[Child of the 7th Age]

Child threw down her charts in frustration. She didn't need Mithadan to tell her that their plan would never work. She already knew it in her own heart. And how could they ever rescue anyone, when the Elf and Man could not even reach agreement among themselves?

Child decided that she wanted to talk to someone, but everyone was asleep or buried in their own thoughts. Then she knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do. She wanted to talk to another of her own kind about something that had been troubling her since that first night in Gondolin.

Child gathered up her belongings, slipped out of the house past the dozing guard, and ran to the servant's chamber behind the stable to knock on Lindo's door. Lindo did not question the late hour or her reason for coming. Within a few moments, the two had mounted ponies and were cantering down the lanes.

In a short time, Child found herself standing outside Maura's house, her pony tied to a nearby branch. She asked Lindo to retrieve her in a little while, after they'd had a chance to talk.

Maura motioned Child to walk outside, and then asked, "What has happened? We were expecting you tomorrow. Did your friends suggest you speak with me again?"

"No, no," murmurred Child. "It wasn't my friends. I was the one who felt I needed to see you tonight. It is late, but I have thought and thought a hundred times about what you said this morning. I can't help but feel you are right to insist that your people stay and hold on, as you were taught by Ancalimon. Yet I also fear what will happen, especially to those who are weak and vulnerable. The Man and Elf believe that Gondolin will face a fierce attack that can only bring death and destruction. And I am afraid they are right."

"Maura, it is the women with young children whom I most fear for. Even in times of battle, a commander will protect those who can't defend themselves. I do not believe that Ancalimon would want you to expose these precious ones to such danger, at least if another way were possible. My friends have been searching their souls and have struggled to come up with a plan of rescue for those most weak and vulnerable."

"But no matter where they looked or how long they talked, they came up with only confusion. In fact, now I think they are quarreling because they cannot agree whether to do this thing or that."

"Maura, we have failed, my friends and I .....we have come so far, yet we have failed. We can not change anything."

And then she looked him in the eye, "How can life be so hard sometimes?"

There was absolute silence between them as they walked along.

Then Maura fixed on her with grey eyes, solemn and shining, and gently said, "Nitir, just because you can not do the thing that you so desperately wanted to do, does not mean you have failed. How many times do we set out on one road in life so sure of our journey, and then stumble onto another path which is really the one we ought to have taken in the first place?"

And then the words came tumbling out of Child, the words which had so pressed on her mind since their first night in Gondolin. "But why would Ninnia have said as she did unless she meant for us to help rescue at least some of our people."

Maura turned to her and gently asked. "And what has Nienna to say about this?"

"On my first night in Gondolin, before I visited you, I saw a strange thing in my dream." And she told him of the distant land and the tall Lady with the silver edged skirts. And she described how the Lady had bent down to bless her and shared with her two secrets. First, that she must use her wits and heart to protect hobbits who were weak and vulnerable, and second, that someone dwelling in the house of Nienna would be sent to show patience and pity."

Maura quietly asked, "And have you ever seen or heard this Lady before?"

Child glanced up at him and laughed, 'Oh, no, I am no seer or prophet to see or understand such things."

He put both his hands in his pockets and shook his head, "Perhaps you are more than you know. And perhaps Nienna has another way for you to protect the hobbits than the one you and your friends have designed."

"Nitir, I am not sure of many things in life, but I do know this. If the great Lady spoke to you, and this is a rare thing, she would not want you to despair even before you have begun your task. We need you. This community needs and wants teachers who can work with young hobbits. And that is true whether we live here in the peace of Gondolin or find ourselves forced out onto some path of exile or imprisonment."

"Go back to Idril's house. Rest and think on the words we've shared tonight. If you think that this path is for you, return here in the morning."

As Child left, he turned to her one last time, an uncertain look on his face. "And you are certain that you have never spoken with Ancalimon before?" he queried.

She shook her head, "Not unless he holds some other name in the places where I have lived." Then she and Lindo mounted their ponies again and raced back across the city. All her belongings, however, including her belt and sack, lay inside the small burrow awaiting her return the next day.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]