Chapter 5. Elmo's Dream.

"It came to pass (…) that the Dwarves came over the Blue Mountains of Ered Luin into Beleriand. Themselves they named 'Khazad', but the Sindar called them Naugrim, the Stunted People, and Gonhirrim, Masters of Stone.(…) From Nogrod and Belegost the Naugrim came forth into Beleriand; and the Elves were filled with amazement, for they had believed themselves to be the only living beings that spoke with words or wrought with hands, and that all others were but birds and beasts. (…) Ever cool was the friendship between the Naugrim and the Eldar, though much profit they had of one another…"

"In Beleriand in those days the Elves walked and the Rivers flowed, and the stars shone, and the night-flowers gave forth their scents; and the beauty of Melian was as the noon, and the beauty of Luthien was as the dawn of spring. In Beleriand King Thingol upon his throne was as the Lords of the Maiar, whose power is at rest, whose joy is as an air that they breathe in all their days, whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps."

"An ere long the evil creatures came even into Beleriand, over passes into the mountains, or up from the south through the dark forest. Wolves there were, or creatures that walked in wolf-shapes, and other fell beings of shadow; and among them were Orcs, who afterwards wrought ruin in Beleriand; but they were yet few and wary, and did but smell out the ways of the land, awaiting the return of their Lord. Whence they came, or what they were, the Elves knew not then, thinking them perhaps to be Avari who had become evil and savage in the wild; in which they guessed all too near…"

From : Quenta Silmarillion; Of the Sindar.

"Ilwe, Ilwe, Ilwe…"

Like a song it rang through his mind.

He should have known. He should have guessed. Who else could she be?

Never was the name of Ilwe the Awakened spoken out loud in Doriath; of her, only whispers and rumours told barely-believed tales of days long-forgotten, and, so many judged, best-forgotten. Nevertheless, as chief loremaster to King Thingol he had recorded those tales, and had had personal affirmation of her existence, for was he himself not grandson to Elmo the Awakened, brother to the King yet only friend and ardent supporter of the Lady of the Avari?

He had been but a child when Elmo bade his kin farewell and departed for the West, there to reunite and win back the hearts of their sundered people, as had ever been his dream.

Well did he remember the gentle Elf's parting words: "I made a promise. We would be together again, and glad, and every word spoken in anger forgiven and forgotten. Friends we always were and friends we should be: for are we nor all Elves? There should be no strife among our kindred. The seeds of that strife were sown long ago, and now I must go to prevent the bitter harvest, if I can."

They had not said a word in response; not Auriel * his spouse, nor Nimlas* their eldest daughter, heavy with her second child, nor her husband Galadhon** and their son Celeborn; nor his own mother Orowen * and father Ithilred*, nor indeed his fathers' brother Ithilbor**, also present; they all looked grave in their silent acquiessence.

Then from the shadows had come the voice of Oropher, Elmo's only son; and that was exceedingly strange, for though he was young, of an age with Celeborn, he had never been as light-hearted and playful an Elfling *** as his silver-haired nephew, and come to adult age never one to put himself forward; but when he spoke, he always made his mark.

"A promise to whom? To Ilwe?"

Elmo had smiled sadly, and answered :" To me."

Later he, Daeron, had asked his mother about this mysterious Ilwe, and Orowen had hastily silenced her little boy. "Of her and her kind, the Avari, we may no longer speak now that our King has returned: he will hear none of it."

And so he had left the question unanswered; content to remain between knowing and not knowing for many an age. No longer were his people the Eglath, the Forsaken, but the Sindar, the Greyelves of starlit Beleriand under the Lordship of King Thingol, who was once Elwe the Awakened; and with the teachings of Melian the Maia his people became the fairest and the most wise and skilful of all the Elves in Middle Earth.

The answer to the question finally came with the first rumours of war.

Melian had much foresight after the manner of the Maiar, and she had counselled Thingol that the Peace of Arda would not last forever. And so he sought aid and counsel of the Naugrim of Belegost; and together Elves and Dwarves laboured to fashion a kingly dwelling, and a place that should be strong if evil were to awaken again in Middle Earth. Thus had come into being Menegroth, the Thousand Caves.

