Author's notes: Short chapter warning! Like I said, this and the previous chapter were meant to be just one. If that was to be true, then you'd have one extra long chapter instead of two miniature ones! Does that comfort you? Oo! Spooky, there I go, stealing lines from the movies again... Oh, another thing: yes, I know, this chapter isn't all that great (it lacks in drama/angst and the poem is just an annoying combination of your good-old common places), but I have this shadow of a physics test that won't leave my head and won't let me focus properly. I promise I'll try to improve the chapter afterwards... in the meantime, hope you enjoy! :)

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Chapter VII: Clepsydra (II)

Each day was as long as an age of the world, and each languid step the horses took seemed to be forced out of them with the brute force of irons. The suffering the walking provoked on the riders was passed on to the horses, and their unwillingness to move forward was more than evident. An aura of sadness enveloped all of them. It took the party of Greenwood elves nearly a week to reach the Great River and a couple of days more till they got to the ford where the Forest Road crossed it.

Moralphwen sat in front of her brother, atop the horse, eyes staring everywhere at all the new things. Still being young by elven counting, she had never left the woods and, even though the direct sun ailed her with its excessive brightness and heat, the plain regions where trees were rare were a sight quite different from what she was used to. Here, there was not that diffuse and fresh environment rich in tones of greens and shades of leaves blocking the sun. Here, she found that the dust on the road disturbed her eyesight and blurred the already desolate images.

"Where are we, brother?" she timidly asked, slightly worried that her eyes couldn't focus things close to the ground properly and that often where she thought she saw water there was none.

"I have told you already, little alph [swan]. We are going South, to visit our kin in Lothlórien." Legolas answered, struggling to keep a strict control over his voice.

"Tell me of L'slórien?" Her curious twinkling eyes met his and he had to avert his gaze, albeit smiling softly at her mistake.

"Loth-lórien, little sister." He wondered for a moment. "I have never before been there myself either, so I shall tell you of what I have heard. Do you know that great oak-tree that grows outside the gates?" She nodded, proud that her limited knowledge was enough to serve her well. "Well, that tree would be no more than a young shrub compared to the trees of Lórien, the Fair! I have heard that the trees there are golden and their boughs rise to meet the stars in the heavens!" Moralphwen's eyes were wide open with astonishment. She pictured herself climbing one of those trees - in the end she would be so high up that all she had to do was reach out her hand, to grasp one of Elbereth's jewels... perhaps even Eärendil...

"Doesn't Eärendil's ship ever get stranded on their branches?..." She asked innocently, but Legolas never had to answer, for just then, one of their companions caught sight of something in the distance.

"My Lord, a company draws near," he said.

"And those are no orcs, they're elves." Hallathon added. "Judging from the direction from which they come, I would say they are of Lórien. We should speak to them, no doubt they have seen us also." Legolas' heart constricted in anticipation - if that party was indeed of Lórien then the hour for parting was nearing along with them.

"Yes, you are right, of course, mellon." He picked up Moralphwen and passed her on to Hallathon's horse. "I will go talk to them, I want you to wait here with the others and watch over her, Hallathon." The other elf acquiesced, but Moralphwen protested when she realised her brother was going off.

"No, Legolas! Take me with you! I want to be with you!"

"Nay, my little alph. But don't worry, I shall be back before you know it."

It would seem the second group they had run into indeed consisted of elves. Both proceeded identically and the two leaders advanced to meet one another, while the other warriors waited for them. The place of their meeting happened to be exactly in the middle of the ford, among the shallow waters that ran wildly from the North.

"Mae govannen [well met]! I am Haldir, captain and guardian of Lórien's borders." The second elf presented himself nobly. "Seldom do our relatives visit from the North. Who are you, friend, and where do you head, if I may wonder?"

"Mae govannen. Im Legolas Thranduilion, o Eryn Galen [I am Legolas, son of Thranduil, of Greenwood]." Haldir's eyes showed his recognition of the name and he bowed his head in respect. "Indeed it is true that contacts between our two realms grow scarce, but we come nonetheless to Lothlórien with a dire request."

