A/N1:Beginning with the next chapter the story lineisgoing to get pretty dark and I wanted to warn all of you about this in advance. Some of the topics that will be dealt with are brutal and the effects could almost be called "nightmarish." Just remember that during the time period this story takes place in, whether it is considered AU or not, there are no paramedics, or police or social workers to call for help if the characters get into trouble. Our characters, when faced with such horrendous problems either work through them or they die - there are no alternatives.
A/N2:Everything in this story is connected to everything else - have faith. There is a goal and a whole lot of seemingly insurmountable obstacles in front of that goal. The point is that I am working off of a 130 page outline so if I lose you somewhere, just email me (my email address is in my profile) and I will get back to you with an answer as quickly as possible.
A/N3:Sorry about the late post but my computer thought it was having a spiritual experience last night and wouldn't upload the chapter.
Chapter 25
Legend of Osp
Night had fallen in Rivendell and with the darkness came a fog, thick, cold and unnatural. It covered everything with its icy touch and left behind a foreboding that none could ignore. When morning finally arrived, though the sun did it's best to touch the valley of which Rivendell was a part, it could do nothing for the feeling of doom, left over from the night before.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
"Here's another history book for that area. Have you found anything yet Elrohir?"
"No brother, I can find no mention of either town, either Nen or Naur. There is something familiar about those two names though - I just cannot place what it is at the moment." Elladan slammed his book shut in frustration and rubbed his temples.
"Personally, I think the words are kind of cute!"
"Only you would, Elrohir."
"I mean, listen to them, Nen, Naur, Nen, Naur, water and flame, water and flame." Elrohir closed his book and rubbed his own tired eyes.
Suddenly, it was like Elladan exploded for he came out of his chair and ran to his twin, grabbing his shoulders and lifting him to his feet then twirling him around while laughing. Finally, he set the wide-eyed Elrohir back on his feet.
"That is it brother! Do you not see? Water and flame - what do you get when you put water on flame?"
Elrohir paused thinking that there was some trick to the question.
"Uh, put water on a fire and you get, uh, smoke? Smoke! OF COURSE," he yelled.
"I see you get it brother. Smoke - Osp! We are looking for the town of Osp."
"But Elladan, brother, how did this happen? Why would two towns make one town?"
It was like someone had put out the light. There was no explanation. They had figured out one part of the mystery only to find themselves pointed in the direction of another.
"Elrohir, let us just figure this mystery out one step at a time starting with finding out everything we can about Osp."
About an hour later, two supposedly mature elven brothers burst into their sister's room and jumped onto her bed with an enthusiasm that could not be ignored. It was already a well known fact that Anayah was not a morning elf and so it would be debated for some time whether or not the twins had a death wish at the time they jumped up on her bed.
"Anayah wake up! We've figured it out!"
"Well we've figured part of it out anyway." Elladan was a little bit calmer.
When all the two got for their enthusiastic efforts was a growl, they both grabbed some extra pillows and started to hit the lump that was doing its best to hide under the covers.
"What - do - you - two - want!"
"We want you to wake up and listen to this."
"Ok Elrohir, I am awake - not that I want to be." She brushed her hair out of her eyes then looked out the window of her room. "Now what is so important to the two of you that you would risk life and limb to wake me? And what is with this fog!"
About this time, a sleepy-eyed Legolas stumbled into the room with a warm blanket wrapped around his slender shoulders. The exuberance of the twins had woken him and even though the blonde-haired elf was not yet fully awake, he wanted to hear what it was that the twins were yelling about.
Elladan tried to divert his sister's attention from the strange fog back to their mystery solving talents.
"Forget about the fog! We figured out what was so bizarre about the towns both our groups visited. Now listen!"
"I am listening!"
"Nen is water and Naur is flame - at least that is the interpretation of their names into Common. Well, after what happened in Naur and together with how mysterious Lady Ninniach has been, and all the crazy stuff that has been happening around here and other places, we wanted to find out about the history of the towns. We could find nothing about either town and that is strange in itself because Ada's library is so extensive. So, after giving ourselves headaches searching, it was Elrohir that came up with the solution. If Nen is water and Naur is flame then what do you get when you combine water and flame?"
She sat silently for a moment then her eyes widened as she too got the meaning of what he was going to say.
