Orthanc: Display Hall, Third Level
The hall's main entrance is a pure white and sturdy set of double doors on whose midsection is engraved a prominant open hand. The doors are framed by an archway of black stone. Leading from this entrance is a wide path made from white tiles, guiding the observer to a central ring; a hollow island that contrasts with the flat black of the rest of the floor. The heart of this ring is an exception. There is depicted the map of known Middle-earth, constructed from coloured tiles: blue sea and rivers, brown and white mountains, emerald green forests, golden plains and other such sights near countless in number. The Western portion of the map is swept by a hint of silver while the East fades to grey beyond which little is known of the land.
Various objects are found in the room, some on pedestals of stone, others in the hands of statues while others yet are set on the walls.

The hand holding the chin goes down and Saruman corrects his already perfect robes, perhaps removing an invisible speck of dust from his robes. The face looks for a moment grim and the wise maia looks to the mosaic map upon the ground, giving the lands of Rohan a piercing glance, just as if the land itself would be a thorn in his side. As he looks back he begins to speak, "Yes, I do..." then his words trail off as there is a heavy rattle on the door. Saruman throws a piercing glance upon the door and speaks with a loud and demanding voice, "Enter!"
And so, inside walks Koh, a man with an almost cruel appearance, moving with a predatory grace into the room and then speaks common with an odd twist to it. "M'lord, a second guest for you...." and with that said the figure looks towards Anklazyn and nods in the womans direction, "They are here together.."
Saruman moves all of a sudden, rising fast from his seat and nods at Koh and then looks at the second guest for the first time, "So it would seem, step inside and join us." He looks up at Koh and mumbles out an order, "Bring up a second chair to the lady, and then call the kitchen for some more of the Gondorian wine...and three cups this time." And so it is done, Koh bring up a chair next to Anklazyn and then vanishes without a word, closing the door with a menacing thud behind him.

When the door opens to admit Koh with another visitor, Anklazyn turns her head casually. Only, when she sees the next visitor, she jumps. Startled. "Leighwyn!" she gasps with concern. "You were to remain at the inn until you were called!" She turns to Saruman, wild panic in her eyes, "I . . . she . . . " she holds her hands up in a helpless gesture, "She is . . . I apologize for her impatience!" Then, as when she entered the room, she bows her head before Saruman.

Anxious eyes glance quickly toward Anklazyn, as though seeking out reassurance in something more familiar than the surroundings, and the people therein. The younger woman takes a few steps forward, biting her lip in a nervous fashion. And yet, at the words that are spoken, her eyes widen and she draws in a sharp breath. "I didn't move from the inn!" Leighwyn exclaims- gaze darting between both figures, though she doesn't move any closer toward the chairs for the moment, but stands there, appearing almost as fragile as a leaf in the wind, all traces of arrogance and cool disappeared from her general visage. Then she casts her eyes upon the floor and says nothing more.

The eyebrows of Saruman are slightly lowered and he looks between the two visitors for a brief moment and then nods towards the empty chairs, "Now, sit down, both of you if you please." he himself, corrects the shimmering white robes and sits down as he awaits the ladies to do the same. The hands are clasped together, elbows on the armrests of his chair and his chin rests upon the knuckles. And so looking over his hands he chuckles slightly, "I believe it might have been my 'servant' who brought her here....he is a of a different sort I am afraid...now, please be seated and relax and continue what you had to say..."
Her head tips back up now, and relief is evident in her eyes as Anklazyn regards both her daughter and Saruman. She reaches out, touches the other woman gently on the shoulder, then resumes her seat as suggested. Without waiting for Leighwyn to seat herself, Anklazyn speaks. "I thought . . . oh," she says simply, glances apologetically at Leighwyn, then back at Saruman. "Forgive my behaviour. I was . . . not expecting her to arrive just yet. But now that she is here, I might as well say it outright." She glances over at Leighwyn again before announcing, "The lass is the one who was stolen from me."

And Leighwyn, too, breathes a quiet and very relieved sigh at the turn of events. At the request, she nods her head gently and moves toward the seat, even as the other woman begins speaking. All this done in a fashion that should make her as inconspictuous as possible, so the conversation is not disturbed by her moving about, and finally her dropping into a seat. Only now does she raise her eyes to regard (very briefly) Saruman, before shifting that gaze to the other woman and keeping it there, her expression carefully blank.


