despaired of his ever seeing a brighter future.
"Rad, you know where to find me, when you get a break from your chores." He nodded and left reluctantly with his mom.
Thera went to his stool and looked at his slate. And he had done the math problem she had given correctly. With a sigh, Thera put the slate on her table and was about to address the class, when they heard the town crier announce it was 4 p.m. Her small clutch of students all looked at her and smiling, she waved them off. With a cheer and a clatter of slates and scraping of stools, the class bounded happily for the door.
With a sigh, Thera took the next half an hour to clean up the little school room that Mayor Barley had set aside for her use here at his warehouse. It still smelled slightly of the ale barrels that had been stored there.
Wrapping her shawl across her shoulders, she rushed from the school room to The Owls' Roost where in the evenings, she helped Mistress Ruffo serve the dinner crowd and sometimes, stayed later to help with the serious drinkers afterwards.
Entering the Roost from the kitchen door, she exchanged her shawl for an apron hanging on a nearby peg. As she tied it around her, the amply- endowed Mistress Magda Ruffo bustled in, all in a dither. "Oh dearie, I am so glad you are on time this evening. We've a crowd of farmers on their way to Brickman's horse sale. Pick up that platter of tatters and the dish of sauce and follow me."
Nodding, Thera did as she was asked and spent the rest of the evening with her hostess running food and drinks to the boisterous group.
In a spare moment with Iris the barmaid as she filled a tray of tankards, Thera commented, "Well, I imagine they won't be so cheerful once they come back from Brickman's!"
Iris nodded. "He does have a bumper crop of fillies and colts this year, he does. They'll cost this lot a pretty penny, that's for sure!"
"We'll be lucky if they buy one pitcher amongst them all when they're done with the sale."
"There goes my tip!" Thera laughed but inwardly groaned. Iris was right. Big spenders now, but after the sale, misers all. She jingled the few coins she had received so far this evening. Every little bit help.
When the farmers had finally stumbled upstairs, Thera looked around and sighed. Well, maybe she could get her dinner and take something up to her brother Thim. Her eyes softened as she headed back to the kitchen, idly waving away pipe smoke. Maybe she could coax him with the fine barley soup Mistress Ruffo had made for lunch. Magda told her during a lull in serving that Thim had been asleep when she brought up lunch, and she hadn't the heart to wake him.
Pulling her apron off, she went into the kitchen, where Magda was tearing at a chicken leg and when she asked for supper, Magda waved her towards the simmering pots.
Gathering up what she wanted and what she thought she could tempt Thim with, she carefully carried their tray up to the attic room she shared with her eight-year-old brother.
Thim, who had always been sickly had contracted a wasting sickness in the winter, and now, during late spring, he still could not shake it. And though Thera saved all the coins she earned from teaching and serving and gave them to every doctor and quack that came through Bree, Thim was no better.
And none seemed to know exactly what was the matter. But he had no appetite and slept a lot. Thera could barely tempt him with food, no matter how special. He ate like a bird. The only thing that he loved was tales and sagas. So whenever Thera had time, she would recite a poem or lay and sometimes Thim would join her. He was a sweet boy and didn't complain much. But Thera despaired of ever seeing him well again. And he was all the family she had.
Pushing open the door to their room, she went and set the laden tray down on the table and went over to the bed they shared. Thim lay tangled in their faded quilt, his tousled hair practically hiding his thin, pinched features.
Coming up to him quietly, Thera shook his shoulder gently.
"What momma?"
"It's not momma Thim, its me Thera. I've brought you some dinner. I've got some nice barley soup and soft, fresh bread. Come on sweetheart, sit up."
She lifted him and with a small groan, his head lolled back against her chest. "Come on Thim. Sit up, that's my boy." She picked him up and took him over to the table where she fed him.
But even sitting in her lap, Thim would only take a few sips and then he brushed her hand away. "That's enough Thera. I am full." He drank a half cup of milk while Thera ate her supper. But somehow tonight, watching Thim, she wasn't hungry either and most of the soup sat on the table cooling.