"Of course! You would get smoke. The town of Osp!"
Elrohir bounced on the bed a couple of times before he settled down.
"So, Elladan and I started searching Ada's books and found out something strange about Osp. I am telling you Anayah, it is a regular ghost story! Dan, read her what you found!"
"Fifty men, women and children made a journey from a long-dead and forgotten town somewhere in Rhun. The purpose of their journey was to create a town of their own that would be free of the tyranny of their leader in their old town. The old town's leader had some talent with the dark arts and for many years had kept his people subservient to him through the use of his magic. Then when the people wanted to leave to start a town of their own, the leader cast a curse on those who had dared want to leave his control."
The story was interrupted for a moment when Elurin knocked on the door and brought a tray into the room bearing a pot of tea and various pastries for the three. Anayah blew him a kiss and the old elf smiled then left, after which Elladan continued with the story where he had left off.
"During their journey, the travelers were forced to fight off orcs and wargs, then had to deal with rock slides, torrential rains, and, unfortunately, also had some kind of a strange run in with some extremely poisonous snakes. Eventually, these people finally found a place they liked and established their town. The town was somewhat xenophobic and wanted nothing to do with other humans. Whether it was because of the curse, the power of suggestion or because of some plague - nobody knows - but the townspeople started to go mad. Before it was all over, about half of the townspeople had lost their minds."
Anayah shivered involuntarily. What Elladan was describing was all too close to much of what had been encountered by them.
"Now this one is going to get you, Anayah." Elladan's eyes were twinkling in anticipation of her reaction. "The mayor of the town, a man called Thorn..."
He was interrupted when Anayah sat up in bed and grabbed the book from him. Grabbing it back, and giving his sister a dirty look, he continued reading.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted! The mayor of this little town, a man called Thorn, finally decided to end the madness and boarded up the houses of the mad townspeople, with them in it, then set fire to as many homes as he could. Unfortunately, a strong wind came up and carried the flames to the adjacent buildings. Before it was over, the entire town was burned to the ground and all the people lost their lives. There have been two more tries over the years to get the town running again, but each attempt has ended in disaster. After the first attempt to restart it, people died of plague, and we could not find out why the second attempt failed."
Both twins looked at Anayah who was looking back at the two of them with narrowed eyes. Her gaze was so intense that when she finally spoke, both twins jumped.
"All of you get out of here and let me get up and dressed. Meet me in the library in one hour. Brothers - we have a mystery to solve."
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
An hour later the twins, Anayah and Legolas were gathered in the library and a large map of the area they were investigating was hung on the wall. The towns' names had been written in red and with the town of Osp as the middle point, red lines had been drawn to Naur, Nen and Imladris.
"Does anybody know if any other strange things are being reported anywhere near these towns?" Anayah was having a thought and she was running with it but because the idea she had in her head was so crazy, she was not going to share it with anyone until she was sure there was some validity to it.
Elladan provided the key.
"Maybe Ada has received dispatches about things like that."
Before anyone could say anything, Anayah told them all she would be right back and left the room at a run. Quickly she ran to her father's study and when she heard voices inside, knocked lightly on the door. When Lord Elrond invited her in, she peeked into the room before entering and saw that Elrond had been in conference with Glorfindel and Erestor, his advisors. Quickly she found a short stool and drug it over to Glorfindel then stood on it, kissed him lightly on the cheek, rubbed it in with her hand and said good morning. The elf lord chuckled because the stool thing was a running joke between the two.
She then went to Erestor and as she started to kiss him on the cheek, the dark-haired elf tried to push her away. She kissed him anyway and rubbed it in and whispered good morning into his ear and even though he seemed indignant at her behavior, he smiled at her anyway.
Finally, she walked up to Lord Elrond and did the same to him as she had done to the other two but to him she also gave a hug.
"Ada, I am sorry for barging in here like this but it is terribly important."
When Elrond raised an eyebrow but said nothing in response, she continued.
"Have you received any dispatches from anybody near the town of Osp or Nen or Naur and if so can we borrow them for a bit? The twins, Legolas and I are on to something big and if you have any dispatches we need to see them to confirm our suspicions. Have you received any?"
"I have received several and yes you may borrow them. However, I do expect them to be returned in the same condition they were borrowed in."
