Laerlin

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Laerlin (S. 'summer gleam') is a Gondorian woman in her mid-twenties who is known as a well renowned, respected healer in Bree-land. Despite being in Bree-land for only a few short years, many of the locals consider her a permanent fixture to the area even with her occasional travelling out of town. When she is not working, Laerlin can often be found playing an instrument or chatting with the locals at the Prancing Pony.

She currently lives alone in a house near her infirmary in the 'stead named Luddean, her only companions being her gelding Annullach, her small bird Aevain, and her cave-claw Gorthbin.

I: Childhood:

Laerlin, daughter of Maendir, was born on June 7 in Minas Tirith. Her mother, Lothelin, raised her often alone in the City while her father patrolled with the Rangers of Ithilien, making the time she did spend with him all the more precious.

When she was young, she pridefully carried the knowledge that his grandfather, her great-grandfather, was said to be one of the Dúnedain of Arnor, and that he, his son, and then her father were all great huntsmen. Despite her mother’s wishes, she wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a hunter and dreamed of becoming one of the only female Rangers of Ithilien. Her father taught her the basics of hunting, archery, herb-lore, and woodcraft, never completely dissuading her from her unusual dream.

When her mother passed away from illness in a great bout of sickness that plagued Minas Tirith, the 16-year-old grew despondent and felt ill-at-ease with her life. She begged her father to have one of the Ithilien Ranger captains take her as a recruit, if only to escape and be with him more often. Filled with grief over his wife’s passing, Maendir feared for his only child’s safety in such a perilous land and refused. They argued harshly over the issue until Laerlin left Minas Tirith, fleeing south to the province of Lossarnach, where her mother’s cousin’s family had a farmstead in Galdir's Dell near the town of Arnach and the crossings of Erui. While she continued to hunt on occasion for her mother's relatives, she gave up ever joining the Rangers of Ithilien and simply left it to her childhood fantasies.

II: Leaving Gondor

When Laerlin had just turned 21, she received news that her father was killed in a skirmish with orcs while on patrol in Ithilien. While her remaining relatives tried to offer her comfort and relief, the young woman found none to be had. They soon grew weary of her constant depression and melancholy, and the distance between them only increased as the months passed.

It was not even a year later, sometime in the early spring, when several farmsteads in Galdir's Dell were attacked by Corsairs in a preemptive strike against Gondor. They received no help from Minas Tirith from the attack, and it was only the bravery and sacrifice of the local townsfolk that drove off the Corsairs. Nevertheless, Laerlin’s family’s farm and home was one of the buildings completely destroyed— that all people made it out alive was miraculous in itself, though most of their thoughts were bitter during that time.

Her mother’s cousin’s family decided to head to western Gondor, where it was said to be a lot less dangerous. Laerlin decided that she needed a change and a big one. Feeling utterly unsatisfied with life, she decided to pursue the old family myth concerning her great-grandfather, to find if he really was a Northern Ranger or no; while she had believed it completely in her youth, she was less certain that the family myth was true in her adulthood. With that in mind, she left Lossarnach, stopped briefly in Minas Tirith for supplies and whatever maps they had of the Northern lands, and then set forth, trekking through Anórien and through Rohan until she came to the Westfold, all on foot.

It was there that, while practicing archery in a small, unusual wooded area near the mountains, that she caused a happy accident. A man with several horses distracted her as she released and her arrow flew awry and into his shoulder. She was horrified, and fully prepared to face the consequences of her mistake, when another band came upon them. She soon learned that he was a horse thief that had stolen nearly all the family’s horses, and they were so grateful to her that they gave her a mare. While she was no warhorse, and indeed the least impressive amongst all the horses of that pack, she was sturdy and young enough to still endure long journeys. She debated long about a name for the horse, calling her No-Name for the longest time even while in the North, until she finally named it ‘Alenech’, or ‘No-Name’ in Sindarin.

Laerlin made it safely through the Gap and up through Enedwaith, pass Tharbad, and all the way to the Greenway until she finally hit the town of Bree.

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