Chapter 3

It was another week before they finally left the valley.

Strider returned after a long disappearance one morning and announced that the snow had melted enough for them to head south. It still felt bitterly cold to Lori, but she was glad to finally start moving. The shelter had begun to feel claustrophobic and stagnant, and she gladly greeted the sharp, wet smell of snow over the scent of smoke and fur.

"Are you sure you don't want your cloak back?" she asked, even as she began to shiver.

Strider shook his head. "You need it more than I do."

He took a moment to put her arm in a sling, just a bandage wrapped in a figure eight around her wrist and neck. With that, they headed downhill, towards the pine forest where he'd first found her. The drifts weren't quite as high as they had been last week, but the snow still reached up to her ankles, and Lori sincerely hoped she wouldn't end up with frostbite.

"How far is it to Rivendell?"

"It will likely take us a week, with the snow." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "I want to make it out of the valley before nightfall. Stay close."

She grunted an affirmation and tried to match the stride of his long legs.

It was tough going. She tried to place her feet in Strider's footprints so she wouldn't have to fight through the snow so much, but before long her legs began to burn with the exertion, especially when their path gradually sloped upwards. She could feel sweat gather beneath her arms and on her chest, even as her feet and ears ached with the cold. She felt like a reverse Hot Pocket.

It was getting dark when Strider finally stopped. Lori could have keeled over right there, but she managed to stay upright, her heaving breaths pushing little clouds of vapor into the air.

"We'll make camp soon. Are you able to keep going a while longer?" he asked.

Lori nodded, trying to get her breathing under control. He didn't look even a little bit winded, and she had the feeling he'd slowed himself down for her sake.

Strider slipped off his pack and pulled out a canteen, which he'd filled with boiled snow that morning. He handed it to her, and she carefully uncorked the container. It was made of some kind of leather, stitched around a circular frame to give it structure.

"Thanks." She started to take a sip, then paused. "I mean, I should have said this earlier, but thank you for everything. I…I really appreciate everything you've done for me."

His expression softened. "You owe me no thanks. It is fortunate that our paths crossed when they did."

If they hadn't, I'd probably be freezing in a ditch somewhere. She lifted the canteen to her lips, and as water touched her parched throat, she had to resist the urge to drain the container. After a couple of gulps, she handed the container back to Strider.

While he drank, she glanced back to look at their progress. The sun was setting, making the stone at the lip of the valley glow with browns and reds, while the bottom was plunged into a misty blue. It was a stunning view, but she was still hoping the journey from here to Rivendell was going to be mostly downhill.

Her footsteps began to drag as they continued through the forest. When they finally veered into a clearing, she leaned against a tree with a sigh before realizing they weren't here to stop for the night.

Strider had crossed the clearing and knelt down beside a small mound of snow. He began to clear it away with gentle movements, and a pile of white stone became visible beneath. Lori moved closer and watched him work, feeling a breathless reverence fall over the clearing. When he was finished, he sat back on his heels and brushed the snow from his fingers. The stones were arranged almost like a pyramid, fitting neatly together on each layer.

"What is that?" Lori asked quietly.

"This cairn marks the spot where Arador was slain," Strider said, his gaze lingering on the stone. "He was one of the great Chieftains of the Rangers."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Arador was before my time. But it remains our duty to preserve his memory." Strider stood up and made to leave the clearing.

Lori hurried to catch up. She considered asking what it was that had killed Arador, then decided against it. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Her gaze drifted to the sword on Strider's belt. "Is it common for Rangers to…to be killed?"

"Arador was a descendant of the kings of old. His life was always at a greater risk because of his lineage."

This wasn't the first time he'd given her a non-answer when she'd asked about the Rangers, but she decided not to press the subject in favor of a different one. "Kings of old? Where did they rule?"

"There were two realms—Arnor in the north, and Gondor in the south. Arnor is little more than a ruin now, but Gondor remains."

Lori bit her lip, trying to hide her disappointment. She didn't recognize either of those names. "What kingdom are we in right now?"

Strider glanced back at her, though it was getting too dark to read much of his expression. "These lands used to be the eastern reaches of Arnor. Now they belong to the Wild."

There was something like grief in his voice. Lori brushed a hand against the bark of a tree as she stepped over its roots. There was a part of her that wanted to understand this place, not just so she could figure out where she was, but so she could better understand Strider.

Eventually, they came to a rocky overhang and Strider finally set down his pack. The campsite wasn't nearly as cozy as the shelter, but the snow yielded to soft earth beneath the overhang. Lori tucked the cloak beneath her as she sat down and watched Strider arrange some wood for a fire. Her legs were trembling slightly from the day's exertion, and the back of her neck ached where the sling pressed down on it. She gently unwound the bandage and rolled her neck to ease some of the pain.

