Epilogue

Early December 1423 S.R.

Wetwang

Well that's the last of it for the moment. I scratch the back of my neck, unable to shake the feeling that I'm being watched yet again.

I stretch my aching back and shoulders. I've got all the iron ore I can carry and I have to get back to the cave now. I wore my lightest, most supple leathers for this so I could carry all the more, and I've spent the last month or so here skulking around and collecting ore. Amid the reek of the marshes I can smell little, but the sky says snow is coming as I look up at it, blacker than black this midnight.

I've spent the last couple of months before this gathering hides and wood and done much of what I needed to do to prepare for winter. Over the winter I am going to start stocking up. I've built the bed and everything else and I've got a goodly supply of hides. First order of business is to replace my bow, weapons and mail, all of which have seen better days. I've already done the cloak, this time a white one of many rabbit furs that will do nicely for winter camouflage. I think I'll also get back to Durishak's cuir bouilli design now. I've got some wax, too, and I think I can improve on it a bit. If I do it right, it'll be almost as hard as metal and still light. I return to the cave just as the yellowface struggles to pierce the thick cloud cover and the first fat flakes swirl down. Sleep, then work. Such has always been my life, though this time it's at least of my own choosing. I do think, though, that I'm going to have to come back when the weather breaks and see who's watching me. They've been following me for three nights.

TBC in the sequel, working title First Contacts, where it will actually intersect with the other AU's published characters and timeline.

Endnotes

1. The events between 1312-1314 are to a great extent derived from events on the Shadows of Isildur mud at .us, as is the setting for where Garlakh spent a century. I have been deliberately vague with names during that time because the events involve other players' characters, though I tried not to do anything that would portray them incorrectly and to stick to my own character's knowledge and take on things. I give huge kudos to those mentioned and those not for providing a fun bunch of RP. At time of updating, it is TA 2918 on the mud, so it's all AU of an AU, you might say, since I seriously doubt any of our characters will actually be alive in TA 3019 if the mud still even exists at that point, probably not even 2941 during the events of The Hobbit.

2. Using the meteor shower as a plot device can be blamed on one of Shirebound's stories in her lovely quarantined universe at .com, though at the moment I don't remember which one and she certainly didn't have any stargazing orcs.

3. Adrahil is no relation to Tolkien's Adrahil. I just thought I'd borrow the name.

4. A virtual toast is raised to the authors of The Burping Troll universe. Ladies and gentlemen, you can curse or take pride in it, but this is the longest thing I've ever written of my own free will, or probably even if you count the things I had to write for coursework, too. Very well, I'll just give you all credit for the longest thing I've ever written, period and full stop.

5. If you read the first version of this tale, you'll notice the dates are off. Some events have been moved and expanded on at the request of my lovely beta reader. Thanks for re-reading and I hope you enjoyed it. We're already working on a sequel.

Cast of characters:

Adrahil: Male human of Dunedain lineage and appearance.

Copper-eye: male orc, umber skin and one working copper-colored eye, warlord in Garl's last tribe before the war's ending. Died in one of the last battles of the third age in Mirkwood.

Danny: Male human. Tanner and hideworker, co-settler with Leanne and family, old man who died of natural causes.

Dorishak: bald and Bulky male orc, armorer in the Red Hammer. Generally mild-mannered, but was not on good terms with Garl's first warlord, kept alive only because of his skill. Died in Red Hammer civil war.

Garion: male, human of Dunedain lineage and appearance, son of Adrahil, stepson to Leanne.

Garlakh: female orc with granite-colored skin, scraggly black hair and amber eyes, built asymmetrically with a wiry lower body and a bulky upper from her trades. Is a master of smithing of all kinds and of leatherwork and is at least competent with wood. Seeks redemption and to know the fullness of emotions, being already well acquainted with the negative end.

Garnog: wiry, granite-skinned, amber-eyed male orc with a thick mane of brown hair. Garl's older brother by a few years and by the same parents, which is unusual in what passes for orcish society. Hunted and fought for her first tribe, delivered food to the section where the pregnant and nursing mothers and young children were kept until they were old enough to be shaped into useful war tools. Privately acknowledged and aided his little sister as he could. Currently mining in the Ash mountains.

Leanne: female brown-haired, blue-eyed human, probably of mixed heritage. Has at least some training in healing. Newly wedded to Adrahil. stepmother to Garion.

Nagluk: Male orc. Ore deliverer. Died in Red Hammer civil war.

Naralog: tribe member at end of war of the ring. A lazy drunkard mostly, who missed the final battle in the forest and died where he slept in the cave.