Barad Lomin
Laura White, aka halavana

Chapter IX

Elmoth and Elendal

All elves filled Keren with a sense of wonder and amazement, even after living with them so closely, but none more than one whom she had met only recently in the company of his parents, Neldoras and the lady Springlily. But he seemed unwilling to speak with her. The other elves treated him with even more reverence than they did Morfindel and Lurisa, and these two themselves bowed to him when they met. Most strange, Keren thought it, that an elf child who looked to be of no more than 16 years should be regarded with such honor.

She asked Thistledown the reason for this and for once her tutor refused to answer, saying that if she wanted to know who he was, she should ask him herself and not trouble others with her curiosity. Feeling rebuffed, Keren went to the library, seeking solace from some elven poet. The boy was there and was just about to quickly exit when she called to him

"Wait!"

He paused and looked at her.

"Might I ask you two questions, please?"

The elf child nodded consent.

"Do you avoid all of mortal kind or have I done something to cause your disfavor that you refuse to speak to me?" she asked.

"You've done nothing to cause ill will. What may your second question be?"

Keren blushed. "That was my second question. The first was merely to ask leave to ask a question."

The youth laughed brightly. "Too long have you been companion of Thistledown! But you are close to the mark. I have known, and lost, many friends of mortal man."

"And perhaps you do not wish to add more sorrow to the tale of your life?" she ventured.

He smiled, bowed to her and passed silently from the room.

Springlily found Keren later that day and, kind as she always was, understood Keren's wonder, for she herself was in wonder at her child. Although he was her son in one sense, in another he was her husband's lord and captain and near kinsman.

"Remember you, many of the songs which we sing of a mighty captain who fought the, well, the creature we do not name, and aided his people in their escape with his own life?"

Keren nodded and recalled the tale of Glorfindel and the fall of Gondolin.

"This is he, returned to us after many years of rest. He has chosen to return to Middle-earth for reasons he will not reveal other than to say he felt compelled to return, for something yet remains that he must do. He approached us in a vision, asking that we provide him with a habitation for his spirit, for the Powers had given him leave to return to Middle-earth. Neldoras and I both were visited by dreams and omens warning us of something to come and being certain this was the thing, granted it full willingly, for he was our elven lord when we lived in Gondolin and has ever been in our thoughts and songs. Now to have him with us again is more than we could hope. Elves reborn among their children or grandchildren are not at all uncommon, but few there be who retain memory."

"Memory of what?" asked Keren, much intrigued.

"When elves are reborn, we do not remember all that was past until reaching adulthood. This grace is granted us to enjoy the love of two sets of parents and two childhoods. Yet Glorfindel remembers his previous existance even now, as a youth. It is a rare thing. You must not reveal that he is with us, for he has asked that we keep silence, though he did grant that I tell you. He wishes that we not make his presence known until he returns to his full stature."

Keren swore herself to secrecy and never again spoke of the boy to any, not even Thistledown. Strangely enough, he ceased to avoid her and often came to the archives when she was there pouring over a book of herb lore. Much he knew already and though his subject of study he did not reveal to her, he helped her find obscure passages in other works relating to medicines and healing. He once told her that Neldoras and Springlily called him Elmoth, after the place where Elwë first saw Melian, and she could do the same.

One day Keren accompanied him, Springlily and several others as they roamed about at twilight, gathering herbs, roots and fruit for the evening meal, as was their custom. They kept lush gardens scattered all about Dor Luin. Different plants and herbs grew better in different places. Anyone unfamiliar with elves would not even recognizes the gardens for what they were. The elf ladies directed Keren which herbs they required for the venison. She was gathering onions, carrots and cabbage from a garden not far from the path to the road near the trees of guard when she spied an aged gentleman approaching from the south. The elf ladies saw him also and concealed themselves, thinking him to be a wanderer or elf seeker. Elmoth stood motionless to the side, not hiding himself, but watching intently, for he sensed something of this old traveler which eyes could not see.

Keren had not their skill of concealment so she also stood motionless, watching him hobble along. He stumbled and fell to his knees and with great difficulty struggled to his feet using his staff. Keren's heart lurched within her as she watched and taking pity on him stepped forward, saying, "Here, grandfather. Lean on my arm. Perhaps I shall not be so unwieldy a walking stick."

The old man looked at her with rheumy eyes and his toothless mouth smiled. "Thank ye, my dear," he said and took her arm.

She observed how he walked, favoring his right side. He must have been tall in his youth, she reasoned for even stooped as he was and shriveled, he was more than her height. The hood over his head was old and tattered but of a rich material. He stumbled again but she held him up and spared his knees another blow.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Oh, just to the house of my elven lord for on an errand have I been and must needs give an account."

