Long Lost Leaves - Part III

[Aikanáro]

Tabrîl raised an eyebrow at that last. Glory, that belonged to the old days, and as for the others? It was foolish to set any worth by them. She had no wish to share these thoughts with the others, however, and so did not dispute Nami's claim.

It was a silent watch Tabrîl had kept while they had awaited the Ultai. She could not sleep, not in this place with what might lie before them. Yet there was a stillness about her, an air of calm, that same focus that every warrior of the Kindi cultivated before battle. There was a clarity to her thought that transcended her situation, this strange company.

And then.

And then it had been Hedrim, after all that, greed and treachery of the basest kind, and though Tabrîl had heretofore had little sympathy for the plight of the Entwives, now she perceived without hesitation where honor lay.

'It is so,' she told Radagast plainly, moving to his side, and her next words she spoke in a low voice. 'If you would have it, I will fight. Hedrim, or the Khagan himself if you wish it. This is not right.' Tabrîl did not know with certainty whether or not she could win such a duel, but it was the right thing, to offer it.