Starting Anew

Spring Comes a-Howling

OoOoO

The next few months passed by without ceremony as spring slowly began its triumph over winter in Fornost. Despite the enormous falls of snow, it had not been an exceptionally cold season. The Dunedain were well used to their chosen climate, and with careful rationing they had all made it through to the lengthening of days with food stores to spare.

As soon as the forest tracks had cleared enough to permit it, Strider had the rangers out and about on their usual patrol routes. No one had said it during the long evenings by the fires of the main hall, but everyone had been silently worrying. Would orcs be able to approach their position even through the snowdrifts?

Those first forays under the snow-laden boughs of the pines had revealed no tracks though. Even the deer seemed ill-inclined to go abroad in the land with such difficult terrain. As the snow continued to melt away and reveal the damp browns of a leafless forest, everyone had emerged from their homes much in the manner of bears waking from hibernation.

The turning of the seasons was a wheel marked well by the children of the Edain, and even more perhaps for the Eldar. Living forever could either blur all days into one, or make one acutely aware of every small shifting in the world around. Legolas was still a young elf, and so he greeted the coming of the light again with a joy equally matched to his mortal hosts.

Nothing made people crave the outdoors like having been trapped inside by the hearth for a season. It quickly became the routine of the village to spend as much time as possible doing their daily chores in their yards or on their front steps. The scent of bark mulch and melting snow hung like perfume on the air as Legolas sat with Gelwin and her family beneath the awning of their roof.

With deft and nimble motions Legolas was showing Gelwin how to plait her blonde hair into fishtails in the style of his people. The girl-child, thin and somewhat peaked after the winter had shown intense interest in the prince's own neatly braided hair for days now. Rather than suffer a twelve-year-old to follow him around all day now that everyone was out of their homes, Legolas had decided it was probably best to give Gelwin her own hair to play with in a new way.

He feared the effort was probably backfiring terribly on him. Gelwin sat on the chilly ground between his knees, head arched and practically purring like a cat as Legolas braided. The girl's mother and father were nearby; the woman of the house spinning wool on a spindle and her husband reinforcing the doorpost. Legolas could feel their amused glances on him from time to time, but they both tactfully remained focused on their own work for the most part.

"You could always show her the Waterfall braid, if that one you're teaching goes well enough." The ever-so-helpful suggestion came from Elladan, who was walking past with a bucket in one hand full of tar. Part of Daernon's roof had caved under the load of snow as the thaw began, and a group of five men were already up straddling the curve of the frame as they worked on the repairs.

Legolas could feel Gelwin tense with glee where she sat, and he narrowed his eyes warningly at Elladan. "Perhaps, but first she ought to master the Fishtail on her own."

It seemed everyone and their dogs knew how attached the skinny Dunedain girl had become to Legolas, and although he did not want to be unkind he also had no intention of spending undue time handling Gelwin's hair.

Gelwin's mother Bethoc came to the rescue. "Alright child, your hair looks very fine. Best to let Legolas go about his day now, yes?" Her grey eyes twinkled with smothered merriment as she nodded to the elf over her spool of wool.

"Yes Mother..." Gelwin sounded sincerely regretful as she dragged herself to her feet. Suddenly she tossed her finished braid with a flourish and turned to face Legolas. "Does it suit me do you think?" Her childish blue eyes were so earnest in the pursuit of praise that the prince could not help but oblige.