Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

mark12_30 · 02-28-2005, 11:07 AM

Mellonin watched Ædegard, and a frown formed on her brow. Mellondu waited, and Mellonin shrugged.

"What shall any of us do? I sought my brother; he is found. And then I sought Raefindan; he also is found. I am content." She looked from Raefindan to Mellondu, and back to Ædegard. "And you? In the depths of your heart, what brought you so far from home? Why did a wheelwright of Rohan ride to Lorien and thence to the Entwash, and now into Gondor? I have no answer for you, son of Rohan; my own heart calls me home. " She turned and looked southward, then looked to Mellondu. "How glad mother and father shall be to see us again."

"Indeed, " he said quickly, with a smile that faded when she looked away.

Mellonin looked to Raefindan. "You will return to your labor at the Inn, will you not? " Without waiting for an answer, she clapped him on the shoulder. "And then I shall have both brothers, the younger and the older, the old and the new! And our parents will have a new son, if they so choose; for you would make any mother and father proud. But fear not, for if they do not adopt you, never the less I shall keep my bond. My brother you shall be."

Raefindan's jaw muscles worked, and she clapped him again on the shoulder, and turned to Ædegard. "Yet perhaps that is my answer to you, " she said with a shy smile. "Perhaps if there is no brother for you to adopt, perhaps-- well, perhaps, " she said with a soft laugh, "you should build a family in the more traditional way. There, now, I have spoken well beyond what is seemly! Yet you did ask." She giggled and blushed, and then talked faster still. "And you, Mellondu, no doubt you shall be eager to settle down, after this long journey. Yet you have a while to wait, before you may wed. Men must wait so long! Yet I doubt you shall lack for admirers. There, I am talking overmuch again! Hear me prate! I shall blush about this in the morning, no doubt."

And with that, she placed a finger over her lips, then drawing her knees up to her chin, she hugged them, and fell silent.

littlemanpoet · 03-01-2005, 01:37 PM

"I shall blush about this in the morning, no doubt," Mellonin said, then fell silent, hugging her knees, closing in on herself.

Any other time Ædegard would have chuckled. You should build a family in the more traditional way. That was the very thing he could no longer do.

"You do not understand, Mellonin. I have been trained a wheelwright from my childhood; with but one hand I cannot do the work. I cannot keep a wife if I cannot do the work. Do I need to speak it any more plainly?" His voice had become sharp by the end of his words.

"Do you love Leafa?" Mellonin said into her knees, staring at the struggling flames.

"It matters not! Love does not put food on the board nor clothes on the back. Do you not see that?"

"The greatest is love," Raefindan murmured, himself staring into the fire; then he shut his mouth tight.

Mellonin looked at him with open curiosity. "Greatest?" she asked.

"I know not," Raefindan replied curtly. "It was a chance utterance. Think nothing of it."

"But it is a seemly thing to say, and think," Mellonin said. "I do think I like it. Who told it to you? Or did you make it up just now?"

Raefindan spread his hands wide and said nothing.

Ædegard looked him in the face. "Are you saying that I should take Leafa to wife no matter that I have lost a hand?"

"I say no such thing. I will say this, though. Why do you leave her no choice in the matter?"

Ædegard looked at Raefindan as if struck by a new thought for the first time.

"I know not." He turned and stared into the fire.

Aylwen Dreamsong · 03-01-2005, 02:24 PM

"Liornung?" Argeleafa called out first, shaking in the cold.

"I regret not remembering the names of our new friends," Bellyn admitted when Argeleafa stopped to take a breath.

"As do I, Bella," she agreed, shifting through the snow.

"Liornung!"

"Mellonin!"

"Nethwador!"

"Ædegard!"

"Well, I suppose we shall call the right name sooner or later, Leafa," Bellyn pointed out with a laugh. Then she stopped, and listened once more to the wind. "Leafa, do you hear that now?" Her voice came scarcely above a whisper, and Argeleafa paused for a moment, letting out the breath she thought to use to shout a name.

"Hit miss..." Whatever called to the two ladies shouted something incomprehensible. "...shoo near be?"

