Disclaimer: I haven't written one of these in a while. - Don't own any of Tolkien's characters, only my own creations.

Chapter Sixteen

Caden

In a slightly cold and heartless way, life in Gilloth continued as it always had. As if Faerlain had never come or gone for that matter. But he had come into my life and now nothing was the same. I couldn't do much of anything without my thoughts turning to him.

The weeks passed, I was now twenty. I turned such shortly after the Spring Festival. It was funny, when I had led Talorta into that trailer nigh on two years ago...being in this place would have never even entered my mind. Not only was I here, but if given the choice to go back...I'm not sure I'd want to leave. An immortal held my love, he would always hold my love. Why had fate so cruelly chosen me? I knew I in turn would never stop loving him. I knew I could never deny him again as I had done the year before at the Harvest Festival. Ironic, I had first realized my affection for him that day when he found me dancing in the forest. Our meeting reminded me painfully of Luthien and Beren. Only their tale had ended with an 'happily ever after'.

Would I be as lucky?

Spring rolled into summer and still Faerlain did not come home. Rumors had begun to reach us of the War in the Far East, in a land called Mordor. Mirlaic was hesitant to ever speak of Mordor. She said an evil had grown there that did not deserve to be spoken of. She said some things were better left without recognition. But how could I ignore them if this evil was the exact thing Faerlain was now fighting against?

Her belief did not stop the talk around the village however. Gilloth was on the borders of an old highway that led straight through the forest to the palace. We never used to get visitors ...well...except for me. But now with the war our little village was no longer as quiet.

The local inn was always packed with travelers. And as time passed, Araviniel was called to the palace by request of the queen and with the coming of the warmer weather, I found myself spending more and more time outside and less time at Mirlaic's flet. I took Talorta out more often into the woods, sometimes braving it's depths and exploring a little, always keeping close to the old highway. For being in the daily bustle of the village was a sharp reminder that while I was safe here, Faerlain was out fighting a war. I fondly fingered the medallion of the horse he had given to me. It was silver, with the rearing image of a blue sapphire horse in it's center. I ran my fingers over it and sighed, lately I had been feeling like this medallion was the only part of Faerlain I still possessed.

Sure, Elves are immortal but it doesn't mean that they cannot die in battle. Everyday felt longer then a lifetime. I mean, last time he had gone I had missed him a little, but this time...frankly we were sort of in love. So it was different in a sense that now I felt incomplete without him.

The travelers came and went, a few were humans which surprised me. I hadn't seen my own kind in years. They were messengers, of all kinds and genders, on their way to the palace. Most were Elves, but the few men who did come all had the same look. The look of woodsmen, rangers s Alphril called them. They stayed for short periods of time, leaving as quickly as they had come and disappearing into the bleak nights.

We received no word from Faerlain over that time and none of his battalion. I was almost starting to think about leaving Gilloth to find him when on a surprisingly chilly night, Gilloth received the most odd stranger of all.

He was a wizened old man, his back bent from age and as I sat astride Talorta while we walked home after a hard ride in the woods to Mirlaic's flet, I saw him sitting by Alphril's shop. His cloak was of a deep, hunter green. Mud-splattered, which told tales of long journeys and distant lands. He looked up with a smile and waved, his long grey hair and beard blowing softly in the evening breeze. "Hello there." He said in a clear voice.

The manner in which he spoke was not what surprised me, it was the way in which he spoke, he spoke in the common tongue, a tongue I had not heard in a long while. Even the travelers from the battle fields did not speak such as he. I slowed Talorta to a halt and looked at him.

"Hello." I replied.

"Beautiful horse you have there, unusual color."

"Thanks."

"Talorta is his name isn't it?"