She kissed her foster father on the cheek one more time then, grabbing the dispatches off of his desk, she left his study to return to the library. When she walked in the door, the others, who had been chatting to pass the time, came to full attention when they saw her enter the room with an arm full of dispatches. It took them some time and a lot of red ink but finally every place on their map that had suffered any kind of strange occurrence had been appropriately marked.
They were all surprised when, about 30 minutes into their investigation, the door opened and Aragorn walked into the room. Every one jumped up from where they had been sitting to help the ranger find a seat as all four of them had seen that he was still quite unsteady on his feet. When he chose to sit next to his sister then leaned his head on her shoulder in exhaustion, the others in the room smiled because they could see the brother-sister bond was strengthening more each time the two were together and it made everyone very happy.
"Tell me if you start to feel worse Estel." Anayah whispered this to her brother as she knew quite well how he hated to show weakness. He nodded at her then smiled.
After the group had spent a couple of hours together, brainstorming, the only thing they could say for certain was that there was some force outside the natural order of things at work, even though they could not say what that force was. After deciding that they all needed a break, the group adjourned and all left to do other things. Anayah walked Aragorn back to his room and stayed with him until he had fallen asleep then, kissing him gently on the forehead, she left and made her way back to the library.
This was where Lady Ninniach, Elladan and Elrohir found her later in the afternoon - in front of the map and staring at it intently. After greeting the old Maia and the twins, she went back to staring at the map. Seeing how puzzled she was, Lady Ninniach, putting an arm around each of the twins, caught the young she-elf's attention and gave her the clue that opened up a whole different side of things.
"Young one you need to remember balance and duality."
Anayah looked at the map, then the twins, then back to the map. Then, her whole face lit up as everything started to make sense.
"Grandmother Nin, you are a genius!"
As the Elladan and Elrohir settled Ninniach into a comfortable chair, Anayah ran to the door of the library, intending to call Legolas. She squealed, jumped and made a grab for her heart when the blonde elf almost ran in to her before she even got fully out the door.
"Legolas," she said breathlessly, hand still over her heart, "you just scared about 50 millennia off my life!"
"As if!" Both twins said in unison.
She grabbed her friend by the arm and drug him into the library and unceremoniously but gently pushed him down into a chair.
"Ok everybody, and no I havenothad too much tea today, I am going to draw some lines between these things that have been happening. Do all of you see the same two things that I see?"
Legolas had been frowning and for the moment remained silent. Elladan thought he could see one thing and spoke of it.
"Osp is the central point for all the strange occurrences!"
"That it is Elladan. Now does anybody notice anything about the events themselves?"
This time it was Legolas who saw what the others did not.
"Duality! A flood here," he pointed at a spot on the map, "and a fire over here. That is it! Each of the events has the exact opposite of itself occurring at the other end of these red lines."
Ninniach's eyes were twinkling, especially when she saw that Anayah was finally beginning to understand.
"Duality - balance. That is it, is it not Grandmother Nin? Twins is the key."
The old woman nodded her head.
"Then Amrún is..."
Anayah did not get to finish her sentence before Ninniach put a finger to her lips.
"But how was this made possible?"
"Someone stupidly and foolishly invoked the wrong power."
"I think, Grandmother, that the time has come to do a little fishing!" (A/N:refers to Chapter 8.)
"I do believe it is time for that."
TBC
COMING NEXT:Thunder and Lightning: The wind was picking up, becoming stronger and if she had been more alert, would have noticed that the wind was moving away from the house and following her as she tried to make her way to the stables. She saw the flash as the lightning hit the tree above her and heard the crack as the massive trunk was split in half and began to fall. There was no time to react as the whole thing came crashing down on her. All she felt was a massive blow, a tremendous pain and then blackness took her away from it all.
Soccer-Bitch: Mmmm - lembas! WHAT? You haven't typed up your Grandfather's favorite story yet?! Can't you just imagine him, up there, giving you the "Peredhel look?" LOL! Iwillemail you because I have something for you - I just have to figure out how to send it - you will understand when you get it. If you don't hear from me, email me - the addy is on my profile page. And as always - thanks for the review!
grumpy(): As always, Grumpy, it is a pleasure hearing from you - thanks for the review. The first time I introduced the character of Chubby into my story, a reader thought he was stupid - I had to patiently explain the concept ofpet therapyto them. Years ago, I had a wolf-hybrid (half Arctic wolf, half German Sheperd) and she was my therapist so I know from personal experience how perceptive and beneficial animals are to the people they care about. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
A/N2:Everything in this story is connected to everything else - have faith. There is a goal and a whole lot of seemingly insurmountable obstacles in front of that goal. The point is that I am working off of a 130 page outline so if I lose you somewhere, just email me (my email address is in my profile) and I will get back to you with an answer as quickly as possible.