The sky caught her eye immediately, and her jaw dropped. After so many nights spent in the shelter, this was the first time she'd actually seen it. The dark expanse was sequined with stars, clustered together in ribbons and billowing vapors of light that stretched a shining tapestry overhead. She'd seen pictures of how the sky was supposed to look, but now they seemed dull and flat compared to the real thing.

Lori lowered her gaze to see that Strider had paused in building the fire, and was watching her.

"Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Yeah. I've just never seen so many stars before. I barely saw any where I lived."

"Why not?"

"Light pollution. The city gets so bright at night, it blocks out the light in the sky." She tilted her head back to look at the sky again. "I'd be lucky if I saw, like, ten stars."

"How could you sleep in such a place?"

Lori shrugged. "You get used to it after a while."

Strider set down the stones he'd been about to use to light the fire and moved so he was sitting beside her. "Do you see that bright star, just above the trees?"

She lifted her gaze to where he was pointing. She had to tilt her head to see past the uppermost of the pine branches, but the star he was indicating was easily recognizable. It was incredibly bright, not like the shine of a fluorescent light, but more like a sunbeam passing through a raindrop.

"I see it."

"That is Eärendil, the brightest star in the heavens. And that shape there," he shifted his finger, "is Soronúmë, the Eagle of the West."

It took a moment, but eventually she could make out the contour of a wingspan in the ribbon of stars above. A smile played on her lips. "Now I understand how people could actually see shapes in the stars."

"Their patterns were woven by the Kindler, as omens of the future." He pointed to another constellation. "There is Menelvagor. Those three bright stars form his girdle."

Lori's eyes widened. "I know that one! We call him Orion where I'm from."

Strider lowered his hand and turned to her. "You recognize it?"

She nodded. "I don't know many, but I've seen the belt of that one before."

She lifted her gaze back to the stars. The longer she stared, the more clearly she could make out the figure of a man, a gossamer red cape lifted over his shoulders and his shining arms outstretched. The stars winked at her, and the hope in her heart flickered back.

Lori had thought her first day of hiking would be the worst, but she was wrong.

The second was. And the third. Her feet were numb from the cold, and every time she managed to thaw them beside the fire, the sting of blisters made itself known. Her legs ached from traversing snow-covered hills, and her right shoulder had grown painfully stiff from being held in a sling all day. Strider seemed to be doing fine, most of his attention focusing on finding a path south, and would spend hours without uttering a single word. Lori was usually too out of breath to start a conversation, and whenever they stopped, she was more interested in getting warm enough to fall asleep.

The pines had turned to hills, which shifted back into a forest of bare trees with pale trunks and wide crowns. The land here seemed just as wild as the ones in the north, so Lori was surprised when they came across the ruins of a house.

Half of it was gone, its walls crumbled into weed-ridden piles of stone and its thatched roof drooping over what was left. Strider stepped over the short row of stones marking the remains of one wall and crouched down to look at the bare patch of ground beneath the roof.

Lori sat down on a section of the destroyed wall, which was thankfully sturdy enough to hold her weight. The sweat on her legs made her jeans cling uncomfortably to her skin, and her ankle was throbbing from a misstep she'd taken earlier. She propped a hand against her knee and focused on staying upright.

Strider was investigating the ground outside the house, probably surveying animal tracks or something like that. When he came towards her, his expression was tense.

"We should not stay here. We need to move on."

"What?" She cast a longing glance towards the dry patch of ground in one corner of the house, the walls that would keep some of the wind out. "Why?"

"It's not safe. We'll continue until we find somewhere more secure."

Stifling a groan, Lori pushed herself to her feet and trudged towards Strider. As she drew closer, she caught sight of the tracks he'd been looking at earlier, and her heart dropped.

They were large enough that she could have put her hand in the center without touching the edges. The prints were round, with three depressions on one side that could have been toes.

Strider gave her a meaningful look before leading her further into the forest.

Are those bear tracks? Lori wondered, then corrected herself. Those are bear tracks. That's the only thing they could be.

Sunlight drained from the forest, taking the meager warmth it provided with it. When the moon rose, its illumination was weak, leaving pools of deep black between the trees. More than once, Lori stumbled over a stone or root hidden beneath the snow, and muttered swears under her breath. Strider had to slow his pace considerably to make sure she didn't lose him in the dark.

When a glint of orange entered her vision, she had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Even though the light left a small, bright imprint in her vision, there was no mistaking the glow of a campfire a few dozen yards away.