I blinked my jaw dropped slightly. There was mirth in the old man's eyes as he watched me. "How did you–"

"No matter, no matter." He cut me off with a wave of his hand. He had risen to his feet now, leaning on a intricately carved staff, the sun was setting, refusing me the privilege of studying it in greater detail. I dismounted and led Talorta over to him. He smiled and rubbed Talorta's velety nose as we stopped in front of him with his gnarled hands. Then at last he turned back to me,

"Forgive me, I have failed to introduce myself. My name is Caden." He bowed his head slightly, still smiling.

"I'm-" I started, but did not get to finish.

"Oh yes, I know who you are. Victoria Knightengale I believe."

I stared in wide-eyed astonishment. Who was this stranger who pretended to know so much about me? "I'm sorry...have we met?"

"No." He said thoughtfully. "Not that I can recall." He paused, studying my face and then frowning as if he has just remembered something unpleasant. "Come and see me tomorrow. It grows late and I grow weary." He said after a moment of silence, he drew up a long green hood.

"Where?" I asked, it was strange, but suddenly I felt an urgency to speak with this man...no matter what. He pointed to the woods.

"I'll be there. I never liked houses, no room to breathe. A good, solid tree is all I need."

My mind was numb, who was he? I started to mumble, "Be careful, the sp-"

"Of the spiders, yes, I know. Thank you for your warning, but I've been here before." He said this not in a reprimanding manner, he was soft spoken. Every sentence had a ring to it as if he wanted to laugh but wanted more to talk.

"Oh."

"Good. I'll see you in the morning."

He turned and hobbled toward the forest under the growing cover of darkness. I stared after him until he disappeared from my sight in raw wonder. Well, I would be seeing more of this man for sure. I mounted Talorta and set off for home at a brisk trot.

I did not tell Mirlaic about Caden that night. It just seemed...I dunno...something that should be kept a secret. Mirlaic and I didn't talk as much as we used to nowadays. She knew I missed Faerlian, missed him with my whole being, but she didn't want to put into words what I already knew.

That a love affair between a mortal and immortal would only end in tragedy and loss.

So we remained mostly silent, speaking only when necessary. I saw little of Ana or Elenowen, I wasn't sure...but I think it was because I was avoiding them. It was a subconscious feeling, one that surfaced very rarely, if at all. Slowly, bit by bit, I could feel myself losing my affection for this place...and the people in it. Or maybe it wasn't so much as a loss of affection or a fear. That they would be taken from me as cruelly as Faerlain and my own family had. I didn't know...it was all too confusing.

I went to bed after quiet reassures from Mirlaic and an affectionate kiss on my part. Differences or no, she was the closest person to a mother I had right now, and I loved her as such. My room was silent, the breeze not heavy enough to even rustle the leaves. I fingered the horse medallion once more as I slipped under my blankets and just before I was lost to reality, I made a firm resolution to go see Caden tomorrow.

It was strange, the whole thing. Not strange, weird, out of the world, alien. How did this old man know a name I had told to no one, not even to Mirlaic from the day I had first awoken here? And stranger still, as I rode out to the woods to see him that morning, almost convinced he had been a dream, there he was. Sitting by the stream, leaning against the tree I had often sat under so many times. He looked up at me and smiled as I dismounted and let Talorta wander in search of food.

"Good. I had hoped you would come early."

I stared at him for a moment, slightly shocked and slightly skeptical. "How did you know I would come at all?"

"It is my business to know such things." He said simply, he was smoking a large pipe, blowing smoke rings and numerous other shapes that caught my eyes for a number of minutes. "Come." He said, pointing to a patch of grass opposite of him. "Sit. We have much to discuss."

I blinked, my legs felt wooden as I dragged them into place and sat nervously across from the green cloaked stranger. I sat down cross-legged and looked expectantly at him, but he said nothing. He studied me with a curious expression on his face. His eyes traveling all over my body, resting for a while on the medallion which rested on the folds of my bodice. "Yes. I had expected that." He said at last, taking a whiff of his pipe.