"What?" Bellyn wondered aloud, her brows furrowed as she strained to hear the shouting. Argeleafa put a hand on Bellyn's shoulder, and both were silent once again.

"It is Ravion! Can you hear me?"

"Ah! Bella! It is Ravion!" Argeleafa squeeled with excitement, and grabbed Bellyn's hand. "Which direction?"

"This way," Bellyn smiled in the dark, sprinting as fast as she could in the direction of the voices, pulling Argeleafa along with her. They ran against the wind, following the sound. Bellyn was so happy to have been found, she took no care to slow down when the voice became louder and closer. Before too long, Bellyn bumped into something - someone - and nearly fell to the ground, and would have fallen if Argeleafa had not caught her.

"Ravion?"

"Bellyn?"

"Leafa?"

"Wait!"

Four voices spoke simultaneously. Bellyn felt warmth and happiness bubble over in her heart, and she nearly jumped for joy when she heard the slightly familiar voices.

"They have found us, Leafa!" Bellyn said, hardly containing her happiness. Bellyn fumbled through the air to find Ravion, or whoever had found her and Leafa. When she finally found someone (it might have been Argeleafa - Bellyn was not certain), she wrapped her arms around it and gave a quick, tight embrace. "You have found us! We are not lost! Are we? Do you know how to get back to camp? Thank you!"

Nurumaiel · 03-03-2005, 11:43 AM

"There is the camp up ahead!" cried Bella, laughing with relief. She caught Leafa's hand and quickened her pace.

Leafa walked with her eyes cast downwards. Now that she had returned, she wished she had not. Ædegard would be waiting to greet them. Ædegard who was a member of their company... not her betrothed. And they would ask her why she had gone. She could not tell them, she would not tell them. She could not tell them that her heart had been shred to pieces.

Liornung, who was standing on the outskirts of the camp, was the first to reach them. He caught them up in his arms, and kissed the hair of each. His fiddle was under his arm, and Leafa felt a tear spring to her eye at the sight of it. No more would she dream and hope when he sang his songs of happy lovers.

"What joy to see you back again!" he said. "I shall certainly write a song in honour of the occasion. Nethwador and Ædegard will be more joyous than I, if it is possible."

At the mention of Ædegard's name, Leafa's face paled slightly, and Liornung did not miss it. He grew more sober, and took her hand gently. He smiled at her in an encouraging fashion, and then likewise took Bella's hand, and led them to the others.

littlemanpoet · 03-03-2005, 02:01 PM

Ædegard stood as Liornung led Leafa and Bella toward them. Raefindan, Mellonin, and Mellondu stood as well. Ædegard took a step forward. Leafa looked very pale; he could tell that much even in the dim light of the fire.

"Leafa!" he said.

She glanced at him once, as if startled, then returned her gaze to her feet. Her cheeks were wet with tears and the sadness of her face pierced him. He closed the space between them, but did not touch her; at this time he was sure that he had no right.

"Leafa, I ...." Ædegard had been about to say that he was wrong, but the words stuck in his throat. "... I thought that I could not earn my bread as a wheelwright, because of my hand, so...."

"...You cannot keep me," she finished.

"No, no, no. That is what I thought. But I - I gave you no say. And that was - - - that was wrong. I see that now."

She looked up at him, seeming as if perched on the threshold of hope, not daring to step further.

"Would you have a man for husband who has but one hand?"

His question hung in the air between them, and Ædegard was suddenly aware of the listening ears all around them. He wished that he had spoken his words alone with her, away from all these witnesses. He sighed, waiting for Leafa's answer.

Orual · 03-04-2005, 03:04 PM

Ravion hung a little back from the company as they celebrated the girls' return to the camp. He diverted his gaze from Ædegard and Argeleafa's bittersweet and somewhat awkward reunion, not wishing to impose. As the others welcomed the young ladies back and expressed their relief, Ravion sunk into the shadows, sitting well outside the light of the campfire.

He fiddled with the pendant around his neck as he searched for Mellonin in the chaos. He wondered how she was, what she was thinking, if she wondered where he was. Probably not. She was probably absorbed in the girls' reunion, or speaking to Raefindan or her brother. Ravion cast his green eyes down to the ground. He had no right to be jealous! Envy was an emotion unbecoming to a Ranger. He had set out to help Mellonin find her brother. He had succeeded. She had found her brother, and his mission was finished. He should be happy.

