...

~ The Havens ~

The next few days were quiet and uneventful as they finally had turned east and were sailing through the Gulf of Luhn. It was now nearly autumn, and the whole area seemed shrouded in fog, though she could make out the great green hills, speckled with yellow as the trees were starting to change color, rising high on either side to the north and south. At last the fair white towers of Emyn Berain emerged in the distance. It seemed a peaceful and lovely place, and Elraen felt she could linger for weeks just to gaze at it.

It was early morning when they reached the docks where the great shipwright Lord Cirdan was already waiting for them. "Greetings, young lady!" he exclaimed warmly. "I have been expecting you."

Elraen looked back at him, astonished, wondering how word of her journey could possibly have reached him.

"Lord Cirdan is a seer," Annael explained. "He has great foresight and can see many things at great distance."

"Come," continued the Shipwright, "there will be much to discuss. But first we dine!"

They were led through town and settled into new quarters, the dwarves mighty relieved to be back on firm dry land at last. A feast of fine food and music was held that night in honor of all who had survived the wrath of the seas. There she saw many Elves, including some of the Valaquendi themselves. Elraen saw their keen eyes and fair faces and a light that seemed to shimmer from within, bright but not blinding, there and somehow not quite there at the same time, and she felt bewildered to think that she could exhibit anything that looked similar.

She noticed that these Elves in turn were looking at her in curiosity, wondering what to make of her. They talked amongst themselves in the high Elf tongue, of which she understood a few words of what she could hear. It seemed to them she was in a way like some sort of puzzle or riddle they couldn't quite see the answer to. Elraen wondered if they saw anything more than even the mariners had.

The next morning she met with the Shipwright alone in his halls, in a tower by the harbor - shorter than the two White Towers at the mouth of the River, but a tall and beautiful structure all the same. "Now, child, what is it that you have come so far through danger and toil to ask of me?" he said.

Elraen then proceeded to tell him her story, going back to where she was born and how she was raised and everything her foster father told her before he died. She handed him her sword in its sheath, and he looked over it for a long moment.

"I am afraid I know not enough of the affairs of Men to give you much counsel of use," he said. "But I know who does, and I will help get you to him."

"There is something else, Lord," she continued after thanking him again. Surprised at herself for suddenly feeling so open, she went on to tell him all of her strange powers, from when she first noticed it as a child up to the storm on the sea. "But, I cannot seem to control it at my will."

The Lord of the Havens smiled. "In this matter I can be of some help. Come," he said and led her out onto the balcony. "Do not think of controlling it. Think of the elements themselves, and their journeys; how the water and earth and air came to be bound together into clouds meandering across the sky, or in storm clouds gathering, and from them the rain falling and the lightning striking. Think of the energy they gather and release when these things happen. And think of how you feel when you have observed these things happening. Focus on connecting your own energy to all of that, and the energy of the weather's elements flowing through you, as part of you. Then picture in your mind what you want it to do."

Elraen closed her eyes and thought of the weather, and of imagining such a connection to the wind and the sea and the land. She thought also of her grief over her foster father's passing, and the fear and anger toward the pirates. She looked up at the clear sky and saw clouds were starting to rush together. A drizzle began to fall. Elraen gasped. "It's working!" she exclaimed in a whisper. At that burst of excitement the clouds parted.

"But how is it that I can do such things?" she asked. "And what is this light that your sailors speak of?"

He smiled again with a laugh. "In good time! All will be revealed soon enough."

The Dwarves then took their leave to get home, but asked her to linger a while, planning to return before she left. Elraen obliged them for she was feeling very content and in no hurry to depart. While she waited Lord Cirdan continued to coach her in the use of her power.

The mariners and their families, thinking on what may have befallen the voyage had they not chanced to find her and have her on board at sea, gave her many gifts. These included

a fine dress, deep gray blue as the sea, in which to take her ease, and jewelry adorned with pearls that were the delight of the lords and ladies of the Havens.

