[Child of the 7th Age]

The Lady Idril nodded and accepted with grace the greetings of Frodo and Samwise. Then she turned with equal charm to the little Primrose, and spoke with her at length and in grave courtesy. She presented Primrose with fine Elven toys and showed her into a small room nearby, so that serious matters might be addressed.

Now, Idril looked directly into Frodo's eyes, and even past them, gently touching his fea with her mind. She smiled again, and then extended her arm, placing her hand within his.

"Whatever sadness has brought us together on these shoals, I do not regret our chance to meet after so many long, silent years. For time passes but slowly within the mountains of Aman, and your presence, Ringbearers, is sadly missed. And I speak for many who cherish you and the memory of our time shared on those silver shores."

"We pray that you have found peace and hope in the strange path you have taken which wound you back once again to the lands of Middle-earth, and even to the Barrow-downs. But perhaps, not so strange. For only one who dwells within Arda may face the lengthening Shadow that grows within the heart and dare to challenge it."

"Tuor and I have received the blessing of the great ones to lead this flotilla against the combined strength of the wizards in blue, maia with evil hearts who would rise again in the path of Sauron and corrupt this age and those that follow. For there will and must be a great battle to throw down the ships and armies of the enemy.

But ships and swords and hearts brave are but one path to defeat the powers of evil. Other secrets there are that must be looked upon face-to-face, secrets that go beyond the realm of fighting and extend into the fea itself. And these can only be met by those who dwell within Arda, for they are secrets whose first hint lay in the great Music."

Idril sighed deeply, "Just this day, I have seen a deeply troubling vision. I know that, in recent years, the people of the Downs dwelt in peace under the leadership of the Barrow-wight, a great and wondrous change from the conduct of those lands in ages past. For surely, you remember how evil once lay there."

"The vision I have seen is of one mariner from the Barrow-downs, a descendent of Earendil who goes by the name of Mithadan, not evil in himself, but drawn to the Shadow by a strange power that the two wizards have learned to control. Also in the Dark Lands of the Shadows, I have seen the little hobbit Rose, but she still holds out against the Dark. Now if this Mith remains set on his path of darkness, the Barrow-downs will fall and all around it, till the foundation of the world itself crack."

She continued, "For a thing, both hideous and strange, now seems to be happening. In the past, however hard the forces of evil have tried, they could not compel minds who had shut against them. But now, it seems, this may be changing. They are learning to pry open the minds of Man and Elf, even the unwilling, to place their control upon the fea."

Samwise looked up with fear in his voice: "But, how may this be so? For even as Ringbearers we were able to fight long and hard against the hand of evil which tried to reach within our mind."

Idril looked down again and silently shook her head, "We are not cetain, but this may be a part of the nature of the Seventh Age itself. For people in that modern time no longer sense the reality of evil, and laugh at such things as child's play. And many of their number say with certainty that goodness is one thing in one age, and something quite different in another. And a man may never know right from wrong, but can only judge from his situation. Indeed, some say the soul is made up of a bit of the Light and a piece of the Dark, and that these should dwell together."

"But, in so doing and thinking in just the small things of their daily lives, they may begin to forget how to recognize and fight the Shadow. And all their computers and their REGS, in which they take great pride, give them no protection from the subtle human heart."

She turned now and held out the Phial of Galdriel to Frodo, that precious splinter of the Silmarils which had remained in Aman these many years after the final voyage West. "You will need this," she said.

"For you two, bearers of truth from a different time, a world that understood fear of the Shadow, must look into the face of the two wizards who have so taken on the allure of the Seventh Age. You must speak true words to them and show them the light of the Phial. For their power is not yet as great as that of Sauron, and they may still be halted. And it is possible that we may use a ploy which Tuor and Birdie and Pio have devised. You will be given as hostage bait, perhaps to retrieve the unfortunate Rose."

"For we do think that the little ones --such as yourself and Child and Rose-- are not so quick to fall under this lie. For, as simple children, you see good as good, and evil as evil. Indeed we have hopes that Rose may be able to resist the wizards as the mighty Mith was not."

"What say you now, Ringbearers? Will you help us, though the path be hard and uncertain? For, in truth, athough you have died once, there is a death which goes beyond all death, that which leads to the void. And, in truth, I can not promise that you will return."

"I wish there had been another way, but there is no other. Only a kuduk may approach this pair and hope to keep their fea. And, because you are the Ringbearers, they will see you as great prize and perhaps become too greedy and careless."

[ June 17, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[ June 17, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]