And Evil had came.

The Naugrim had been the first to bring word of it. For the Valar had not rooted out utterly the creatures of Morgoth in the North, and now the remnant, having long multiplied in the dark were coming forth once more and roaming far and wide.

"There are fell beasts." the Dwarves had said, " In the land east of the Mountains, and your ancient kindred that dwells there are flying from the plains to he hills."

"What ancient kindred?" Daeron had asked, for as the King had willed it, those who remained in Beleriand of the Awakened and the Firstborn had never mentioned those they left behind, kin though they were; nay, not even the Falathrim, Cirdan's people, spoke of them.

And Thingol with a frown had given him an answer of sorts: "They are the Nandor of Lenwe, who halted on the Great Journey, and Ilwe's people, the Avari, who never undertook it They live far to the East, and Darkness is their lot." And he had added, perhaps more to himself than to his minstrel: "Mayhap she dwells there still, on the banks of Cuivienen, lamenting the dead…"

It had been then that he had likened Daeron to Iluve, the first music-maker, Ilwe's brother.

He had not dared to press the King further, though since he thought of himself as of a loremaster (where others saw no point, for had they not the living memory of long past?), he felt duty-bond to collect all tales of the Elves, from the Awakening to the Present. Not long after that the Dwarves' warnings were confirmed as Elves came from the East. Not Avari they were, but Teleri of the Host of Olwe that forsook the march of the Eldar by the shores of the Great River; and they had become the Nandor, dwelling there in the woods of the vale of the Anduin, and even as far as the Sea. Now, led by one Denethor son of Lenwe, they had come over the Mountains for fear of the fell beasts, as the Dwarves had said; and they were welcomed by Thingol as long lost kin that return, and they dwelt from that time on in Ossiriand.

From them and the Dwarves Daeron had learned more of the Avari: songs, bits and pieces of tales, nothing much, save that all claimed that Ilwe had been the only Elf to have gone into Utumno, and come out alive again, a feat that surpassed even that later one, the rescue of Maedhros by Fingon.

To record all these snippets of knowledge he had devised symbols that represented sounds forming words. Only the Naugrim that came to Thingol's halls were well-pleased by these Runes, the 'Cirth', for his own folk sometimes laughingly referred to it as 'Daeron's little folly'. Still, Thingol had allowed him to record the deeds and doings of his people (though there was little to be said of bliss and glad life) and named him his chief loremaster, and in that capacity as well as that of minstrel had he served his King ever since.

He wondered now how much Thingol had really known, why he had allowed his people to believe that Avari, if they had survived, were Darkelves, and even that Orcs were Avari, and how much he had kept secret.

He also wondered what Ilwe knew. She had hinted that her people sometimes secretly passed among the Sindar.

"Perhaps she has had dealings with Oropher!"

For that one had been often away walking strange paths of his own, in the days before the First Battle of the Wars of Beleriand, when Morgoth, returned, had raised the reeking towers of Thangorodrim; and the Gates of Morgoth wee but one hundred and fifty leagues distant from the bridge of Menegroth: far and yet all too near. Orcs had come down upon either side of Thingol's stronghold, and plundered far and wide, cutting off the Sindar from Cirdan and his Falas; and therefore the King had called upon Denethor of Ossiriand. There had been a great victory, yet dear-bought: for Denethor's Laiquendi had been but light-armed and no match for the Orcs who were shod with iron, bearing shields and spears and broad blades; and Denethor himself had been slain.

In the west the Orcs had been victorious, and therefore Thingol had withdrawn all his people that his summons could reach within the fastness of Neldoreth and Region, and Melian put forth her power and fenced all that dominion round about with an unseen wall of shadow and bewilderment: the Girdle of Melian, that none ("Save THAT Man!") thereafter could pass against her will or the will of King Thingol, unless one should come with a power greater than that of Melian the Maia. ("No, no, surely not, surely a mere Mortal could not be more powerful…but then…Melian willed it? Her own child?") And that new land which was long named Eglarest was after called Doriath, the Guarded Kingdom; and none could ever depart, without Thingol's leave.

