Ondollo - After the Watchful Peace

Glossary

The day began with clouds hanging over the Trollshaw forest, though no one in it was bothered. The only ones in it were Elves, who would have prefrerred the Anar, the Sun, or better yet, the eleni, the stars. But truly they did not mind, for their eyes were fine enough to see what they were looking for: in one case, Urqui, Orcs, in the other, herbs.

One of those looking for Urqui was named Ondollo. He was a Noldo, small in stature, but by no means a Man. He was searching the borders of the Trollshaw Forest with a friend of his, Lintó, for signs of the passage of the monsters. The Urqui were not adept at stealth and, indeed, they liked to madly trample, hack and destroy anything they could, which made for easy tracking once their trail was found.

Lintó was tall, with black hair short in front and falling down in back until it was slightly below his shoulders, and his eyes were flint grey. He was in general long and sinewy, allowing him to run fast, from where he got his name, Quick-foot. 

Ondollo was smaller then Lintó, and he had more substance to him as well, giving him the appearance of being much stronger then his friend, which he was not. He had long, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. 

After some time, Ondollo stopped and crouched. He motioned for Lintó to stop and come to him. He said softly, "Look, meldonya, to the formen, near the old willow. Those grasses have been trampled on, and recently too. Could it be an Urco scout?" 

Lintó looked closely at the grass, and turned to Ondollo. "I hope not, meldonya, but from here we can not tell if it is a clumsy man - of which there are many - or a scout for the Urqui." He got up from his crouch and scanned the woods even harder to try and spot if there was anyone out there. He saw no one, and motioned for Ondollo to follow him as he lead the way to the trail. 

~*~

Poicehtela looked around searching for the herb she wanted, a plant that negated bitterness in certain foods. It's name was Culuilotsë and, as its name suggested, it was a large, orange flower. As she saw it, she called out to Aiwë softly, "Aiwë, come over here, I have found a patch of Culuilotsë." 

As Aiwë came over, she once again marveled at Poicehtela's long, light blonde hair, such a rarity among those not of Vanyar heritige. Her own hair was fairly common among the Noldor, a dark, dark brown. She wore it braided, with two light green ribbons in it. As she walked over, she asked Poicehtela about life in Rivendell, as she had just recently arrived. "How is the weather in the valley?" she asked. 

"The weather is wonderful, all the time. Rarely is it that it rains hard, and even then the House is full of life. You should have come sooner." As she said this Poicehtela turned and smiled at Aiwë. "It really is wonderful." 

"What about Elrond and his family? I met his indis, Celebrían, when we arrived. She is truly deserving of her name." After saying this, Aiwë moved to some Asëa Aranion, or Kingsfoil, she had just spotted, and pointed it out to Poicehtela. 

"Elrond and his family are all wonderful, Aiwë, wonderful. His twins can be something of troublemakers when they want, but they are quite mature. Arwen, oh, you should have see her when she was a child. The most beautiful Teler you've ever seen!" As she said this, Eruanne's eyes sparkled. She got up to look for more herbs, when she spotted three people coming through the forest. She turned to Aiwë, and said, "Look, Venye, Cualle, and Sére!" 

~*~

Ondollo looked around and saw the sun coming out, and was glad. Not only was it over half-way to midday, it would be less likely for the Urqui to come out from wherever they are hiding, however shady the forest. There was still the chance of determined Urqui to march if they were desperate, or if there were any of the great Urqui, Uruks, in the forest. He voiced his thoughts to Lintó, "I do hope there are no Uruks hiding under the eaves. We could deal with a few Urqui, you and I, and I hope that is what this is." 

Lintó shook his head and said, "No, these are not Uruks. If we should come upon a camp of Urqui, however, we should return to Glorfindel so he can organize a unit to attack. Ondollo you may be but, even with my help, we cannot take on many Urqui." he said as he smiled, only half in jest. Suddenly, he stopped, and his smile disappeared. 

Ondollo spotted the camp before his friend had a chance to speak. He stopped and held up his hand, and motioned for Lintó to stop as well. "We should see if we can find how many there are," he whispered. "None should be awake or, if they are, they should be weak from the sun." 