A/N3:Sorry about the late post but my computer thought it was having a spiritual experience last night and wouldn't upload the chapter.
Chapter 25
Legend of Osp
Night had fallen in Rivendell and with the darkness came a fog, thick, cold and unnatural. It covered everything with its icy touch and left behind a foreboding that none could ignore. When morning finally arrived, though the sun did it's best to touch the valley of which Rivendell was a part, it could do nothing for the feeling of doom, left over from the night before.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
"Here's another history book for that area. Have you found anything yet Elrohir?"
"No brother, I can find no mention of either town, either Nen or Naur. There is something familiar about those two names though - I just cannot place what it is at the moment." Elladan slammed his book shut in frustration and rubbed his temples.
"Personally, I think the words are kind of cute!"
"Only you would, Elrohir."
"I mean, listen to them, Nen, Naur, Nen, Naur, water and flame, water and flame." Elrohir closed his book and rubbed his own tired eyes.
Suddenly, it was like Elladan exploded for he came out of his chair and ran to his twin, grabbing his shoulders and lifting him to his feet then twirling him around while laughing. Finally, he set the wide-eyed Elrohir back on his feet.
"That is it brother! Do you not see? Water and flame - what do you get when you put water on flame?"
Elrohir paused thinking that there was some trick to the question.
"Uh, put water on a fire and you get, uh, smoke? Smoke! OF COURSE," he yelled.
"I see you get it brother. Smoke - Osp! We are looking for the town of Osp."
"But Elladan, brother, how did this happen? Why would two towns make one town?"
It was like someone had put out the light. There was no explanation. They had figured out one part of the mystery only to find themselves pointed in the direction of another.
"Elrohir, let us just figure this mystery out one step at a time starting with finding out everything we can about Osp."
About an hour later, two supposedly mature elven brothers burst into their sister's room and jumped onto her bed with an enthusiasm that could not be ignored. It was already a well known fact that Anayah was not a morning elf and so it would be debated for some time whether or not the twins had a death wish at the time they jumped up on her bed.
"Anayah wake up! We've figured it out!"
"Well we've figured part of it out anyway." Elladan was a little bit calmer.
When all the two got for their enthusiastic efforts was a growl, they both grabbed some extra pillows and started to hit the lump that was doing its best to hide under the covers.
"What - do - you - two - want!"
"We want you to wake up and listen to this."
"Ok Elrohir, I am awake - not that I want to be." She brushed her hair out of her eyes then looked out the window of her room. "Now what is so important to the two of you that you would risk life and limb to wake me? And what is with this fog!"
About this time, a sleepy-eyed Legolas stumbled into the room with a warm blanket wrapped around his slender shoulders. The exuberance of the twins had woken him and even though the blonde-haired elf was not yet fully awake, he wanted to hear what it was that the twins were yelling about.
Elladan tried to divert his sister's attention from the strange fog back to their mystery solving talents.
"Forget about the fog! We figured out what was so bizarre about the towns both our groups visited. Now listen!"
"I am listening!"
"Nen is water and Naur is flame - at least that is the interpretation of their names into Common. Well, after what happened in Naur and together with how mysterious Lady Ninniach has been, and all the crazy stuff that has been happening around here and other places, we wanted to find out about the history of the towns. We could find nothing about either town and that is strange in itself because Ada's library is so extensive. So, after giving ourselves headaches searching, it was Elrohir that came up with the solution. If Nen is water and Naur is flame then what do you get when you combine water and flame?"
She sat silently for a moment then her eyes widened as she too got the meaning of what he was going to say.
"Of course! You would get smoke. The town of Osp!"
Elrohir bounced on the bed a couple of times before he settled down.
"So, Elladan and I started searching Ada's books and found out something strange about Osp. I am telling you Anayah, it is a regular ghost story! Dan, read her what you found!"