"Yet Luthien has, and I have…that can not have been my Lord's will…perhaps…Melian's? If so, could Oropher have prevailed on them to let him wander outside of their realm, as was his wont before the creation of the Girdle?"

When the Noldor had returned from Aman, Oropher had been overjoyed (a thing most rare in the silent and withdrawn, almost dour Elf) and he had dared argue with Thingol, insisting that the King allow them into Doriath, eager as he was to learn how Elmo and Auriel fared. Of his House only Orowen had backed his plea; not Nimlas or her sons. Oropher had spoken long and passionately, far more than anyone had ever heard him do:

"Was it not my father's dream to reunite our people? And lo! They have returned from the West. Elves we were; and though time has passed and the World has changed, and where there were once only Stars in the sky there are now a Sun and a Moon, marking Day and Night and the Passage of Time and the Seasons, as we had not known before; and they shine upon us all and we are still Elves!"

Yet Thingol would not open his kingdom nor remove the girdle of enchantment; for wise with the warnings of Melian he trusted not that the restraint of Morgoth would endure. Alone of the Princes of the Noldor those of Finarfin's House were suffered to pass within the confines of Doriath, for they could claim close kinship with King Thingol himself since their mother was Earwen of Alqualonde, Olwe's daughter. Angrod son of Finarfin was the first to come to Menegroth as messenger of his brother Finrod, and he spoke long with the King, telling him of the deeds of the Noldor in the West, and of their numbers, and of the ordering of their forces. Still more there was he did not speak of, as later became apparent, and though Oropher had pressed him, all he would say of Elmo and Auriel was that they had remained in Aman.

Little more could be learned from Galadriel Finarfin's daughter when she came to dwell in Doriath; only that Feanor son of Finwe had wrought fair jewels, the Silmarils, ablaze with the light of the Laurelin and Telperion, and that Melkor had coveted them, and poisoned the Trees of Valinor, and, having slain Finwe the Highking, had stolen the Silmarils and fled. Melian had suspected that there was more to be said on the matter, but Galadriel had refused to speak. It was Cirdan, Lord of the Falathrim, who first brought word to Thingol concerning the true nature of the Noldor and their deeds, and why they came to Beleriand, and of the Kinslaying, when Elf killed Elf for the possession of the Teleri ships.

The ire of Thingol, though mighty, had been nothing compared to the anger of Oropher when finally the sons of Finarfin were made to reveal the truth, and he learned that his father and mother had been slain.

Now he heard for the first time that Elmo had been counsellor to Feanor, and indeed along with Nerdanel the wise, Feanor's wife, the only one the fiery Elven Prince would sometimes listen to. When Feanor had been called to the Ring of Doom to be judged for drawing a sword on his half-brother Fingolfin, and subsequently banished for twelve years, Elmo in his own quiet way had laid bare the injustice of this, for had not Feanor's and his follower's wrath been fuelled by the lies of Melkor, as had Finarfin's and Fingolfin's own suspicions? Could one truly fault them for their gullibility and hot-headedness? His gentle words of reason had had such effect on Finwe that the Highking had lain down his sceptre and had withdrawn from the throne. When he had been killed at Formenos, Elmo, though very much of a mind with Feanor, and every bit as roused at the death of his friend of old, had striven in vain to curb the hot-blooded rebellious Elf. Yet with the death of his father there had been no reasoning with him; even less when the Valar would not aid him in the hunting down of Melkor, whom he named Morgoth, the Enemy of the World. There had been no holding him back either, when the Teleri refused the loan of their ships. Elmo was still mediating with Olwe when the incensed Feanor had decided to simply take the vessels; and perhaps with a little more time and patience things would have gone far different. Even when the fighting broke out Elmo had thrown himself between assailants and assailed, desperate for them to stop, and was thrown down by a Teleri Elf, and trampled in the fray; and Auriel had cried out and thrown herself over his body to protect him; yet by that time swords were drawn, and thus both had perished, and none who later saw their mangled bodies could rightly say whether it had been a Noldorin or a Teleri hand who had dealt the deathblow.