Lintó motioned that he agreed and they crept up to the camp, moving through the foliage as quietly as they could, nearly silent in their footsteps. As they got closer, Lintó saw a fairly young tree that he could climb. He moved over to Ondollo and whispered to him, "Meldonya, I could use the young sapling ahead of us to get a better view from above. I spent much time in the telain of Caras Galadhon and Lothlórien, and I could climb it with ease." He looked again towards the camp of Urqui, and back to Ondollo. 

Ondollo nodded, and said, "Yes, go. If you can find how many there are, we shall go to Glorfindel as fast as we can. I have no want of an Urco in the Trollshaw forest, much less a band of them." 

~*~

Poicehtela took out the food from the basket. There was much meat, as well as some cheese from Mithlond, along with Rivendell's bread, and chilled milk. Along with a few of the herbs collected in the morning, it would make a wonderful lunch. 

Poicehtela turned to Venye, and spoke to her. "Thank you for coming, Venye." She turned to Cualle, and said, "Thank you as well, Cualle." Turning again to Sére, she spoke, "Sére, thank you too. Thank you all for coming out and helping. I know you needed the herbs as well, but you have other things to do for today, do you not?" 

Cualle turned to Poicehtela, and spoke to her, "Yes, but it is better to look for herbs with five then two on one day and three the next. What needs to be done today can be done later, and it would have taken both of our groups longer alone to find the herbs we needed." Cualle shook her head and laughed. "Not ony that, it is a day for being outside collecting herbs, not staying indoors!" 

Venye smiled slowly as she looked at Cualle. So full of life, so deserving of her name, with her light gray eyes. She turned to Poicehtela, and asked her, "Where is Ondollo today? I do not believe I have seen him in the House." 

In responce, Poicehtela told her, "I do not know. He was to meet with Elrond before sunrise, and then with Glorfindel. He said he'd be back at dusk." She turned to Aiwë, and asked her, "Aiwë, is Lintó not supposed to be with Ondollo today?" 

"Yes, he is. He and Ondollo know each other from a time not to be spoken of now. They have retained their bond, and one of the reasons we came here was Ondollo urging my venno to do so," Aiwë responded. She smiled and turned to the basket holding the herbs. She handed it to Poicehtela, who looked it over. 

"Do we have enough, Poicehtela?" asked Sére. "I should think we gathered enough. We found much of what we need in this glade." 

Poicehtela handed to basket to Venye, and said, "There is more then enough for what Aiwë and I came here to do; we need not one third of that. Is there enough for you, Venye?" 

In responce, Venye got up, speaking as she did. "Yes, more than enough. We will not have to return for many weeks, and we can plant what we don't need around the House." She motioned for the others to pick up their lunch basket, as well as their cups and milk bottle, then to head to Rivendell. 

~*~

Ondollo moved up towards Glorfindel, motioning for Lintó to come. He turned to Glorfindel, and said softly, "We are nearing the Urcoiva camp. What will you have us do?" 

Glorfindel turned to Lintó and, nearly inaudable, told him, "Find again the tree you climbed before, and see if there are more around. Úrin is not at midday anymore, and there are dark clouds about. A few Urcos may be on guard duty, and we do not need them calling out to their comrades." Glorfindel surveyed their small group and spoke again. "We do not have the numbers to take on as many Urqui as you can figure to be in their camp in a melee. We must take them out at range." 

Ondollo nodded at this and drew out his bow, made out of a single, strong piece of hickory wood and strung with a strand of Vanyarin hair from long ago in Valinor. He nocked an arrow, and pulled the hair back to test it. As always, it was in perfect condition. The other Elves in the group did the same with their own bows, and Glorfindel motioned for them to spread out around the camp. He said to them as they left, "Ondollo's arrow will be the signal to attack. Be prepared!" 

As he motioned for them to do so, Lintó came back. "There appears to be one Urco on guard, but he is nearly asleep from the looks of it. We should be able to take him out with ease and then attack the others," he told them as he motioned directly ahead of them. 

