[Galadria]

Thanks, Lioness, good of you to say so. Here is some more.

.

Galadria considered the question. " I could say, Em, that you weren't in much of a mood to listen to explanations." she stated.
"Well, I'm in the mood now," answered Noemi, carefully controlling her temper. “Can’t you tell me why you thought you had to do that?” Galadria seemed to consider this.

"It all started," said the dark woman, finally , "with the dreams."
Noemi nodded sympathetically. She had had nightmares, herself. "About Smaractus," she guessed.
"Yes," Galadria went on, "vile images, and his hideous voice gloating over me, and making untempting temptations. Then, one night, in the middle of a particularly bad one, this Voice came into my dream, drowning him out.."
"A Voice," Noemi echoed.
Galadria nodded." A holy Voice, " she whispered.
The redhead nodded sympathetically. Any voice that drowned out Smaractus' would be holy to her. "What did it say,?” she asked gently.
"It said," Galadria went on carefully, "' To the North. Your freedom from him lies in the snows of the pass.' And then I woke up."

The other two pondered this. "What did you do, then?" asked Cythera.
"I thought about it. Much." Galadria replied."Then I got together the expedition you know of, and sent it to the Pass of the North."
"So tell me now," said Noemi intently, "why Morgul and that...woman." she finally spat.
"Em, I told you," The dark girl answered," she's very good at finding things. And Morgul could recognize maical items. Which is how it turned out."
Noemi exploded. "You could have sent ME! I'm plenty magical, more than Mory even! And I'm good at finding things." She turned to Cythera for support. "Tell her, Cyth."
"Em," Galadria cut in, "no one is more appreciative of your abilities than me. I'm your sister, and we've been through a lot together. But Morgul hasn't had a lot of experience, and I thought it would be good for him." Galadria didn't choose to mention that she wouldn't have thought of sending her only sister on a dangerous journey that could well have turned out to be a wild goose chase.
Cythera put her arms around the excited redhead. "Now, Noemi, honey, don't be mad at Gal," she said soothingly. "She acted for the best, and so it has turned out, seemingly." She frowned in thought; turning to Galadria, she asked, "But what are we to do now?"
"It is to my mind," Galadria replied,"that we are to retrieve my error. I, and any who would go with me, am going north. To the Pass." She looked at her friends enquiringly.
Cythera interrupted Noemi's attempt at a reply."'And any who would go with me,'" she quoted mockingly. "As if Odo and I would let you and my darling Attalus go to that nasty cold place alone."
"And Mory and I!" Noemi finally got out. "You can't separate us! You and me ", she added hastily , lest her sister think she was still carrying on with the Morgul dispute.
"All will be welcome," Galadria said with a smile, "but you and Morgul will sleep on opposite sides of the campfire."
Noemi started to go off again, but caught herself at seeing a twinkle in her sister's eye. "All right," she answered mildly, "at least he'll be seeing me through the smoke, instead of little Lilyblack."

[ 07-04-2002, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: Galadria ]