[Lomenár] Beginnings

This is the story of how Lomenár and Isil first met and how they became friends and forged a bond that would last for a long time... The story takes place shortly after the orcs' invasion of Ashenvale.


It was cold, very cold. The wind howled shrilly and tore at her hair and cloak. The cold air went right through her layers of fur and cloth and chilled her to the bone. But she clenched her teeth, bowed her head against the wind and struggled on. The trail she had made had already been filled up with fresh snow; no trace of her passing was to be seen anywhere. A strong gust of wind ripped her cloak from her shoulders and she made a feeble attempt to catch it… but all in vain. She watched as the cloak danced away in a swirl of cold air and snowflakes and angry tears burned in her eyes. But she was exhausted and couldn’t bring herself to hunt after it. She wiped at the tears, but they had already frozen solid. A tiny pearl of ice lay in the palm of her glove. She stared at it for a few seconds before she flung it away, her movements painfully slow and rigid, bowed her head once more and continued on her set path.

It stopped snowing that night. The stars twinkled merrily above and the moon shone with a pale light and bathed everything in cascades of silver. But she didn’t see it, and she wouldn’t have cared for the beauty of it all even if she had seen it. She sat huddled in her furs and cloth underneath the lowest branches of an evergreen, the tiniest fire imaginable in front of her. Every once in a while she held out her hands towards the fire, hoping that the flames would at least give away enough heat to help thaw her frozen fingers. Her gaze was locked on the ground in front of her, her eyes void of any emotion. Suddenly she heaved a great sigh, closed her eyes and for the briefest of moments a shadow of loss, pain and grief passed over her features. But the moment passed and she opened her eyes once more and resumed her staring.


It was a night void of any moonlight. She sat cross-legged in front of the fire and stared into the flames. She barely stirred when Lithior came up behind her and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
"Do you see anything?" his voice was kept low, as if not to disturb her.
"No… nothing that is real anyway." she sighed and arched her back in a stretch.
"Memories haunting you again?" Lithior walked around the fire and sat down opposite her.
"I wouldn’t use the word “haunting”, but I guess that is as apt a description as any."
"I see…" he glanced up towards the sky and shook his head.
"The moon is shy tonight…"
"That she is. In fact, she has been shy for the last couple of nights now." Lomenár too passed a glance up towards the velvety ceiling above.
Lithior grabbed a stick from beside the fire and poked around in the embers for a while, his gaze almost as distant as hers had been.
"Something is coming, I can feel it…" she heard him rise to his feet and begin to prowl, back and forth, back and forth.
"What is coming? The moon is shy, true, but since when does that mean anything?"
"Don’t you feel it Lomenár? Can you not taste the uneasiness in the air? Like the whole forest is holding its breath?"
She lifted her gaze and watched him stalk across their little clearing. His movements were smooth and fluid and she found herself entranced for a while. Lithior stopped his prowling abruptly and came down into a crouch in front of her, startling her out of her trance.
"Have you even heard a word of what I’ve been saying the past few minutes?"
"Um… no. I am sorry, Shan’do…" she felt the colour rise on her cheeks and cursed herself softly.
"You know I hate when you call me that. I am not and have never aspired to be your Shan’do." Lithior caught her gaze and held it.
"I am sorry that I didn’t listen… my mind were somewhere else."
"Ah yes, the memories..." he rose again and resumed his prowling.
Lomenár released her breath in a heavy sigh, not having been aware that she’d been holding it. She then settled back into watching the flames and letting her mind wander. Yes, her memories haunted her… but it was not the memories which had made her lose focus. Not this time…


Soft snowflakes caressed her cheek and roused her a little from her walk down memory lane. These glimpses of the past were always painful… some of them even had the power to bring her to her knees, gasping for breath and sobbing uncontrollably. But the wind, snow and cold had drained her of all her energy and left a throbbing emptiness in its wake.

She watched as the night slowly crossed over to early dawn, the sky’s colours ranging from the darkest midnight blue to turquoise, to green, to the softest yellow. She tried to flex her fingers and gasped harshly as the feeling of red hot knives piercing her skin and fingers sent spasms through her body. Inch by painful inch she finally managed to flex her fingers enough to get the blood flowing again. After several attempts she eventually got to her feet as well and started walking, never a backwards glance.

The day passed in a misty haze. She barely saw where she walked, and the sense of direction that she’d had the day before was completely gone. She wandered aimlessly, she could have been walking in circles for all she knew, until she dropped, exhausted, into the nearest heap of snow. The cold white closed in around her and engulfed her like a white, fluffy blanket. She could feel her breathing and heart slow down, and soon a soft darkness overtook her and brought her under.


"Lomenár?" Lithior’s soft voice reached her through her sleep hazed mind.
"Hmm?" she turned her head to look at him, and blinked a few times as a bright light stung her eyes.
"Come, I have something to show you!" the excitement in his voice made her smile.
"Alright, let me just grab my boots…" she sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and yawning hugely.
Lithior waited for her just outside the tent, tapping his foot impatiently. Once he saw her he grabbed her hand and started dragging her down the slope. They ran for quite some time, Lithior urging her to hurry all the while. The sky hung black and starry above their heads and the snow swirled up around their boots as they passed.

Once they reached a small valley Lithior finally stopped and crouched. He reached up and pulled Lomenár down beside him and then motioned for her to be very quiet. Then he pointed down into the vale and Lomenár’s breath caught in her throat. Down in the valley a pride of the most beautiful sabercats were playing. The cubs were tumbling about wildly, the snow poofing up in sheer clouds around them. The adults played along, just not as vigorously. The moon bathed the valley in silver and made the cats’ pelts glow. It was such a wonderous sight and Lomenár felt tears of joy trickling down her cheeks. She turned her head and smiled radiantly at Lithior.
"Oh! Lithior! This is wonderful! I don’t think I have ever seen such beautiful cats as these before!"
"They are usually pretty shy, but every once in a while they come forth to play under the moon. It is truly a beautiful sight. Almost as if Elune herself were dancing and playing along with them down there."

Lomenár studied the felines closely, reveling in their smooth movements and incredible speed. Their play was a ferocious dance, but it was not meant to hurt or maim… only to be instructive and fun… and it was awe-inspiring to watch. Then something caught her eye; a small cub playing along with the others. The cub looked quite different from her littermates; instead of a sparkling white or white and black striped coat she had a light, light blue coat with slightly darker stripes.

She was indeed a feisty little thing, she had one of her siblings caught between her teeth and another in between her front paws. Suddenly the cub turned her head and looked straight into Lomenár’s eyes. Emerald eyes met silver and held on. Neither of them was able to break the hold for long moments. Lomenár marveled in the depth and beauty of the young cat’s eyes and was slightly intimidated by the way she held her gaze. The young feline seemed completely fearless, and instead of the wariness and hostility Lomenár was used to find in most animals’ eyes she only encountered curiousity and a challenge. But then one of the cub’s siblings bit her ear, and with a yowl she broke the gaze with Lomenár and joined in the fight once more.


Awareness slowly came to her. Warmth seeped through her layers of clothing and she felt something against her back. She stirred slightly and the pressure against her back vanished immediately. Her mind still being somewhat foggy, she didn’t quite comprehend what she saw in the snow beside her head; a dead rabbit and next to it a paw print. A paw print from a saber cat.