It was the smell, Nellas decided, that she liked the most about nature. Gondor had smelled of all sorts of things. Smoke. Rot. Tobacco. Meat. Sweat. Cologne.
Now that they were on the road again, the smell of grass and bark and dirt were like the most beautiful perfume she had ever smelled. The horse's shod feet crushed lilacs and periwnkle as they moved through the brush just beside the road. It was a familiar tactic for them. Elden didn't like being surprised, and after all they had been through, this attitude had rubbed off on Nellas. With her ring on, she could hear the telltale noises of other people long before they came upon them. Better to choose one's encounters, especially if they were being hunted. Nellas didn't know for sure. They hadn't stuck around to find out whether her sudden absence from the position of ambassador had been noticed. She felt bad about Lydia, but then again it had been her idea.

And they were now filthy rich.

Elden had taken the time to remove each piece from its hiding place and examine it carefully before re-packing it in cloth to save space. It was not costume jewellery. Fat gems in every manner of cut and facet were embedded on rings, necklaces, broaches, earrings, bracelets and bangles. Nellas was no expert, but the gleam of gold and silver was unimistakable, as was the fact that there were almost no scratches despite bouncing around in the packs. She couldn't help but be a little excited. The world of men ran on money, and they were riding high. There had been a little less than three hundred gold as well, which Elden was holding onto. Nellas rarely asked him about money when they approached a settlement, but she knew they had been getting down to their last dozen coins by the time they reached Gondor. They had not packed the loot into saddlebags, for fear of the horses taking flight with it. Instead they kept it in their rucks and kept their rucks on their back. They were very heavy, and she was glad they did not have to walk all the way to the Rhun.

Elden had said that if they could find a place to sell it, they would be able to live for years without lifting a finger. At this moment, that was a very big "if".
Thankfully they were still in the forest, Nellas's preferred mode of travel, but she knew that only a day's journey ahead lay the dead marshes, and plains where there was not a single tree for leagues around. Nothing to hide them save the gentle undulations of the terrain and the coming of night.

As usual, Nellas heard trouble long before it arrived.

It wasn't the crunch of hooves, though, but a gruff voice shouting. She could not quite make out the words that were being said, but she alerted Elden and motioned for him to follow her. They crossed the road quickly to the right side and moved along at a trot. As they drew closer Nellas could hear other voices too.

"Hurry up!"

"Please, I'm going as fast as I can!"

Through a break in the trees Nellas could see a desperate scene. A convoy of several wagons was stopped on the road. Almost all of the people were kneeling in a semi circle, terror-stricken expressions on their faces. Around them, two men paced, their swords drawn, their lower faces obscured by cloth wrappings. Another armed ruffian was standing beside one of the wagons as it's owner unloaded the contents onto the ground.

From where they were standing, Nellas could see a pregnant woman and a fourth bandit behind a cart, out of view of the others. The man was groping her and kissing her neck, running his hands all over her body as she shivered in terror.

They had not yet been spotted. It would be easy to continue on their way and leave these people to the hands of fate. But as Elden and Nellas shared one of those looks that said everything, as they often did, both knew that fleeing was not an option they could live with.

Without a word they dismounted and split up.

Nellas made straight for the woman. Elden peeled off to the left, but her vision had narrowed to a funnel, and it was focused on only what was in front of her. A fury that she never knew she possessed welled up from inside her, driving her limbs forward like unstoppable pistons. The man never really had a chance. Her moccasin-clad feet were whisper-quiet even as they dashed over the open ground. It took three long strides to close the distance between them, a total of about a second, maybe less. The woman saw her coming, but thankfully had the presence of mind not to say anything. The bandit was so engrossed in what he was doing that he did not notice Nellas's blade singing through the air towards his neck. He died almost instantly. Almost. Blood splattered all over the young woman's ripped dress, and she screamed. Nellas pulled the blade loose just as another, larger bandit came barreling around the corner, shouting as he came.

"Goddamit Mason, that's enough! Can't you wait til-"

The words died in his throat as Nellas ran him through in one clean motion. She let him rest against her shoulder for the briefest of moments, twitching in shock, before she kicked him forward, off of her blade. He crumpled to a heap and bled out. Nellas looked up just in time to see Elden, now with his ring off and fully visible, cut the throat of one of the bandits. The last one took off running, but a throwing knife whistled through the air much faster than his legs could carry him. He collapsed to the road, the sharp point wedged tightly in his skull.