"You should speak to her."

Ravion looked up dully at Erundil, whose brown cloak was wrapped tightly around him. The older Ranger was watching him shrewdly and knowingly. "You should not withdraw simply because you are afraid of rejection."

"I am not afraid of anything, Erundil," Ravion snapped.

"Then why do you hide? Go and speak to her. You will be glad you did." Erundil crouched by his former pupil. "Trust me. You have missed enough opportunities for safety's sake. Do you want to waste more?"

Ravion struggled for a response, then buried his face in his hands. "Leave me be," he said, his voice muffled both by his hands and by emotion. Erundil stood.

"At least come and warm yourself by the fire. You are icy," he said serenely, and left.

Ravion glared after him for a moment, then did as he said.

Nurumaiel · 03-04-2005, 03:45 PM

Leafa had been only dimly aware of the others surrounding and listening when Ædegard had begun to speak, and at his last words all faded, save him. Her eyes widened; her face paled; and she began to tremble slightly. She opened her mouth to speak, but she found no words could come. He looked earnestly down into her face, hopefully...

Must she say no? Wasn't that the proper thing to do? He had drove her near crazy with grief, and now she should be angry with him. Now she should ask him if she was just a play-thing, to make joyous and sorrowful as a mood struck him. She should say she was certain that he would change his mind again, and again, and again. Isn't that what she should say?

She felt a presence at her side, and saw Liornung. The expression on his face was one of a satisfied smirk. She turned back to Ædegard, and she was smiling, with her eyes downcast. Angry at him indeed! Who said it was the proper thing to do? It was a lie, and if it wasn't... she would do the improper thing, because she loved him more than all anger and resentment. She found she still could not speak, so she did naught but step a little closer to him and slip a shy little hand into his, and raise eyes overflowing with joy to his face.

03-01-2005, 01:37 PM	#2
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Ædegard "I shall blush about this in the morning, no doubt," Mellonin said, then fell silent, hugging her knees, closing in on herself. Any other time Ædegard would have chuckled. You should build a family in the more traditional way. That was the very thing he could no longer do. "You do not understand, Mellonin. I have been trained a wheelwright from my childhood; with but one hand I cannot do the work. I cannot keep a wife if I cannot do the work. Do I need to speak it any more plainly?" His voice had become sharp by the end of his words. "Do you love Leafa?" Mellonin said into her knees, staring at the struggling flames. "It matters not! Love does not put food on the board nor clothes on the back. Do you not see that?" "The greatest is love," Raefindan murmured, himself staring into the fire; then he shut his mouth tight. Mellonin looked at him with open curiosity. "Greatest?" she asked. "I know not," Raefindan replied curtly. "It was a chance utterance. Think nothing of it." "But it is a seemly thing to say, and think," Mellonin said. "I do think I like it. Who told it to you? Or did you make it up just now?" Raefindan spread his hands wide and said nothing. Ædegard looked him in the face. "Are you saying that I should take Leafa to wife no matter that I have lost a hand?" "I say no such thing. I will say this, though. Why do you leave her no choice in the matter?" Ædegard looked at Raefindan as if struck by a new thought for the first time. "I know not." He turned and stared into the fire.

03-03-2005, 02:01 PM	#5
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Ædegard Ædegard stood as Liornung led Leafa and Bella toward them. Raefindan, Mellonin, and Mellondu stood as well. Ædegard took a step forward. Leafa looked very pale; he could tell that much even in the dim light of the fire. "Leafa!" he said. She glanced at him once, as if startled, then returned her gaze to her feet. Her cheeks were wet with tears and the sadness of her face pierced him. He closed the space between them, but did not touch her; at this time he was sure that he had no right. "Leafa, I ...." Ædegard had been about to say that he was wrong, but the words stuck in his throat. "... I thought that I could not earn my bread as a wheelwright, because of my hand, so...." "...You cannot keep me," she finished. "No, no, no. That is what I thought. But I - I gave you no say. And that was - - - that was wrong. I see that now." She looked up at him, seeming as if perched on the threshold of hope, not daring to step further. "Would you have a man for husband who has but one hand?" His question hung in the air between them, and Ædegard was suddenly aware of the listening ears all around them. He wished that he had spoken his words alone with her, away from all these witnesses. He sighed, waiting for Leafa's answer.

