11.
Bandages and Histories

Aninth held a steady expression as Lord Elrond worked on the wound in her side. It wasn't as bad as she had expected, merely the grazing wound of an arrow just barely not missing its target. Since her wound was simply Ryvniss' but amplified on her body, the wound did appear larger on her, hence the large amount of blood. It was lucky that Elrond knew how to work on this kind of wound because it didn't take him long to staunch the bleeding and bandage the wound on both Aninth and Ryvniss.

"Thank you," Aninth said as he finished securing the bandage. "I am grateful we were able to get here. I am unsure of what I would of done if we hadn't."

"Gandalf or his daughter surely could have done something for you," Elrond said, "though perhaps you are lucky to have made it here."

"Thorin Oakenshield will be my doom, I am sure," she sighed, carefully lifting her Dragon to her shoulder.

"Be careful of your wound," Elrond said, "if you strain it too much, you may reopen the wound."

"Yes, of course," she agreed, "I will be sure Ryvniss is careful as well."

Elrond gave her a smile. "You look much like your father," he told her.

"Really?" Aninth asked, perking up.

"Yes, of course. And you have much of your father's heart. Though I sense that your mother's impulsive anger can overshadow that," he explained.

Aninth looked down, "Father didn't like to travel. Especially when he started to get sick... I spent more time with my mother."

"But make no mistake, you would be making them both proud. You would be making your entire species proud," he told her.

"Thank you, Lord Elrond," Aninth said, bowing her head in thanks.

The Elf stood to his feet and Aninth followed suit. He turned to the doorway and waved in someone. When Aninth turned to see who, she saw two Elvish girls, one with black hair, the other brown. Aninth turned a confused gaze back to Elrond, wondering what they were doing, and before she could ask, he answered her question.

"They will help you get cleaned up so that you can be careful of your wound," Elrond informed her, continuing before she could protest, "and Golwen here has offered to do your hair in the same fashion your aunt used to wear hers when here with your father."

"You knew I would protest," Aninth guessed, "and came prepared."

Elrond didn't answer her question. "When you are ready, we will be waiting just outside," he told her and gave her a smile as he bowed his head to her and departed from the room.

With a sigh, she turned towards the two Elvish girls and beckoned them further inside. Might as well get it over with.

❖

After being thoroughly cleaned of the dirt she had been carrying on her body for far too long, Aninth allowed her hair to be done by the Elvish girl, Golwen. Her fingers worked swiftly and easily through Aninth's blonde hair, pulling pieces from her temples back off of her face and braiding them over her head. When she was finished, Aninth saw her reflection in the mirror and her hair was just like her Aunt Ithela's used to be. Just as Elrond said it would be.

"Thank you," she told Golwen with a grateful smile.

"You are welcome, Amlunoss," the girl responded, before ducking out of the room with her friend.

With one last lingering look at her hair, Aninth scooped Ryvniss up from where he was warming himself by the fire (not in the fire, lest he burn away his bandages), and deposited him on her shoulders and exited the room.

Outside, Aninth saw Elrond, Gandalf and Thorin approaching. She exchanged smiles with Elrond and Gandalf and gave a nod to Thorin. His expression remained blank, though his eyes did linger on her a moment longer than she had expected them to.

From there, Elrond lead the way. He guided them to a sort of dining area where Aninth found that she could hear the other Dwarves before she could see them. This brought a smile to her face. She was beginning to grow fond of the Company.

"Kind of you to invite us," Gandalf said as they drew closer. "Not really dressed for dinner."

"Well, you never are," Elrond responded and Aninth was pretty sure that he was joking around with Gandalf.

She followed the others up a set of stairs where she saw the Company sitting on small stools around a low table and another table set a little ways away that was a bit taller, Ygritte already sat there, alone. This was where they were seated, with Thorin to her right, Ygritte to her left, Gandalf to Ygritte's left and Elrond across from her.

"Why don't you show Lord Elrond the weapons we found," Gandalf prompted, not so subtly.