No Songs would ever be sung of the Sorrow of Oropher, for those that beheld it were too shaken to repeat what they saw, and Daeron himself felt his Soul turn to ice again, remembering how the Elf had drawn his knife and slowly, with quiet determined gestures, cut his long dark hair. Then he had spoken, and his voice had been similarly quiet, betraying far more anguish than he would have done had he cried out the words: "Blameless you hold yourselves of the deed, as you so loudly proclaim, sons of Finarfin, Yet your true hearts have been revealed. Hard and proud you are, filled with a burning desire to carve out Kingdoms for yourselves. You did not slay your own kin, but only by default: you were not present. Who knows what you would have done had you come first to the Teleri, and been denied as Feanor had been? Hypocrites! Would you not have tried to take the ships as he of whom you speak so bitterly has done? Would you not have struck out at those that stood between you and your ambition? And perhaps, for less reason than Feanor? Can one blame him for his wrath, or his wish to avenge this father? And now, after so long a silence – which you attribute to loyalty to the very one you on the same breath decry as a fell traitor – now you tell me that my father and mother died in the battle, vainly sueing for peace between the factions. So tell me, nephews, who am I to call murderers? My brother Olwe who called the doom of his people upon his own head by refusing Feanor the loan of his ships, or Feanor for allowing anger to overcome wisdom? Or you, by proxy, for not holding either of them back? Nay, all of you to my mind share part of the guilt, and I believe that my father would not blame you either. Also I understand that your silence on this matter since was more fed by shame and fear of being rebuked by King Thingol, as rightly he has, than by so-called 'loyalty'. I understand, I say, but I shall not forget."

And then to Galadriel he had turned, and his eyes had narrowed : " You, niece, I do not forgive. Long have you dwelled among us and I held you for a friend, rejoicing in the love that is between you and my kinsman: for in that I saw a sign that my father's dream was coming true, and that your union would stand symbolic for our kindred's. Tell me, was it cowardice that kept you from telling a son of his parent's death? Or did it not suit your ambition to have us know the truth and your part in it, however small and blameless it may have been? How shall I trust you from this day on? Let Celeborn beware! I perceive that though you love him, you will always prevail over him; and though he loves you, you will abandon him. My father's dream lies shattered: Elves will never been one again."

With those words he had left, silent and shorn; and nevermore had he returned to Menegroth.

"And if not Oropher, then perhaps my cousin Eol** was the one to seek out the Avari. After all, he did forsake Doriath for the dark forests of Nan Elmoth, and often travelled East to learn the art of smithcraft in which he so delighted from the Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod…but no, he has gone and left his dark domain long ago, after his wife and son had disappeared: or so his servants come to Menegroth despairing of his return have told us. Like as not he dwells in hidden Gondolin now, among Aredhel's, his wife's kin.****"

"Answers are there for the asking. " said Ilwe with a slight smile, " You are so silent. Is it the mention of my name that brought the frown to your brow? "

"And a shadow to my heart." he confessed, " It seems that I can only have dark thoughts and ugly suspicions; and I am ashamed of it. Elves should be one of mind and Soul."

She looked at him curiously.

"Words I am not hearing for the first time; though the one who spoke them did not necessarily mean the same thing as you do. He certainly never wished for all Elves to agree on everything, or with him, for that matter. Yet he did wish for them to be friends, and to have the freedom to make up their own minds."

He halted, startled.

They had been penetrating ever deeper into the forest east of the River. The cool sound of the Anduin flowing and the rustling of the reeds lay far behind them already; and as the pallid dawn announced itself with the chirruping of myriads of little birds opening their throats to greet the day, the sun rose gently. To Daeron, who was used to the beechwoods of Neldoreth, carefully maintained and kept free of overmuch undergrowth to permit the passage of deer and facilitate the hunt, the going through the tangled, dim-lit forest was rougher than he had ever experienced, even in the lands he had crossed between Ered Luin and Hithaeglir, even between those and the Great River. This was truly a wild place where wild Elves and other creatures lived; but Ilwe walked as easily and unconcernedly as on a paved road.

She smiled once again.

"Your silences too are most eloquent, grandchild of Elmo."

He gasped.

"You know!"