"Fifty men, women and children made a journey from a long-dead and forgotten town somewhere in Rhun. The purpose of their journey was to create a town of their own that would be free of the tyranny of their leader in their old town. The old town's leader had some talent with the dark arts and for many years had kept his people subservient to him through the use of his magic. Then when the people wanted to leave to start a town of their own, the leader cast a curse on those who had dared want to leave his control."
The story was interrupted for a moment when Elurin knocked on the door and brought a tray into the room bearing a pot of tea and various pastries for the three. Anayah blew him a kiss and the old elf smiled then left, after which Elladan continued with the story where he had left off.
"During their journey, the travelers were forced to fight off orcs and wargs, then had to deal with rock slides, torrential rains, and, unfortunately, also had some kind of a strange run in with some extremely poisonous snakes. Eventually, these people finally found a place they liked and established their town. The town was somewhat xenophobic and wanted nothing to do with other humans. Whether it was because of the curse, the power of suggestion or because of some plague - nobody knows - but the townspeople started to go mad. Before it was all over, about half of the townspeople had lost their minds."
Anayah shivered involuntarily. What Elladan was describing was all too close to much of what had been encountered by them.
"Now this one is going to get you, Anayah." Elladan's eyes were twinkling in anticipation of her reaction. "The mayor of the town, a man called Thorn..."
He was interrupted when Anayah sat up in bed and grabbed the book from him. Grabbing it back, and giving his sister a dirty look, he continued reading.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted! The mayor of this little town, a man called Thorn, finally decided to end the madness and boarded up the houses of the mad townspeople, with them in it, then set fire to as many homes as he could. Unfortunately, a strong wind came up and carried the flames to the adjacent buildings. Before it was over, the entire town was burned to the ground and all the people lost their lives. There have been two more tries over the years to get the town running again, but each attempt has ended in disaster. After the first attempt to restart it, people died of plague, and we could not find out why the second attempt failed."
Both twins looked at Anayah who was looking back at the two of them with narrowed eyes. Her gaze was so intense that when she finally spoke, both twins jumped.
"All of you get out of here and let me get up and dressed. Meet me in the library in one hour. Brothers - we have a mystery to solve."
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
An hour later the twins, Anayah and Legolas were gathered in the library and a large map of the area they were investigating was hung on the wall. The towns' names had been written in red and with the town of Osp as the middle point, red lines had been drawn to Naur, Nen and Imladris.
"Does anybody know if any other strange things are being reported anywhere near these towns?" Anayah was having a thought and she was running with it but because the idea she had in her head was so crazy, she was not going to share it with anyone until she was sure there was some validity to it.
Elladan provided the key.
"Maybe Ada has received dispatches about things like that."
Before anyone could say anything, Anayah told them all she would be right back and left the room at a run. Quickly she ran to her father's study and when she heard voices inside, knocked lightly on the door. When Lord Elrond invited her in, she peeked into the room before entering and saw that Elrond had been in conference with Glorfindel and Erestor, his advisors. Quickly she found a short stool and drug it over to Glorfindel then stood on it, kissed him lightly on the cheek, rubbed it in with her hand and said good morning. The elf lord chuckled because the stool thing was a running joke between the two.
She then went to Erestor and as she started to kiss him on the cheek, the dark-haired elf tried to push her away. She kissed him anyway and rubbed it in and whispered good morning into his ear and even though he seemed indignant at her behavior, he smiled at her anyway.
Finally, she walked up to Lord Elrond and did the same to him as she had done to the other two but to him she also gave a hug.
"Ada, I am sorry for barging in here like this but it is terribly important."
When Elrond raised an eyebrow but said nothing in response, she continued.
"Have you received any dispatches from anybody near the town of Osp or Nen or Naur and if so can we borrow them for a bit? The twins, Legolas and I are on to something big and if you have any dispatches we need to see them to confirm our suspicions. Have you received any?"
"I have received several and yes you may borrow them. However, I do expect them to be returned in the same condition they were borrowed in."
She kissed her foster father on the cheek one more time then, grabbing the dispatches off of his desk, she left his study to return to the library. When she walked in the door, the others, who had been chatting to pass the time, came to full attention when they saw her enter the room with an arm full of dispatches. It took them some time and a lot of red ink but finally every place on their map that had suffered any kind of strange occurrence had been appropriately marked.
