Out of Mirkwood
Scribbles-on-Parchment
February 1, 2020
Chapter 28 – Questions and Answers
Tamír was lost in thought. As he stared up at the stars that glinted in the night sky, like sunlight reflected upon water, his mind kept drifting. He kept thinking about what Hethion had said to him as the ellon lay dying, cut down by his friend.
"I will say hello to Narril for you, but I doubt you remember her either. You could not save her Tamír nor can you save him. My mission is complete."
Narril… even the name was enough to bring tears back to his eyes. His beloved wife – his starlight. He had always had a faint glimmer of hope that perhaps, through some miracle, his wife may have survived Thranduil's last stand and that perhaps he would see her again. Yet now that sliver of a dream had flickered and died out, taking a part of him with it.
"Tamír! Meleth nín, come here!"
The gentle voice of his wife floated through the warm summer evening air. Tamír smiled and looked up at the tree the elleth had climbed.
"And what will I get if I choose to follow? For it is a long way to the top and I have not the desire to climb to such a height for nothing."
The Silvan elf heard his wife laugh. It was the sound that he always loved to hear, for to him it was the most beautiful sound in all of arda. Fairer even than that of any song he had ever heard. Without a second thought, the young ellon jumped gracefully into the branches and was soon crouching beside his wife in the uppermost branches.
The elleth glanced over at him, brown eyes twinkling. "You came up. I thought it was too far of a climb for an ellon such as yourself and I did not tell you what you would receive… if you ever made it up."
Tamír gave an offended look, "An ellon such as me? Meleth nín, you wound me with your words for did you not once tell me that I was the bravest and strongest of all elves in arda?"
"I did and I still mean every word, but do not let it go to your head. Pride does not suit you. Now would you like to receive your gift for climbing such a way?"
"Your laugh is a gift enough for me. Nin lithiach."
Narril smiled, "Enough of that nonsense. Look."
Tamír followed her gaze and saw what she had wanted him to see. The height of the tree allowed them to look out over the top of the forest. The fading sunlight painted the sky with an array of pink and red and the first glimpses of stars were beginning to appear at the sun's retreat. It was breathtaking.
He looked over at his wife as the last rays of the sun seemed to catch in her auburn hair. She turned to look at him and said quietly,
"Le uivelin Tamír."
The Silvan was torn from his elven dreams by the presence of someone sitting next to him. He blinked rapidly trying to rid the last of his memories from his mind and saw that the sun was starting to rise. He had not even realized he had been tired enough to fall asleep. Looking over he saw Elrond sitting next to him. The ellon smiled at him.
"I am sorry to wake you; it was not my intent."
"I was never asleep, mellon nín."
The elf lord raised an eyebrow, "And what was your dream about? You were smiling."
The Silvan looked away. He knew what his friend wanted. "What is it that is bothering you?"
"It is not what is bothering me, it is what is bothering you. You seem sad and distant. The guilt is eating at you," Tamír opened his mouth to protest, but Elrond continued, "I can see it. There is no use denying it."
The two ellyn sat in silence for a moment as the sky began to brighten.
"Have you ever done something that you deeply regret? That tears at your soul?" The Silvan looked down at the grass, "If you have then you would know how I feel and you would know that it is too great a burden to speak of."
"Then I shall wait for however long I need to mellon nín and you may tell me when you are ready."
The sun was soon above the horizon. Estel had been woken from his deep sleep and was now helping his brothers pack the horses while Elrond tended to Maer. The elfling had still yet to wake from his deep, healing sleep but his wound was finally starting to heal and had lost much of its red hue. Tamír too was kneeling by the Sinda, handing Elrond whatever he needed to rebind the ellon's arm. The Noldo tied the last of the clean bandages and sighed.
"His body is starting to heal though not as quickly as I would have liked. However, it makes my heart be at peace that he should not be in pain when he awakens," the elf lord poured out the dirty water he had been using to irrigate the wound, "I will repack the herbs and we can be on our way."
"And how many leagues do you expect to travel today? I know we were unable to get as far as you had wished yesterday."
"If we can make it to the Gap of Rohan before nightfall then I will be pleased with our progress."
Tamír watched his friend roll the clean bandages up and store them in his healing pouch, yet a movement caught his eye. The Sinda's hand that lay upon his breast twitched. Elrond noticed too and set down his bag of herbs. The elf lord laid his hand on the elf's brow which now had several drops of sweat on it.
