"Alright," Vena said. She grinned. "Make sure to make a multigrain loaf for me. The one with the sunflower seeds."

"I will, I will," Rory agreed, rolling her eyes. "Any other requests?"

Vena considered that for a moment.

"Crostini and that nice melty goat cheese from the fridge," she said, nodding once. "That sounds amazing." She grinned.

"Done in time for dinner," Rory agreed. "Now off with you, go play with your bow while I work." She grinned.

Vena grinned a bit and headed out back where her weapon was. She actually wasn't a bad archer, to be honest, and she enjoyed the work. Her recurve bow wasn't what most modern archers preferred, she knew, but it was what she was most comfortable with. Sliding her extra-long guard onto her arm, she strung her bow and picked up her quiver of arrows before heading out into the rather large back yard. Several targets were scattered around, including more than a few hanging from tree branches, and most bore signs of heavy use. Taking a steady breath, she slung her quiver over her shoulder and got to practicing.

Rory glance out from time to time from the kitchen window, but by and large she kept to the kitchen for the day. Baking was good, after all, and good stress relief. It also gave her time to puzzle over the conundrum that was the strange little village in the woods.

Vena worked until her shoulders ached and her arms shook, and the sun was getting low in the sky. She gathered up all of her arrows and stowed her gear, and then headed inside to catch a quick shower before dinner.

Rory was already most of the way done with dinner. She'd certainly had long enough to prepare it, after all. She just set plates out next to the sliced bread so Vena could serve herself when she got out of the shower.

Vena came into the kitchen wearing comfortable lounge clothes just as Rory was putting out plates.

"Smells great," she said as she took a place and some bread. She grinned when she saw the garlic-spinach and the goat cheese crostini she'd asked for. She grinned teasingly. "Did you pretend to break out in hives while you made the greens?"

"No," Rory said with great dignity. "I happen to like spinach, you know. Not all greens are rabbit food. Just most of them."

Vena snickered.

"Right," she teased. "I made a spinach salad the other day and you called it rabbit food then."

"Because you had all sorts of other stuff in it," Rory protested. "I like spinach, you have seen me eat spinach all the time. Honestly." She rolled her eyes.

Vena laughed a bit and settled in with her dinner.

The next day, she unsuccessfully tried to put the village out of her mind and ended up heading back again. This time, she would definitely figure out what was going on.

Rory ended up going with her, clomping along comfortably through the woods. Something about the village tugged at her too, and she just needed to find out what it was.

"Walk quieter," Vena murmured as they got closer. "I think they've got people in the trees watching. You're loud."

Rory snorted quietly. "Two points. One: I can't walk more quietly, I already tried. You've always commented on how loud I am. Two: I'm supposed to be a diversion anyway."

Vena cringed a bit when Rory loudly snapped a stick underfoot.

"Well, you're succeeding," she muttered. "Everyone for miles must know we're here."

Rory snickered a bit. "That's my job," she said cheerily, grinning a bit. "You run one way, and I'll run the other when someone tries to grab us again."

"Try not to start a brawl, okay?" Vena said, glancing around. She glanced up into the trees as well, just in case.

"I won't start one," Rory agreed primly. Then she grinned. "But I will finish one."

"Don't break too many bones," Vena replied, still looking around. "We want them to not hate us."

"Alright, alright," Rory agreed amicably enough.

It wasn't long until the little village was actually in sight. Then two watches descended on them, and Rory grinned and stomped louder.

Vena waited until all the attention was comfortably on Rory, and then darted into the trees, trying to stay as hidden as possible as she got closer to the village.

Rory was quite comfortable attracting all the attention. She even rather had fun with it.

Legolas heard the commotion and went to investigate. He did pause when he saw someone in the trees, and he went off after them instead.

Vena didn't notice she'd picked up a tail. She was more intent on figuring out why this village was so eerily familiar. She climbed up into the trees to try to get a better vantage point.