She was standing in a great hall, so big that she could hardly see the southern part. The walls and floors were all strangely transparent.
'What kind of place is this?' she thought. Then she heard it.
"Nènie!"
Her head whipped around. There, at the other end of the hall, her little sister stood, smiling and waving.
"Alwen!"
Nèniel ran forward, slipping on the wet floor. Then she struck something. It looked like a grey fog, but was solid as a rock wall. Through it, she could see her sister still standing there, smiling. Then two other people came in. Her parents.
"Mother! Father!"
Her cry could might as well have been a birdcall, so much did they heed it. Then, taking Alwens little hands in theirs, they started walking in the opposite direction.
"Wait! Don't go! Don't leave me!" Nèniel banged her hands on the wall of fog. "Mother! Father!"
She fell to her knees, still hitting the wall with all her might; it didn't move. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "please come back…Please!"
Nèniel woke with a start. The sun had just risen above the sea; the first rays of light touched her face, warming her. She slowly put a hand to her face. It came back wet.
"So I have been crying in my sleep," she murmured.
Slowly, the recent events came back to her. Her mad attempt to swim towards the coast, the strange creatures that had helped her, and the dream.
'A nightmare, no more!' she thought, but it didn't convince her. 'They…left me.'
She gazed westwards.
"Wonder if they've reached Valinor yet?" she said aloud. "For how long have I been sleeping?"
"Not long."
Nèniel spun around. Her worried expression soon turned into a smile as she saw who was standing in front of her.
"Maglor."
He smiled, or, his mouth smiled, his eyes were still cold and emotionless.
"I must say, it's hard to get rid of you."
"Really?"
"I thought you were leaving."
"I was."
Thoughts of her family returned, and she bowed her head and went silent. A single tear fell from her eyes and down into the sand, where it soon disappeared.
Maglor either didn't notice, or pretended not to, for he said nothing.
For a while they sat there, silent, gazing westwards. Then Maglor spoke again.
"This is indeed strange. An elf sees the sea, but refuses to leave, even though her family goes west. There must be a grand reason behind this. But what?"
She said nothing.
"Could I maybe be so blunt as to suggest myself?"
A slight sound from Nèniel confirmed this suggestion. He sighed.
"I thought my time of bringing others pain was over."
"Don't blame yourself!" Nèniel exclaimed, "this was my choice, and even though you might have had a small part in causing it, it's still not your fault!"
She turned away from him, so to hide the tears that appeared in her eyes.
A breeze swept inwards from the sea, bringing scents from a far away country. It touched her cheek as if comforting her, and went on. She took a deep breath and blinked to remove the tears. For a while she watched the sunlight play on the sea, then she turned back to Maglor.
"Though my family has left, I still have some close kin in Mirkwood. Do you know where that is?"
"I'm sorry, this land has changed much since I came here. I know naught of such a place."
"Oh," she tried not to sound disappointed, "I was hoping that you could show me the way."
"'Tis far from here, I would say. Lindon is the only place in this new world that I know, and there were no dark wood here, only green fields. "
He sighed.
"Alas for Beleriand, and all that was lost in its downfall!"
This last sentence made Nèniel suddenly realise who she was talking to. This wasn't one of the elves from back home; this was one of the great Noldor lords of old!
"I-I'm sorry-" she stuttered, "-for being so uncouth. I forgot who I was talking to."
"Whom are you talking to then?" he sounded amused.
"One of Feanor's sons."
He laughed.
"Little lady, the honour in that ancestry died with the silmarils."
"Little lady? That's what L-" she trailed off, memories of her home was too much for her right now.
"L? L who?"
"No one."
"I see…"
Nèniel decided that it was time to change subject, so she asked a question that had been on her mind for quite a while now.
"You probably like travelling alone, but-" she took a deep breath, "-could I accompany you? I have nowhere to go now, and maybe, if I went with you, we'll meet someone who could tell me the way back to Mirkwood."
She looked up at his face, worried that he might be angry at her question, but Maglor only smiled.
"I've only talked to you for a few hours, and still I can sense a turn in my mood," he said, "yes, you are welcome to accompany me."
----------
Yeah, yeah, I know it was short… But did you like it? Please review ^_^
Disclaimer: Still not mine…