For his part, in return for the rescue from the pirates and the assistance with the Orc chains, the Shipwright asked of the dwarves only that they keep the mysterious oddities of the girl and her story a secret for now. "All will be revealed at the proper time," he repeated to them, and asked the same of his own elves.

In the meantime some of the elves among them embarked on a journey to Rivendell themselves to visit with kin who lived there. They asked the Shipwright if they should take her along, but he advised against it. "There is a foresight on me, and I deem that she must continue alone just as she started."

Toward the end of her stay he presented to her a horse for the rest of her journey. It was a tall and strong yellow mare, with a coat like ripe autumn wheat gleaming in the afternoon sun and pale flaxen hair and tail that was nearly white. "Anaraui we call her. In the Common Tongue her name is Sunstreak. Very fast she is, even by the measure of elf horses, and stouthearted, for she is descended from the great horses brought from the West by the Noldor. I think she wearies of idling here within our borders and desires to run adventures over fields afar."

Elraen was amazed, for even with all her time spent in Rohan she'd never seen a beast so grand and fair to look upon. The animal had a hint of the light of the West in her coat and her eyes, and glimpsed from afar as she ran the viewer might wonder if the animal bore a rider holding up a mirror in the noonday sun. "How beautiful!" she replied. The splendid horse had been outfitted with a fine soft padded saddle for her and a pale grey halter delicately embroidered with silver and gold. Elraen took her out to explore the surrounding hillsides while she waited for the dwarves to return.

After nearly a week the dwarves at last returned, this time with several relatives in entourage. "We are in your debt, Lady Elraen. We have brought you such tokens of gratitude as we have, that are fit for a child of Men, and one for whom, the Shipwright foretells to us, many more dangers may lay ahead," said Nim. He handed her a modest pouch of gold and silver and copper coins (for the pirates had been right about there being little treasure left in the Blue Mountains, though still there was more than the pirates had guessed), enough at least to get her comfortably through the available inns as far as they went. Then with a deep bow he presented the main gift, a small dagger of mithril, with a finely wrought golden hilt and scabbard encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. It was breathtaking.

"It was wrought here in the Blue Mountains back in the First Age, at the behest of the great Elf King for his daughter's first born. The war broke out before it could be given to him. We dwarves do not have much use for such weapons as these, but perhaps you might on your journey ahead. If there is ever anything more we can do to repay you, we are much obliged."

"Exquisite!" she exclaimed in a whisper and bowed deep in return to receive it. "I am humbled. Perhaps I will someday return to ask such a favor. In any case this is a very generous gift, and I thank you."

The dwarves again departed, and the lost daughter of the Southern Dunedain set out the following morning. Sunstreak was minimally outfitted with small saddlebags of food, supplies, and the gifted clothes. There was an additional bag that could be used for a walking pack, as well. "Follow the road due east," said Cirdan, "and it will take you to Imladris, the house of Elrond. Passage should be safe enough as far as a day out of Bree, though that is only halfway. But fear not, no beast of any enemy on land can best this horse for speed if the need comes. And if you come across an old man in grey who goes by the name of Gandalf, ask him for help."

"Oh, and there is one more thing," he said, and brought out a small but long leather pouch with a pair of straps. He opened it, and inside was a fine silver rod, not even the length of her own forearm.

"This wand may look humble but it is far from it. It brings strength to a pure heart, and will help you focus your gifts," he said. He held it up and it caught the sunlight and cast it in every direction like a many-faceted crystal, and almost seemed to glow. "Keep it hidden," he said, "for it is a thing of great worth. But, above the gifts you have received here your own power is the most precious, so my counsel is that you mention it to no one after me until the time is right. I promise, when that time comes, you will know it."

She thanked him profusely again as he fixed it to her left forearm under the sleeve, then at last she set off eastward. It was her nineteenth birthday.