They were all surprised when, about 30 minutes into their investigation, the door opened and Aragorn walked into the room. Every one jumped up from where they had been sitting to help the ranger find a seat as all four of them had seen that he was still quite unsteady on his feet. When he chose to sit next to his sister then leaned his head on her shoulder in exhaustion, the others in the room smiled because they could see the brother-sister bond was strengthening more each time the two were together and it made everyone very happy.
"Tell me if you start to feel worse Estel." Anayah whispered this to her brother as she knew quite well how he hated to show weakness. He nodded at her then smiled.
After the group had spent a couple of hours together, brainstorming, the only thing they could say for certain was that there was some force outside the natural order of things at work, even though they could not say what that force was. After deciding that they all needed a break, the group adjourned and all left to do other things. Anayah walked Aragorn back to his room and stayed with him until he had fallen asleep then, kissing him gently on the forehead, she left and made her way back to the library.
This was where Lady Ninniach, Elladan and Elrohir found her later in the afternoon - in front of the map and staring at it intently. After greeting the old Maia and the twins, she went back to staring at the map. Seeing how puzzled she was, Lady Ninniach, putting an arm around each of the twins, caught the young she-elf's attention and gave her the clue that opened up a whole different side of things.
"Young one you need to remember balance and duality."
Anayah looked at the map, then the twins, then back to the map. Then, her whole face lit up as everything started to make sense.
"Grandmother Nin, you are a genius!"
As the Elladan and Elrohir settled Ninniach into a comfortable chair, Anayah ran to the door of the library, intending to call Legolas. She squealed, jumped and made a grab for her heart when the blonde elf almost ran in to her before she even got fully out the door.
"Legolas," she said breathlessly, hand still over her heart, "you just scared about 50 millennia off my life!"
"As if!" Both twins said in unison.
She grabbed her friend by the arm and drug him into the library and unceremoniously but gently pushed him down into a chair.
"Ok everybody, and no I havenothad too much tea today, I am going to draw some lines between these things that have been happening. Do all of you see the same two things that I see?"
Legolas had been frowning and for the moment remained silent. Elladan thought he could see one thing and spoke of it.
"Osp is the central point for all the strange occurrences!"
"That it is Elladan. Now does anybody notice anything about the events themselves?"
This time it was Legolas who saw what the others did not.
"Duality! A flood here," he pointed at a spot on the map, "and a fire over here. That is it! Each of the events has the exact opposite of itself occurring at the other end of these red lines."
Ninniach's eyes were twinkling, especially when she saw that Anayah was finally beginning to understand.
"Duality - balance. That is it, is it not Grandmother Nin? Twins is the key."
The old woman nodded her head.
"Then Amrún is..."
Anayah did not get to finish her sentence before Ninniach put a finger to her lips.
"But how was this made possible?"
"Someone stupidly and foolishly invoked the wrong power."
"I think, Grandmother, that the time has come to do a little fishing!" (A/N:refers to Chapter 8.)
"I do believe it is time for that."
TBC
COMING NEXT:Thunder and Lightning: The wind was picking up, becoming stronger and if she had been more alert, would have noticed that the wind was moving away from the house and following her as she tried to make her way to the stables. She saw the flash as the lightning hit the tree above her and heard the crack as the massive trunk was split in half and began to fall. There was no time to react as the whole thing came crashing down on her. All she felt was a massive blow, a tremendous pain and then blackness took her away from it all.
Soccer-Bitch: Mmmm - lembas! WHAT? You haven't typed up your Grandfather's favorite story yet?! Can't you just imagine him, up there, giving you the "Peredhel look?" LOL! Iwillemail you because I have something for you - I just have to figure out how to send it - you will understand when you get it. If you don't hear from me, email me - the addy is on my profile page. And as always - thanks for the review!
grumpy(): As always, Grumpy, it is a pleasure hearing from you - thanks for the review. The first time I introduced the character of Chubby into my story, a reader thought he was stupid - I had to patiently explain the concept ofpet therapyto them. Years ago, I had a wolf-hybrid (half Arctic wolf, half German Sheperd) and she was my therapist so I know from personal experience how perceptive and beneficial animals are to the people they care about. Hope you enjoy this chapter.