Strive For Remembrance
By: Puredeadthingy,
Written for: Fondued Jicama.
When we found Sauron had come to the Brown Lands, we were all cautiousHe had attacked us; and we had no choice but to go to Fangorn. Our purpose, you see, was to protect the woods of Middle-Earth, and what better place to go than the remains of the great forests of Eriador?
Our lives had been happier before. We tended to our gardens; we watched the Entings play; we wandered through Middle-Earth. But since our homelands had been destroyed by an outsider, Fangorn had to be protected as well. It was by luck that the two Halflings came into this forest and were not threatened. When they revealed they knew and spoke well of Galadriel and Celeborn, they were not harmed; one of our number knew these elves and their children well.
These Hobbits, as they wished to be named, lived in what to them was known as "The Shire." The one who rescued the Halflings would now hear this story, and think, perhaps, of the Entwives.
Ah, the Entwives! When Sauron destroyed our gardens, the Entwives left. The eldest of our number may not remember them. But they helped sire many Entings; that is to say 'little Ents', so that our race could continue.
Why did we not go against Sauron? For this simple reason; we did not know of this abomination. The Entwives tended to our gardens, but the Ents wandered. We only came back when we had the desire to look once again upon our mates.
And that is how we found the gardens tamed; a number of us crossed over the Anduin and found a barren desert.
Why would the old Ent think of this 'Shire', now, is a story appealing to the Entwife nature. The Entwives liked places that were peaceful and orderly and perhaps left for this place; what these Hobbits said made it seem like a great desire for them.
Perhaps, then, we see why they may have gone there. There was a rumour among these Halflings' people of moving trees among a great forest. Not by our standards, surely, but size itself is cut in half with these people.
For the Entwives we have searched; for the Entwives we have looked to the south, east and west; but there is no trace. Our beards have grown now, and perhaps we shall not see a new age; but never forget the tale of the Entwives, and always strive to remember.
I never saw the old Ent again. It is my belief he passed away. But although I never had the courage to go to the forest, I think the Entwives may have dwelt there. For Treebeard and Fimbrethil, perhaps, never lost each other; any strand of hope one held for the other would probably be true. For them I remember; for them, I shall not forget.