Leaving No Trace of Her Own
by Andi Newton
Inspired by recording the deeds of a group of stalwart adventurers in the
world of LOTRO
Her people have long been the record-keepers for the other races -- orcs and humans, hobbits and goblins, trolls, elves, and dwarves. All the intelligent races equally, without bias. From the moment of her birth, she knew her purpose: to record the deeds of others while leaving no trace of her own.
She has no name, save The Skald, a title commonly used not only for the individuals of her people, but for her race as a whole.
Quill in one hand, parchment in the other, she follows the heroes she has been assigned to chronicle: the champions Goose, who seeks adventure, and Gilford, who's heeding Ilúvatar's call; the minstrel Dwaloin, searching for his love; the guardian Harmur, eager for glory; and the loremaster Njal, visiting vengeance on those who slew his kin.
Though she's tasked strictly with recording the adventurers' deeds, The Skald finds it ever harder to maintain her distance. She bites her lip to keep from calling out to the minstrel when one of the others suffers a savage wound; she aches to warn the fellowship when orcs approach from behind.
Forbidden to interfere, she forces herself to dip her quill in the inkpot and write the adventure as it unfolds before her, letting events play out as they will. Her role, she reminds herself, is to record the deeds of others, not to engage in heroics of her own -- no matter how much she wants to. Like the Skalds before her, in the histories she writes, she can leave no trace of her own.