The rest of the people assembled gazed in wonder and disbelief. Now that the fight was over, Nellas could get a better look at them. There were four dwarves, a human family, and a group of what looked like pilgrims. There was also an older dark elf woman in a shawl. She caught Nellas's eye momentarily. The woman she had saved ran back to her family and they embraced. The dwarves looked incredibly relieved as well, and immediately began to repack the goods into their cart.
"Blessings of Illuvitar upon you-" The eldest of the pilgrims said, stepping forward and grasping her blood-stained hand. "We thought we were done for!"
Nellas nodded kindly, because she didn't really know what to say. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Elden retrieve his knife from the dead bandit's skull and traipse back over to them. She would let him do the talking. He was better at that sort of thing.

"You're lucky we came upon you when we did."

Nellas drifted back to the edge of the clearing, where the horses were chewing on the fresh shoots of grass, seemingly unperturbed by what had just unfolded. As she took their reins into her hands, she felt a presence behind her.

"You are truly a curiosity, child."

Nellas whipped around. She didn't like people standing behind her.
"What?"

The Avari stood before her, a mite shorter and with skin tanned from the sun of the trackless plains.

"I was merely saying that it is not common to see one of your kind anymore."

"I am well aware of that, thank you." Nellas said sharply, turning away.

Who was this faithless dark elf to gloat over the receeding of her race?

"I did not wish to offend you. I only wished to tell you that you would be more than welcome to travel with us."

"Unfortunately, I must decline." Nellas said.

"Because people are looking for you?"

Suddenly Nellas's gaze was fixed on the elf. Her hand drifted down to her waist, where her short sword was tied, still streaked with red where she had attempted to wipe the bandit's blood off onto the grass. For a moment she was possessed by a strong urge to strike the woman down.

She knows too much.

The next second she felt Elden's hand on her shoulder, and the feeling was gone, leaving her slightly sick in its wake.

"Why would you say that?" Elden said, having heard the last part of their exchange.

The Avari's eyes swiveled to examine him.

"Firstly, because you wield rings of power, rings that I have never heard of in any tale. Second, because he bears Mandos's mark, but you are still alive. I've only ever seen that brand on a corpse, or someone who became a corpse shortly thereafter."

Elden opened his mouth to explain, but the dark elf waved him off.

"I don't need to know, and I don't care to know either. Your past is your own business. All I want to do is offer you help, should you need it."

"We were doing just fine on our own, thanks." Elden said, a note of grim pride in his voice.

"Of course. You two can clearly take care of yourselves, but I'm sure that there would be some people willing to feed you tonight, should you stick around."

Elden looked at Nellas, and then at the relieved people they had just saved standing around their carts talking.

"Nellas?"

Nellas shrugged and tried to pretend she didn't care, but in reality she wanted to be anywhere but standing next to that elf. The urge to kill that had possessed her just moments ago made her feel unclean, and looking at the Avari's face only reminded her of it. She had never killed a human by her own hand before, only orcs. Somehow it was different.

"Whatever you want to do."

The atmosphere was relieved and jovial as the campfires burned. The wagons had been drawn into a rough circle somewhere a few dozen paces from the road. Stars were wheeling across the vastness of the night sky. Despite her suspicions, Nellas had fallen into conversation with the dark elf woman, who had revealed her name to be Ena. She was a tough woman, and through the small snippets of her life that meandered into their discussion she could discern that she had been through as much if not more hardship than they. It changed Nellas's outlook on their own condition in the smallest but most significant of ways.

"You remind me of me and my mate. He was much younger than I as well, although he was not a human."

Elden glanced over at Nellas. He did not often think about their relationship. Mostly he just thought about Nellas, and how he wanted to be near her for the rest of his life, however long that was.

"I suppose we are an odd pair."

Ena chuckled.

"Aye, you are at that. But pay it no mind- love cares not for our earthly divisions."

They spent the rest of the night watching the campfire burn down to embers. As Ena had predicted, they were fed heartily, and when they had eaten their fill they sat with Ena in her wagon, which had a surprisingly spacious interior.

"What happened to your mate, if I may ask?" Nellas said.

Ena's eyes grew misty, and Elden felt himself wince slightly. He could already guess the answer.

"You may ask. He was killed by orcs on the road. It was... rather like what happened earlier, only nobody came to help."
They all sat in silence a while. When Ena spoke again, she was slightly hoarse.

