[piosenniel]

'Let's go up and sit on deck under the stars.' said Pio, feeling as if her words in that small room were crushing her with their sadness.

'Who told you about the hobbits?' asked Chld as they walked up the stairs. 'Not your mother, since her memory must have been clouded also. Did the elves know all of this?'

'No, this was not common knowledge to the elves. Only to some who were to aid the hobbits. And as to who it was who told me, I have made a promise, and cannot tell you.'

'But your mother,' said Kali, 'what of her?'

'We made it safely to Gondolin, and were allowed in, there to dwell with the many others of our kind. Many clans, all together. My mother and I came to the notice of King Turgon's daughter, Idril. And she took us under her wing, to smooth out my rough edges and teach me my elven heritage.'

She looked up at the stars, and tears dimmed her sight of them. 'I was happy there for five sweet years. Until that horrid day in the year 510 when we had all gathered as was the custom of the Gondothlim to celebrate the great feast Tarnin Austa, the Gates of Summer. The armies of Melkor, his orcs and balrogs, serpents and dragons, fell upon the city that night. And not even the eleven houses of the Gondothlim and the bodyguard of Tuor could prevail against them. "Great was the Fall of Gondolin", so said the King before he went to his death.'

'My mother was at that time in the house of Idril and Tuor, and she asked Idril to look after me, saying she needed to see about others of her clan who were in the northern part of the city, and she wanted me kept safe. I think she knew that she would not see me again. She took from her neck a fine silver chain with an enamelled silver holly leaf on it bearing three red berries, a present to her from my father in happier times. She put it round my neck and held me close, kissing me once on the forehead. Bending close to my ear, she said 'Remember, Pio. And return to me if I cannot return to you.' Then she placed my hand in Idril's and ran down the stairs. We were soon forced to flee the city with other elves of Gondolin and became refugees in a land that now groaned under Shadow.'

'But your mother' asked Bird, 'did you see her again?'

'She never returned to me.' said Pio quietly, 'but now I am here, and I will return to her.'

There were many more questions that buzzed in the air as she finished this portion of her history. Pio stood, her eyes now dry, and asked that she be allowed to continue tomorrow. She used tiredness as her excuse to finish her story later, but it was grief that stopped her flow of words.

[ July 29, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]