Elfique: Thanks for the comment, To be honest I didn't know how some might take an elf's position on the people under Sauron's control. I'm an idealist I guess to think not all men are inherently evil... Hope you like this next chapter

They were soon walking away from the grove when from a distance Celebrin espied the horses of Celeborn and Galadriel being brought from the makeshift stables by the river. With little forethought they ran to the tent that was set upon a high mound, a tent that seemed as grand as a king's hall made of stone. In haste and in anger the Lord Celeborn appeared, cursing it seems beneath his breath. Celebrin felt guilty for not being at his lord's side when he apparently needed him; in an almost thoughtless motion he bent to his knees and in a gasping voice spoke out,

"My lord forgive me for not being at your call when as it so appears you needed my services as your standard bearer."

Celeborn, at the quick and sudden action, was startled to have first acted in anger, raising a hand at the elf, yet seeing him drop to his knees, feeling naught but shame, softened the Sinda's heart. Yet anger was still full upon him, showing no comfort in his voice, he spoke coldly and rushed,

"Your absence is not what caused my anger Elornion, but another's action, indeed I say one of complete and utter stupidity. Time presses us to ride to Mithlond tonight, a council has been called and messengers sent. Get your horse...time will not wait for you."

And with that Celeborn and Alphindil ran to the open fields where their own two white steeds grazed in the meadows, rekindling their long lost friendship. With a whistle both silver white steeds ran as two stars in the dusk that shine the greatest of all the sky. Though in a rush and hurry Celebrin noticed his friend preparing for riding, and not remembering if he ever left his side that night he asked him,

"Alphindil, why do you prepare for riding, it is I that have been called to ride, not you."

"Though it may seem that my orders were to remain, my garrison had already left this valley for home, I remained to follow you, to that I hold, even though the destination be not Imladris."

"Then this not a parting in haste, but a riding as we did once long ago."

And though that moment seemed to all to be dire and serious, they laughed then and embraced each other once again. Catching up the banner of Celeborn and Galadriel they joined the silver lord and lady whose faces were not joyous but stern and unmoving. Even the Lord Elrond and Erenion Gil-galad had faces of stern and noble nature. The mood of the twain was subsided and in duty and honor they parted, for Alphindil could not ride among the Lords this night, for he was no standard bearer. And with a call the small band of Lords and Ladies rode at great speed across the eastern border of the valley and passed into Eriador.

And that night and the next, with seldom rest in between, brought them to a small hill country, just outside the borders of Mithlond and Forlindon. Such a journey was possible for none of the riders had a horse that had been bred in mortal lands. Of some among them it was said were bred in the country of the undying lands and knew its virtue and long stamina. Such was the urgency needed, and such the great steeds of the lords gave at times of urgency. The riders were permitted to rest for the night in that comely and wholesome hill country, the two friends found one another again by the virtue of their befriended steeds, yet their small reunion was brief as the Lord Celeborn had need to speak with his standard bearer.

The Lord Celeborn's face was ridden with worry and fatigue, it was obvious to his servant that his mind had searched paths never trodden, never attempted until that moment. Celebrin wondered why his master would choose to do such a thing, to attempt something he had not the skill, or even the gift to do. This fatigue was apparently the subject of the aside,

