[Child of the 7th Age]

That night, as Nitir tossed about on the rough ledge, she saw another vision of the small island with its tree-shadowed lake. This time, many Valar stood by the lake. They looked like shadowed figures lost in reflection wih eyes spilling unnumbered tears. Nitir knew she could not reach or touch these, nor speak with them in any way.

But as she gazed about, she spotted the fair Lady with skirts edged in sparkling snowflakes. And, unlike the powers who walked in cloud and silence, this figure could be clearly seen and heard.

The Lady's face appeared even sadder than before. She said. "I bring you two gifts,the gift of forgetting and the gift of remembering."

"Neither you or Azra will survive Morgoth's prison with the knowledge of the Third Age in your head. You must let go of that piece of yourself. For, even if your friends visit you in that time and place, they will not be able to share their knowledge of the future."

Nitir nodded in agreement, since no price seemed too great to help her people survive. The Lady leaned over to kiss her brown curls and those of the sleeping Azra.

Then a strange thing happened. Nitir could remember her friends from the Lonely Star, their forms and faces. She understood that her people would have a future, and that it was her task to share this hope. But beyond that, her knowledge of later times was gone: her studies of the end of Beleriand, of the kingdom of Numenor, and the destruction of the Ring, even the simple stories of the Shire. In Nitir's mind, as in Azra's, all these had departed.

Then Nitir turned to the Lady and asked, "And the gift of remembering?"

"This is a gift both sad and sweet," the Lady replied. "Your friend Piosenniel has found peace. Her body lies in the house of Idril, cut down by Orcs as she defended her home. Now, she walks the halls of Mandos and bids me speak with you."

"She asks you to remember her with sweetness, and do everything in your power to save the hobbit folk. For, in her final hours in Gondolin, Piosenniel the Elf understood that one piece of her would remain forever with her mother's people."

Nitir had no words to say. She felt alone and angry. No tears came to her eyes or sweetness to her mind. Full of bitterness, she thought, "This is no gift, but a curse and sadness without end."

And the Lady knew her mind and replied, "You are still young in the paths of lore. Learn patience, since this will not be the last time that sorrow touches your heart. For, without the gift of estel, neither you or your people will survive."

"One of my household will be sent to you. But I myself may not speak with you again. For, in time to come, even the great powers must leave Middle-earth completely."

Nitir gazed in sadness at the retreating figure. Yet when she tried to reach out and touch the Lady's strength and compassion, she met only clouded silence.

The hobbit woman awoke to a bleak dawn, huddled together with all her other kin. Then Orc guards came and roughly kicked them into conscousness. There were no tears in Nitir's eyes; her heart felt cold and distant. She briefly told Azra of the death of Piosenniel, and, that morning, the young hobbit wept as she trudged along the path.

[ August 14, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]