Chapter 8

Mírimë laid in her bed and tried to fall asleep after her nightmare. The head librarian's angry face, Calimórë's fall down the stairs, it was all in front of her eyes and she couldn't calm herself, no matter how hard she tried. Hoping that maybe a mug of warm milk would both calm her and help her drift off, Mírimë quietly went down to kitchen to fix herself the drink. As she poured the warm milk into a mug she was startled by someone pounding at the door.

Feeling a little scared, Mírimë moved to the kitchen's window to see if she could catch a glimpse of the person at the front door. She was not so lucky. Their late night's visitor pounded the door again and this time he added a shout:

"Failindië! Get up, you are needed!"

Mírimë sighed in relief when she heard a very familiar voice and moved to open the door. Before she could do it, her father, who had been awoken by the commotion, ran past her to let the visitor in.

"Avacauro, in the name of the Valar, what is going on?" asked Aranon.

"Failindië's help is needed. Two of my neighbors had fallen ill."

Mírimë's mother, at that time also up and awake, called from above the stairs:

"Wait just a moment, I'll get my things."

In no time, Failindië was running down the stairs, dressed and with her satchel in hand.

"We can go now, Avacauro. You will tell me about their symptoms on the way," she instructed.

Avacauro nodded and the two run out of the house. The front door slammed and everything got quiet. Only then Aranon noticed Mírimë standing on the threshold of the kitchen door.

"Bad dream, Mírimë?" he asked.

"Yes. Someone I know got seriously injured in it."

"Was it somehow connected to all that business around Horëamo, Finiorë and some others?"

"Yes. I'd like to think that the dream was just a result of being close by when some of the things happened, but ..."

"But what?"

"But I think that it might have been a warning and I don't know if I should tell something to the person the dream had concerned, or if I should just watch-"

Mírimë paused when she saw her father lift his hand. Aranon smiled at her and gave her a piece of advice:

"Miri, I think you should remember that in dreams and visions one can see things that might come to pass. It is never certain they will happen and the attempt to avert them can ensure they take place. So I advise you to watch and if one of your friends gets in trouble, help him or her if you feel you should."

"Thank you, father," said Mírimë gratefully and stood up, ready to return to her room. But Aranon didn't yet say all he wanted to say.

"One last thing, Miri. Should you get involved in some strange or potentially dangerous business, make sure there is someone to get you out of it. I'd hate to see you hurt."

"I will do that," answered Mírimë seriously, bade her father a good night and returned to bed. This time she fell asleep quickly and no other nightmares plagued her.

Next day, when Mírimë went to make herself breakfast, she found her parents already up and discusssing last nights' events.

"So you think it was an accident?" asked Aranon his wife.

"Yes, I think something in their food was bad and they didn't notice it, but Avacauro doesn't agree with me."

"Does he think someone wanted to hurt them on purpose?"

"He does. An elf named Mairacallo was one of the pair who got ill and Avacauro immediately connected it with Horëamo, but I find it hard to believe that the lord is as bad as this."

"You shouldn't forget Avacauro's story about Horëamo's past actions and the fact that the rumor about him being accused of slander was proven true. If he is indeed able to throw the responsibility for great loss of lives at an innocent man, then he could be capable of hurting another who is able to expose him as a liar."

Aranon and Failindië stopped talking when they noticed Mírimë. In silence she served herself some apple juice and bread with butter and honey. Then the conversation resumed, only this time it's topic were expectations for that day.

Mírimë was the first to leave the table. She told her parents she expected the day's lessons to be interesting, but at the end of them she could hardly remember what had been said, read, or written. Her Quenya teacher noticed her absent-mindedness and gave her some extra work. So in the early afternoon Mírimë could be found in the school's library, going through Master Elemmírë's poetry. As far as she could see, no other student was currently in the library, only a librarian was putting some books on a nearby shelf.

Then, raised voices could be heard from the corridor outside. Mírimë paled. This was too similar to her dream. She stood up and nearly run to the library's entrance. When she got there, the head librarian and Master Calimórë had already stopped shouting and the history teacher was walking towards the staircase. The librarian looked mad with anger, his fists were clenched and he ground his teeth. He looked ready to have a violent outburst.

However, before such a thing could happen, a breathless first-year student rushed into the corridor.

"Master Calimórë!" he called.

The teacher turned and gave the boy a questioning look. Nervously, the youngster relayed his message:

"There is a visitor waiting for you at the headmaster's office. He says he has some documents which must be given to you personally."

"Very well. Run back and tell the headmaster and the visitor I'm coming."

With that the boy ran off and Master Calimórë followed him at more sedate pace. The head librarian leaned on the wall and rubbed his forehead as if he was pondering a difficult problem or suffered a headache. Mírimë left him to it and returned to Elemmírë's poetry, relieved and happy that her nightmare had not come to pass.

She was now more focused on her work and finished it earlier than expected. She arrived home in happy mood, but it was somewhat dimmed when she saw the serious expression on her father's face. According to the document he held in his hand the date for the trial of Finiorë and the other two attackers was set and Aranons' family was to give testimony and Mírimë was wanted to testify against lord Horëamo in the matter of his slandering of Erdanon.