Chapter One: Elen síla lúmenn

In those days, in the quiet of the world, Imladris was a paradise. It still is, I suppose, but the power of the Eldar has somewhat diminished since then. Everything at that time glowed with an ethereal life and all things were beautiful beyond their measure. It was, however, the closing of our Autumn, when the Eldar began to feel the first bite of frost.

Ancalimë had a beauty all her own. Her eyes were as bright as green fire, and her hair, which was raven black, completely contrasted her fair skin. She was a Noldor, descended from a noble family. We met patrolling the borders of Mirkwood, my home and were friends ever since. We trained together, fought together, and we told each other everything. She had a kind spirit and was ever the explorer, wanting to know everything there was to know about anything, from the tiniest creatures in the forest, to the stars of Elbereth.

Her story, like yours Mélanyë, began in the Western Woods of the Shire. Cali (as we called her), and I were part of a group sent by the Dúnedan to help protect the halflings. The Rangers had received word from Mithrandir that they may be a target for Orcs and other fell creatures.

We were ordered not to show ourselves to them since the halflings knew almost nothing of matters outside their realm, and Mithrandir wished to preserve that. Only one in recent years had done so, he said, and had visited Rivendell. Of course, none of his kin had believed his tales of elves and dragons. There was no need for us to confirm them.

We were there for several weeks. Since the hobbits sometimes liked to go into the forest by day, we would conceal ourselves deep in the woods. During those hours we would sometimes visit with Círdan's people by the shore, while still keeping an eye out for trouble. At night the hobbits were too afraid to go into the forest's dark eaves and so we could go to its very edge and observe them. This was Cali's favorite time.

She was enchanted with everything about them. They were unlike anything any of us had seen, but to her they held an almost magical fascination. By the time we got to look, most of them were of course in their homes, but there were always a few who would stay out and gaze at the stars, or dance or sing. She told me once that those hobbits must have elvish blood to gaze so lovingly at the works of Varda. She would watch them in awe until every last one of them had gone home to their beds.

There was one evening in particular when all of the little people had gone to their homes much earlier than usual. Of course Cali was disappointed, but she knew that she'd be able to watch for them again the following night. We were walking back to our camp when I stopped short. Through the trees, we heard a small distressed voice.

"It's one of them!" she whispered, grabbing my shoulder in her excitement. I shook my head and sighed. Already I knew what she was thinking.
"We can't let him see us, Cali, remember our orders!" She didn't listen to me though, looking through the woods and trying to see who was there. I knew there was nothing I could do. All she ever wanted was to meet one of them, and not me or anyone else could stop her. Before I knew it she had crept through the woods to find the hobbit. All I could do was follow her.

When I found her again she was peering into a small clearing a few metres from where we had been. She saw me behind her and motioned for me to join her. I knew it was a bad idea, but there was no changing her mind about it.

Shafts of moon and starlight filtered through the trees and illuminated the fine mist that now covered the ground around the hobbit. He was taller than I expected, about three quarters our height, and had thick curly brown hair and feet that seemed too large for him. I wondered to myself how he could walk without tripping.

"He's adorable!" Cali whispered quietly beside me. We watched as the little man looked down at a piece of paper in his hands, presumably a map, and then to the trees around him. He did this several times until he had turned in a complete circle and had scratched his head so many times I thought his hair would fall out.

"He looks lost," I whispered back, and Cali turned to me with a smile. I sighed and looked into those green depths of hers. "No."
"But he's all alone!"
"And what do you plan to do? Bring him back to his home? Who knows how many of them we'll meet on the way, not to mention that he will have seen us..." We didn't know it, but as we were talking the little man had heard us through the woods and wandered over to us.

"Uhm, Excuse me..." he began. Suddenly, as we came into the light and he saw us fully for the first time, he cast himself shaking to the ground and covered his face. I thought it the perfect opportunity to get away - the hobbit would think us merely a dream or vision - but before I knew it, Cali had knelt in front of him and was trying to calm him.

"There is nothing to fear. We won't hurt you," she said, placing a hand on his head. Every instinct in me said to grab Cali and disappear into the woods, but for some reason I can't explain, possibly it was the will of Iluvatar, I helped her instead.

"Cali," I whispered, "I don't think he speaks Elvish!" She thought about it, and then repeated her words in the tongue of the Edain. The little man looked up.

She later described to me what happened in that moment. She told me that she looked into his eyes. She had never seen brown eyes before, and the way the moonlight hit them they seemed to be so many colors at once: amber, mahogany, gold, copper. She was captivated by them at once and I watched as they stared at each other for several minutes, not moving. He seemed as enchanted with her as she was with him. She had told me that this was the moment when she had fallen in love with him, although she didn't know it at the time. She felt as if she had been struck down by it, and pierced through her heart with it.

"What is your name?" she whispered. I almost didn't hear her. The halfling blinked several times and swallowed before answering.

"Drogo, m'lady, My name is Drogo Baggins of the Shire."