03-04-2005, 03:04 PM	#6
Orual Speaker of the Dead Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Superbia Posts: 868	Ravion Ravion hung a little back from the company as they celebrated the girls' return to the camp. He diverted his gaze from Ædegard and Argeleafa's bittersweet and somewhat awkward reunion, not wishing to impose. As the others welcomed the young ladies back and expressed their relief, Ravion sunk into the shadows, sitting well outside the light of the campfire. He fiddled with the pendant around his neck as he searched for Mellonin in the chaos. He wondered how she was, what she was thinking, if she wondered where he was. Probably not. She was probably absorbed in the girls' reunion, or speaking to Raefindan or her brother. Ravion cast his green eyes down to the ground. He had no right to be jealous! Envy was an emotion unbecoming to a Ranger. He had set out to help Mellonin find her brother. He had succeeded. She had found her brother, and his mission was finished. He should be happy. "You should speak to her." Ravion looked up dully at Erundil, whose brown cloak was wrapped tightly around him. The older Ranger was watching him shrewdly and knowingly. "You should not withdraw simply because you are afraid of rejection." "I am not afraid of anything, Erundil," Ravion snapped. "Then why do you hide? Go and speak to her. You will be glad you did." Erundil crouched by his former pupil. "Trust me. You have missed enough opportunities for safety's sake. Do you want to waste more?" Ravion struggled for a response, then buried his face in his hands. "Leave me be," he said, his voice muffled both by his hands and by emotion. Erundil stood. "At least come and warm yourself by the fire. You are icy," he said serenely, and left. Ravion glared after him for a moment, then did as he said.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

02-28-2005, 11:07 AM	#1
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Mellonin watched Ædegard, and a frown formed on her brow. Mellondu waited, and Mellonin shrugged. "What shall any of us do? I sought my brother; he is found. And then I sought Raefindan; he also is found. I am content." She looked from Raefindan to Mellondu, and back to Ædegard. "And you? In the depths of your heart, what brought you so far from home? Why did a wheelwright of Rohan ride to Lorien and thence to the Entwash, and now into Gondor? I have no answer for you, son of Rohan; my own heart calls me home. " She turned and looked southward, then looked to Mellondu. "How glad mother and father shall be to see us again." "Indeed, " he said quickly, with a smile that faded when she looked away. Mellonin looked to Raefindan. "You will return to your labor at the Inn, will you not? " Without waiting for an answer, she clapped him on the shoulder. "And then I shall have both brothers, the younger and the older, the old and the new! And our parents will have a new son, if they so choose; for you would make any mother and father proud. But fear not, for if they do not adopt you, never the less I shall keep my bond. My brother you shall be." Raefindan's jaw muscles worked, and she clapped him again on the shoulder, and turned to Ædegard. "Yet perhaps that is my answer to you, " she said with a shy smile. "Perhaps if there is no brother for you to adopt, perhaps-- well, perhaps, " she said with a soft laugh, "you should build a family in the more traditional way. There, now, I have spoken well beyond what is seemly! Yet you did ask." She giggled and blushed, and then talked faster still. "And you, Mellondu, no doubt you shall be eager to settle down, after this long journey. Yet you have a while to wait, before you may wed. Men must wait so long! Yet I doubt you shall lack for admirers. There, I am talking overmuch again! Hear me prate! I shall blush about this in the morning, no doubt." And with that, she placed a finger over her lips, then drawing her knees up to her chin, she hugged them, and fell silent.

