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Old 01-14-2003, 01:35 PM   #270
Bęthberry
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Join Date: May 2002
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Bęthberry is wading through snowdrifts on Redhorn.Bęthberry is wading through snowdrifts on Redhorn.Bęthberry is wading through snowdrifts on Redhorn.Bęthberry is wading through snowdrifts on Redhorn.
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Hearing Nardol's almost unconscious plea for help, Bethberry quietly put her hand on Rustal's halter, whispered into his ear, and led him away from the group. Nardol hardly noticed. The others looked up at this strange act, but Bethberry merely nodded at them to continue and then looked up at Gandalf, who understood, nodded in return, and calmly led the others forward.

Rustal followed Bethberry's lead into the forest, where the granddaughter of the RiverDaughter sought out a small stream which flowed into the River Baranduin and thence on to the Great Sea. Then, with a firm touch of her hand, the horse suddenly stopped, and Nardol, shaken out of his reverie and surprised by the surroundings, slipped out of the saddle, not quite falling against Bethberry. For the first time, he actually looked straight into her face and caught her eyes.

"Nardol, if ever you wish to join Gilwen and your son, you must find your faith again. Come, there is something you must do." He nodded assent, slowly and warily, but did not reject the woman's direction.

Taking his hand in hers, Bethberry led Nardol to the stream. She sought out some cedar branches and elm twigs and fashioned them into a small craft, a little corrigle, and then handed it to the elf.

"Nardol, you must put your pain in this small boat, walk into the stream, and release the boat. It will sail down the stream, join the river, and sail out into the sea, where it will not be lost but will join the pains of the world. And you will be cleansed."

Still in a slight stupor from his reverie, Nardol numbly nodded his assent. Bethberry walked beside him to the stream's edge and then held back, allowing him privacy to walk on himself, cradling the little makeshift boat in his hands as if it were a small child. He entered the stream and the water rose, above his ankles, above his knees, up to his hips almost, where it touched his hands. His head bowed, he stooped slightly and, trembling throughout his frame, let the boat go. It sat stilly for a minute or two and then caught an underwater current, sailing out farther into the stream and then on, away, until it could no more be seen. Nardol stood in the stream and then, suddenly, knelt down, until he was almost wholly covered in the water.

Bethberry walked out into the stream herself at that point and raised Nardol up. She lifted the leather thong that was around her neck, with the runes of Ranger names on it which Aragorn Estel had bestowed on her earlier at Sarn Ford. Turning it over in her hand, until the symbol of hope, the star, showed on it, she placed it in Nardol's hands.

"Accept this, Nardol, as a discovery of faith; take it as a symbol of hope from he who is Hope itself, that men might triumph over whatever darkness reigns."

Then the two stood quietly, the water of the stream flowing gently around them.

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