Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams

[Orual]

Ravion paced by Gond, his hands behind his back. "I need to talk to you, Mellonin," he said quietly. Gond looked at him impassively. "Mellonin, do you have a moment? I would have a little of your time, if you are not otherwise occupied." Gond whinnied and shook his head. Ravion sighed. "I agree. Poorly done."

He leaned against Gond's neck, burying his face in his horse's mane. "She will not listen," he said, his voice muffled. "But that will be fine: I will not know what to say."

He stood up and went over to Mellonin. Raefindan was speaking with Aeron, so Ravion hung back momentarily. However, when he realized that they were in a lighthearted conversation, he rested his hand gently on Mellonin's shoulder. She whirled around.

"Is there a problem?" she asked, still tense.

"Mellonin, do you have a moment?" he asked.

"I--"

"Because I would have a bit of your time, if you are not otherwise occupied," Ravion continued, right over Mellonin. There was an awkward silence, and Ravion cringed. Luckily it was almost imperceptible.

"I...am not otherwise occupied," she said hesitantly, following Ravion away from the cluster. "Ravion, what is this--"

"Mellonin, I am afraid that I said something to offend you," he said abruptly. She broke off. "I do not know what it was. But...I did not wish to offend you." His voice dropped and became very quiet. "There are few things I wish less." He coughed, and his voice regained its volume. "And quarrels within a company such as ours leads to lack of...care, and lack of care can lead to hurt. If there is something that needs to be settled, I would like to settle it as soon as possible."

Gond whickered in the background disapprovingly as Ravion awaited Mellonin's response.

[Nurumaiel]

Liornung tripped merrily here and there, humming softly under his breath and doing nothing in particular. He paused a moment by the horses to stroke them and whisper to them in the Rohirric tongue, and then he would move on to rummage through his pack to make sure nothing was lost. At last he sat and picked up his fiddle and began to lightly play a little tune. Argeleafa had in the meantime awoken and came hesitatingly towards him. When he looked up at her and smiled she gained in confidence and stood before him, and said, "Liornung, I would beg the favor of speaking with you alone for a moment."

"Why, yes, most gracious lady of song and dance," he said, standing once again, "though I have never seen you dance." She smiled faintly at him; there was no doubt about his mood today: he was most happy and cheerful. He offered her his right arm, and she took it, and he continued the tune he had been playing as he led her apart from the group. At a safe distance where they would not be heard, he laid his fiddle gently down and studied her face intently. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright, and she seemed eager, yet she also seemed anxious. Liornung could hardly suppress a chuckle, for he knew what she desired to speak about.

"Liornung, you have always seemed to be very intelligent, and dare I say wise," she said. He laughed and bowed low, and while she did not seem annoyed by this it seemed to disturb her, and she grasped his arm, saying, "Please stop a moment and listen. What I have to say, or rather ask, is very serious."

Liornung held back the playful remark that sprang to his lips and let his face fall into an expression grave and somber. After all, she did seem to consider her question very serious, and as he reflected on it he supposed it was. "You no doubt heard the conversation last night," she said, "and heard how Bellyn asked me what I thought of Ædegard, and how I answered, and how he told me he should try to turn my 'maybe' into a 'yes.' I will tell you truthfully, Liornung, that I do not think I am unwilling to say 'yes' next time I am asked that question, but I do not know if it would be wise."

"And why not?" said Liornung, very, very gravely, though inwardly he was roaring with laughter.

"Because I know nothing about Ædegard, save that I think him very kind, and very good."

"I should think that would be enough."

She seemed confused at this. "Well... I... you see, I want to go about this concern as my mother would have wished. That is, I should like to know more about him before I consent to his... attentions."

"What a modest little thing you are," said Liornung. "Do you mean consenting when he asks you to wed him?" She blushed violently but nodded. He smiled. "Leafa, you think he is good, and I think he is good, and the company thinks he is good, and from the stories of his past he has told us he has always acted in a good way; also he loves you deeply, and you have few doubts left that you love him as well. What more do you wish?"

"I... don't know," she said, and then cried out, "What is his home like?"

"How hard you try to be proper! Your mother would wish you to marry a man you knew about, a man you knew was good and would care for you. In other words, she would want you to be careful. I will tell you about his home. His home is Rohan, and Rohan is his home. And he is good, and he would take care of you, which is what you need. Again I say, what more do you wish?"

"But it seems too easy!"

