Chapter 7 – They Were Said to be the Greatest Heroes of the First Age
"Do you remember the day Ereinionspoke with you in the gardens of Lindon before he left for war?" Gildor asked as he stood before Thuriniel, who sat quietly and anxiously on one of the few benches in the small garden of the Grey Havens.
Her bright eyes saddened for a brief moment as she remembered that moment too well. It was the last time she ever saw the only father-figure she remembered in her life. But quickly her eyes alit again with a strange curiosity. "How did you know—"
"There were few places you went that I did not know," Gildor chuckled. "Well, I assume you remember what he spoke of. I think I can continue his thoughts."
Her eyes widened with accusation. "You knew, too? And you did not tell me either? Why is it that I am left out of this secret?"
Gildor chuckled again, though it wasn't as hearty as his earlier ones. "I believe no one knows for sure save for four people, three of which are dead and the other remembers nothing of her past." Thuriniel instantly got the hint and looked down at her lap. "And only Ereinion had suspicions, which he shared with Elrond. I only learned of these suspicions yesterday."
"Yesterday?" she questioned as her bright eyes glanced back to his green ones.
"I do hope we can get through this tale a bit easier than the last."
She blushed, but refrained from glancing down. "Sorry, continue."
Gildor smiled. "Well, according to Ereinion, he believed that your parents were Beren and Lothian—"
"Lothian?"
"Yes, the same Lothian you keep seeing in your dreams, I believe. They were said to be the greatest heroes of the first age.
"Lothian was the daughter of Elu Thingol, King of the realm of Doriath, and Melian the Maia, one of the servants of the Valar. That alone gave her great and strange powers, making her half elven and half maiar. She was considered to be the fairest child of the Ilúvatar.
"Beren, however, was a mortal. He was a descendent of the kings of old, the ancient race of the Dúnedain. After a great battle, he alone escaped into the wilderness north of Doriath. One of his first great feats was that he was one of the few who could get through the Girdle of Melian. Once he reached the forests of Doriath, he spotted fair Lothian as she danced and instantly fell in love with her, as she with him. The two were later sold out by Lúthien's friend, Daeron, a minstrel who loved Lúthien's music, to the King. Lord Thingol, who was furious with the idea of his daughter marrying a mortal, assigned Beren with an impossible task to earn Lúthien's hand in marriage. That task was to fetch a Silmaril from Margot's crown. Do you know of the Silmarils?"
She nodded absently, her mind still in shock and awe. "They were the three jewels that Fëanor, the King of the Noldor, crafted and Morgoth, the Dark Vala, stole them, which caused Fëanor and his seven sons to come to Arda after swearing an oath to get them back."
He nodded as well. "And how many times have you read that story?"
She laughed lightly and shrugged. "Celegorm was the only clue I had until last night."
"Anyway, Beren began his quest and quickly found help from an old ally, Lord Finrod, one of Lord Fingolfin's sons. They, and a band of warriors, continued their quest until they were entrapped by Sauron. Sauron held them in a deep pit, trying to get information out of them as to who was leading the group and what their purpose was. But after failed attempts, he began letting a beast out into the pit to kill off each of the group one by one.
"Lothian, who had already tried to follow Beren, had been locked in a house in a tree by her father to keep her from helping Beren. In order to escape, she grew out her dark hair and used it to climb down from her prison. From there she attempted to catch up to Beren, but was interrupted by Lord Celegorm and Lord Curufin, two of the seven sons of Fëanor. They knew of Beren's quest for they had been in Finrod's city when he volunteered to help Beren retrieve a Silmaril. So when they came across her, they quickly took her hostage. Not caring about Beren, the two brothers attempted to wed Lothian to Celegorm so they could gain control of Doriath's armies to help gain back the Silmaril. But with the help of the Vala hound, Huan, given to Celegorm by Lord Oromë himself, Lothian escaped Nargothrond where she was being held and headed for Sauron's tower.
"Upon her arrival, Sauron took the form of a dark and terrible wolf to try and defeat Huan, for it was said that only a dark and great hound could defeat the Vala hound. He failed, and Lothian quickly saved Beren, but not before Finrod had been killed.
"Huan then returned to Celegorm and Beren and Lothian continued to Angband, Margot's stronghold, wearing the disguises of a bat and a wolf. As soon as they reached the gates, they were confronted by the very hound Morgoth had bred to defeat Huan, Carcharoth. But Lothian quickly put him to sleep with her power and they continued inside. But upon arriving before Margot's throne, they were immediately questioned and Lothian was stripped of her disguise, but she quickly put Morgoth and his entire court to sleep by dancing. Once they were asleep, Beren took one of the Silmaril's from Margot's throne and as he attempted to take another, the blade of his knife broke and a shard of it hit Morgoth to awaken him.
