not all who wander are lost
Wayra had become used to strange things. The Chamber’s beating heart, the eternally burning tree, these had come to seem mundane, not boring exactly, but normal. She wasn’t really sure when it happened, and she had no idea how it happened. But, it seemed like one day she was her father’s little blue daughter, and the next she was among the Chamber’s tall, tall pines and friends with monsters.
She was not delusional. She knew that there was as much bite as there was bark to her new home. She had begun to feel comfortable, but she knew she should not assume she is safe. The problem is, that is exactly what she had begun to assume. She had met with nothing but kindness from the Chamber’s monsters, aside from one awful magician. Yet, as rude as the magic man had been, all he did was dump in her a frozen lake. Erebor had even been kind enough to ensure the lake she fell in was merely cold, not even frozen.
So it is not so terrible, all in all. At least, she keeps telling herself that.
So, it was with no sense of impending doom that Wayra explored the pine forest. She had done this before, but she had never gone so far. On this particular day, she went nearly to the border. She felt Atrox’s heartbeat grow fainter, and fainter, and eventually she hardly felt it at all. It was only then she realized how far she had gone, and how unsure she was of how to get back.
And, something else as well. She could have sworn something was watching her.
Wayra spun around, eyes wide, but there was nothing there. The blue girl laughed a little. And here she had thought herself brave, unafraid of the Chamber’s forests. Yet, she still jumped at nothing. Still amused, she pushed on, skirting the far edge of her home.
Yet, as she walked, and even as she laughed at herself, she could have sworn something was watching her. Without really knowing why, and without realizing she had done it, Wayra broke into a run.
The girl pounded through the woods, running faster and faster, the pine branches tearing at her skin. Behind her she felt their eyes, yet she dared not look. She dared not look because she could hear them now. They were snarling and snapping and soon they would be upon her.
Just when she was sure her heart would burst Wayra screamed, loud and frantic, for she was falling. Just like poor little Alice, Wayra was tumbling down, down, down and above her the wolves were laughing cackling like hyenas. But, worst of all, was below her. Below her was his lair, though she hardly knew it.