03-01-2005, 02:24 PM	#3
Aylwen Dreamsong The Melody of Misery Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: The Island of Conclusions (You get there by jumping!)... Posts: 1,147	"Liornung?" Argeleafa called out first, shaking in the cold. "I regret not remembering the names of our new friends," Bellyn admitted when Argeleafa stopped to take a breath. "As do I, Bella," she agreed, shifting through the snow. "Liornung!" "Mellonin!" "Nethwador!" "Ædegard!" "Well, I suppose we shall call the right name sooner or later, Leafa," Bellyn pointed out with a laugh. Then she stopped, and listened once more to the wind. "Leafa, do you hear that now?" Her voice came scarcely above a whisper, and Argeleafa paused for a moment, letting out the breath she thought to use to shout a name. "Hit miss..." Whatever called to the two ladies shouted something incomprehensible. "...shoo near be?" "What?" Bellyn wondered aloud, her brows furrowed as she strained to hear the shouting. Argeleafa put a hand on Bellyn's shoulder, and both were silent once again. "It is Ravion! Can you hear me?" "Ah! Bella! It is Ravion!" Argeleafa squeeled with excitement, and grabbed Bellyn's hand. "Which direction?" "This way," Bellyn smiled in the dark, sprinting as fast as she could in the direction of the voices, pulling Argeleafa along with her. They ran against the wind, following the sound. Bellyn was so happy to have been found, she took no care to slow down when the voice became louder and closer. Before too long, Bellyn bumped into something - someone - and nearly fell to the ground, and would have fallen if Argeleafa had not caught her. "Ravion?" "Bellyn?" "Leafa?" "Wait!" Four voices spoke simultaneously. Bellyn felt warmth and happiness bubble over in her heart, and she nearly jumped for joy when she heard the slightly familiar voices. "They have found us, Leafa!" Bellyn said, hardly containing her happiness. Bellyn fumbled through the air to find Ravion, or whoever had found her and Leafa. When she finally found someone (it might have been Argeleafa - Bellyn was not certain), she wrapped her arms around it and gave a quick, tight embrace. "You have found us! We are not lost! Are we? Do you know how to get back to camp? Thank you!"

03-03-2005, 11:43 AM	#4
Nurumaiel Vice of Twilight Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: on a mountain Posts: 1,121	"There is the camp up ahead!" cried Bella, laughing with relief. She caught Leafa's hand and quickened her pace. Leafa walked with her eyes cast downwards. Now that she had returned, she wished she had not. Ædegard would be waiting to greet them. Ædegard who was a member of their company... not her betrothed. And they would ask her why she had gone. She could not tell them, she would not tell them. She could not tell them that her heart had been shred to pieces. Liornung, who was standing on the outskirts of the camp, was the first to reach them. He caught them up in his arms, and kissed the hair of each. His fiddle was under his arm, and Leafa felt a tear spring to her eye at the sight of it. No more would she dream and hope when he sang his songs of happy lovers. "What joy to see you back again!" he said. "I shall certainly write a song in honour of the occasion. Nethwador and Ædegard will be more joyous than I, if it is possible." At the mention of Ædegard's name, Leafa's face paled slightly, and Liornung did not miss it. He grew more sober, and took her hand gently. He smiled at her in an encouraging fashion, and then likewise took Bella's hand, and led them to the others.

03-04-2005, 03:45 PM	#7
Nurumaiel Vice of Twilight Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: on a mountain Posts: 1,121	Leafa had been only dimly aware of the others surrounding and listening when Ædegard had begun to speak, and at his last words all faded, save him. Her eyes widened; her face paled; and she began to tremble slightly. She opened her mouth to speak, but she found no words could come. He looked earnestly down into her face, hopefully... Must she say no? Wasn't that the proper thing to do? He had drove her near crazy with grief, and now she should be angry with him. Now she should ask him if she was just a play-thing, to make joyous and sorrowful as a mood struck him. She should say she was certain that he would change his mind again, and again, and again. Isn't that what she should say? She felt a presence at her side, and saw Liornung. The expression on his face was one of a satisfied smirk. She turned back to Ædegard, and she was smiling, with her eyes downcast. Angry at him indeed! Who said it was the proper thing to do? It was a lie, and if it wasn't... she would do the improper thing, because she loved him more than all anger and resentment. She found she still could not speak, so she did naught but step a little closer to him and slip a shy little hand into his, and raise eyes overflowing with joy to his face.