Thim, playing with the end of her thick auburn braid, asked, as he frequently did, "When am I going to get better Thera? When can I go play with Willy down in the barnyard? When can I go see the new chicks?" He buried his face in her vest. "I am so tired Thera. I want to stop being so tired." She brushed his hair back and began to sing an old song about butterfly warriors and dandelion kings until he slipped back into the slumber that so easily took him.
Carrying him back to bed and tucking him in, Thera sat on the bed and watched him sleep by candlelight. Tears came and Thera put her head in her hands and wept silently, as she had so often. What was she going to do? Was there nothing to be done but watch him waste away into nothing?
Taking the tray back downstairs, she cleaned up the dishes that were there. Thankfully she was left with her morose thoughts while Mistress Ruffo handled the late crowd. She could hear snatches of song and laughter through the door as she rinsed the last of the dishes.
The door banged open as Magda brought in a tray with a few tankards and small bowls on it. "How's the wee one then?"
"Oh the same Magda. He only drank a half cup of milk and a few mouthfuls of soup." She stared sightless at the big hanging soup tureens. "I do not see how he can survive." She looked at Magda, "I-I just can't let him go. He is all I have." She pointed with her chin. "Is there anyone out there tonight? Any new doctors or healers?"
Magda shook her head regretfully and went to dump the tankards in the soapy water Thera had been using.
Just then Iris leaned in around the door, "Got a big group just now." Seeing Magda up to her elbows cleaning tankards she looked at Thera. "Can you give me a hand?"
Nodding, Thera grabbed her apron and followed Iris out. You never knew.
"I'm sorry, what was that again?"
The bearded, grubby traveler growled around a mouthful of bread, "Can ye get me a tankard of beer miss?"
"Beer? Certainly." Thera hurried off to Iris and gave her order. Taking the six full tankards in both hands, she went over to the table and started to lay out the drinks. As she did that and picked up stray dirty dishes, she idly listened to their talk.
"Yah, I heard tell of them up that ways. Never seen any though."
"They don't like to be seen now, do they? They're always mighty secretive. Speak a different language too."
Shaking her head, Thera was about to leave, when a small man spoke up at the other end of the table. "Ya know my da actually met up with a group of them once, said he thought they was headed for the sea."
"Didn't know they was sailors."
"Naw, they was traveling somewheres, he says. And what's west of us but the sea? But that's not what I mention it for. My da told me they gave him a hand when he lost a wheel on his cart and it being full of grain for Deepening Market."
"Ya don't say! What did they do? Turn it all to fairy bread and cakes?" A ripple of laughter ran around the table.
The little man took a deep swig of his beer. "Naw, one of them fixed my da's ankle. He says it were broke. It were trapped under the axle in soft mud. It was after those big rains we had in '31 remember? And the bridge at the end of town washed out, and---"
"Get on with the story Rafe!"
Thera now made no effort to look busy. The man's story had utterly caught her attention.
"Aw right then. Le'see, ma da lost the cart off the Great East Road, way past Michel Delving, though at that point the road were more west, if you get my meaning. It slipped and broke the right front wheel and him trapped under the axle when he tried to unhitch the horse. He was there for hours and had practically swooned away like a girl--begging yer pardon miss--"
Thera nodded and smiled ruefully.
"So there he were in an agony for his ankle and they showed up, a whole troop of them he says, horses and all. He couldn't understand a flipping word neither. Says they sounded like birds. Sweet birds, but birds anyhow. Then a couple of them lift the cart off of him smart as you please and another pulled him out and lay him on the side of the road. They undid Dolly from the cart and let her get to the grass."
"They weren't planning to rob him now were they Rafe?"
"Naw! Let me finish here! The one, he seemed the leader, cuz he had been doing all the directing, bent down to my da and looked at him square in the face, said something in his language and then put his hands around the bad ankle. My da says he finally up and swoons at that point."
"Okay, so what happened then? He waked up and all his belongings were gone and---"
"I told you they didn't rob him! He wakes up and the cart is there, Dolly is there, the grain is there and his ankle ain't broke no more."