"Do you see that fire?" Lori asked, her voice eerily loud in the stillness of the night.

"I do," Strider replied lowly. "But we should keep our distance."

"Why?" She frowned, thinking of the warmth and company they could find with whoever had lit that fire, then remembered something he'd said earlier. "You think they might be bandits?"

"We would be fortunate if they were only men." He glanced in the direction of the fire. "This country has become infested with trolls in years past. Sometimes they light fires to lure unsuspecting travelers."

Lori stopped walking. "Trolls?"

"Yes." Strider turned towards her. "But they are often slow-witted, and it should be easy to avoid them in the dark."

Her first thought was those ugly dolls with the colorful hair, and her second thought was annoying people on the Internet, but she had a feeling he wasn't referring to either one of those. She had a strange, demented urge to laugh. "There's trolls in these woods. Of course there are."

"As I said, we should be able to avoid them. But we need to keep moving."

"Wh-What are you talking about?" She could feel it rising within her—the stress and the pain and the long days and cold nights—all of it was rising like steam along with the volume of her voice. "There's trolls in these woods and they light fires to lure people and what? Eat them? There's magical elves somewhere that are gonna solve all of my problems? Is your sword magic, too? Why are you telling me all this crazy shit?"

Strider darted forward, one hand outstretched as if to calm her. "Keep your voice down," he hissed.

"Or what? The trolls are gonna get us?"

She took in a breath to continue her rant, and that was when she heard it. A branch snapped somewhere in the woods with a sharp crack, and heavy footsteps drummed against the ground.

Strider grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the sound, so quickly she nearly lost her balance. She managed to keep her feet under her, but he still half-dragged her for nearly a minute before she could match his pace. Beneath the pounding of her heart, she could hear the footsteps speed up.

Just when she thought she would collapse, Strider stopped next to a large pine tree with branches drooping beneath a heavy layer of snow. He practically shoved her beneath the lowest branches, and she scrambled aside to make room for him.

Now that they were sitting still, she could feel the ground tremble beneath the approaching footsteps. Whatever was after them was letting out low, throaty growls with each breath.

Lori clamped one hand over her mouth to try and muffle her breathing, uncaring of the pine needs that were stuck to her palm. It's a bear. It has to be a bear.

Strider was in a half crouch next to her, his back against the trunk of the tree. One hand was wrapped around his sword, and his grip tightened as the footsteps drew nearer.

The thing slowed down and snuffled. Lori imagined she could feel hot breath on the back of her neck, and bit down on her lip to keep from whimpering. It moved past their tree, its heavy stride causing bits of snow to shower onto them. Through the tiny gap in the branches, Lori could see broad shoulders covered in leathery gray skin. She watched the hulking figure disappear into the shadows, blood roaring in her ears.

Even after its footsteps had faded into silence, they waited for what felt like hours before Strider crept to the opening in the branches and emerged from their hiding place. Lori stayed frozen, her hand over her mouth, until Strider knelt down by the opening.

"The troll is gone. It is safe to come out, now."

As if she was moving in a dream, she crawled on one hand to the opening and out into the cold. Strider took her hand and helped her up, but she couldn't look him in the eye.

"Lori." He put a hand on her shoulder, and she clenched her jaw. "I know you are afraid, and these lands are unfamiliar to you. But you must trust that I will not lead you astray."

She managed a nod, her gaze focused on his coat sleeve. She wasn't sure how to even begin processing what she'd seen tonight.

Trolls were real, apparently. And she'd almost gotten them both killed with her denial. The panic of that realization thundered through her, leaving an iron-hot brand of guilt in its wake.

She had almost…

"Come," Strider said, releasing her shoulder. "We should find a safe place to rest for the night."

Mutely, Lori followed him into the dark.

The night of the incident with the troll, Lori didn't sleep at all.

They found a cluster of pine trees that provided decent cover, and Strider settled down without lighting a fire. Lori huddled over the driest spot she could find and shivered beneath the cloak. Even if it had been warmer, she didn't think she would have slept. Every thud and rustle had her tensing up, eyes wide and staring into the blank night.

After another day of travel, exhaustion finally claimed her, and she fell into a deep, dreamless haze. When she woke, the sun was higher than she expected, and she guessed Strider had let her sleep later than usual.

She didn't say anything, just picked herself up and followed him up a snowy ridge. The memory of her anger tasted like ash in her mouth. Losing her temper like that had been immature, an ugly reflection of that weakness she had to keep beating into submission. A bitter ember of shame stuck in her throat every time she thought about it. She could feel herself shrinking around it.

If either of them had gotten hurt that night, it should have been her.

