There was no patrol tonight. She walked to clear her mind, to enjoy the magic that was the woods at night when snow decorated the ground. Her steps did not break through top of the snow, her element upholding her, and slippers left no mark greater than the wind does.

She was very much alone but did not feel so. Heavy thoughts and troubles weighed her down and she sorted through them as she moved, wandering without a destination to walk towards.

It was only natural that the one night she was not looking for trouble or to play savior was the night such a role was required of her.

The cry for "Help!" rang clearly in her ears, though it came from quite a distance. It certainly gave her reason to pause, wrenched from her thoughts, and look about quickly. Although she was not outfitted for a night of patrolling and scouting she was never unarmed.

She crept silently towards the area where the cry had come from, her form easily unseen as she moved from the shadow of one tree to another. She removed a dagger from within her cloak, hiding it in her sleeve to avoid the gleam of moonlight on the metal.

Jewell widened her senses, seeking the energy that would signal perhaps how many people she should prepare to greet. She was given another reason to pause when she only sensed one person. With brows set together, she quickened her pace.

She stopped just short of where she felt the woman to be, peeking around the girth of a tree to take a look.

Just as she had thought, it was one person—a woman, naked save for a covering of hair, elven, and surrounded by a light glow. She looked critically at the area surrounding them, assessing it for traps. It was highly unlikely, who would this woman be trapping in the woods in the night' No, the circumstances and the expression on the lady's face assuaged her of fears even if she did have a sword.

She stepped around the tree as loudly as she could, purposefully alerting the lady to her presence before she greeted her in Elvish, "Suilaid h?ril."

— Translation: Greetings lady.

In the warm sanctuary of Teleperien's apartment, softly and swiftly, a familiar vibration flows to the queen's mind. It takes her by surprise but she has no doubt of the origin. It is Luthien. The young queen had thought her dead. Automatically she touches the mourning ring her smithies wrought when the word of her death had been brought to her. It had been long since she felt her kin's presence; she never expected to feel it again.

How many times will she cheat death? A smile and a slight shake of the head.

Silent footsteps glide down the stone hallway to the library and the familiar door to the tower where she and Alatar haunted for answers or reaching beyond the planes of her existence. Once there she sits.

Tele easily slips into her trance...and sees in her mind the form of Luthien in a strange forest where cold snow had kept her. It is cold, far beyond the cold of waking life. Luthien is naked and exposed save for the long tangled hair, and about her neck the silmaril of aire. Tele's eyebrows raise in surprise. The memory of her surrender of what she thought was the remaining gems returns to her. They had been returned to the Blessed Realm, Valinor, with Eönwë. But as Teleperien knew, the ebb and flow of time and space was without boundaries in this strange place, how Luthien came by the gem, she had no knowledge.

"Sister." Luthien was not her sister, but she called her thus as she was her nearest kin. Her voice was low and warm, breaking into the hypothermic coma. "Do not despair, help is near."

She hoped whoever was near would claim her and care for Luthien. She would find her as soon as she could.

She lost all composure, and the stateliness she had been going for, when the lady went practically wind-milling into the snow. She rushed forward to her side, forgetting to speak Elvish in her excited state, "M'lady, are you okay?"

Of course she wasn't all right, which became clearly apparent to Jewell as she fell onto her knees in the snow at her side. She grasped the woman's outstretched hand, sickened by how cold it was, only as she fell into unconsciousness.

Her Elvish had magically come back to her as she let free a string of curses her tutors had certainly not taught her. "You have got to be kidding me." She shook the woman a few times, gently, to no avail.

She stood up, snow clinging to her cloak, and frowned done at the lady's prone form. "What the hell am I supposed to do with her now?" Talking to herself was becoming a bad habit. She looked up at the sky, trying to determine their whereabouts; she wasn't sure how far she had traveled.

Resigned to just carrying the lady and walking back towards town—nearer, she assumed, than home—she undid her cloak and moved to wrap the woman up in it. Just as she was kneeling down she heard Tass's voice. Never one for any form of mind-speak, it took her by surprise—she dropped the cloak, hands coming up to her temples a moment.

She frowned when it processed, the message being just as surprising as receiving one at all. She scowled at the sky a moment, hoping Tass would know she was disgruntled. How did he know she was out here?

With some choice mumbling, she resumed wrapping her cloak about the lady. That really didn't seem to do the trick, The Empress was awfully small. She pulled her nice, warm, wool dress off next (leaving herself in her camisole, slip, and fey boots) and wrapped that around her too. It was an odd look, but she was going for function over aesthetics here; she didn't want the woman to die of the cold if she was going to bother to carry her all the way into town.

Getting the woman onto her back was tricky as she was dead weight, but Jewell managed somehow. It was easier than carrying her in her arms, at least, and both of them had the benefit of body heat this way.

Her first two steps caused her no small amount of distress. With the added weight of the lady she was finding it difficult to walk on top of the snow, crashing through it much the way Luthien had done earlier. Her lower legs were quickly going to become raw and cut this way, and that was unacceptable.

Face set into determination, Jewell took another step forward and the snow parted before her to reveal bare ground. She couldn't contain her grin as she took another step and then another; the snow parted before her with each step and returned to its place once more behind her. It was strenuous, sweat beading on her forehead despite the frigid weather. Yet, she couldn't afford to pace herself slowly or they'd both freeze to their deaths.

As she got the hang of carrying Luthien and removing the snow from her path, she picked up her pace. The cold only made her more determined to move faster.

She was relieved when she came into the city, but did not slow her pace. Her head was starting to swim from the exertion of energy and physical body strength. She forced herself to keep going, denying rest on a bench in one of the nicer sections of town. Instead, she moved quickly through the streets in her state of undress—not a totally unusual occurrence for Jewell, but made odd by the woman on her back—and arrived at the library ready to fall over.

The fatigue made the first few minutes in the library a bit of a blur. She needed water and warmth, badly. When she got the latter, her head cleared up a bit enough for her to think straight.

She huddle up in the blanket, taking the mug eagerly as Tass reprimanded her. She greedily drank most of it down, ignoring the fact that it was just a little too hot for her tastes; she liked the way it felt burning her throat. It was only when she was half done, the liquid coursing through her body and making her feel somewhat alive again, that she spoke up in her own defense.

"Tass, I'm stronger than I look...I go around carrying kids all day long. And it was too hard to use energy to carry her and move the snow in case I broke through it...not when it's this cold, I can't focus that well in the extremes."

That said, she goes back and finishes off her tea. The numbness from the cold was starting to wear off now and she just wanted to get warm.

"How'd you know where I was anyways?" Arching a brow curiously at him as she sets her mug aside and tucks the blanket around her better. She has to cover a yawn in there somewhere, the nights activities will certainly let her sleep well.

The door eased open just as her hand reached to knock, and the light within was warm and inviting.

The little dragon which had went to her stood there at the door's edge, a small smile to his lips.

"Come in, my Lady. The Lord is upstairs tending to his guests. Shall I show you the way?"