Story 2 - Of Babies and Such

Life went on as peacefully as it could for the small village on the border of Greenwood. Aneria was quite distracted with the new baby to take care of, and Dorinthian had taken it upon himself to teach a young boy in the group sword fighting. This young boy was much loved by the adults, for he was considered a miracle. They had found him lying beside the Anduin one cold morning, bawling his small eyes out. Despite the dampness the boy was curiously dry, and the superstitious few of the group assumed that he was of evil descent, for he appeared to be unharmed despite the wild surroundings. Entälenir believed none of the kind, and kept the child as his own. Dorinthian took a liking to him almost immediately, thus wanting to pass down his knowledge. The young boy they decided was about four years old, and they called him Brier, because of the thorn bush he was found near. He had flowing dark hair and piercing blue eyes that made his dark face seem warm. Brier had no elvish qualities, nor did he bear the markings of a dwarf community. The group then decided that he was mortal, and left things at that. The boy showed signs of a rough journey, for he beared many scars along his legs. He didn't talk, and often strayed from the group to explore the low plains. As time went on and he learned the elvish most there spoke (except for Aneria) he opened his mouth more and was quite talkative once he got going. Brier was still very mysterious, although he played often with the baby Agador. Needless to say, Agador grew to be a restless toddler, but under the watchful eye of her mother, she never ventured further than the outlying huts used for storing grain. When she was four, Agador (although she was quite young, and very seldom understood what they meant) took up an interest in old tales Dorinthian shared with the group. Once she could talk with adequate ability, she made up her own stories and shared them with anyone who would listen. The one she liked best was of Zuzu, a great female warrior, short in stature, who single- handedly took on a band of hungry bear cubs. It went a little like this:

"Zuzu was like anyone her age; Smart, fast, good with an axe. Her small friends played 'catch' in the woods a lot, but Zuzu was growing older, and no longer cared for such childish things. So one day she walked off alone into the great dark forest near her village. Soon she lost all track of time, and before she knew it, the sun had begun to set. Zuzu realized this a little too late, and when she turned back, a big cloud of fog was already covering the way she had come. With no visible markers of her trail, she blindly set out away from the low sun's rays. After an hour of walking Zuzu became scared and started to run, because the howls of nearby wolves frightened her. The fog still stayed with her; it seemed to be following her. She was running too fast and tripped on a tree stump. Her ankle hurt badly and she feared she would not get back to her village by dark. So she cried out "Help me! Please help me!" over and over again. She heard a noise ahead of her, and believing it was one of her people she reached out. But when the object pushed through the fog Zuzu saw that it was a bear cub, all black and shiny. Her love of nature tempted her to stroke the cub's fur, but when she reached out her hand the cub clawed and sank his teeth into the soft flesh of her hand. She cried out in pain, but only more bear cubs appeared. She feared they would eat her alive, so she decided to act quickly. She jumped up, despite the awful pain in her leg and hand, and dived wildly for a pile of rocks she'd seen nearby. Picking up a good-sized stone with her good hand she threw it madly at the bear cubs. It hit one on the paw and he cried out. Zuzu was frightened, and cursed herself for being so careless. She hadn't thought that the cub's cries would bring their protective mother to their rescue. So she abandoned the rocks and picked up a stick instead. Going towards the cubs she pushed each one out of the way. Then she felt relived when, just after where the cubs were standing, was a steep incline, and just below that, smoke rose from underneath the hillside. Her village was surely below that hill. So remembering something her father taught her (bears cannot run down hills), she rolled down the hill. At the bottom she looked up. The bear cubs were afraid of the steep decline, and retreated. Feeling a surge of relief, she turned back to where smoke billowed up. But when she did turn, all she saw was a pair of bloodstained razor-sharp teeth. There before her stood the mother bear, with her paws ready to swipe at her face at any moment! Zuzu knew there was nothing she could do, so she cried out. Perhaps someone would hear her and come to her rescue. Just when the mother bear was about to fall down on Zuzu and crush her flat, her father Zapher snuck up behind it," with this Agador curled her right hand into a fist, keeping the other one flat, "and speared the mother bear right through the heart." She pounded her right fist into the palm of her left hand. This always brought jumps and screams of surprise from the audience, much to Agador's amusement.

"She will make a fine story-teller, don't you agree?" Aneria often asked Dorinthian.

"Indeed she will," he always replied, and they smiled and hugged each other tight, for the happiness in their hearts was overwhelming.