The laughter that he had held within him burst forth, and he took her hands, gazing mirthfully into her face. "Little girl, little girl!" he said. "For you are a little girl. If it is easy is that not good? Would you enjoy to hear that he was in fact a tyrant, that he was a rogue, because that would be hard? Aren't you glad that he is good and kind, that he will take care of you? Lassie, if he asks you to wed him say 'yes' without hesitation. Tell him you will marry him; it will make you both happy."

"Perhaps I will," said she, "but I should like to consider it more."

"Persist in foolishness as long as you wish," said Liornung. "As long as you follow my advice in the end you will be all right. Shall we return?" She nodded silently and he picked up his fiddle again and began to play and sing a little song as they went back to the others.

"As I was walking one morning
not intending to go very far
I came to where the waves lapped
against a little hill by the shore.

And there was a lad there
and he walked to and for
and stern and fair were his features
as he stood on the hill by the shore.

He turned and smiled at me
and then I could not ask for more
for dearly I loved him at that sight,
the lad on the hill by the shore.

He sat beside me and spoke
of things of ancient lore
and of many things he told me
as we sat on the hill by the shore.

We sat together till evening;
with each minute I loved him more
and I wished he loved me too,
the lad on the hill by the shore.

When night came he took my hand
and said love for me he bore.
Happier I have never been
than there on the hill by the shore.

And then he said he could not stay
and I would never see him more
and down the path he went away,
away from the hill by the shore.

His words were true, my heart he broke,
and never did I see him more
I had hoped to stay a little while
with the lad on the hill by the shore."

[Imladris]

A grin flashed across Aeron's face. Had the red haired man purpose riddled his speech with strange words because he knew he liked it? Aeron shrugged. The way he could work his strange magic with words was astounding. "How in Middle Earth that was the same thing as fresh shins and trays and chanting with pens, I could not guess. But to answer your question --" he stopped at cocked an eyebrow. How was the best way to answer this question? "I say it for a simple reason. They baffle me." He grinned. "I do not understand why women pine. It is very silly."

Gwyllion's head jerked up and she said, "And I do not understand why men must be like rocks." She twisted her face into a blank sheet and then added, "They plod on the road of life as if they did not feel its...its..." she fumbled for a word "its curves and roots. And women do not pine," she added.

Aeron laughed. Such like a woman to go off on a tangent and then to suddenly veer towards the subject. He punched her playfully on the shoulder and said, "Who keeps on insisting that her father will come back when he left us years ago?"

Her face went white and she bit her lip. "Call it hope, sir."

"Eternal optimism," Raefindan murmured.

"Eternal what?" asked Aeron, grinning.

"Another strange word, Aeron."

"I answered your question I hope?" he asked. Please say I did...

[littlemanpoet]

"I answered your question I hope?" Aeron asked.

In a manner of speaking, he had; but it was not the kind of answer Raefindan had been seeking. Before he answered, he studied Gwyllion; what she had said about curves and roots had moved him, like a hand stirring the water of a deep, murky pool that had lain still and cold for a long time. Raefindan turned to Aeron.

"You did. I had been thinking that there must have been some old, hardened ragroot of a man who you often hung about, had used the word, and you had caught and owned it for yourself. But maybe not. Mind you, I am not all rock, myself, and I have been known to pine. Man and woman are not so easily set apart from each other as you might think. Is that not so, Gwyllion?"

She beamed back at him, thrilled that he honored her thought back to her. "Yes, it is so! You are a wise man!"

Aeron laughed. "Only because he agreed with you!"

Raefindan grinned, then stretched and yawned. "It is time for me to turn in. Good night to the both of you."

The bid him a good sleep, and he left them by the fire. Jorje's head came up, and he watched Raefindan walking away. He trotted around the fire and fell in step at Raefindan's heel.

"Good dog."

It had been a long, hard day, filled with trouble. It seemed that Ravion and Mellonin were trying to mend fences, which was good. Raefindan climbed into his sleeping mat, and Jorje huddled beside him; he was glad for the extra warmth. He soon fell asleep.

His dreams were troubled again. He retraced his steps through the mountains, following the path he had trod the day he had hunted for Mithrellas. He came to the cliff edge between to monolithic boulders that joined to form a rough arch. Mithrellas's body was there, as it always was, broken on the rock below as if she had just fallen a minute ago. He despaired. His son and daughter had turned their backs on him in his mourning, choosing to find happiness away from home in Dol Amroth. He could not find joy, never again. He leaned forward, tipped, his knees locked straight, he leaned further, his head dropped below his feet and he fell. The fall was long ... would it never end? The rock strewn gorge sped up to him. The rocks were marbles, then fists, then maces, then battering rams, then boulders, and then contact. He woke up. Was he dead? It did not seem like the floor of a gorge. No, it was very cold. He could see stars above, and the snoring of another. Ravion. He was in the marsh of the Entwash. He shook his head again. He feared that he would dream that dream again. Sleep fled far away for the rest of the night.