"The two then rushed to escape, but they were quickly stopped by Carcharoth again. Beren held out the Silmaril in an attempt to scare the hound off, but the beast ate Beren's hand and the Silmaril whole before running wild on a rampage as the Silmaril burned the hound's insides.
"Once Beren and Lothian returned to Doriath, Beren revealed that he had indeed retrieved a Silmaril, but it was still in his hand which had been devoured by the dark hound. Thingol, awed by the story, allowed Beren and Lothian to wed.
"It did not take long until Carcharoth began causing trouble near Doriath. Thingol and Beren created a small hunting party to attempt to stop the dark hound, which included Carcharoth's counterpart, Huan, the Vala hound given to Celegorm. But during their successful hunt, both Beren and Huan were mortally wounded.
"Lothian mourned her loss for nearly a year before she, too, died and went to the Halls of Mandos. There her grieving did not stop and Mandos felt so bad for her, he returned both Beren and Lothian to Arda as mortals to live a second life.
"In this second life, they had a son named Dior, who was of the three-fold race, Eldar, Edain, and Maiar, and the heir of Doriath. After Thingol was slain by dwarves who had attempted to steal the Silmaril Beren had given to the elven king, in which the dwarves were slain by Dior and Beren, Dior went to Doriath to take Thingol's place.
"Soon after, Lothian and Beren died mortal deaths and sent the Silmaril to Dior, in which while he wore it upon his brow, he became the fairest of creatures ever to touch Arda. But it didn't take long for the sons of Fëanor to discover that the Silmaril had been passed to Dior. While Lothian wore it, they dared not retrieve it from her, but they cared not for her son.
"It was in Doriath that the second kinslaying occurred and Dior, his wife, and two of his three children were slain."
Gildor grew quiet as he watched Thuriniel's pale and shocked face. "Are you alright, Thuriniel?"
When she didn't nod, he grew worried and sat next to her to pick up her now cold hands in his. "Thuriniel? Baimorien?"
She glanced finally at the worried ellon when he spoke her nickname, the name they had given her when they knew not her real name until she told them it. "I am sorry Gildor, it's just that…" she paused as her eyes looked back to the ground again, "If this was my family, they're all…dead."
Gildor sighed quietly and wrapped his strong around her delicate shoulders. "Oh, Baimorien. I am sorry. I should have warned you better. This has to be too much to take in, but I was just worried. Your dreams, they might get worse."
She nodded once while remaining stiff in Gildor's arm, her mind still trying to comprehend everything she just heard. But above it all, one question remained. "Why don't I remember anything?" she asked quietly.
The ellon glanced to her fair face before continuing, "Do you want to hear Ereinion's theories about how you managed to cross paths with our party?"
Once more she nodded.
Gildor gave another sigh before continuing, "Ereinion believes that Beren and Lothian had you after Dior but before Dior left and kept you secret to avoid Dior's fate, which Lothian might have known of. They must have kept you until they died and then you were sent to Doriath. But either you escaped the kinslaying or you never made it to Doriath before it occurred. Either way, you must have followed the refugees to the Mouth of Sirion, where the third, and last, kinslaying occurred. You might have followed the refugees from the Mouth of Sirion, but it was not with them that we found you. You came with the last of the refugees from Beleriand after the great war occurred and Morgoth was bound in the void by the Valar. When we found you, you still had your memory, but you were lost. You muttered strange things throughout the journey and did not sleep until we arrived in Lindon. It was only when you awoke from your deep slumber that we all found your memory gone. Whether it was from the shock of what you had seen, or something deeper, Ereinion could not determine entirely, but he doubted that your memory loss is permanent. He believed that your memory could be triggered by something familiar."
Thuriniel had now relaxed into Gildor's side and he tightened his grip around her shoulders. "But apparently, he was wrong. The story of Beren and Lothian brought you no memories."
The elleth glanced up at Gildor, and much to his relief, the color had returned to her face as well as the starry brightness in her eyes. "Thank you, Gildor. For telling me anyway. I am sure that was another one of Elrond's tasks not to tell me."
He frowned as he glanced down at her. "Sometimes, I think you have a talent for mind reading, Baimorien."
She grinned, even more to Gildor's pleasure, at both his response as well as his use of her nickname. After all, it was he who had come up with it, and she liked "Dark Beauty" over "Secret Daughter."
"How about we get you some breakfast. I'm sure your shock would settle better with some food." Gildor said as he reluctantly released his arm from around her shoulders and stood up only to offer her his hand.
She, of course, gladly took it and stood next to him as they strolled back through the gardens.
"Oh," Gildor continued, a grin of his own appearing. "I think that this little fact might be a bit interesting to you…"