The next couple of days blurred together. They were heading uphill again, and most of the time Lori had to keep her focus on forcing her aching legs to move. Whenever they stopped to rest, she ate whatever was given to her and fell asleep afterwards. Sometimes, she caught Strider looking at her, jaw working as if he wanted to say something, but he never did.

Maybe he was beginning to regret bringing her along with him.

On the eighth day of their journey, they reached a deep gully flanked by smooth gray rock. It looked like a stream had once passed through there, but now it was empty except a layer of small gray stones covered in snow.

Strider leapt down into the gully, then turned and reached out to help her. She didn't have enough confidence in her ankles to jump, so she began to climb down, and let him keep her balance until she reached the bottom.

The stones at the bottom of the gully were small enough to provide relatively even footing, and she was grateful for the chance to let her legs rest somewhat.

When they finally got to Rivendell, she was going to sleep for a week.

Lori lifted her head as something like a warm breeze brushed over her face. The wind wasn't blowing, but the chill in the air had lost its bite. Tentatively, she let go of the cloak, which she'd been holding closed in front of her.

Strider glanced over his shoulder at her. "You feel it?"

"It just got warmer." She looked around, but she couldn't see any physical change in the landscape. "Why?"

"There is a powerful magic surrounding Rivendell that protects it from evil creatures." A wry smile crossed his face. "It also has the benefit of milder weather."

Lori tried not to wince at the mention of magic and evil creatures. She couldn't exactly brush that kind of thing off after the troll. But it was a relief to know they were headed somewhere safe. "Does that mean we're close?"

"Hopefully we will reach the city before sunset."

She let out a sigh of relief. She was really looking forward to sleeping in a real bed again.

After a few minutes of silence, she asked, "What, um, kind of magic protects Rivendell? I don't—I've never seen anything like that before."

"It is the power of Lord Elrond that protects the valley. He is one of the remaining elf-lords of this land." He glanced at her again, as if gauging her reaction.

Lori nodded, trying not to look too freaked out. She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a long moment, then said, "I'm sorry about the other night, with the…the troll. I was being stupid. I shouldn't have reacted like that."

Strider stopped walking and turned to face her. At the sight of his frown, she resisted the urge to shrink back.

"You were frightened, and you had no reason to believe in something you had never seen before." His expression softened. "I do not blame you for what happened. It is enough that we both escaped unharmed."

She blinked, trying to reorganize her thoughts. He wasn't upset with her. It took her a moment to release the tension she'd been holding around that thought. "All right, well, I'll try to keep a more open mind from now on."

He nodded, hesitated as if he wanted to say something else, then turned and motioned for her to keep walking.

Still feeling inexplicably nervous, Lori followed him. From now on, she would have to try and take things at face value, and work out the details later. Maybe one day she'd be able to make sense of everything that was happening.

A little ways down the gorge were two large bushes that were blocking their path. Lori blinked in surprise when she realized they still had their leaves. There was no snow on the ground, either.

Strider pushed back the branches of one of the bushes, creating an opening large enough to pass through. Lori ducked through the gap, wincing when her hair snagged on a branch.

But she immediately forgot about her discomfort when her eyes landed on the landscape below them. The trees were still full, quilting the valley with deep green and bright orange. A series of waterfalls cascaded over the cliff, glistening in the waning sunlight. And nestled at the bottom were several buildings that looked unlike anything she'd seen before. They looked as if they were made of some kind of gray wood or stone, but it was hard to tell from this distance. She could see arches and graceful domes and walkways that wound between more greenery.

The bush rustled again, and Strider stepped up beside her.

"That's Rivendell?" Lori asked, unable to take her eyes off the cluster of buildings.

"It is."

"It's beautiful."

He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Come. We should reach the gates within the next hour."

"Sounds good."

They started down a winding path to the bottom of the valley, and as the rays of the setting sun touched her face, Lori allowed herself a small smile.

I'm still adjusting to writing Lori's character after spending so long with my other OC Quinn. Sometimes I have to fight the urge to add in dumb jokes and references that Quinn would make. Couldn't help myself with the Hot Pocket one though. Lori also tends to get stuck in her own head more than Quinn, so I'm trying to walk the fine line of portraying self-loathing without it getting too edgy and dramatic. I know it'll never be as bad as Midnight Sun (or at least the couple of chapters I forced myself to read) but if it ever gets too whiny, let me know.

Also, apparently some of the stars and constellations in Middle-earth are equivalent. Fun fact, but a little confusing for Lori.

I want to give credit to the Adventures in Middle-earth Rivendell Region Guide for some of the awesome world-building details that I've been using, like Arador's cairn. It's technically meant for TTRPG but I've found it to be really useful for writing.