Now she laughed at him : " Of course I know! Ours was hardly a chance meeting. As soon as I had word of your disappearance from Doriath and passing over the Mountains, I had my scouts tracking you."

"Word…from whom?" he asked, though he was fairly certain of the answer. And still it surprised him.

"From the Khazad, of course – the Dwarves. They alone are admitted nowadays into your land, for their smithcraft, and they return to their Under-the Mountain realms of Belegost and Nogrod and Khazad-Dum, he Dwarrowdelf, laden with pearls and news of the western lands! To us they turn for venison and leather and other things the forest provides. These we barter for steel arrowheads and long white knives and light mail; and they grow an exceedingly tasty sort of mushroom in their caverns all year round, a delicacy we add to our own autumn crops. I shall not say that we are friends. We are however of mutual service to one another; and they will warn the Wandering Companies of what passes in the lands they travel to and through."

There was a pause during which she waited for the inevitable question that yet he was reluctant to ask.

But then he drew a deep breath, drinking in courage with the mossy wetness of the morning air.

"Do you know everything? Do you know… " he hesitated, " Of Elmo?"

There was a small patch of sunlight at their feet, where fern had grown tall an now stood dead in a shroud of dew, and she stopped, and reached, cupping her hands as if to catch the rays like water from a fountain. At length she spoke : "Elmo was my dearest friend. Our hearts were closer than I have ever been with any other, save my brother Iluve; and I felt the moment of his death. I mourn him. He had a dream, an impossible dream, perhaps, yet it was a valuable one and cherished by me and my people for his dear sake. Oldelves roam the regions between River and Lake. Oldelves, I say, for we remain true to what we were at the Awakening. We do not spurn novelty where it aids us (or we would not welcome the Dwarves!) but free, free are we as we were before the Call. This is our home. Ever we travel, hunter-gatherers that we are, in small groups swift and silent and keeping to the shadows. Rarely are we troubled by the creatures that multiplied in the quiet years of starlight and grown strong with the return of Melkor. We have faced them before and survived; and we are still here. Orcs do not seek us out, for if they are aware of our existence at all, to them we are but small pickings and of little sport. They feast on destruction: what is there to enjoy when there is nothing to destroy? We build no cities or palaces fair, nor do we collect gems and gold. The greatest of all treasures is ours, yet it is one they can never seize."

Smilingly she looked upon him in his bewilderment and added: "Can you not guess my meaning? Ah, if you lived among us, if only for a little while, you might perhaps learn. You are welcome to do so, child of Elmo's blood. Winter approaches and the Wandering Companies of the forest that have Elflings in their number will draw together to our camp on Amon Lanc,***** where we have a most defensible stronghold, there to pass the Cold Moons. If they agree, you can stay."

He marvelled at her words.

"Are you not their Lady, will they not obey your command?"

Like a sudden cloud before Sun or Moon, so altered her expression.

"They choose to follow me. They do not take commands." she answered abruptly, " I am not Elwe – Thingol as he calls himself now. I crave no throne nor do I surround myself with servants. My people know me. They seek my counsel, and if they deem it wise, they will heed it. Or they may ignore it: they are free to make their own mistakes, and I too may be mistaken. My warriors and I assure the safety of our camp. To that end, come autumn, we patrol the riverbank and the forest around. There is little that passes under leaf or bough that I do not hear about, nay, nor in the vast plains between Forest and Lake, the place of our Awakening. Lenwe of old, Lord of the Nandor, was friend to us and would tell me much of what passed in his domain. Together we kept the land East of the Mountains, Rhovannion or Wilderland as you name it, acceptably safe during the Ages of the Stars. Yet Denethor his son flew before the peril of the Enemy,when it reappeared, taking many of his people to Beleriand, where he presumed he would be safe under the protection of Thingol. I hear he is dead now. So are most of his people. "

She swivelled round to face him and said : "So Oropher told me. That is what you wished to know, isn't it? The son of my oldest , dearest friend has ever been my source of information on your kind. His father's messenger to me he was when Elmo still led the Eglath, and his sister Orowen too…"

"My mother! She never said."

