Thought
by Elelome

The darkness of night covers my face, and yet I can see. I stretch out my hands in the dimness, feeling power flood through my body.

I search for my love. My thought ranges out over the wide plains, yearning. On the steep trail of the mountain path I find him. The Ringbearer is with him, and the Company struggles deep through snow. Vainly I try to touch the mind of the young Elf Legolas, but fail.

My thought becomes a vision, and I see them, snow falling around them, and more snow still to come. They will never pass the mountain, not now. A ill will is bent against them, a will I have not the strength to stand against alone.

But I am a maiden of the house of Luthien, and if we fail in one thing, we attempt another. I let the mind of Gandalf touch mine, a power far greater than my own, for he is a Maia, immortal made before time began, before Middle-earth took form and substance.

"Not all wills in this storm bode ill for you, Mithrandir," I say to him.

He acknowledges my thought with a nod, and I speak on. "The mountain is angered at the power of the Ring, and fearful. I beg of you, lead the Company away, before Caradhras attempts yet another assault."

"Where else is there to go?" he says to me as his shoulders slump.

"That name both of us know," I say, for we spoke of it long when the Company was yet at Imladris.

He sighs. "Would you and your Aragorn send me to my death, lady?"

"No," I answer, suddenly seeing him clothed in white, alive and strong and powerful. "To your life, Mithrandir. To your life."

The connection snaps and I reel back, gasping. And I know that I will never see the Gandalf I once knew again. Change is come, and the worlds taste bittersweet to my tongue.

END