Finished, the man takes a deep swallow of beer and looks around the table, which has gone silent.
Thera shakes her head at the story, not sure if she believes it. Taking the dirty dishes back thoughtfully to the kitchen, she dumps them back in the now cool water. She can't get what the man said about his dad's ankle out of her mind. Could someone actually heal a broken ankle like that? Maybe it wasn't really broken?
Rushing past a laden Magda, she went over to the table and asked the small man, her hands wrapped nervously in her apron, like Lis Fergan earlier that day.
"Excuse me sir, but you didn't say who had done this for your dad. I mean cured his ankle and all?"
He looked up at her his face serious. "It was elves miss. A whole bunch of elves."
"Elves! I never knew..." Thera looked at him, biting her lip. "You say you know where they live?"
"Somewheres in the Misty Mountains I heard tell. Place called Riverdale...Way out beyond the Last Bridge."
"Riverdale. You wouldn't know how to get there would you?"
The farmer grinned. "Want to see if my tale is true, do you?"
"Yes." Thera folded her hands in front of her apron. "Exactly."
She pulled a chair around and sat. Taking out one of her hard earned coins, she lay it on the table between them. "Can you draw me a map?"
Thera looked around the school room and bit her lip. She really hated giving up the school. The little ones really needed this. But if Marjorie Bottom could be spared from her dad's dry goods store, perhaps she'd be able to teach. Rubbing her hand slowly along her old table, she sighed deeply and left. Her brother's health had to come first.
Going to the stables next to the Owl's Roost, Thera went up to the horse she purchased, whose name was Lily. She was a sturdy bay farm horse in the prime of health. If anyone could make the fearsomely long journey to Riverdale, Lily would. The cart they were going to use was also a sturdy construction, a spare from Farmer Gamlin's house.
And bless Mistress Ruffo, she was going to provide as much food as could be cured, preserved and packed away.
Based on what the farmer knew and others had added to his knowledge, the trip to Riverdale would take almost a month. But Thera knew lots of the plants growing about and knew what was edible and what wasn't, as well as what herbs might be useful for Thim. There was at least plenty of water and grass for the horse along the way.
The only big worry was there were no inns or towns between here and the elves home. Possibly a few isolated farmsteads, but that was all. Thera had not traveled far from Bree, but before setting out, she spent a couple of weeks to take practice drives with Thim, just to see how he would fare. They also spent a few nights making camp just for practice. And luckily, as near as anyone could determine, Riverdale was a straight shot down the Great East Road up into the Misty Mountains, which meant she would have to work hard to get lost.
And all the travelers she had talked to assured her that at this time, there didn't seem to be any tales of bandits or other fell things hanging about looking for unprotected single women travelers.
Well, the day arrived for she and Thim to be on their way. She had only told Thim they were going to search for some other healers. She didn't want him getting his hopes up about the elves. She had not been able to find anyone else who had seen or talked with elves. So the farmers story was all she had to go on. She prayed it was true. Because if it wasn't, Thim was going to suffer for her believing in fairy tales. Well, in this case, elf tales.
Mistress Ruffo and Farmer Gamlin, along with the gaggle of her students and their folks, came out to see her leave early one morning. The mist was rising and Thim was bundled up warmly in the bed of the cart, propped up so he would be able to see the countryside as they passed. There was a cover for the cart, but the day was starting off beautifully, so Thera left it off.
"Well, take care of yourself and Master Thim here. I hope you find the elves!" Mistress Ruffo gave her a big hug and Thera, teary-eyed, hugged her back. She shook hands with some of the others and hugged some of her students. Then with a flick of her reins, Lily pulled into the harness, and they were off!
Thim waved to their friends until they went around a curve and they were all lost to sight. Nervous that she was making a foolish mistake, Thera kept quiet until they were out of Bree, a good hour later. She was so afraid her nerve would fail her and she'd turn the cart back. But she couldn't. She just couldn't.
The elves were her only hope.
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