"Naturally not. Elwe and I did not part in friendship, and he would not be best pleased to learn hat his kin at times came east to the abhorred 'Darkelves'. When he became Greymantle Orowen stopped coming, but Oropher continued, though it has been a long time since his last visit. Some Laiquendi, survivors of the battle in which Denethor fell, fighting to protect the King he thought would protect him, came back East, telling of how Thingol's domain is now encircled by mighty spells, preventing all to get in or out. That would account for Oropher's failure to come."

"Greenelves! I thought they had all either perished or sought the security of Doriath."

"Living among your kind would imply assimilation and the abandonment of their own ways. Not everyone is willing to do so, even if it might seem the wisest course to take. No, they have since joined up with the remainder of Lenwe's Nandor, and founded a realm of their own, in the woodlands between Mountains and River: a very fair place indeed they have made it. Lorinand, they call it, or Laurelindorenan. A scattered folk no more they have chosen a King to lead them, a wise Elf who must be known to you, for he is a Sinda, from Beleriand, who, cut off from his folk at the time the Girdle was installed, saw no other option but to go East. Amdir** is his name. Ah yes, they do return to us, they do return…"

"That was the Dream my grandsire cherished."

"It is the Dream he died for." said Ilwe.

She moved out of the light and sped into the shadows. He ran after her. Denser and darker the forest became, the path – if path it was- narrow and winding in and out among the trees that leant together, high and old and strangled with ivy and hung with lichen. Occasionally a slender beam of sun-or, as day flowed into night, moonlight, would slip in through some opening in the branches and the blackened leaves that had not fallen yet, and the mesh of boughs up high, stabbing down thin and bright before them. But this was seldom, and it soon ceased altogether. Black squirrels would whisk past them, scuttling behind tree trunks, their soft patter adding to the other woodland noises: grunts and scufflings and hurryings in the undergrowth, and among the leaves that lay piled endlessly thick in places on the forest-floor. At night they could see gleams in the darkness around that were not stars but pairs of yellow or red or green eyes staring at them from a little distance, and then slowly fade and disappear and shine out again in another place, or down from the branches just above, pale and bulbous.

These were the giant spiders, the hideous brood of Ungoliant the Maia.

She had long ago descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, as one corrupted into the service of Melkor. But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be Mistress of her own lust, taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness; and long she dwelled in the uncharted south of Aman, in Avathar, where in a ravine she lived, shaped as a spider of monstrous form, weaving her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. There she sucked up all light that she could find, and spun it forth again in dark nets of strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode; and she was famished. There Melkor had sought her out and together they plotted his revenge against the Valar: and that had been the poisoning of the Trees. While on their flight from Aman to the remains of Melkor's ancient stronghold of Angband, they had come to quarrel over the spoils of their crime, and Melkor had been forced to feed her the jewels he had stolen from Feanor's hoard in Formenos. Yet he would not surrender to her the Silmarils; and he called forth the Balrogs slumbering still in the vaults of deep forgotten places amidst the ruins of Angband, to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended; and with their whips of flame they smote asunder the webs of Ungoliant, and she quailed , and turned to flight belching black vapours to cover her; and fleeing from the North she went down into Beleriand and dwelt beneath Ered Gorgoroth, in that dark valley that was after called Nan Dungortheb, the Valley of the Dreadful Death, because of the horror that she bred there. For other foul creatures of spider form had dwelt their since the days of the delving of Angband, and she mated with them and devoured them, and even after Ungoliant herself departed and went whither she would into the south of the World, her offspring abode there and wove their horrendous webs; and many had passed over the Hithaeglir into the Wild Woods beyond. By daylight they did not show themselves, hiding themselves, and only thick cobwebs stretching from tree to tree told of their presence.

"Their hunger is insatiable!" Ilwe told him, " Beware the Elf that walks the woods alone and unwary! We hunt them without mercy."

She had proven her words by blowing darts at the lights, that would go out, and she showed him the corpses: thick, spiky, bloated bodies with many legs, now lying on their backs, some twitching still, but most dead.

