Chapter 8: In Faith We Trust (Legolas & Co)

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Little happened as they watched the convent for a day. Throughout the day they could hear sounds of women's voices singing. If they could catch words from the songs, they were mostly in Quenya. Two younger women, also dressed in the long white robes, came out into the garden in the afternoon and sat on a bench together, talking and shelling peas.

The older elves heard the evolved Westron for the first time and began to understand Lossrilleth's eagerness to speak to these people if they could understand Quenya – the modern speech was almost unrecognizable. [1] By the next morning, they agreed they could try to approach the older woman if she came into the garden again in the morning.

Lossrilleth was ecstatic when the woman emerged again and began her morning prayer before the shrine. She had been worried they had lost their chance. When the woman finished her prayer and was standing in silent reflection, Lossrilleth carefully stepped out to the edge of the garden, waiting for her to open her eyes and notice. Behind her, concealed in the brush, Legolas and Thranduil crouched ready to defend if anything went ill. They had all agreed Lossrilleth was more likely to succeed in keeping strange women comfortable when she approached them.

The abbess finished her prayer and opened her eyes, startled to see a pale, strange looking young woman watching her from the edge of the trees. She was dressed in a green and brown tunic over leggings. It was unheard of for a woman to show her legs in such a way in these lands! The abbess bowed to the stranger with care, hoping the young woman would speak. Many women came to the convent when they needed aid: some to join the order, others simply looking for help escaping an impossible situation or seeking healing.

The abbess was shocked when the woman spoke, not in Westron, but in the old holy language Quenya. "Sister," the pale girl said. "I am in need of aid from someone I can trust. Do you follow the old ways of the Faithful?"

"Yes, sister," the abbess replied slowly, working out her words with care. She only really spoke Quenya when saying memorized prayers or reading out of holy texts. She had studied it extensively in written form, though, she ought to be able to figure it out.

"We are women dedicated to the Order of the Faithful. What aid do you seek, speaker of the holy language?"

Lossrilleth considered her options – tell the truth or hide their nature and purpose in mysteries? She did not know if her companions would agree, but she chose the truth. She had a good feeling about this woman.

"We are elves, sister," she said, watching the woman's face evolve into a look of awe. "We are three…"

Before she could continue, the woman cried out, "Oh mercy, it cannot be! But you should not be here now, it is perilous. It goes ill with the King, he turns away from the Order of the Faithful, for he wishes to divorce his wife and take another and they will not allow it."

That was interesting, Lossrilleth thought, and ominous. Like Henry VIII: that could bode ill. "Then we thank you for your warning," she continued. "But my daughter is lost in these lands, and we must find her. She is just a child and was stolen from us. We must find a way to move freely so we can search for her, but we must stay concealed, as you say. Nothing is as we remember it. We cannot speak your tongue, we do not know the land anymore, and our cloth is too strange for these times. Will you help us, Sister in the Faith?"

The woman looked to the heavens in amazement. She knew that she was dying. As an experienced healer, she could tell a cancer when she felt one and knew what was growing in her breast. She had stood that morning praying to the One to show her if there was more she was meant to do before her passing, thinking of the future of the convent and her sisters if her order fell out of favor with the King. Instead, she had ended that prayer and opened her eyes to find this elf standing in her shrine garden making as clear and urgent a request as could possibly be made. Elves – legends in the flesh! The abbess bowed before her god and to the elf before her.

"Yes, I will answer the call and do what I can to assist. You should be seen by as few as possible. Come to this door tonight after all the lights go out. I will let you inside and we shall speak further. I have been dedicated to this life of simplicity since I was a young girl and may have little to offer. I would call on a woman of Faith who I trust to join us, for she may be able to do more. May I call on her?"

Lossrilleth motioned for Legolas and Thranduil to show themselves. In Sindarin she said to them, "I would trust her, she feels right to me. What is your counsel?" The two ellyn moved out from their concealment, bowing to the abbess.

"This is my husband and his father," Lossrilleth explained to the abbess, who was a little alarmed by the sudden appearance of the tall, armed males. "I cannot come inside alone. Will you allow elf-men to enter the halls of your sisterhood?"

If she had not received what seemed such a clear mandate from the divine, the abbess would never have allowed it. Reluctantly, she said,

"My charges must be deep in sleep. It is not our way to allow men into these halls, except those brothers of the Order who give us the divine rites. But we know the elves to be the highest among the Faithful and I cannot refuse you. I give you my trust and pray to the One that you keep it."