The maia continues to look out over his knuckles at the two women and barely nods his head at the words from Anklazyn and then he looks over the younger girl just briefly. And so the chin is lifted from the clenched hands and he leans back in his chair at about the same time as another man in white enters. This man does not shimmer in the same way as Saruman, rather he wears a too large apron stained by food and drink. It is the chef who has arrived with a small tray containing three cups of wine which he places next to the maia's chair and then quickly vanishes from the room.
"So..." comes from Saruman as he hands each woman a cup of wine before he takes his own, "I believe my call for wine was not in vain, as I believe we should toast for the return of the long lost daughter of yours." He raises his own cup and takes a sip from the blood red liquid and then continues while watching the contents of the delicate cup, "Where did you come across your daughter?"
Little can she do now but take the cup of wine that is offered, and she takes a small sip from it before answering the question. "I came across her in the oddest of places, really," she chuckles, reaches out a hand for one of Leighwyn's, then responds. "Bree."

!
Leighwyn too takes a glass of the wine, regarding it carefully a moment before, as though following the other woman's cue, taking a sip. However, she does not extend her own hand to clasp the one searching for it, but leaves it where it rests- allowing Ankhlazyn to take it, if she so wishes. "Although I had come to Bree, from Dunland..." And even as the words leave her mouth, she bites her lip and falls suddenly quiet, as though afraid she had said, or was going to say the wrong thing and therefore resigned to say nothing at all.

The robed man turns his attention away from the older woman and looks at the young one for a long moment. He stares into the eyes of the daughter in much the same fashion as he did earlier with her mother. The dark eyes of Saruman are deep, much like a well of knowledge, though they dig deep into the eyes of the young one. And while keeping his stare Saruman speaks with a deep voice, so deep that it almost appears as if it carries its own echo, "And then this where the story no longer is weaved by the old, but by the young, so speak of your life, tell us of how you came to find your mother.."

Apparently Anklazyn does wish to take the hand of her daughter, for she reaches out and clasps it within her own. As Saruman speaks to Leighwyn now, Anklazyn takes another sip of the wine and merely sits there, silently observing.

Leighwyn blinks, and sets the wine down- as if unsure whether or not she has the strength to hold it any longer. Then she returns the gaze, though wary of doing so at first, she lifts her chin just slightly- often her own sign of arrogance, though in this case, a guise to cover her own nervousness. She swallows, hard, then starts to speak- her voice breaking slightly at first, "When I was sixteen... I was living in a house, in Dunland.. with people I thought my parents... Then I left- I went to Bree... I was alone, for years, and I met Ales-- Ankhlazyn, we didn't know then, of course.. And normally I would not.. that is to say I would not spend so much time with a single person... " She trails off, looking worried.

The fingers silently rattles against the armwrests of the chair as Saruman listens to the young girl. The mouth twists in an un-satisfied scowl as he listens to the broken words and sentences the young woman delivers to him, and so it appears as if the eyes of the Maia sparks, kicking in to a higher gear while his eyebrows are lowered, "Now girl, details...speak of details. What you have just told me, is what anyone could have said." the voice is stern and so is the face and the whole posture of Saruman, "Where did you live until the age of sixteen? Where in Dunland did you live? What was the name of the people you believed to be your parents? Why did you come to leave Dunland to go to Bree? And, finally...how did the two of you know that you were daughter and mother?" Now though there is a certain edge in the strong voice, an edge that would urge the young girl on to answer all these questions.

Though she has remained silent for a time, allowing Saruman to speak with Leighwyn, Anklazyn pipes up hesitantly. "Perhaps . . . your last question is one I could better answer than she? If you would allow me to?"

Saruman does not brake his stare, he simply puts up his palm in front of Anklazyn and states, "All in good time, all in good time..."

Leighwyn appears to close in on herself under the heavy gaze- just slightly. "Details?" This comes out very quietly, and then she takes a breath. "I lived with the people I considered my parents, and a brother- we had a house quite near to teh Greyflood, as my parents were fromdifferent clans- they could not easily stay together, it was too difficult... They were Aren and Rachel..." As the other woman speaks, Leighwyn's own eyes shift slightly and for the briefest of moments, yet she is drawn back to continuing with the questions, "Before I turned sixteen, perhaps a few months, my brother was killed, and although he always seemed resentful of me, though I never knew why, I... well, it was difficult to stay there, you understand, and although I did not know much about the world outside our little house.. I had spoken to merchants, on the occasions that they passed, and they told me of Bree... " A tiny pause, as she considers the last... "I.. we were speaking, I hardly remember how it happened, of course I had no idea that I was anyone other than who I had always thought I was.. it was Anklazyn who realised.. although it began to make sense... my family had called me Leighwyn for the longest time, I had never thought anything of it..."

