Nitir hunched over the small table in the Workhouse. She was in the midst of pouring over lists of supplies and foodstuffs. Then she remembered the question Lindo had asked. She stopped her work for a moment and went over to the shelf which held a few books given to the Workhouse by one or other of the hobbit families. One of them was a dictionary of Elvish tongues. She thumbed through the section on Quenya until she found what she was looking for: Ancalimon -- "he who is most bright". She scribbled a note onto the scrap of paper giving the translation. Then she added a second sentence to the paper: "And have you set up your dinner with Kemba yet?" Might as well keep the pressure up a bit on the lad! She would drop this off for him before she headed to bed.
But now she needed to turn back to her unending lists. The frozen ghost of winter would soon be upon them, and she knew it would not be easy. Ancalimon's much-needed provisions included woolen blankets and hide coats which the Orcs had fortunately dismissed as worthless. While these would help, they were not enough.
She reminded herself to ask Tomba Bullroarer if he and his lads could bring down some small game. The soft fur of the animals would keep the children warm, and the meat could be smoked or salted and set aside for the time of bitter cold. Yet Nitir feared the hobbits would not find hunting easy. The forests had been so gutted that there were few beasts left in nearby dens or burrows.
How strange that she should spend hour after hour immersed in such details. Tales of lore never mentioned unglamorous topics like winter coats or smoked meats. But Nitir recognized that, without thoughful planning, the lives of all her children could be jeopardized. So she sighed and went back to work.
The evening shadows darkened, and Nitir's candle gutted low. She heard a scratching noise and glimpsed the silhouette of a very large black rat skittering along the wall, heading straight for the room where the infants slept. This was no light matter. The beast was hungry, and could do serious injury to a hobbit child. She snatched up her cudgel with venom and took direct aim. She had had considerable experience, and her first blow was a stunning success. The rat keeled over as did a considerable chunk of the old stone wall. She gingerly picked up the varmint by the tail and conveyed him out the door.
Then she knelt down to inspect the fallen masonry. Nitir tried poking and prodding the building stones back into the wall, but they seemed quite stubborn. Her fingers inched along the stonework towards the leering gap. She could feel the rough edges where the stones had broken off, and then she felt something else, something that didn't belong there. She pulled and wiggled the strange object, being careful not to tear or destroy it. Within five minutes, her efforts had been rewarded. She pulled out the dusty remains of a handwritten manuscript which looked about sixty years old.
Nitir glanced at the cover, but there was nothing written there. The chapters inside seemed to be in the language ofthe Noldor. Her heart began to pound quite fiercely as she read the words on the first page:
Quote:
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Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth being written down by Andreth, Wise Woman of the House of Beor, Daughter of Boromir, Lord of Ladros, recorded in the year 409 when she had reached 48 years.
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Recognition and excitement flooded over her. The name of this woman had come up before the hobbit council just that afternoon. When Nitir had defended some position concerning the children with her usual unrelenting vigor, Maura had thrown up his hands in exasperation. He had laughed and told the others that it was useless to resist, since Ancalimon had said Nitir bore an uncanny resemblence in methods and mind to Andreth of the House of Beor. And Andreth was one of the most stubborn and outspoken of all Eru's children as well as one of the most caring.
Nitir still wasn't sure if Maura meant this as a compliment or a poke. She would read the ledger tomorrow to find out just who this Andreth was. She rescued her pouch from a gigantc pile of childrens' clothing that needed to be taken down to the river and beaten clean on the rocks. She carefully tucked the precious ledger inside, delivered her note to where Lindo would find it in the next morning, and finally returned to the small room to settle in for the night.
[ August 16, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]