Legolas gave the question a moment of consideration. "It may well work in our favor," he murmured.

"You alright?" Rory looked at Vena with concern, frowning a little.

"I--" Vena glanced at the other two, and then shook her head a bit. "I'll tell you later. At home."

Rory nodded slowly at that. That was acceptable. After a few minutes, she paused.

"Think we should call it a day while we're still ahead?" she murmured.

"Probably a good idea," Vena said, nodding. She wanted to get back out into the back yard with her bow and try to work through the tangle of thoughts in her head.

Rory nodded and turned, heading away from the village.

Legolas caught up easily and walked next to Vena for a few steps. "Call next time you want to visit," he told her. "Or if you have questions."

Vena nodded and pulled out her phone, opening up a blank contact. She held it out to him.

"Just need a name and number," she said.

Legolas typed in the information quickly and handed the phone back. "That's my extension," he told her. "Try to give me some warning, not just 'we're on our way now'."

"No promises," Vena said as she slipped her phone into her pocket again. She did grin a bit at him, though, to show she was teasing. Mostly teasing.

Legolas chuckled. "Very well," he agreed. "Until next time, then." He inclined his head to the two of them, eyes bright as he watched them go.

Vena led Rory back through the woods, towards home. She really wanted to have her bow in her hands again. The pull of the string would go a long way towards helping her think.

Rory walked quietly with her, frowning a little to herself. Something about this whole thing was bugging her. She just couldn't put her finger on what.

Vena was quiet the entire way home. She was even quiet as she grabbed her bow and arrows and went out to the back yard. The steady draw and release helped her relax a little, and she was able to start trying to work out what had happened.

Rory didn't bother her. Instead, she just settled in to her own things she had to do, whittling and a bit of baking. The repetitive and familiar work made her feel more comfortable.

Vena shot arrows until her arms shook. Once she had gathered them up and put her things away, she went to sit in the kitchen to watch Rory work.

"Were they speaking another language, earlier?" she asked after a long moment of silence.

"Far as I could tell," Rory grunted, not even looking up from her whittling. "Why?"

"I understood them," Vena said quietly. She looked at Rory. "Word for word, I knew what they were saying. Clear as day."

Rory blinked. "That's... new," she murmured carefully. "Interesting. Very interesting."

"I have no idea what they were speaking," Vena said. "But I knew. And I can feel it in my soul, I should know the language. I should know it so well, I can feel it."

Rory shrugged. "I'll take your word for it," she said. "Unfortunately I haven't ever felt anything like that, so I don't really know."

"I can't really explain it," Vena said. She looked down at her hands, just studying the calluses and fresh marks from her bow.

Rory shrugged. "Well, you can either mull it over for a bit, put it out of your mind, or try to find out more," she pointed out.

Vena considered it and shook her head.

"I can't, not now," she said. "Not with the shooting competition so close."

"Well then, go out and shoot things tomorrow until you can't," Rory reasoned. "That always makes you feel better."

Vena made a vague noise at that.

A few days later she did, indeed, shoot things until she couldn't anymore. The competition had arrived, and she was fully prepared to win it. She methodically buried arrow after arrow in the center of all of her targets, letting the comforting draw and release keep her from getting tense and nervous.

Legolas was also there competing, and he was surprised when he looked at the number to find he had some serious competition for the top overall archer. Normally he didn't have any competition. Oh this could be very fun.

Rory had watched for a bit and then wandered off to enter herself in a few lower-level knife throwing competitions, because why not.