Disclaimer: I don't own nothing and nobody.

Chapter Quote: "The road to the mountain, keep to the forest. Do not let yourself be seen."

Note: See ends of chapter for definitions of highlighted words. If you are unsure about anything, be sure to ask me in your review and I would be happy to answer it for you.

Chapter Five

Lightfoot

I could hear Valanna screaming, it was all I could hear actually. Estel was shouting something to me, but I could not comprehend his words. I could only hear the mare's high-pitched screams, twisted with pain. The stables were alive with activity as we reached them, grooms and stable-hands lining the mare's stall wall. I could see Elrond kneeling beside her as Estel and I slipped through the door. Estel's eyes widened and his smile vanished. He darted to his father's side as the beautiful palomino writhed in agony on the floor.

Her eyes met mine, her pupils retracting as she screamed again in pain. And I froze, terror gripping my heart. No, you cannot leave me. I whispered silently to her. Please, there are too many things I still need to know. Elrond and Estel were frantically trying to ease her suffering, to aid in delivering her foal. But the look I saw in Valanna's eyes was too familiar, and I knew without looking to anyone for the answers...that she was dying.

"The road to the mountain, keep to the forest. Do not let yourself be seen." He was tall, dressed in soiled and bloody garments. A symbol of a horse head was engraved on his tunic. He was talking to a boy, a boy with pale skin and raven black hair, a boy who had tears in his eyes. The boy gripped my hand and nodded, there were screams outside.

The man looked fearfully toward the window then pushed us toward a wall. "Quickly! Do not look back."

I was silent, but the boy issued a strangled cry, "Father-"

"Do as I say! Stay in the shadows. You were always gifted in that way. Do not let yourselves been seen at any cost."

A door appeared in the wall and the man embraced me tightly. Fear welled up in my chest and I hugged him back, feeling a natural affection for this strange man, the strange man with the horse on his chest.

"You must carry on our race little one. You must protect what is left of out kind." He said, there was a deep sadness in his eyes as he spoke. "You must lead them on, do you think you could do that?"

I nodded tearfully. He tied something heavy and cold around my waist and that of the boy's. I looked down, it was a sword. There were screams at the door of the room now, a room I now noticed to be exceptionally large.

Something was outside now, scratching at the wood and growling menacingly. "I will not leave you." The boy stammered.

"No!" The man said fiercely, his eyes watering. "You will take your sister, keep her safe, warn the others of our fate. Our future rests in you. Now go, quickly!"

The boy pulled me through the door, and moments after he had closed it and we were running down the passage way, I could hear the door from the other room shatter. I could hear the man shouting now...screaming...

...and we ran.

I could hear Valanna's screams now, intertwined with that of the man's. I looked dazedly around me, my gaze resting on Estel, his back was facing away from me. I met Valanna's eyes once more,

PLEASE!

I heard sharply inside my mind in a tongue so foreign that it made me start.

The strength of our race rests with you now. Be strong.

The words were jumbled...difficult to understand. And then they suddenly faded, and as quickly as everything had occurred, everything was still. The light left Valanna's eyes and her screams silenced and her body became still. I stared in unbelieving shock. No...

"She is dead then." Elrond said softly, sitting back and bowing his head.

"Ada..." Estel said softly, he was holding a mass of something slimy in his arms. "The foal...it lives."

Horses in Imladris are always buried with great honor... but Valanna was not buried.

Elrond did not let me go to her cremation, the highest level of respect that could be given to an animal that was held in high esteem by the Elven lord. I did not mind, the sight of her body burning was already too much for me to contemplate...let alone to watch. The thought and memory of her death pained me greatly to recall. I knew somehow that I had lost someone special in Valanna, and that my questions would go forever unanswered about her...and myself.

We gathered at the top of the waterfall, a crisp breeze blew over the valley. Elrond let her ashes fly with the wind, flying out over the valley in which her life had finally ended. And in that moment...

...every trace of Valanna was gone.

I was sitting in one of the gardens again, next to a small stream. I looked toward the great waterfall, the mountains on which Imladris was set and surrounded by. I turned back to the stream, I watched the water ripple over the smooth stones, the clear liquid sparkling in the early morning light. Valanna's death had changed me...though it was not only her death itself. No, I had sensed that death was not an unfamiliar part of my past.

It was more of the feeling that Valanna had possessed the answers to my broken memories, and now I was in the dark again. One thing I knew for certain, that I was no ordinary mortal child.

I looked up at the sound of the steady tread I recognized immediately to be Estel's, I pushed myself into a sitting position from my former position which had been stretched out flat on the mossy bank. I smiled at him briefly as he stopped in front of me.

"I was looking for you Dininiel. What are you doing here?"

