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[gondolin_noble]

The air is sweet in the clearing Glorfindel had been using as a campsite, and the birds are singing a bright morning chorus. Asfaloth, grazing peaceably nearby, nickers a greeting as Glorfindel leads Sunshine through the treebranch doorway he'd found by accident.

There is no sign of habitation, human or otherwise - Glorfindel could have dropped them on an empty planet.

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine thanks the two maids for their help - and their patience with her. She still has her camera with her, just in case, though it's currently hidden in her pocket.

She also - because occasionally the times when she pays attention overlap with the times she manages to think ahead - has two honeyed rolls snagged from the breakfast table.

"Good morning."

[gondolin_noble]

"Good morning." Both elves return, though Glorfindel is shoved out of the way a moment later by his horse. Asfaloth developed a love for sweets years ago, and no amount of convincing on Glorfindel's part has yet broken the habit.

The mare follows reluctantly, snuffling warily. The not-an-elf is strange to her.

[sunbaked_baker]

This baker isn't the person to ask to help you break someone, even a horse, of their love of sweets. Sunshine grins as she feeds one - only one! - of the honeyed rolls to Asfaloth. She suspects that very few creatures are allowed the privilege of shoving Glorfindel aside. Even fewer would try.

The other roll she holds out to the approaching mare, hand held flat, as smiles as it is accepted after a moment of curious snuffling. Introduction and peace-offering in one.

[gondolin_noble]

Glorfindel quietly chides his horse when Asfaloth moves to investigate the second roll as well - there's being a greedy guts, and then there's being rude, and Glorfindel only tolerates one of those things.

"We ride far and fast from here - and you will be able to become accustomed to a horse before meeting the folk of Rohan."

For some reason, this idea is hilarious.

[sunbaked_baker]

"I'll do my best not to embarrass myself," Sunshine remarks with a slight smile as she strokes the mare's withers, where her neck meets her powerful shoulders.

She's a city girl, yes, but she'll be paying close attention. Rarely does she have trouble learning something when she puts her mind to it - the trouble, her former teachers would point out, is getting her to put her mind to subjects she feels no need to learn - but this is something she doesn't want to mess up. If she does something wrong, Rae doesn't want it to be because she hadn't been paying good enough attention.

[gondolin_noble]

He smiles encouragingly, as more elves quietly bustle around them, adding the last few supplies to their packs. One of them hands Glorfindel a cloth-wrapped bundle. He waits until she's done feeding the horses and getting to know her own mare before coming closer and unwrapping the bundle.

"I pray you will not need it, but it is necessary this close to the mountains." Exposed under the wrap is a long knife in its scabbard, the belt wrapped neatly around it.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine's eyebrows rise slightly as she accepts the knife and belt, holding them carefully. That knife... is a lot bigger than her familiar little pocketknife. Bigger than the knives she's used in her bakery and kitchen, too.

Not to mention a lot more ornate and probably older than the recorded history of her world. That practically goes without saying.

"Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it," she nods, understanding. Curious, she slips the knife partially out of its well-fitted scabbard to look at it.

[gondolin_noble]

The knife shines coldly in the early morning light, the delicate tracings down the back of the blade balancing against the wickedly sharp blade. Glorfindel nods at the sentiment - there has been enough traffic through the Gap of Rohan of late to keep the risk of raids low, but... well. He knows all about unexpected attacks.

All too soon it is time to leave, and Glorfindel swings up into the saddle before waiting for Sunshine to do the same.

[sunbaked_baker]

The belt fits all-too well over her traveling clothes, the unfamiliar weight of the knife by her side a point of awareness in her mind. Rae figures she will grow accustomed to it after a while, but for now it is like a new pair of shoes in an unfamiliar style.

Her ascent into the saddle this morning is better than her first attempt had been, days ago, but still lacks grace and ease of movement between the ground and the saddle. Soon, though, Rae is situated on top of the mare, stroking the horse's withers again in a tacit apology.

"Ready when you are, I think," she nods.

[gondolin_noble]

There is little fanfare, leaving Elrond's home. Those days are gone now - except maybe, for one day in the future. Horns would sound the day Elrond's sons leave for the West, if that day ever comes. Asfaloth turns and heads out of the courtyard, shaking his head and setting the tiny bells sewn into his tack chiming.
"Our next warm bed is on the other side of the Misty Mountains - I truly hope you have enjoyed yours last night!" He calls cheerfully over his shoulder as he heads for the bridge.

[sunbaked_baker]

"That I did," Sunshine laughs, her horse following his. "Slept like a rock. It's amazing how well the liberal application of wine and good spirits will help with that."

And help with keeping nightmares away. Rae had slept soundly the moment her head hit the pillow, and was still in the same position when she was wakened in the morning. That... almost never happens.

She won't question it, though - she'll only accept such gifts as they come. In any case, the brightness of the spring morning won't tolerate any thought of nightmares.

Sunshine looks back often as they head up the well-traveled way up the side of the cloven gorge. The waterfalls sparkle in the morning light that edges over the tops of the mountains, their mist the same color as the structures that seem to grow so naturally from the surrounding stones and trees. At a particularly good promontory, she dares to take the camera from her pocket and catch the moment, turning in the saddle to take the pictures.

[gondolin_noble]

He waits patiently for her, watching her picture-taking curiously - he does have some Noldorian blood, besides his normal elvish curiosity. Once she is done, he leads back up the path they took to come into the valley the previous evening, and just before the trees give way to grasslands he waves a hand cheerfully at the branches overhead.

An apple lands in his hand.

And for good measure, a second apple is thrown for Sunshine, as well.

[sunbaked_baker]

The throw isn't the problem. The throw is spot-on. The one doing the catching, however, is caught unprepared.

Sunshine fumbles the fruit, and it's only a minor bit of last-second levitation that allows her to get a grip on it at all. Ha! Success.

"Thank you!" she says to the hard-to-spot people-shadows among the tree-shadows, as they ride out from under the trees and into the sunny grasslands.