[mark12_30]

"You, " she replied, and looked away, "have said nothing to offend me. Yet I see you have much to contend with, and the quarrels and hurt must not go on."

Ravion waited. The cold steel of Mellonin's voice went on.

"Of quarrels and hurt, were I the leader of this group, I should leave the cause of such quarrels behind at the next village. Yet it is my brother we are looking for, and without me you will be hard pressed to know if you have found him or not. My only care, I assure you, is to find my brother. As for the rest save Raefindan, I cannot say what they care for; I do not envy you." Without another glance at him, she returned to the group.

[mark12_30]

Lost in thought, Amroth stroked Echo's nose, and the horse leaned against him as if sensing his weariness.

Nethwador looked on, and spoke in the Wainrider's tongue. "That horse is too tall for you."

Amroth looked at him and smiled. Then yours is too tall for you as well, for you stand no taller than I.

Nethwador looked at Amroth in surprise, and then considered his own horse. It was true, yet he had always planned to grow tall enough to fit this horse.

Amroth continued. He is red like Echo, and tall, and truly he loves you. Does he have a name?

Nethwador shrugged. Wanderer. He was lost. I found him, and kept him. There was some guilt in the statement, yet Amroth sensed it was at least partially true.

Perhaps others were looking for him as well?

Perhaps.

Amroth laughed long and loud, and both men and elves turned to look at him.

"Come," he cried. "Let us ride! Erebemlin, Nethwador's horse needs an elvish name. In his own tongue, he is named Wanderer."

"Are you not weary, my lord?" Erebemlin asked, as others in the camp hastened to finish packing and mount.

"In body, " Amroth laughed. "Yet my heart is light. I was with her in my dreams, Erebemlin. She is here, somewhere in these lands. And despite dust and death and despair, I will find her!"

His leap onto the tall Echo was awkward for his weariness, but Echo sidestepped underneath him and swung southeast at a steadily increasing pace. Erebemlin hurried to join him as did Nethwador. Taitheneb dallied, til the men-folk joined him, and then they hastened to catch up.

[littlemanpoet]

Ædegard wondered what the sudden rush was all about. He urged his mount toward Taitheneb and asked him for word.

"Lord Amroth has been with Nimrodel in his dreams, and is eager to find her. He is light of heart this day." Taitheneb nodded toward the man who had been a youthful blacksmith until a little over a week ago, and Ædegard saw that it was so.

"My thanks, Taitheneb."

Ædegard let his horse slow to the pace of the other humans, who asked what he had learned, and he passed on his information.

"That is well," said Liornung. "Maybe we are close to the end of our quest. I grow eager to drink and sing at the taverns of Edoras again."

Ædegard glanced at Argeleafa. Liornung's words had put a worry into her eyes. Ædegard closed with her until they rode side by side.

"You seem ill at ease of a sudden, Leafa. What ails you?"

She colored slightly and glanced at him. "If this quest is soon over, I must return to my father among the wanderers."

Ædegard could not stop himself. 'It need not be so! Come with me to Edoras!"

Leafa colored more and smiled. She glanced at Liornung, who had been humming one of his tunes; he grinned and winked at Leafa. She went crimson and her smile was covered by her free hand.

"I am missing something," Ædegard said, an involuntarily half smile coming to his face. "Tell me, please."

Leafa met his eyes, the color retreating from her face for the most part. "What would we do in Edoras, Ædegard?"

"We - I - " They were to it. Did he mean to say what he had thought to? Or were there other things that should be said first? He had thought that he might need to go to her father and ask for his blessing first, but that would not be at Edoras. "We could - you could - " Leafa watched him, her lips pursed, a smile in her eyes, expectant. This would not do.

"Hold!" He cried to all the riders, and grabbed Leafa's reins while keeping hold of his own, and slowed their horses. When they were stopped, he dismounted and went straightway to Leafa's mount. The other humans had slowed and were watching him, but the Elves continued after Amroth. He reached up to Leafa and placed his hands on her waist.

"Please."

She leaned and let herself fall into his arms, and he stood her on the grass. He went down on one knee. Their eyes locked.

"Marry me, Leafa."