If Celestine could. I imagine she wouldn't have let me leave at all without wearing a full suit of plate armor. But Arwen was beloved by all, and when she asked to take the local demigod out to see the world. And she managed to convince her father the lord of the realm?
My mother although very... Very not happy at the idea of me running around outside of Rivendell before I was over a hundred years old. She couldn't so bluntly refuse Arwen on the other hand.
"The roads are long, but the stars are our guides and there is even more to see." Arwen spoke softly as she held my shorter form against her chest as we shared this elven war horse.
I could hear Sergei, the elephant-sized young runebear also following us in the surrounding forest though it was making sure to remain out of sight as we followed the Ford of Bruinen.
Though as we left the patrolled lands of Rivendell after passing the river, and entered the dark forests of the Trollshaws. With her arm around my waist, Arwen quietly taught me the secrets of elven rangers as the elven horse's footsteps became almost completely silent upon the thick moss between the giant tree's.
"The Trollshaws tree's are the reason so many trolls dare to live here instead of hiding in the caves of the Misty Mountains each day. In some area's, the trees are so dense, so thick with even thicker leaves that they provide a dark shade to the foul things that reside below them."
Arwen's arm around me tightened as she added. "Yet these tree's are also useful. Their roots go deep and yet eat the filth from the forest floor. Their wood is soft, growing quickly, but although they bend with pressure, they do not quite so easily break."
My gaze took in the canopies of the tree's above us and I understood. The topmost leaves were especially like thick palm or banana leaves. Light didn't pass through them so well, and then with countless leave between the sun and floor. It wasn't a surprise that a troll could hide beneath the canopy of several tree's that grew together.
"But besides the trolls that give this land it's name. There is also the disgraced ones. The goblins who were cast out of their own foul clans for treachery beyond acceptance and sent out of the Misty Mountains to die."
My mind drifted towards the thoughts of the Goblin King who Bilbo and those foolish dwarves dealt with in the future and I hummed in thought.
"Why... Does Rivendell allow a blight like the Trollshaws to be on our border?" I asked quietly as I took in our surroundings all the same.
Arwen's song-like voice became tired as she said quietly. "The elves... Just don't have the lives to spend in such a campaign for mere peace of mind. The trolls are of no threat to Rivendell, and also these lands aren't populated much by the race of Men as well."
"The lands of Men are strong in the south, Otharion. The Witch King broke the northern kingdoms and thus the northern lands are darker all for his shadow." Arwen spoke helplessly even though I already knew this from my previous lessons.
Arwen then became silent as we continued. Her horse Asfaloth's born of his namesake's line, which was the steed of Glorfindel himself, also became more tense as his ears twitched at the silent forest around us.
All of was almost totally quiet besides the rustling of the thick leaves above our heads. The silent shadows beyond our gaze rustle with mischief.
Until a furious roar rang out followed by surprised and terrified screams and screeches of goblins.
"Ah... Sergei found his meal I suppose." I said with a small smile as Arwen hummed thoughtfully with her squeezing Asfaloth around the waist with her legs to guide him around the screaming.
"Ready your bow. We will catch the ones in flight from their doom." Arwen said as she likewise pulled her elven bow from her size and quickly strung it, ready, as I did the same with my own shorter bow.
Sergei's roars as a Runebrear were anything but subtle. It was the least elven thing in my lif,e honestly. He was anything but graceful and the refinement that was expected of the Aeldari.
But... An elephant-sized bear. For however ungraceful as it was. Was at it's core. A very, very good killer of dark and dirty things that filled the shadows of this world.
A soft but sharp noise rang out as Arwen's bow shot an arrow that zipped through the air, and with a soft cracking noise. Slammed home into the throat of one of the goblin archers who was trying and failing to put arrows in Sergei.
My own elven eye's saw another goblin, running like the cowardly retch their kind was composed of. And with another swift arrow. Mine flew true and slammed into the back of the fleeing goblin, taking it down as my arrow pierced its rotting leather armor and poked a hole in its lungs.
Arwen and I kept shooting with years of practise on my side, showing their value even while riding this blessed horse. Goblin after goblin fell to my arrows with Sergei gathering all of the goblins' attention.
After all, we were more than forty meters out, riding silently between the thick and dark trees. Sergei, the mountain-sized bear filled their entire vision of the situation.
And as Arwen's... Millenia of training in the art of archery was a sight to behold. Her every arrow flew true, and sometimes even killed two goblins at once as she shot through the throats of goblins, which didn't impact the speed and force of her arrows as much.
The screams of the goblins were swiftly silenced, and the haunting whisper of the surrounding dark forest returned as Sergei huffed with black blood covering it's muzzle as it looked around.
"Good job Sergei." I said softly even as Arwen's horse huffed as the giant bear approached. But it was a very well-trained horse that wasn't even truly mortal who had been around Sergei for the last few years.
It didn't bolt from the giant bear, even if it didn't like said giant bear, thankfully.
Then after Sergei's giant head, which was bigger then my chest, was given it's mandated headpat taxes. It went back to the shadows as we likewise continued to move through the Trollshaws.
"How do you feel now, Otharion. How do you feel after killing those goblins?" Arwen asked softly as she returned to resting her arms around me while pulling me to rest my head against her chest.
I shrugged slightly as I said thoughtfully. "I guess... I don't feel that much? They are goblins, beings of darkness that would only bring harm upon those I am close to. So I have even less feeling of guilt than if I were to dispatch a fish I was about to eat."
I could feel Arwen's smile of approval as she said softly. "Good. You have the heart of a ranger, a warrior even. Many elves do not have this heart. We live with our hearts bound in nature and artistry. Unable to fill their blood with the fire needed for combat."
Which was all too true. The fading of the elves in elves leaving for Valinore and the western lands wasn't just because the magic of Middle-earth was fading, and we just didn't belong.
It was also because Sauron's forces were always growing in the dark, unoccupied lands.
Seeing as it was mid-morning with the sun being well above our heads, we didn't have the misfortune to be attacked nor even come across any trolls over the next few hours of riding.
And we only stopped as we reached the next river and the Last Bridge. The bridge that separated these western lands from the elven lands of Rivendell and the roaming enemies that came from the Misty Mountains.
Asfaloth was taking a drink from the river that was fed from the clear ice of the Misty Mountains, while Arwen and I supped upon some lembas bread.
"We will follow the Great East Road for the next few days. The road is still patrolled by the rangers of the fallen northern kingdoms. So while it isn't entirely safe. No sizable force of orcs or goblins should meet us." Arwen spoke while I nodded in understanding.
Then, with a hum, I looked upon Arwen and saw that in all the riding, the Evenstar Pendant had fallen out of her leather bodice and was lying atop her dark riding leathers.
Arwen, sensing my glance, looked down as well and noticed the glowing mythril pendant. And she gently took it into her bare hands with a soft whisper, leaving her. "Is this fate as well?"
And after a moment of thought... She slowly pulled the Elfstone, off of her and before I could react she leaned forward and I felt the still-warm chain of mythril be tucked around my neck with her tightening the clasp.
Then with the pendent resting on my chest as I put down my water skin. Arwen gently laid a hand over my chest, over the pendant that was over my heart, as she said with a small smile that hid the turbid emotions in her eyes.
"Othorion, I need you to promise me something... Never lose this pendant. I hope that it will remind you every day that you wear it, our bond and the future we will share."
I could only helplessly nod as I had zero fucking clue what to say about that.
But my nod was all that Arwen needed as she giggled like a songbird singing to the world before she said with another smile. "Good boy, now come. If we are lucky, we can make it to the lands of Bree and sleep under a roof and not under the stars."