Thinking, I thought, as usual.

He nodded, "About Valanna?" I nodded again, he kneeled down beside me, looking into my face. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

It was not the first time. I thought bitterly.

He did not answer...and I wondered if he had heard my thoughts at all this time. He looked into my eyes, searching their depths with his clear, silver orbs. "I want to show you something." He said softly, his eyes seeming suddenly sad.

I blinked, asking the obvious without words or thoughts.

"Please, will you come with me?"

I did not reply at first...I did not want to. Four days had passed since Valanna's death...I did not want to go anywhere. It almost felt improper...like I should still be grieving for her...and for myself...in solitude.

"Please Dininiel."

I looked back up at him, and I nodded.

He brought me back to the stables, the beauty of the place filled me with a deep calm. I had not felt such peace since I had taken to avoiding them, for the horses were all that brought me comfort from the torments of my nightmares which had grown steadily worse over time. He led me to a stall, and we stopped at the door before he pushed it open.

"Look inside." He said gently.

I peered curiously and hesitantly into the stall. The floor was lined with soft straw, a water trough was fastened in the far corner. And in the center, stretched out flat on its side, was a golden colt.

Well, he was not golden, palomino...like Valanna. His coat was a golden yellow, dulled...and his mane and tall were white, as well as his flanks which were peppered softly like snow. He did not stir as Estel pushed me gently inside...the little thing was barely breathing. I noticed then as we stood staring, that the foal was alone, no dam stood in the stall with him.

I looked up at Estel questioningly. "She died." He said sadly. "His mother died."

"This is Valanna's colt."

Valanna's colt...yes...his coloring was familiar...yet he looked sickly. His long, spindly legs were stretched out in front of him, he remained still as I moved closer.

"He will not eat for me, ada, or for any of the stable hands."

I watched the foal with sad eyes, my hand inadvertently reaching out. I did not want to touch it, I could not erase the image of Valanna's pain filled eyes as she struggled to give life to this little thing...this little weakling foal who had taken her life in the process. Would he ever feel remorse over that? Knowing it was his life that took his mother's? I hesitated, then placed my hand on his smooth flank. The touch of his fur sent shudders down my spine, I stroked the dull fur, my hands moving up to his barrel, and then to his shoulders, and finally to his neck. The colt shuddered for a moment as well, but soon became still once more, his chest rising and falling slowly.

"Would you like to try and feed him?" Estel asked quietly.

I nodded without looking back, not taking my eyes off the sickly colt.

"All right, I'll return shortly."

Estel rose and disappeared, but I, I gently picked up its small head and pulled its shoulders gently into my lap. The little thing looked at me only once before laying its head back down in pitiful despair. He was sad. So sad. He missed his mother and he was hungry for her milk, her love and affection. Don't worry, I thought, I will take care of you. I shall be your mother.

The colt stared at me with its sorrowful eyes, its body was covered in damp, downy fur. Estel entered the stall once more just as it settled into my arms. He smiled and handed me a smooth pouch filled with some sort of warm liquid.

"It's goat's milk." He said. He told me how to hold it by the colt's mouth so he could drink. I nodded politely, but somehow I already knew how to do all of that. I placed the nipple of the leather bag in the colt's mouth. As first he refused, Please. I thought, You must eat. Do it for me, for your mama...for Valanna. She would not want you to die in this way. The colt looked at me again for a moment, meeting my gaze, then, I watched with growing pleasure...hardly daring to breathe as it began to suckle.

'Ai!' Said a passing stable-hand in amazement who had stopped and was now staring with a delighted expression on his face. 'I had given up on that little one, did not think he would last much longer. Well done child!' He said to me in Sindarin, which I was proudly able to understand. I smiled in reply, looking up at the stable-hand and then at Estel, who was smiling broadly as well.

His smile soon became infectious and I found my own becoming wider as the colt's appetite kicked in.

"He shall be yours then." Said Estel. "We shall have to think of a name for him now won't we?"

One came immediately to my mind, but the words were jumbled together in a way that made it impossible for me to understand. Then a clearer name broke through, Lightfoot. I wanted to tell Estel, but I did not know how. I looked down at the colt, meeting his sorrowful eyes. You shall be Lightfoot. I told him. I felt a blur, an expanse of contentment that was not my own. And one word.

Yes.

The foal finished the milk and sighing contentedly, he slept. Laying him gently back upon the straw and promising reverently to come back to him later, I took Estel's hand as he pulled me to my feet and back to the houses.

Terms to Know

Colt: A male foal under the age of 6 months

Dam: A mare who has recently given birth to a foal and has it still suckling to her.

Flank: Region of the horse above its hips.

Barrel: Area of the horse between the spine and the stomach

TO BE CONTINUED...