Chapter Three: A Memory

As the year started and the students made new friends, Godric remembered the first time he met Rowena.

Godric and Helga were living in Mirkwood with their cousin and uncle. Their mother had mysteriously died shortly after their birth, and it was believed by some that their father killed her, or had someone do it for him. Their father had abandoned them, so their mother's brother, King Thranduil, had taken them in.

One day when they were about eleven, Godric was out playing hide-and-seek in the forest with his sister and their cousin, Prince Legolas Greenleaf. Just as one round had finished, the three children heard horses approach and head for the cavern palace. Taking several shortcuts, they ran through the forest to the front door of the palace, barely outrunning the riders.

"We were beginning to wonder where you three were," Thranduil said, standing in front of the door with his council and the Royal Guard. "The delegation from Lothlórien is almost here."

"Sorry, Father," Legolas said.

"Sorry, Uncle," Godric and Helga said.

About twenty riders stopped their horses in front of the elves of Mirkwood. Four people dismounted: one an adult, clearly the leader of the group, and three children, the same age as Godric, his sister, and their cousin. Thranduil went to greet the oldest of the four, Lord Celeborn, like they were old friends. Celeborn introduced the three younger elves as his children: The eldest, a daughter, Celebrian; the other two, twins, daughter Rowena and son Altizer.

The rest of the delegation from Lothlórien dismounted as well, and followed their hosts into the palace. As Rowena passed Godric, she smiled. He felt his face turn as red as the hair poking out from under the hood of her cloak, pulled up around her head.