Aninth chuckled as she pulled out her sword, now clean. Thorin and Ygritte pulled out their blades as well. Since Thorin was closest to Elrond, he handed his sword over first.

Elrond inspected it carefully, pulling the blade from its sheath. "This is Orcrist, the Goblin-Cleaver," Elrond explained, "a famous blade, forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well." He handed the sword back to Thorin who - to Aninth's surprise - gave an appreciative nod.

Aninth handed hers over next. Elrond took it carefully over the table and pulled the blade from the sheath a small bit. "This is Dúathta, Shadow-Strike. It was wielded by an Elvish queen who was known for her ability to go unseen. It was also forged by the High Elves of the West. May it serve you well," he told her and passed back the sword.

Ygritte was next. She handed over a small dagger that Aninth saw Gandalf bring out of the Troll's cave with him.

"This is Din'an, Death. This sword belonged to a brave Elf who always fought valiantly. He killed many of his enemies with this sword before his own life was taken," Elrond explained.

Ygritte took the dagger back and hung it on the back of her chair with her sword.

"And that was your mother's," Elrond realized, catching sight of the sword that hung on the back of Ygritte's chair.

"Yes, it was," Ygritte confirmed, nodding her head.

"Your mother was an exceptional woman and I was honoured to have crafted that blade for her," Elrond explained, "I hope that it is serving you well."

Ygritte turned back to face forward as Aninth wondered once more about Ygritte's mother. She hadn't heard her speak of her mother once on their journey and was ever so curious to find out just who had managed to capture the attention of Gandalf the Grey. Aninth shook herself from her thoughts as Elrond took Gandalf's sword.

"And this is Glamdring," Elrond said, inspecting the blade, "the Foehammer. Sword of the King of Gondolin. These were made for the Goblin Wars of the First Age." Elrond turned the blade over in his hands before handing it back to Gandalf. "How did you come by these?"

"We found them in a Troll-hoard on the Great East Road, shortly before we were ambushed by Orcs," Gandalf explained, earning him a warning glare from Thorin.

"And what were you doing on the Great East Road?" Elrond asked.

Gandalf floundered for a moment, trying to come up with an explanation that didn't give away the whole truth. He was saved from having to answer by Thorin pushing himself out of his seat. "Excuse me," he told them and left with his sword in hand.

Aninth watched him go for a moment, and just as he had disappeared around a corner, she found herself following suit and pushing back her chair. "Excuse me," she said, grabbing her sword and hurrying after Thorin.

It took her a moment to discover where he had disappeared to after turning the corner, but she soon spotted him a little ways off, standing in the middle of a stone bridge that gave a beautiful view of Rivendell. She didn't speak till she was at the end of the bridge.

"I don't think you give Gandalf enough credit," she said.

Thorin turned at the sound of her voice. Once he'd seen her, she slowly started to walk towards him.

"I think you give him too much credit," Thorin responded.

"He wouldn't say the whole truth, you know. You didn't want him to. He may be a Wizard, but you're the leader of the Company and you don't want the Elves to know. It's okay to lie," Aninth told him.

He rolled his eyes at her words and she smiled. "How did you get so wise?" he growled.

"Trauma can do that to people," she replied easily, "and I've travelled a lot. I don't have a home, remember?"

"The Elves will try to stop us if they find out," Thorin reminded her.

"Maybe," Aninth agreed, "but don't you think we could stop them? I mean, thirteen Dwarves, a Hobbit, the last Dragonkin and Pygmy Dragon, a Wizard and his daughter. Somehow, I like our odds."

Thorin gave her a look, and she simply smiled back at him. Whatever that look in his eyes was, not quite identifiable, she was sure she had gotten through to him. And that was progress towards changing his opinion of her kin.

"Besides, do you know anyone else who can read the runes on the map? We have to tell him something about the map so that he can help us decipher it. You won't like every part of this journey, but if you suffer through this, you'll get to the part you will like."