Linwen lifted her head to take a breath of clear air, letting the breeze dry her face. To her surprise, she saw a familiar figure walking purposefully towards the Inn. From the woman's gait and her dark red hair, Linwen recognized her friend, Aniel. Linwen wiped her eyes quickly, took a few steadying breaths, and tried to calm herself. She loved her friend dearly and did not wish Aniel to witness her sadness, though doubtless she knew how Linwen was faring at the moment.

Linwen stepped up to the lowest rung of the split-rail fence. "Ani! Mae g'ovannen, na vedui!*" she called, as soon as Aniel was within earshot. Her voice felt rough from disuse, and she realized she had not spoken since before the marriage ceremony that evening. Linwen hoped she was not already fulfilling Bregor's wishes for a mute wife.

"Gi suilon, Linwen! Man cĂ rat?**" Aniel returned the greeting, her deep voice warm with concern. Linwen half-walked, half-ran through the stables to the road. As soon as the young women reached each other, Aniel wrapped Linwen in a tight hug, rocking her back and forth slightly.

Linwen felt the lump return to her throat, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. She always felt like crying when anyone close to her showed the least bit of concern. Linwen swallowed back a sob quickly as Aniel broke the hug. She did not wish to worry her friend.

"I came outside for a bit of fresh air," Linwen said in reply to her friend's query. "It was getting…" Linwen considered her words, "stifling." She gestured vaguely back towards the building behind her.

The two young women sat down on low stools under the shelter of the stable roof, their knees almost touching. Aniel began "I am sorry I was not with you tonight. I wish-"

"I did not want you to see me there," Linwen cut in, her face reddening. " I cannot even explain why; I just-"

"You do not have to. I only wished I could have been there for you. I am here for you now, in any case." Her friend smiled, squeezing Linwen's hands tightly. Do not cry, Linwen thought to herself firmly. Some detached part of her consciousness found the thought amusing.

Aniel then reached behind her for her bag and lifted it to her lap, rifling through its contents. Linwen looked around surreptitiously, noticing a few men from the Inn who had come to retrieve saddle-bags from their horses. None of them looked like they were from her wedding party. So Bregor had not yet noticed her absence.

Aniel's hands emerged from her bag, clutching a small pouch that was drawn closed with a thin leather string. The woman placed the pouch in Linwen's hands. "What is this?" Opening the pouch and shaking some of the contents into her palm, Linwen saw that it was thin strands of a dried root, prickly and brittle to the touch.

"This is thondluin, blue-root. If you need to, you can brew a tea with it. In the morning." Aniel threw a glance at the men at the far end of the stable before lowering her voice. "It will prevent you from carrying any children. And if you run out, I can get you more." Aniel held her gaze for a moment. She seemed to be uncertain of her friend's reaction.

Linwen's eyes welled over again. "Oh le hannon, le hannon Ani,***" she breathed. She was so thankful for her friend's perceptiveness. There was nothing more terrifying to Linwen than the possibility of pregnancy, especially with a man she found so abhorrent. She had an irrational fear-or was it completely rational?-that such an event would further lock her down to her present situation. She had not even formulated a way to escape it as it stood, but she felt that conceiving a child would be the definitive death knell to her freedom.

Sindarin phrases from the chapter:

*"Well met, at last!"

**"Hello, Linwen! What are you doing?

***"Oh, thank you, thank you Ani"