"Elornion, my thoughts have been dark as of late, I see by your eyes this is clear to you as it was to my wife. I tell you this now so that you may know the peril all Middle Earth is placed in at this very moment. We ride now to Mithlond to take council with Cirdan the Shipwright and your kin, though victory seem near for us, it may be the last one we will ever face in this long-defeat. The race of Numenor has become deadly proud, and a shadow I have not seen since the Elder days lies about them. This was the cause for my anger that night of our hasty departure; though Sauron seem defeated in the North the Numenoreans have had a greater victory in the south. They have captured the Lord of Deceit himself... While many might become joyful in this, I and my Lady and my fellow Lords know in truth what has happened. As the journey carried us here their minds reached their gaze into the south even as they rode, mine went with them in part. Yet I could see a red flame from afar, a flame that looked as if the very skies bled, yet their mind kept on while mine in its weaker untrained form remained fixed as it would seem seeing the bleeding sky. I feared it, Elornion, I feared this malice, yet I would not allow the others to be found, for their thought it would seem went heedlessly into the burning sky, not noticing the peril that lay about them. In my fear I strained my thought and my sight, and before me saw a great and terrible eye that ripped the whole sky, burning it, and a laugh, a malicious and terrifying laugh, it pierced my mind and I seemed open to all attack, weak and defenseless against it. It took all I had to cloak my self again. The others were weary, as I am now, that is the reason we rest now..."

"Hir nin, why is it that you tell me this?"

"Because Elornion, we come to a time when I and my Lady will need you more than ever...My lady seeks the paths to the unguarded east, and you of all the kin that I will trust know the Nandor better than any that remain at my side...I ask for your help."

"It is my duty, Lord, to serve you in any way you wish, I will do as you ask."

"Then do this and I will be in debt with you and hundred times more, once for coming to my side in the sack of Doriath, and another for this. I thank you Elornion."

Celeborn left his side and walked wearily to the glade where the White Lady of the Golden hair sat in deep and perilous thought, she did not heed his coming, but when he held her hand she turned her eyes to him, and a soft smile she gave, yet quickly became cold to him and all others.

Celebrin returned to his friend who sat beneath a small tree that did not seem to have known many years. He sat by his side and rejoiced in the rest they shared together, in silence they sat, drinking from their skins, forgetting the peril they must ride beneath, for it seemed to them that time had slowed. At long last Alphindil spoke regarding a lone tree standing upon a hill, in fact what seemed to be the tallest hill in the entire countryside,

"It is a marvelous thing that such a delicate creature can survive by its own self, upon so high a place among its kin. It seems to me it will be a place of great importance, in the days to come..."

"When did you gain foresight and not speak to me about it?"

"It is not foresight, so much as a feeling I have, I feel that from where we sit now will rise something grand, something unlooked for in these days when hope fails us, and all minds are filled with shadow."

"I know not the future of these times, nor do I wish to know them, for me it is easier to accept the present with a future unknown, than to accept an obscure vision of a future I know not whether I will take part in."

"Then let us know the present, here where we have no lords to keep us apart again."

And the two stayed and laughed, and sung, of things long past; Celebrin would play a flute he carried with him always, made of opal and a many hued shell, whose low and deeply melodious tunes mirrored the very ocean; and his companion would play upon a harp of blessed wood, carved in the manner of the Nandor of Doriath, and its notes would reach the height of the mountains. Together their voices delves deep into the depths of thought, and flew above the skies and stars until it reached the place of dreams. And upon them came other pages and standard bearers, who sat and listened to the entwined voices that took their thoughts to places unseen, and whose rhythms danced as elvish dancers around the fires of the harvest greeting.

Yet this tune was not isolated to the servants for the Masters heard them as well, and two in particular, a Golden Lady and her Silver Lord, remembered two voices and melodies that mirrored the sea and woods as the two did now, two ancient voices whose melodies flew with them after death and fire, to the very halls of Mandos. The Lady spoe to her Lord within a thought that they both were bound,

"He sings as his father did long ago, with a voice of the ocean fair and deep."

To which the silver-haired lord replied, loving the woods more than the sea,

"The two are opposites as his parents were once, he bears the voice of the ocean yet the heart of the woods, and the other bears the voice of the wood and the heart of the sea. I fear for him, my love, I fear that such a beautiful melody will never last even as the former did in the halls of Thingol. I fear it will end in sorrow."

"He is joyous now, let him know only that which makes him joyful.'

And night crept upon them and all slept beneath the light of the waxing moon. And the two singers lay together beneath the tree that seemed strengthened against the times that were to come, a tree whose end would not come for another age in time