* Gandalf allowed himself to relax a little longer, stretched out between wakefulness and sleep, hat brim pulled down over his eyes, as morning conversation fell like pebbles against the pool of dreaming. He was in fact running over other conversations in his mind, from the time of his first meeting Menelduliniel. *
* Oh, he'd had reservations about travelling with the dramatically tragic, lovelorn Elf at first. Her present life squandered by a guilt-darkened past and dizzily-light approach to the future, Menelduliniel had placed herself in an exile deeper than that duly ordained by justice. Thus, she'd wanted to share Gandalf's road for the purposes of small amusement, self-distraction, and sightseeing … to see "strange and wonderful things." What Menelduliniel sought was escape from her very self. *
"Strange and wonderful things," eh, Meneli? * Gandalf had smiled wryly as they set out from the Prancing Pony. * Yes, and dangerous. Come with me, and you might discover your own direction in the dedication of others' lives. ... Yet, I hesitate to bring you with me, for though I do not look for trouble along the road, there is plenty of it to be found unlooked for these days.
* Menelduliniel and her friend Estelarion rankled on Gandalf's nerves as the journey had progressed. On the road to Sarn Ford, it took all of his concentration on the lessons taught by Nienna the Weeper regarding pity and patience for the wizard not to explode with the full extent of his anger. As it was, he'd called them "fools of Elves" when they'd insisted on galloping off into an ambush even after Holly's pony Peri had prudently blocked the road ahead, sensing danger. And at the Trade Inn, Gandalf had sputtered and laughed at Menelduliniel when she tried to arrange a search party for Holly, who as it happened was not lost at all, but in fact had merely gone out in search of some privacy and a bit of fresh air.*
* Some days later, on the last leg of the journey to Tharbad, it had surprised him when Menelduliniel, telling her life story with all its usual woe to Poppy Took, added a new twist to her tale. "I feel that, if I ever am allowed back into society, it will be Mithrandir's doing," she'd said. Why, to attribute such a thing to him! Something had held Gandalf back from replying that nay, it would be Menelduliniel's own doing, of Menelduliniel's own deserving. Better to let the Elf make the discovery for herself. The thought then began to cross Gandalf's mind that whereas the ghosts of Castle Maladil would find peace by leaving that place, Menelduliniel might find peace by her arrival and questing there. *
* And finally, Gandalf nearly fell over as if struck by a lightning of gladness on overhearing Menelduliniel speak with Estelarion, just this very night past. For she had decided to change her well-practiced song of torment and sorrow to one of accepting calm joy. He smiled again at the thought of this music, glad to have Menelduliniel along on this journey ... for the sake of the trapped suffering spirits in the Castle, for her own sake ... and for his. *
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