"An urgent errand it must have been, to send one so aged," observed Elmoth, still looking keenly at the man from where he stood near a large cedar tree.

At this the old man chuckled merrily but abruptly grimaced in pain. Keren would have guided him to a tree root where he could sit and rest but as she was leading him he again stumbled. This time she could not hold him up and he went down. As a fold of his cloak moved she thought she saw a dark stain on his clothing and knelt beside him to look more closely.

"Oh sir! You're hurt!" she exclaimed as she moved his clothing away from the wound. "How came you by such a wound?" She aided him lying down and would have questioned him further, but as he stretched out he seemed to faint. Keren gasped as much to her surprise, the old man began to transform and take the shape of an elf, and that elf was Holly Starfoot. Keren gave a cry of alarm and called to Elmoth, who had already sprung to her side.

"Elendal, your disguises will be your undoing one day," he murmured and aided Keren inspecting the wound.

The ladies saw and sped to the elven hall to summon elves to carry him to the house of healing.

Keren had never heard that elves could be wounded, and now here was one, prostrate and dazed from a knife wound and she sought about her for a way to staunch it. Presently Starfoot opened his eyes, coming a little out of his swoon and looked at her.

"Hail Keren, well met. I knew you not until this moment."

"Well met indeed. I also knew you not. How came you by this wound?" she demanded, her sight blurred with tears.

"Going about among mortal men, to see what I should see."

"And what did you see?"

"The reason you were wise to fly from such an arranged marriage."

"What! Went you among those treacherous people! For no other reason! Oh, it was a fools errand, and here you are dying and I have not the skill to help you!"

"Not dying, only wounded. Millerson can not kill an elf so easily," he said, attempting to comfort her.

"Were you mortal man, I would find a needle and sinew and stitch the flesh together to heal, but I know not what to do for an elf. You churlish elf! Do not dare to die and leave me! If any sense of fair play remains with you, you must live and strengthen yourself so that I may have opportunity to berate you properly!" she stammered through her tears and failed of words completely for she could but sob while Elmoth probed the wound to see how deep, how long and how wide it truly was. Starfoot reached a hand to brush the tears from her face and looked at them as they ran down his fingers, dropping into the wound.

Half a dozen elves rushed to them bearing a litter and knelt beside Starfoot as Elmoth pulled Keren away. They asked questions of the fallen elf which he answered weakly. He gestured to her once and the others looked at her, then back at him and nodded. They placed him on the litter and would have borne him away speedily but he grasped her hand and would not release her until he again fell into a swoon and his grip loosened. They then sped away with him, leaving Keren to weep on the shoulder of Elmoth.

Morfindel was in a fury when informed of how Starfoot was injured. His face darkened as the sky of an approaching storm and all whose memory reached back into the ages noted how much he resembled his father, Caranthir. Little said he of his thoughts, and none pressed him as he called his captain to speak in private. When at last he broke counsel, he inquired for Keren, who was not to be found in her usual places. At last they found her at the falls where they went to draw water, speaking with Elmoth.

"I should never have come here," she said. "It is because of me that Starfoot is wounded, perhaps even by the very knife that slew my first suitor, for the injuries are so alike. I cannot forgive myself. Why did I not pass on to my kin in the north rather than bring trouble to..."

"Blame not yourself," said Morfindel and she sprang to her feet at the sound of his voice. "Often happenings come to pass unlooked for. It is of his own doing that Starfoot was injured. You need not fear for him for elves are not so easily slain. And," here the elven lord added with a wry smile, "among elves, a woman's tears have their own healing enchantment when they fall on a wound for which they are shed. Be comforted, for Starfoot shall recover. But we must consider how to deal with his attacker and for that we need your wisdom, for you know your people."

"I will help where I am able," said Keren, looking from one elf to the other.

Morfindel bowed to her and indicated she and Elmoth should follow him to a counsel. Neldoras was there, as were several others, including Lurisa. Keren sat beside her and listened to the elven lord and his counselors discuss what was to be done. They would not go in open war against Barad Lomin, of course. But they felt it needful to warn the people of the town that they were in danger of being overrun by goblins if they were not vigilant.

At the mention of goblins, Elmoth shifted in his seat and spoke. "The world is changing. The time comes for us to seek the Havens or unite with Imladris. I will soon join Cirdan, or Elrond and his sons."

"As will many of us," said Morfindel softly, glancing at Lurisa who nodded agreement.

"We should confer with the knights of Arthedain and Cardolan," suggested Neldoras. "For goblins are hiding in their midst and it concerns them as well."