"They breed too fast for us to eradicate them all: I fear that we will never be fully rid of them. Yet they are cowardly creatures, and, though cunning, of little sense. They know not how to attack us in ordered numbers, to our great fortune. If someone were to lead them, then I would be worried."

Who that someone would be, she left unspoken, but he knew she meant Morgoth, the Enemy of them all. No matter how sundered the Avari were from the Sindar and the Noldor, on this they all agreed; and he felt compelled to admit to himself that Ilwe's folk dealt far better with the threat of Morgoth than he would have thought possible for a people he had hitherto considered to be primitive and savage, if not downright Orcish.

Neither the presence of the spiders nor the menace of the Enemy seemed to inspire Ilwe with the terror they did him. He began to believe the old stories that told of her journey into the depths of Utumno, yet he dared not ask the truth of it, anymore than he dared reveal his own kind's conviction that Orcs were Avari.

While they continued their road he became more and more convinced that Ilwe herself was happy to let the Sindar believe this.

He, however, she led on a voyage of discovery into a land and a way of life he had never imagined, down to the beginnings of his kind. Yet far from primitive the Avari were, and he fell from amazement into astonishment when he found out (not without some pride) that they actually used his Cirth, so spurned by his own folk.

Occasionally along their path his attention would be drawn by the tinkling of wind-chimes, many of metal but most made of wood, hung from tree to tree. "Evil creatures cannot abide the sound." Ilwe explained, "It is our own version of the Girdle. They mark the open spaces in the forest where the Wandering Companies abide at times." Messages were left behind, written on thin parchment rolled up and inserted into metal tubes, that were tied to branches on marked spots. "In the past we used leather strips and an intricate code of knots and bows and colours and beads to communicate. Our friends the Dwarves taught us your runes, and we make good and grateful use of them. They enable us to pass on information to our kin beyond the eastern boundaries of the forest."

And she told him of the great plains where large numbers of Avari lived herding sheep and riding the great wild horses, the Maeras, an art they taught the first men, just as they taught them music and ironwork and more besides, before they moved west. "Further east still lies Cuivienen, home to the Lake-elves, whose domain contains also the wild rivers Carnen and Celduin. So great is Cuivienen that Men think it a sea, and as it is the place of our Awakening, so do we consider it still, and she-elves that are with child will travel hence to give birth. A great floating city is build upon its waters, growing and diminishing at will, for the Lake-Elves have their own Wandering Companies, and at times detach the rafts that are their homes from the city to sail wither they will.

When ethuil ****** is in the air, they often come to the Long Lake in the North, that is dominated by a lone mountain, and we of the forest join them for a festival of kinship. Then is the time of mirth and merry-making and companionship and love. With the return of the Orcs fewer dare to undertake the journey, and so perforce we more and more often exchange written messages. "

"Why not use birds? Many speak our tongue." he wondered.

"I do not trust in them." Ilwe replied, and her voice took on the dark tone it always got when speaking of the Valar, so he had noticed : " They are singled out amongst the Kelvar****** for that, and the Eagles especially serve Manwe. I do not like it."

He did not pursue the matter.

As they drew closer to Amon Lanc, a change came over the forest. It was a gradual change, marked by a growing green freshness of the air and a general openness; and the wind blew free and the sun shone through and even the black squirrels seemed less furtive. No longer did they encounter spiders, though Ilwe used her blowpipe still, to hunt rabbits; and soon her belt and bandolier was heavy with soft, plump, dangling bodies.

"These will make a feast for us, and a warm bonnet for an Elfling!" she laughed, and added, a little wryly : " The coming of Days and the Seasons has altered our lives considerably. The World used to be subject to to Time without notice : there was only starlight. But now the World moves both very swift and very slow to us Elves. Slow, because we do not count the running years for ourselves; swift, because we change little and all else fleets by. The passing seasons may seem but ripples ever repeated in the long, long stream, yet hey are not so for other beings, both Kelvar and Olvar.****** Creatures of the wild that were used to the twilight life went either blind mad with fear or both on the First Day. Oh, the ever growing light! Where before there was but a soft glow of stars, a gentle passing from fading into stirring , the coronar ****** disrupted the lives of many, who either adapted or died. "

He opened his mouth to interrupt, yet she forestalled him.

