[Child of the 7th Age]

Child sat in her tiny cabin below deck, perched on her bed, with books and papers again spread around her. This was beginning to be her customary pose.

Child was stll trying to make some sense out of what Kali had told her. Sometimes she felt that she was unravelling an onion. One layer would be stripped away, and there were ten more underneath. Indeed, she had later asked Kali where the main group of hobbits had gone, when his own family and friend had been left behind on the little piece of land. He had merely shaken his head and told her that he did not know.

Child had not yet had time to share Kali's information with her friends. Perhaps, that would come later. She felt that it was particularly important Mithadan be given whatever scraps of ancient lore she could unearth, even if the meaning of these tales was not yet certain to her. She wrote a hurried note to summarize what Kali had said and slipped it inside her belt. She reminded herself to slip it under his door later that evening.

Rose had spoken excitedly of her meeting with Lord Merry and Pippin and then of her private session with the king. Child had to admit that she had felt a twinge of regret. It sounded far more exciting to be out meeting great figures of lore than hunting and scraping about in dusty scrolls.

Perhaps she could go out tomorrow and meet Aragorn. That, however, was unlikely. She needed to go back to the Minas Tirith library and search again for clues. That strange Elf might even be there.

She was about to bury her head back into her books, when the figure of Angara appeared in her door frame, totally filling it. The dragon tucked her head down and came tumbling into the room.

He quipped to her quite sharply, "Read any good riddles lately?" and then he disappeared.