At last they determined that a consortium of elves and men should meet with the magistrate, to ask that Millerson be delivered to them for judgment. Morfindel dispatched messengers to Duinbar, Tharbad and other places where knights were known to reside. Jack and Sam volunteered to spy out events in Barad Lomin itself, since they felt more responsible than Keren for Starfoot's injury. Morfindel dismissed the others and motioned for Neldoras and Elmoth to follow him to the archives where they shut themselves in, seeking books and scrolls with which to advise the knights when they arrived.

The messengers returned two weeks later, except Jack and Sam who had taken jobs at the New Mill in Barad Lomin and sent daily messages by way of sparrows. The news they sent was troublesome. Millerson had returned after attacking Starfoot and behaved quietly for several days. They reported that he went for a walk every night along Fieldbrook Road, always turning about at the same marker. Said it was merely a constitutional walk for his health and nothing more. However, the two elves had seen him leave the road and go to a small shack on two occasions where he met with others of undetermined kind. Sam said they looked like goblins, but Jack insisted they might be nothing more than grotesquely shaped men. Which was true could only be discovered by one more learned than they, so they sent descriptions of the creatures for the elven lords to consider.

With the messengers came ten knights - rough, weather-beaten men, dark haired and gray eyed. Five of Cardolan and five of Arthedain. Knights of the two provinces mixed freely this far from Fornost and Tharbad. Families crossed the river frequently between Duinbar and Barad Lomin. Many had sons in the service of both King and Prince. Keren recognized them, though they passed through Barad Lomin infrequently. She was always respectful of them for she knew what they were about. Her father let them use his old family home in the orchards. He did this quietly and few there were in Barad Lomin who knew of it for the knights came and went unseen. Keren's three eldest brothers visited on occasion and informed her of the latest news, but she had not seen them in more than three years, when they quarreled with their father and departed in anger.

The elves held a banquet in honor of their guests, who showed well in the merry making that they were not all so grim as their faces would lead one to believe. One came up to Keren laughing, "Do you not remember me?"

"How can I not know my eldest brother," she laughed in delight, "thought I'm somewhat put out at your absence these three years. Our father is not easily dealt with these days."

Her brother laughed and said, "That is exactly why I have avoided him. He looks right past me and our brothers, speaking to our companions rather than to us. He makes speech impossible, we choose to let him forsake us, though we regret having to forsake you."

They stood off to the side sharing news of their doings most of the evening. He told her of her other two brothers, now in the north near what was once Annuminas, for though the city was abandoned yet some remained who kept a estates there. Mostly they were descendants of those, much like themselves, fallen from King's or father's favor at the time Annuminas was abandoned.

Starfoot also, recovered from his wound, was again merry. Putting on her most grim, scolding face, she asked her brother to wait a moment while she lit into a friend who had wronged her. Keren walked to him and said, "Well, friend Starfoot, I see you are recovered enough. Are you prepared for your berating?"

The knights, other than her brother who knew his sister well, would have thought her serious, if not for the sparkle in her eyes. As it was, after Starfoot bowed to her and begged her to continue, they followed her words as closely as they could, making appreciative noises as men do when amused.

"You fool of an elf! Why did you not ask someone to accompany you on the road at least! Or if not that, you could have informed Jack and Sam of your whereabouts and they could have guarded your flanks. But no! You had to play your joke on them regardless of the consequence. Surely you do not need a mortal woman to tell you that the world is a dangerous place, for you knew it well before I, before even my great grandmother was ever born! Did you think you could sing to them and make them fall at your feet? Great singer and minstrel that you are, I doubt the local clods from whom you were seeking knowledge could have wit enough to appreciate it..." She continued in this manner for a long while until at last, having said all that she would, she ceased. Then, after a breath she added, "Thank you for bearing with me in my displeasure, my friend. So glad am I to see you whole again, will you not ask me to dance and let us forget past grievances?"

Starfoot bowed to her and said, "I accept your displeasure in the spirit which it was intended and look forward to the time when I may berate you for putting yourself in danger of goblins when you should have fled. But let us not speak of such things now. Will you not dance?" He extended his hand, palm upward. She curtsied and placed her hand in his and together they joined the dance.

"Who is she?" asked a knight.

"That would be Keren Woodman, the daughter of Old Woodman of Barad Lomin, and a good match for a knight would she be," answered her brother who was called Argus, poking his elbow in his friend Brogan's side.

"Yes, but would a knight be a good match for her?" asked still another, laughing and slapping his two friends on the back.

"She seems already matched with an elf," observed Brogan, "and out of knights' reach." He watched Keren dance until the Captain of Morfindel's host called them over to speak with him.