"His fever has not returned," the Noldo muttered almost to himself.
However, this did not make Tamír relieved. He frowned as the elfling's breathing rate began to speed up, his eye moving rapidly under the closed lids.
"He is in a dream," the words came out before the Silvan even knew he was saying them, "He is trapped in a nightmare."
For several minutes both ellyn watched as the young elf battled with the demons in his mind until Tamír could take it no longer and grabbed the elfling's hand as it twitched on his chest.
"Can you not wake him up?"
Elrond was surprised to see a look of sadness and pain in his friend's eye. "I cannot do that. He will have to come out of it when he is ready."
The elf lord watched closely as the Silvan looked back at the golden-haired elf almost as if he knew or could feel what the young ellon was going through.
"Mellon nín we cannot wait for him to awake. We must make haste. I desire to return to Imladris as quickly as possible," Elrond slowly got to his feet, "Maer will be fine as we travel."
He had seen this before. The dream would either be over in a minute and the elfling would awake or it would continue for several days. Either way, it was neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It just was.
As Elrond went to pick up his healing pouch the eyes of the Sinda snapped open and the ellon jerked upright with a gasp, breast heaving.
Startled at the concerned face peering down at him, Legolas bolted upright. He felt completely disoriented and confused. The dream was still fresh in his mind and seemed so real that he immediately looked around for the bodies of Êmand and his brother. but neither were there. Instead, he saw that he had been laying on several thin blankets spread out in the middle of a grassy plain. Several horses stood nearby loaded with bags and stomping their feet impatiently.
Memories flashed across his mind, bringing back the things that had happened. The spider, the human, the pain, the darkness, the voice calling out to him.
It was then that Legolas realized that someone was holding his hand. The young prince jerked it back and out of the grasp of the eldar who had been holding it.
"Who are you?" the elfling demanded as he glanced around at the strange faces.
His gaze came to rest on the one face he recognized. It was that of the human. The one he had tried to kill and the one who had ended up saving his life.
"Peace mellon, you have been very ill" it was the Silvan elf that spoke, "My name is Tamír."
Tamír… the name sounded familiar to Legolas, though he could not place where he had heard it before. He looked hard at Tamír as the ellon asked,
"And what is your name penneth?"
At the name penneth the young elf frowned. No one ever called him this except for his closest family. Did they not know who he was?
Legolas let his icy gaze land on all the ellyn and the human that surrounded him. Êmand's training immediately came to mind. He could almost hear his mentor coaching him about what to do if he was ever captured. He needed to keep his head and think before he spoke. He doubted they had no idea who he was but he was not going to enlighten them if they genuinely did not.
"My name is my own," the young Sinda turned his gaze to the darker-haired elf standing on his other side, "What do you want?"
"We only wish to see you get well Maer," the Noldo looked at him intently, not fazed by the prince's fierce gaze.
Maer? Legolas was confused at the name the ellon had called him. Was this a ploy to throw him off? And what kind of name was golden?
The elf seemed to know what he was thinking, "We have yet to learn your name mellon, so we chose one for you. If you do not approve of it you may offer up a different one."
The elfling did not like the knowing look in the older eldar's eye and turned his gaze away. He did not like how the Noldo made him feel for it was almost as if the elf was looking into his very heart.
"Then you may tell us when you are ready and we will not ask again until then. However, I do feel that it is only right to tell you the rest of our names."
The next thing the ellon said made Legolas's blood freeze.
"My name is Elrond and these are my sons Elladan, Elrohir, and Estel. We are travelers from Imladris."
Estel stood behind his ada. He could not help but smile at the confused look on Maer's face at the name he had been given.
When his brothers had called to him that the elfling was waking, he had felt a burden lift from his heart. The Sinda would be alright. He just hoped he would not be attacked again. The edan was confused, however, as to why the elf would not tell them his name or why he looked at each one of them with such an angered, yet calculated look. Surely by now the stupid ellon would know they were not his enemies.
As Maer's intense gaze came to rest on him, Estel had to look away. The blue eyes were so cold and emotionless he began to wonder if the elfling was even capable of feeling anything at all.
As his ada told Maer their names, the human dared to look back at the elfling's face. The eldar had gone completely white, a look of surprise filling his eyes.
Elvish Translations:
meleth nín – my love
mellon nín – my friend
nin lithiach – you enchant me
le uivelin – i will always love you
maer – golden
mellon – friend
penneth – young one
ada - dad