Finally Saruman breaks his gaze, yet it appears as if he still not satisfied, but he turns his attention towards Anklazyn and nods to her and speaks again, though now with a softer and friendlier voice, "And then the weave is handed to the older one yet again, so now you may continue to add strings to this story and bring it forward, yet still much of the beginning is still missing, perhaps the finish will be clear?"

Ever keeping her eyes focused on Saruman, Anklazyn nods her head to what the younger woman has said. "Though her words are disjointed, and she speaks nervously, all that she says is true. It might seem . . . odd? That I would think her my daughter, after having never seen her? But you know that I have always searched for her, and any time I would encounter a lass of the appropriate age I would regard her as a possibility. And this lass," she squeezes Leighwyn's hand, "She has her father's eyes and his smile. But even still, I did not for the longest time think she could be my Leighwyn. It was only when we were speaking one evening, and she was telling me the circumstances of her birth and life - that which she has just told you - that I truly began to suspect. You recognize, of course, that the life she lived mirrors that which I claim to have lived?" Though it is spoken as a question, it is rhetorical, for of course she knows that Saruman already knows the answer.

"Disjointed and un-focused.." comes from Saruman who pulls a hand through his white hair pulling away a few straws of stray hair that has come in the way of his eyes. He looks between the two ladies and after a long moment of silence he nods his head at the words from Anklazyn, "So it would appear...in a sense it is to be expected. Many stories both new and old tell us of family stepping in the footsteps of their elders without their own knowledge.." the maia appears to muse for a moment at the story that has been weaved in his chamber. Finally he chuckles slightly and nods again, "I am glad that you have found what you sought for so long."

Leighwyn nods her head just slightly as she listens, "She often says that I am like him.. my father, though I wouldn't know, of course.. and then sometimes, when she thinks I have acted as he would have, I did not at all," A coy smile is sent toward the other woman- of course she is speaking about the eppisode with the guards, but she does not elaborate and instead falls again into silence.

The coy smile acknowledged, Anklazyn chuckles. "She refers, of course, to an encounter with the guards upon our arrival. For which I have apologized to her too, I might add." Again, she squeezes her daughter's hand. "I too am glad I found her, though we have much time to make up for. I have wanted to bring her home for the longest time, so that you might meet her. I hope she will be as much to your liking as she is to mine . . . " she pauses, then adds with a soft laugh, "Except for those moments when she acts like her father."

"Ah, I hope none of them were injured, or Koh would be greatly displeased as he is the old captain of the guard here of Orthanc, which explains his rather cold behaviour and inept ability to be servant." A faint smile begins to curl upon the lips of Saruman and he looks upon the young woman and speaks with a friendly voice towards her as well, "It is good that you have returned to your real mother. I am sure we shall meet again in the future." He bows his head towards the two ladies, "You are both welcome to return to my sanctuary that is this vale. But now, let me ask, what is your plans for the future?"

"Injured?!" Leighwyn exclaims, clearly surprised at the thought of being able to injure a guard. "Oh, no, not injured. I just looked upon him in a way that displeased Anklazyn.." She glances toward the other woman again, and a shrug rolls over her shoulder- a gesture that apparently suggests that all is well and forgiven. And to the last question, she simply looks across to her mother- as if wishing to follow her lead, or trust in her judgement.

"Our future," begins Anklazyn, speaking for the both of them. "Our immediate future, at least, is to learn one another a bit better perhaps, and for her to learn about her family. Where better to learn than here, where there is nothing to fear? As for our plans after leaving the Vale? That is for you to decide, for as ever I seek only to do your bidding," comes the soft answer. She stands, beckoning Leighwyn to follow suit and lowers to a bow; a squeeze to Leighwyn's hand might suggest she do the same.

"It sounds wise that the two of you spend time together as a mother and daughter should." Again Saruman leans back in his chair, crossing his legs, letting a hand lift the delicate cup of wine from the side table. The cup is moved slightly in circles letting the wine swirl around for a moment before he takes another mouthful of the wine, "As for how long you may stay in the vale, that is all up to you. When you think you are ready to set out on the road, then you shall leave, not before and not after." he says while taking another sip of the cup, draining it and then places it upon the table again with a low clattering sound. "I believe that is all for now. I shall consider what I have been told here and I might summon either of you again. Until then, enjoy yourselves here, and I bid you both a good night." And with that, the visit is at an end as the old book he read once Anklazyn entered is now lifted again and the maia appears oblivious of the existance of the two women.