"I am tired tonight. I must go to bed. But first, I must warn you."

"Warn us about what?" Nellas said, but again, Elden already knew what this was about.

"Those rings. Even without Sauron's taint upon the land, they are still dangerous. They can still exercise some control over their master's will, and their designs are treacherous as often as they are helpful."

"They have not led us wrong yet." Elden replied.

He carefully avoided sounding defensive, but inside he was slightly annoyed that the woman would presume to tell them what to do with their own property when they had just used the very same to save her life. They had heard this same admonishment in Rivendell, and nothing had come of it.

"Or, perhaps they are leading you where they want to. They are ancient objects, but they can still exercise some control over their master's will, and their designs could just as easily be treacherous as benign."

"My will is my own. The ring only reveals things to me. Things I couldn't see before."

"Like what?"

"When I put it on, I can see through everything. Every wall, every door, every tree trunk. It makes my senses sharper and my hands quicker.

"And...?" Ena prompted.

He was surprised. Surprised that she could so easily discern when he wasn't telling her everything.

"And at night... it shows me dreams." He admitted.

"The door."

The words came from Nellas's lips, not his. He looked at her in shock.

"Then you saw it too?"

Nellas nodded.

"This is not a coincidence. What is to the east in your vision, child?" Ena said.

"It's... a great stone door, but there are no walls around it. Only sky." Nellas said.

"In my dream it is always to the east. Sometimes the door is ajar, and I can see a tremendous light coming through it." Elden added.

Ena regarded them both carefully.

"Is that what you have been traveling towards?"

They shared a glance, as if to ask one another the question silently, with their eyes. Had that been the reason all this time? He had thought they were searching for a place to simply be, free to their own devices. Could it be the rings? Their reasons for leaving had varied every time, but it seemed to be that each new place they arrived at was not the right place, and had obliged them to move on.

"No." Elden said, finally. "We travel because it suits us, and because I am not welcome in most of my kind's settlements."

A great sigh fell from Ena's lips. It was as heartfelt a sound as her chuckle, but it made him feel suddenly crestfallen instead of reassured.

"I have a suspicion about where these rings came from. With your permission I would like to share it with you."

"Of course." Elden said.

"When Celebrimbor first began to make rings of power, he struggled mightily. Even a being so powerful as he had troubled containing and ordering the energy he devoted to the task. There were many bent hammers of the finest make, and many cracked molds of the purest clay before he mastered the art. By the time he was tricked by Sauron into making the nineteen rings about which so many tales are told, there were several other lesser rings which he had not destroyed as failed experiments, but rather kept among his possessions as examples of the progression of his learning. These rings had no connection to the dark covenant that Sauron forged by creating the One Ring."

"How did they come into the possession of men, then? Elden stole his from a relatively minor official in Rohan. I found mine..." She said, and then trailed off.
The memory of Sarad and Durus hung in the air for a moment, and then it was gone.

"I found mine in a goblin treasure horde."

"You are right to ask this," Ena said, "and I believe I have an answer for this too, although here we stray from the realm of record and into the mire of speculation. The results of Celebrimbor's labors were carefully guarded, but alas, time crumbles all things, even the mightiest fortresses and the most loyal soldiers. They must have drifted in the years since Celebrimbor's death. He was the last of Feanor's line, and so his inheritance had no one to fall to. Over the years I suspect the rings were scattered, one by one. Lost, or else fallen into the hands of those who did not fully grasp what they possessed. No one yet knows how many yet lie buried under the earth, or misplaced in some vault, waiting for someone to stumble across them."

"What should we do with them, then?" Nellas said.

Ena gave them another long, searching look. Elden felt distinctly uncomfortable. He felt as though she too had a ring, and could see right through him.

"Do what you feel is right. If you have resisted their influence this long, perhaps it is as you say, and nothing evil will come of it."

Through the curtains at the lone window, Elden could see the moon beginning to rise. The crickets had begun to chirp as well.

"Well." He said, trying to convey finality. "We shall leave you to rest."

Ena did not waylay them, only nod. The air outside was cold, but a shared sleeping roll was warm enough to be comfortable. They bedded down quickly, a little ways away from the circle of wagons, so that no one would try to offer them a place to sleep.

(A/N: Sorry about delays. Life interferes, but I did not forget my promise to finish this.)