Thranduil decided he respected this woman and her discretion. He bowed to her again, saying "We will not speak with them nor be seen if we can help it. Call your woman of the Faith and our trust shall be exchanged."

The abbess bowed deeply to them and strode inside. Her mind was filled with wonder at this strange miracle, but her heart ached for them. It was an ill fate to have a child stolen and taken to strange and perilous lands.

The elves set themselves to foraging to pass the day, as they had eaten nothing but lembas since leaving Valinor. The forest was sparse, leaving the older elves uneasy. Many birds and beasts had been scared off by the constant closeness of humanity. They managed to find some edible greens, which were an enjoyable change from plain waybread and water. But it was clear that if the land was like this now, their hopes of foraging and hiding in the woods were becoming weaker and weaker.

Night fell with the elves watching the convent gardens from their safe place in the trees. One by one the candle lights in the windows went out. Finally, the door opened, a single point of light burning in the hands of the abbess. The elves slunk out of the wood and through the garden, following the abbess inside. They were uneasy as the heavy door shut behind them, leaving them surrounded by heavy blocks of stone.

The halls of the convent were dark and quiet. Passing through the corridor they could hear women sleeping. The abbess shut the dormitory door as she passed it, looking nervously back at the elf-men, who pointedly ignored it to ease her worry. After following the twisting hallways for several minutes, she led them into a modest library lit by a few candles. Another woman, not dressed in the white robes and veil, waited nervously in the library. When the elves stepped into the room she looked at them with awe.

"I have some tidings for you at least," the abbess offered, getting to the point. "This is Brigid, a servant in the house of this town's Lord. I believe your daughter was there for several months. Unfortunately, she and the man who was helping her disappeared unexpectedly some months ago. Brigid believes he may have brought her to the capital or North seeking information about her kindred."

Brigid had stepped closer to them, looking them over closely. She said something in the New Westron tongue to the abbess.

"She says the girl looked like you," she gestured towards Legolas respectfully, "but she had your eyes." She continued, nodding at Lossrilleth.

Lossrilleth's eyes threatened tears. "Was she well?" she asked the abbess, who consulted with Brigid.

"She says the girl seemed sad, but she was healthy. They apprenticed her to the gardener for a while as she seemed happier outside and it kept her out of the nobles' paths."

Both women's hearts lurched as a tear fell down the elf mother's face, glittering in the lamplight. The one she had called her husband stepped closer to her, looking saddened himself, and placed a hand on her back. Brigid suddenly wanted to cry as well, for she could not remember once witnessing a man offering such a gesture of tenderness to a woman.

"Where does she think they went?" Thranduil asked. He had a commanding air about him that reminded the abbess of visits from the head of her Order.

The abbess directed them to the library's small worktable where she had laid out a newly copied map of the Reunited Kingdom as it now stood, as well as the surrounding lands.

"She says she thinks they may have gone east to Minas Tirith, or North to the Long Lake. The man who was helping the child often spoke about his uncle in the capital. And he always claimed that his ancestor was once the master of the Lake Town when it was destroyed, and its people reclaimed the city of Dale. It is said that the people there had dealings with the elves, including his own kin. She thinks he may have gone back to see what he might find of them."

Thranduil and Legolas shared an ominous look. Could it be true? The master of Lake Town at the time of its destruction by Smaug had not been a wise or kind man.

"We know both Minas Tirith and the Long Lake well," Legolas said to the abbess, digesting the news that his daughter might be with the descendant of a rather selfish and cunning man. "It would be a long journey from here. Did they not prepare for travel?"

The abbess spoke with Brigid again. "She says one night they just vanished. A horse was taken from the servant stables without leave of the Lord and all their belongings were gone. The man spoke about his uncle and ancestry often and their dealings with the elves. All believed he meant to seek a reunion with his kin, or to return to the lake."

The elves spoke among themselves for some time in an elvish language the abbess did not know.

Lossrilleth spoke again. "We would try to follow them, then, but we cannot see how. We are under strict instruction not to attract attention. We look at this map and see one town running into the next. Are there no forests left in which we could travel unseen?"

The abbess and Brigid spoke for some time, discussing the map. "We are not educated in the best way to be of help to you. Brigid has another notion, but I do not know if it would serve your purpose. She says there are sometimes Northmen who travel through our lands trading goods and horses from market town to market town. They are tall and fair like you, though they look rougher. She is a good seamstress. She believes she could disguise you. But how you would acquire goods to trade, we do not know."

