[Imladris]

Mithrellas twined the green grass around her fingers wishing that she could see her beloved again, feel his touch again after these many years of caring for a mad woman. But she could not leave Nimrodel in her madness. She thought of what Imrazor had told her -- that another loved Nimrodel....what was the elf's name? She did not remember...

She felt herself slip into the pleasant feeing of a golden forest glade, with the warm sunlight glimmering and mingling with the green leaves...and suddenly she felt more than saw a voice whisper, "It is you lady!"

It Gwyllion! The young human girl. "It is I," Mithrellas said, smiling. "Though I grieve for you...taken from your mortal body..."

Gwyllion laughed softy, but said nothing. Mithrellas wondered if her heart was as merry as she wished Mithrellas to believe. "Why do you not follow in the paths of those who have passed before you?"

"I am bound," said Gwyllion softly. "A lock of my hair is twined around Aeron's neck. I cannot leave him..."

Mithrellas frowned, wondering why Aeron did not let the dead be. "Does this arrangement please you?"

"I think it does," said Gwyllion slowly. "I live in both the physical world and the spirit world now...I see both worlds as if they were draped in heavy mists. The sounds of the worlds come as if they cross a deep void and sometimes I hear the roar of the western sea and that always cheer me when I long for completeness..."

Mithrellas remained silent....Gwyllion's situation was not unsimilar to her own. Both bound in unhappiness to the ones they love. "I do not like that you are unhappy."

"Me? Unhappy?" Gwyllion laughed and Mithrellas could have sworn she saw a maiden of swirling mists glimmer in the sunshine of the glade before vanishing. "Only sometimes, dear lady. Aeron would be lost without me. He is already full of grief...he is like a boat tossed upon the waves, not knowing where he goes or what he thinks..."

Tears slid from Mithrellas's eyes as the vision slowly faded and she found herself once more wide awake upon the hard ground. It was not right that Gwyllion should be so bound....she was like a formless wraith.