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When the song ended, Aniriel was surprised to find herself clapping with the rest. Her mistrust was slowly dying away. She even managed to smile at those that caught her eye, although she still did not have the courage to engage someone in a conversation.
"But that will come, too." she said to herself. "It is bound to come. It is no use siting here and brooding on your past, Aniriel."
And what was there to cry about? Nothing, really. There had been no darkness in her life. It was not grief that made her leave her home, nothing drove her from Dol Amroth save desire to see the world and a rather unnatural passion for listening to songs and drinking ale in village inns. It was not as if she was exiled, she could return if she wished to. But she did not. She wanted to enjoy herself, to laugh and sing like the merry folk around her. Why should she let herself be overwhelmed by melancholy? Why should she be reminded that something had actually been left behind?
Aniriel shook her head trying to drive that thought from her mind. Feeling now more confident and much more at ease, she smiled and chanced another look around her.
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