"Expected what?" My mind was hazy, buy as I said these words it suddenly cleared. I looked sharply at him. "What am I talking about? What am I doing here?"

"These are very good questions." He said in all seriousness.

"What? Oh. And who the hell are you?"

He frowned slightly at my slip of nasty language, I couldn't help it. Caden seemed to know so much, but said so little. And this was starting to drive my crazy. Was I crazy? Maybe he was a hallucination, after all, it wouldn't be impossible with everything that was going on in my life right now.

"No need for such words, though they were not unexpected as well. I suppose you are wondering why I have asked you to come here."

"Only a little." I said in a flat tone, my arms crossed over my chest as I stared at him. My anger surprised me, it had come suddenly, unbidden. But now I felt no desire to brush it away as I grew more wary of the whole situation...and especially of Caden.

Caden had clear green eyes, they were the color of a young leaf or fresh piece of grass. Looking both young and unmistakably old and wise at the same time. He was smiling again as if I had just said something remarkably funny.

"Well, I came to bring news."

"From whom? I don't even know who you are." I said hotly, I was beginning to feel more stupid by the minute.

"I told you, I am Caden. I am simply, Caden, nothing more, nothing less."

"All right Caden, what message did you have for me?"

He was silent, he looked straight into my eyes and said, "One who loves you wishes you to know he is well. That he has not forgotten you, and that he loves you."

I stared, blinked, my mind starting to cloud over again. If this was some sick joke I was going to strangle this old man with my bare hands. But...but what? But a lot of things. For one, he knew my name. He knew Talorta's name. He knew who I was. My words came out in a hoarse fashion.

"You mean...Faerlain?"

He blinked, watching me with those green eyes. He sighed, the smile disappearing. "I'm afraid I can tell you no more. You will have to come back tomorrow."

"What?" The fog lifted. "You mean that's it? That's all your going to tell me?" I wanted to swear, a feeling I had not felt a single day in my existence in Gilloth.

"That is all. Come back tomorrow, maybe I will have more for you then."

"Maybe?" I asked in disbelief. I was standing now, my fists clenched at my sides. "How do I know you not just some cheap con-man out to get me and tear my heart in two?" I shouted. How dare he! How dare he presume to use me in this manner! "Who do you think I am? Your toy?" I didn't know what made madder, the fact that he had thought he knew who I was or the feeling that he was playing with my heart. The truth was, he hadn't even scratched the surface of who I was, and it infuriated me that he could pretend to know.

Caden sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I cannot tell you anything more right now."

"Oh really? How can you play with people like this? Doesn't it bother you?"

"Victoria, I am not playing with you."

"So what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to help you."

His voice sounded old and weary all of a sudden, and in a instant my anger began to fade away. "Help me with what?"

"The one who asked me to bear this message was not the one you call Faerlain."

"Then who was it then damn it!"

"His name was Zachary."

The all too familiar name slapped me in the face, pains filled my chest. I could see him falling off Talorta, the fence snapping under his weight. "What?"

"Come see me tomorrow." Caden said, he closed those strange eyes and turned away.

I backed away, staring at him. Then in one violent motion I ran to Talorta, leaped onto his back, and spurred him back to the village, leaving Caden behind by the stream with a trail of my tears to follow.

Twisty, twisty, twisty! Angst, angst, angst! Bet you all thought that lovely little message was from Faerlain didn't you? Huh? - Well, you thought wrong. I bet also that half of you forgot Zach already. Trust me, your not close to being out of the woods yet. Zach, (reminder: He's Victoria's dead brother) will be making a bit of a twist in the near future. In the mean time...who the heck is Caden? Some freak old man who tells messages from people who are suppose to be dead? I think not...though that's what he seems like right now doesn't it:) (wink) An update will come soon! In the mean time, why not humor me with a review? Who knows, with a little encouragement maybe this update will happen sooner then all of you expect...

Namarie,

Luthien Anaclime

TO BE CONTINUED...