Chapter Two:
Books littered the floor of Laurel's small room. She was searching for something she had read in an old tome, a map of sorts. She read about the many kingdoms of Arda and she knew many languages, she just needed to find a place that seemed suitable to hide away. All she knew was she could not stay here. Saruman had been to her tower only yesterday, which meant he would not likely return for another few days. Finally, she found a dusty red book with tattered spine and yellowed pages. She flipped to the back of the book where there was a crude map of Arda. The only problem, she had no idea where she was on that map.
Sighing, she ripped the page out of the book and folded it in half, placing it in a small sack she had woven many years back. She donned a brown tunic and grey breeches. She never grew accustomed to dresses, seeing no need to dress so formally when her only company was Saruman and the occasional bird or butterfly. The one thing she had never owned was a pair of shoes. She had no need for them, not when your floor never got dirty and you never went outside. Laurel leaned her head out the window, trying to gauge how far down the forest floor was. It was at least fifty feet. She hefted her small sack over one shoulder and her bow and quiver of arrows over the other. She walked to the far side of her room where a thick patch of ivy grew out of the walls. She willed their strands to braid themselves together and thicken their vines. They did as she wished and slowly inched their way closer to the window. Laurel guided the thickening rope of plants and waited until the vine reached their way out the window and under the canopy of treetops that brushed against the sides of the tall, stone tower.
After about ten minutes she felt confident that she could climb down and reach the forest floor safely. Sticking one foot out the window and lowering herself off the ledge, she steadily eased her way down the vines. Before she had climbed out the window, she made sure to wrap the vines thrice around her bed posts to anchor the living rope. It took nearly twenty minutes for her to reach the ground, mostly because her legs and arms were shaking from the fear of falling and the newness of going out into the world for the first time in many thousand years.
Once on the ground, she let her feet dig into the soft, dark soil. She could feel the trees around her and hear the chirping of the insects and birds. She could feel the shallow breeze that wound its way through the tree trunks and blew some of her hairs across her face. She closed her eyes and smiled, spreading her arms out and spinning in slow circles with her head raised to the canopy. This was perfect! She could feel all the life around her! She laughed out loud and stopped spinning to take in the forest. She reached a hand out to the nearest tree trunk and nearly stumbled back at the force of emotion she felt. That tree had been angry, immensely angry! As she approached a different tree she felt the same overwhelming feeling. Why were all these trees so angry? She walked through the forest, touching a tree every now and again to see if the anger they were feeling was localized somehow. But no. They were all very mad, the whole forest. She decided that she had to put distance between her and that tower because Saruman would eventually discover her jail break and hunt her down.
Laurel shivered at the thought of being a prisoner to the new and wicked Saruman. She no longer knew what he was capable of and that terrified her. She walked for what felt like hours until she came upon a small stream. She knelt down on the bank and greedily scooped handfuls of fresh water into her mouth. This water was much better than the stale water Saruman always brought her! It tasted cold and fresh and full of life! A break in the clouds let fall a ray of sunlight close to where she sat so she scooted over a few feet to bask for a few moments. Feeling the warm sun on her skin was the best, and she felt her energy soar. Now she was truly ready for a journey!
Laurel hitched her sack a little higher on her shoulder and contemplated which direction she should go from here. The sound of splashing caught her attention. She glanced behind her and noticed a small school of fish were passing by. She leaned back down to the water and submerged her hand, waiting for a fish to brush against her. Eventually one did and she saw a beautiful place flowing with rivers and waterfalls and all kinds of flowers and animals. It looked like paradise! That was where she would go! She resigned herself to following the river with the fish until she found this place these fish were headed.
A few days went by as she walked along the banks of the stream, which had grown in size and strength as she went, and she was about to enter an area that seemed to be a large unending plain of grasslands. Without cover, she could be spotted by anyone! Saruman had warned her of the greed of men, the viciousness of orcs, the wrath of dwarves and the trickery of elves. No one was to be trusted, except of course for the Maiar, which included Gandalf, Saruman, the Lady Galadriel, and some others who's names she forgot. However, mentally she scratched Saruman's name off that esteemed list. Laurel sat at the edge of the tree line wondering if it would be wise to risk leaving the safety of the trees to follow the river.
For an hour she sat and debated in her mind the pros and cons of each choice, trees or grass, safety or exposure? She saw on the ground the shadow of a bird flying overhead and immediately stood and let out a whistle. She watched the small sparrow loop back around snd she gingerly held out her hand as a perch for the bird. It landed on her outstretched hand and twitted happily in greeting, fluffing out its brown plumage.
"Little bird, can you fly ahead of me and warn me of any passersby that I might encounter on my way?" she asked the little bird politely. She knew the bird didn't understand language and rather sensed in her mind's eye what she truly needed from it, but it was nice to at least pretend she could have conversations with someone other than her thoughts. The bird swiveled its head while it looked at her for a moment, then hopped up and down a few times before taking flight. It chirped happily to her and Laurel let out a small tinkling laugh as she followed the little sparrow and the bank of the river.
Four more days passed, walking and listening for any alarmed chirps from the little sparrow. A few times she had to duck behind a sloping hill to avoid roving bands of merchants, and once a pack of ten to twenty orcs. They were ghastly things to behold. She had always profoundly loved nature, from the little ivy vines and daisies to horses and even spiders. But orcs, she decided, felt inherently wrong. They were a perversion of what nature had intended and they only sought misery and destruction. She prayed to Yavanna that she would never need encounter those foul beasts for the rest of her long life.
Thankfully, there was plenty of sun to be had out on those grassy plains, and the river beside her for that cool, crisp water she loved so much. As the days passed, she noticed that little beetles had begun to follow her, and butterflies as well. On the seventh day she came upon a snake, but the snake only followed her for a short while until it eventually went its own way, in search of a field mouse most likely. Animals seemed to be attracted to her, which she guessed was part of her gift, although she never got to interact much with animals when she was high up in that tower for so long. The grasses became taller as she neared what looked like mountains surrounded by dense forest in the distance. She let her fingers dance over the tips of the passing blades of grass, feeling them slide through her fingers and listening to the singing of crickets as the sun lowered in the sky.
It wasn't long before lightning bugs rose from the thick grass and performed their own choreographed dances in the sky, creating a light show that Laurel laughed and danced along with as she traveled. By sundown she had reached the forest's edge and decided she needed some sleep. She tiredly stretched her arms over her head and let out a yawn. Within minutes of entering the forest, she had amassed a following of chipmunks, squirrels, a deer or two, a skunk, many kinds of birds, and some sort of lizard that she had never seen before, even in a book. She silently asked some of the animals to keep watch that night as she climbed a willow tree nearby. She settled onto a high branch that could support her weight and felt the tree gently wrap is long, leafy tendrils around her for warmth and protection. Laurel sighed peacefully as she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep surrounded by her new woodland friends and under the watchful eyes of the animals of the forest.