Lossrilleth praised the Valar silently. Exactly what she had been turning over in her mind: hiding in plain sight somehow. She turned to her companions and spoke quickly in Sindarin.

"I think it is a good idea. There will be many travelers on these roads, and people in the market towns, who may have seen them. If we are disguised as strangers, but human strangers, we can search better and hopefully they will ascribe our difference to our being foreigners. As for trading goods, I thought we might have an issue with money. I brought a purse of small gems and pearls that we can trade with. We could buy some horses and use that as a guise to go wherever we wish."

The older elves were taken aback, though Thranduil was impressed at her initiative to bring valuables to trade with. That must have taken months of careful work in Valinor plying sympathetic elves to give their own treasures to their cause. They could not imagine pretending to be humans, though, never mind for months on end. After going around in circles and with no better ideas, Lossrilleth finally convinced them it was at least worth trying.

"We would like to try," she finally told the waiting women. "I have goods that could pay for horses if we could be disguised. How long would it take to make clothing? If it helps, I can help sew if she brings me drawings and cut cloth." Lossrilleth turned away from the women and carefully fished three pearls out of the purse hidden on her person.

"We can pay for cloth and food while we rely on your help," she offered them the shining gems. "Is this enough? She should take some for her services as well." Brigid gawked at the precious objects. It was more than enough for cloth, some provisions, and even the first horse for someone who knew how to barter well.

The abbess facilitated further discussion, until it had been agreed that Brigid would assist them in this way. She would return to meet them at the convent after the next market was held. Brigid stopped in the chapel on her way out, exhausted from this late night but feeling inspired to help these beautiful and sad elven parents, her faith stronger than it had ever been.

The abbess gave the elves the map and a small book, explaining, "You said you cannot speak our tongue but you knew the old language. This is a grammar that we use to teach the novices. The script is the same as the Old Westron, perhaps this can help you learn."

She hesitated but felt wrong saying nothing, lowering her face with shame as she spoke: "I regret I have not offered you any refreshment. The truth is our sisterhood is poor. We have little to feed ourselves, but if you are hungry, we will share with you."

The elves adamantly refused. Lossrilleth looked the woman over. She looked too thin, and Lossrilleth had caught the dark spot in her when she had held the woman's hand.

"You are helping us enough, sister," Lossrilleth said. "This map and grammar are exactly what we need. Now please, show us out and rest. I can see that you are not well and we have kept you from your sleep."

As they waited for their disguises, the elves hunted in the deeper part of the wood they could now reach with the map. Lossrilleth sat all day in the hunting blind her warriors constructed, pouring over the grammar. With their game caught, the elves risked a fire late in the night, enjoying the chance to eat something more substantial.

The next morning the abbess went out to her morning prayer and found two hares and a bundle of herbs on her porch door. On a page ripped from the back of the grammar, in charcoal, Lossrilleth had tried in clumsy New Westron: "Boil tisane of herbes for payne." The abbess was touched by this offering from her guests in the forest, and her charges were delighted to eat a hearty stew with meat donated by their mysterious benefactor.

She returned to the garden that evening and left a package on the shrine bench, saying quietly into the gathering dark, "I thank you for the food and medicine. Be careful where you hunt. All hunting in the King's forests is reserved for him, by penalty of death. These books are for you to borrow, since you are so eager to learn."

For the next month the elves ghosted through the forest behind the convent. The ellyn took turns going deep into the wood to hunt and preserve what food they could for their journey. Lossrilleth insisted on finding places to get close enough that she could hear people talking as she worked through the children's language workbook the abbess had left her, along with the guide to medicinal plants in the region, and a long narrative poem. Brigid dropped by sometimes, leaving simple sewing materials and cut sections of cloth for Lossrilleth to piece together to keep the project moving along. It was no small task to design and sew three full sets of clothes by hand.

Finally, the garments were ready. The elves returned to the convent for another midnight meeting with the abbess and Brigid. As the ellyn were still less-than-enthusiastic about the disguises, Lossrilleth dressed first. When she stepped into the library, her companions looked her over with curious eyes.