While Lintó was telling Glorfindel this, Ondollo looked and could make out the Urco, nearly asleep, on a rock. He waited for Glorfindel's command to attack. 

Glorfindel motioned to Ondollo and said to him, "When you are ready, kill the Urco on guard duty." 

~*~

Poicehtela bid namárië to Aiwë, and turned for the room where she and Ondollo lived in Rivendell. Not finding him there, she was mildly suprised, and turned to see if she could find Erestor and see if he knew. As she went through the halls looking for him, she saw Arwen. While Arwen was more fluent in Sindaran then Quenya, Poicehtela, Ondollo, and more then a few of the other Noldor talked to her and many of the others in Quenya, for not all Noldor had not given it up completely when they sailed or crossed the Helcaraxë and came to Beleriand. "Aiya Arwen!" She smiled and questioned her, "Do you know where Erestor is? I would like to talk with him if I could." 

Arwen turned to her, her dress flowing as she did. "Aiya, meldonya. I do not know where Erestor is, or my father. They have both been gone nearly all day, along with Glorfindel. I am sorry, Poicehtela." 

"Thank you at least for that, Arwen. Namárië." Poicehtela waved a farewell, and turned to go back to her room, to wait for a little time. As she did, she noticed it was nearly dusk. 

~*~

Ondollo pulled open the door to his room, and started to walk in. To his suprise, Poicehtela was there. Ondollo crossed the floor of the room in a few steps, and hugged her, his indis, and laughed. "Aiya, mélanya! How are you home now? Lintó and I believed it would take you and Aiwë until well into the night to collect all the herbs you needed." 

Poicehtela's eyes sparkled and she greeted Ondollo, her venno, "Aiya mélanya." She looked at Ondollo, at his long, dark brown hair and smooth face. Then looking at his green and brown tunic, she saw that there were small patches of dirt there. She kissed him, and said, "It well should have, but Venye, Cualle, and Sére were there as well. It was quick work." She looked at him again, noticing the dirt again, though it was well hidden in the dark browns and greens. "How did so much dirt get on you? I thought you were to meet with Elrond today, not roll in the dirt." 

At this, Ondollo's face darkened and his voice dropped lower. "Melda, the Urqui are returning to the Misty Mountains, sent by Sauron. I have been on the edge of the Trollshaws, with Lintó, scouting for their raiding parties or their trails. Soon it will not be safe to venture outside the valley without escort." Ondollo looked at her and marveled at her hair, as he always did, such a light blonde, so rare among those not of a Vanyarin heritage. He moved his eyes to her face and smiled as he looked into her dark blue eyes, to calm her, but said nothing. 

As her face grew worried, she sat down and pulled him next to her, hugging him. She was not one given to fear, for living through the First Age was a very fearful thing indeed, and those who could not stand it had faded away long ago. Still, she worried for her husband, her melmë. But he was her Little Rock, strong in things such as this, weathered through the War of Wrath. She pulled him tighter and laid her head on his shoulder. 

Soon, they were both asleep, Ondollo exausted from the day, from the last month, truly, and Poicehtela feeling his tiredness along with her busy morning. 

~*~

Glossary (all Quenya): 

Attested words (by Tolkien): 

aiya - hail
Anar - the sun
eleni - the stars
formen - north
indis - wife
mélanya - my beloved
melda - beloved, dear
melmë - love, lover
namárië - farewell
Teler - little Elf
Urco - Orc
Urqui - plural for Orcs
venno - husband

Names: 

Aiwë - little bird
Arwen - noble maiden
Celebrían - silver queen
Cualle - green sprout
Elrond - star-dome
Erestor - unknown
Glorfindel - golden-haired Elf
Lintó - (created by me) quick-foot
Ondollo - little rock
Poicehtela - (created by me) pure/clear spring
Sére - peace
Úrin - proper name for the Sun
Venye - little dove 

Words created by me by using suffixes and attested words: 

Culuilotsë - Orange flower
meldonya - my friend
Urcoiva - plural possessive Orc

Main reference for Quenya: Ardalambion 
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