"I know, you have seen it happen too. I tell you this because many of us are still angry because of it; not so much that it happened, but that it was done without warning, without at least consulting us. For the Valar will fashion the World as they see fit, and those who are subject to the World have but to comply. We are named the Unwilling, and so we are: in more than one sense. You'll not hear Songs of Praise to the Valar among us, nor will my people welcome any such songs from you, I must warn you; perhaps only in praise of Elbereth, who she kindled the Stars that caused our Awakening."

"I am beginning to wonder whether I might be welcome at all." he answered sourly, and immediately regretted his outburst; but Ilwe laughed.

"Ah, grandchild of Elmo, you at least say what you truly think out loud. That is good."

"Then, if you permit, I will say that there is little of Elmo in me. If you extend your friendship to me for my grandsire's sake, you may be making a mistake. I am Daeron."

"And is being Daeron such a bad thing?

"I have told you what I have done."

"Which you regret, and have made full confession of: not many would have that courage. There is more to you than the things you have done, there is also the core of your being."

She smiled at him and her eyes shone.

"You are whom you are, both the good and the bad, beholden to no one. Between River and Lake that is what we Avari are, and how we live. It goes beyond Elmo's dream. All Elves should be Free Spirits. That dream is mine."

To be continued

Authors notes:

As before, much of this chapter is (sometimes literally) derived from the Silmarillion and the Hobbit. The words Ilwe speaks of how Elves perceive time are echoed by Legolas in LOTR, FotR : The Great River.

*: Auriel, Nimlas, Orowen and Ithilred are names of my invention.

** Galadhon is mentioned in 'Unfinished Tales' as being the son of Elmo and father of Celeborn. I have kept the last, but for thereasons I have stated in the appendix between chapters 3 and 4, I have made him husband to Elmo's daughter. Ithilbor is father to Saeros , cousin to Daeron (according to the Silmarillion. Obviously, if Daeron is bloodrelation to Thingol and a daughter's son, his kinship to Saeros goes via their fathers, hence Ithilred (see appendix and also family-tree below) Eol once again is kinsman to Thingol according to the Silmarillion. Given that his character is very like Saeros's, I make him his elder brother. Therefore, kin by marriage, not blood.

Amdir: in 'Unfinished Tales', father to Amroth. I find it more likely that he was a wandering Sinda cut off from his kin at the instalment of the Girdle, than that he is yet another relation of Thingol or a son of Celeborn and Galadrie, or that Amroth is.

*** Elfling: a word of my invention,(inspired by: Dark Crystal) signifying Elf-child or youth

**** All Daeron could know at this time was that Eol had disappeared in search of his wife Aredhel and son Maglin, who had fled to Gondolin. Naturally, he would assume Eol remained in the hidden kingdom, as no one is allowed either in or out anyway. (see: The Silmarillion, chapter 16)

*****Amon Lanc is what later became Dol Guldur. Oropher used to live there for a while after he came east (see chapter 3, also 'Unfinished Tales')

****** ethuil : spring (see also : LOTR appendix D the Calendars)

****** Kelvar and Olvar : animals and plants

****** Coronar : the Sun-round or year (see also : LOTR appendix D) Naturally a sudden switch from eternal starlight to day and night and marked seasons would have upset nature extremely.

I've worked out Elmo's family tree (any ideas on how to put it on the net?)and it makes Luthien cousin to Nimlas, Orowen, Oropher and Earwen, Dior second cousin to Celeborn, Galadithil, Daeron, Thranduil and Galadriel (and her brothers), Elwing cousin three times removed to Celebrian, Nimloth and Legolas. Complicated, eh?

Further chapters will be few and far between as I am concentrating on my other fics.

Preview: the story will cover different periods. The first three chapters deal with one period, the next block will cover the Luthien episode until the end of the War of Wrath, the third block will cast its light on the forging of the Rings to the end of the Second Age and the last one will run from the period of The Hobbit till the sailing of the Last Ship. Main characters apart from Ilwe will be Daeron (2), Oropher, Celeborn and Galadhriel (3) and Thranduil and Legolas (4).