CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT

The next few days are more hectic than our previous routine.

The elves are more alert and more protective, surrounding me when we travel.

They don’t let me leave to take a bath by myself.

It is always Balin who accompanies me when I wash myself in the nearby stream or river.

The more time I spend with the three of them is beginning to give me an insight into their personalities. Idril is more abrupt and short tempered. Aldon is calmer but more wary. Balin is the more levelheaded of the three and has a calm temperament which makes him the most dangerous of the three. He’s also the oldest of them all, by his own admission.

Despite me knowing that once they discover that I am not the Righ, they will most probably kill me, I can’t help but get along with Balin.

I find myself drawn to him.

It’s been days of travelling with them, but Balin always manages to catch my eye. There is a sense of security about him, a security that I lack in my life right now. That’s the excuse I use to