During the time the two captains spent talking to each other in the ford, Moralphwen's eyes never left her brother's figure. How she wished she knew what they were saying. Her nurse had always said she was far too curious for her own good, but what could she possibly do about it?... So, it was with great joy that she noticed that Legolas and the other captain were coming her way.

"Moralphwen, this is Haldir. He is from Lórien." The little maiden remembered the manners her nurse had taught her and properly greeted the captain. Legolas continued speaking. "How would you like to go visit Lórien and see the great mellyrn treres I told you of?" His eyes were pained and cast low, but Moralphwen was too young to see it.

"The trees that reach the stars? Can I?" She looked brightly at Haldir, who nodded in return. She was thrilled, but then... "Are you coming too, brother?" Legolas face turned suspiciously closed.

"No, dearest alph. But I will see you again very soon." He tried to contour the point, but it was a delicate matter. And Moralphwen was hardly fooled.

"What? You are not coming? Then I don't want to go..."

"Please, Moralphwen..." He breathed in to gain his cool and unclench his heart, he couldn't just tell her to leave, not like that. Eventually, it was Hallathon who broke him free of the task.

"Are you going to lose the chance to go to Lórien, little one? I envy you for that, I wish I could go..." The maiden looked at him expectantly. Legolas, on the other hand, looked at him gratefully. "Why, master Haldir, wouldn't you say that no other place on Ennor compares in beauty to Lórien?" Once again, the captain nodded his assent, understanding the situation.

"It is quite true. Never in the long years ahead of you shall you find a more peaceful and fair land such as Lórien. It is well worthy of its name, Flower of Dreams." Moralphwen's mind was won over by her curiosity.

"I would love to see it, then! But when will you come back to get me, brother?" For some reason, Legolas was startled with the question, he should have been expecting it, and could only force his lips to produce one barely audible answer:

"Soon. I promise..."

He started walking with the captain and Moralphwen towards the rest of the Lórien party waiting on the other side of the river. Clearing his throat after a moment of silence, he spoke more firmly to Haldir. "My father has given me this letter. It is meant for the Lord and Lady of Lothlórien, explaining the situation. Will you deliver it to them in my stead?"

"Certainly." They stopped walking halfway there, so that Legolas could pass him the folded parchment, bearing the seal of the Royal House of Greenwood. The Prince wished to say something else, but he tried to keep Moralphwen from hearing it at the same time.

"I love my sister dearly. I would ask you something else, my lord. In my absence, will you look after her? Make sure that she is well and that no harm befalls her?" His voice was pained and the captain again understood, giving his pledge with an open heart.

"You have my word, my Prince, and I assure you that it is not easily broken. The Valar themselves would not keep me from it." Again, the Prince was too grateful for words to tell. Sad that he would not be there himself, but grateful that the captain would replace him thus, at the same time.

"And I'm afraid I have another favour to ask. Will you make sure she gets this when she is older? Will you keep it for me?" He said, while reaching for something in his boot and handing it to the Lórien captain. It was wrapped in a green cloth.

"It shall be done."

That was it, the time for parting. Legolas steeled himself. He had not the heart to look at his sister in the eye, he would rather hold the memory of her grinning merrily atop the horse than the sad face she presented now, having fully realised what it meant to be going to the Golden Woods.

Moralphwen was walking side to side with Haldir, and the Prince stood, still as stone watching her. Her first tears began to drop when she gazed back to him and found his back turned towards her, walking away, with firm and determined steps. He seemed so cold and indiferent to her...

What she never did see were the tears that shone in his eyes that night, nor the way he sought solace in quiet and dark solitude, away from the other warriors' singing and talking. And neither did she see the way this ritual repeated itself day after day, night after night...


I isil síla calassënen fanyarëssen
Ar i éli ná lá sanya alcarinquá,
Calma morna lóméssë yentë,
Tánala ar fáinala i ilwëllo
I ilistimaquén.
Ananta, mana i tyarë ya u-cena ainat?
Mana i tyarë nin lelyananyë
Lá cena ar iltië.