She was in a sage green linen overdress over an undyed linen shift. The skirt of the dress was cut with two deep slits up to her hips, leaving a kind of apron hanging down the front over her shift. Blocky yellow and red embroidered birds, deer, and geometric shapes adorned the apron, as well as the wrists of her long bell sleeves, which were synched to her arms above the elbow with laces. They had tied a thick brown leather belt about her waist. A yellow linen scarf was wrapped around her hair, leaving only a trailing length of cloth down her back.

Lossrilleth made sure to slouch a little, listing to one side and standing with her hand on her hip. "So, do you think I should pass as human?" she said in Quenya, a little humor in her voice.

"You certainly look different," Legolas said, bemused. The costume looked rustic on her, but her milky skin and green-amber eyes still glowed out from under the rough human cloth.

"There have been no elves in these lands for many centuries. Many people now think they are only myths and were never real. People will see what they expect to see if you give them a reason, and the Northern people are not well known here. I think it will work, especially if you keep to yourselves outside of trading a little," The abbess remarked.

The ladies left the library, letting the elf-men dress in privacy. In the hallway, Lossrilleth held a hushed conversation with Brigid about currency, the value of gems, and basic trading customs as they waited.

When they returned, Legolas and Thranduil both wore short-sleeved brown linen tunics over long-sleeved plain linen shirts, each embroidered with red bands around the hems and secured with a leather belt. Loose trousers tucked into slim boots with leather lacings. Each had been given a round cap, but they had both hated them immediately and would not wear them. Lossrilleth told them to remove any braids from their hair and quickly wove some leather lacings together, instead giving each a rough circlet that would keep their hair firmly in place over their ears.

"My honorable lord father," Lossrilleth said with careful sincerity. "You are too grand for these men. Would you kindly adopt a more casual posture? For Angharad?"

Thranduil did not like this plan, but for his granddaughter's safety he would suffer many insults. He rounded his spine, half sitting against the table and crossed his arms over his chest, unsmiling.

"You will frighten these poor ladies who have helped us, my lord," Lossrilleth chided him gently. The old king made sure his features were smooth and neutral.

Turning to her husband, Lossrilleth could not help but smile in amusement at the sight. "Who is this handsome man of mine?" she flirted at him.

Legolas rolled his eyes at her, one side of his mouth twitching at a smile. The clothes were itchy and didn't fit as closely as his own, but he could tolerate them. He made a point to drop his shoulders as Lossrilleth took the excuse of fussing with his cloth to steal a little closeness.

"I think it is well enough," the abbess said quietly, leading the elves out of the convent. "Brigid has secured a horse and some provisions for you. I fear we have no more to offer you now than our prayers that you find your child swiftly and go well with the One," the abbess said, bowing low.

Brigid curtsied before the elves, still feeling a little starstruck. She hoped the abbess was right that people would see what they wanted to see. To her, the elves looked like expensive marble statues dressed up in commoner costumes. As they walked past the chapel, Lossrilleth conspicuously took out a single pearl she had prepared for this moment and dropped it into the collection box, smiling back at the abbess, who stuttered in surprised gratitude.

"Will you not need your gem, fair one?" she asked, trying not to show how badly she wanted the funds for food and medicine.

"Generous deeds pay for themselves," Lossrilleth said in accented New Westron, quoting from the long poem she had borrowed from the abbess. In Quenya she added, "I hope you are at ease, sister, and can find some stronger pain medicine when you need it."

The abbess bowed low in gratitude, amazed that the elf was concerned for her private ill health. She then showed the elves out, handing them the reigns to the sulky bay mare Brigid had managed to procure with the gem funds. The mare perked up when Legolas began stroking its mane and speaking softly in Sindarin to the beast. For these new masters it suddenly became proud to bear the weight of its saddlebags.

The elves left to spend one more night concealed in the woods. In the morning they would face their next test: to see if they could pass unseen through the busy new world of humans, disguised as one of their own.

(~***~)

Footnotes:

[1] Given how important language was to Tolkien, I couldn't get away with pretending that old English and middle English, and therefore old Westron and New Westron, are intelligible to each other. If you listen to recordings of what old English likely sounded like, it's unrecognizable. I'm not going to attempt to approximate middle English in this work, or any other language other than a few words of Sindarin and Quenya here and there for enjoyment – I'm focused on storytelling. A lot of which language is being spoken will have to be understood through context. If it's too confusing or you have any thoughts about presentation, I'm happy to receive your comments!

As a rule I put any form of elvish not in italics, and any human language in italics.