AN: Since the last chapter was so short, I had time to write another chapter. Go me! Also, Maeglin (the elf in Chapter 13) is completely made up. I know that Tolkien wrote about another elf named Maeglin, but he is not the same elf as my Maeglin. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Ryoki: Yeah, big jump, but those years were really boring, so I didn't want to write about them. Don't worry, Verdi will be fine.

Morgaine of Ithil: It's all sorta revieled in this chapter; unfortunatly, there's a bit of a cliff hanger here too.

"English talking"
'thinking'
~Galadriel mind-speaking~
*Elvish talking*

It became dark and Verdi found a tree to curl up in, soon falling into a deep sleep. The hours of walking had tired her and she slept soundly. She woke to chirping birds and a ray of sunlight piercing through her eyelids. After remembering where she was and what had happened, her first thoughts were, 'Well, I guess they haven't found me yet. No biggy.' She carefully climbed down from the tree and searched for food.

After breaking her fast on some berries (which were juicier than the ones she had found yesterday) she tried to decide what to do. 'The real question is, do I want to be found or not? I don't think I do.' With that decided, she looked around, trying to find the path. 'I could've sworn I took a path to get here! I must have been dreaming. Oh well.' Verdi didn't worry about it, she spun around with her eyes closed and started walking in the direction she was facing when she stopped spinning.

Verdi spent the whole day in the forest, idly walking around, sitting by a stream or in a tree, or eating what she hoped were edible plants. She didn't really know what was poisonous and what wasn't, but it was her lucky day and she didn't eat anything she shouldn't have. It was so peaceful, no one was telling her what to do, the only sounds were those of the birds, the wind or the waters and she relaxed like she hadn't in a long time. No one found her, but she didn't think about it, so she didn't care. It was a bright, warm, sunny day, even beneath the trees and no sorrow could find her here.

At one point, Verdi came upon a strange clearing in the middle of the forest. It looked like an old meeting place, there were large, moss covered stones in what probably used to be a half-circle and she found an old knife partially buried by years of decay. The knife crumbled at her touch and Verdi found nothing else that was interesting, so she moved on.

Late in the afternoon, Verdi discovered a huge, very old tree. It was so wide that Verdi's arms didn't reach even halfway around it, and so tall she couldn't see the top. 'This has got to be the oldest tree in the forest.' The bark was rough and worn, the roots poked out here and there, as if the soil wasn't deep enough for them. The tree had an aura of an ancient but kindly old man and seemed to invite Verdi to climb his thick branches. Not one to be rude, Verdi grasped the lowest branch and swung herself up into the tree. She climbed higher and higher until she reached the top, and from there she could see far across Middle-Earth. While her tree wasn't the tallest in the forest, it was the tallest in the surrounding area and gave her a magnificent view.

Verdi was awed by the beauty of the Golden Wood and looked across the tree tops for almost an hour, trying to figure out where she was, as well as enjoying the view. She could see what she thought was the city far away ('How in the world did I walk so far in such a short time?') and figured that if she walked west and a little south she could go back. Finally ready to return, she looked down to find her footing and saw a deep hole in the middle of the tree trunk. The trunk was hollow! Perplexed and curious, Verdi contemplated the likelihood of scary creatures in the hole and decided to climb down into the tree.

Wishing she had a rope and a flashlight, Verdi carefully descended into the opening. To her surprise, there seemed to be footholds on the inside. Down she went, into the dark and mysterious cavern within the tree. A few cracks in the bark provided a little light but mostly she had to feel around for each step. She was thankful she was not wearing her old tennis shoes, but rather the soft boots the elves had made for her. She reached the bottom sooner than she had anticipated and there, in the dim light from the opening above, Verdi found an old, time-worn case.

The hinges were rusted and the covering was torn, but it was still intact. She tried to open the case, but the light was so bad she couldn't see what she was doing. Carefully, Verdi picked it up (thankfully, it wasn't too heavy) and she slowly climbed up and out of the tree. It took longer to reach the top than it had going down, and she had to rest a few minutes be for climbing back to the ground.

Once she had reached the ground, she set the case by the tree and opened it. Well, she tried to open it. After the hinges refused to budge, she took a rock and hit them. Under this brute force, the rust broke and Verdi lifted the lid. There, upon soft blue cloth untouched by time, lay the most beautiful violin Verdi had ever seen.