[Envinyatar]

‘Oh, I know what this is!’ Zimzi turned the piece roundabout in her fingers, admiring the workmanship. ‘Tis Anadûnê, Starwards!’ She placed the pin on the folds of the dark blue cloak, a small isle on a great sea. ‘Many the stories has my mother told us of the gift now gone. And this . . . this is a quite lovely rendering of it.’ She turned to Derufin, giving his arm a small squeeze. ‘I wish I could show him the little pieces of jewelry my father and brothers make.’ She took the clasp from her hair that her father had made for her. Mother of pearl in swirling greens and blues like the sea near her home, cradled in fine silver. ‘They work some in gems, but mostly in pearls and such as this,’ she said, turning back to Anyopâ and handing him the hairclasp.

‘Look!’ whispered Derufin near her ear, drawing her attention to Gil and his companions. He brushed the thick fall of her hair to one side and kissed her lightly on the lobe. ‘Perhaps there will be a song we can dance to,’ he said, leaning back in his chair with a smile.

‘Well, perhaps so,’ she teased, ‘but only if I haven’t gotten a better offer! And Aman allows us to clear a dance floor, of course.’ She glanced over at the Innkeeper and the man and Elf near her, wondering as she did so, at the air of tenseness that seemed to hover about them. Zimzi nodded toward them with her chin. ‘What’s going on over there, do you think?’ she asked Derufin in a quiet voice. ‘The man looks as if he’s seen a ghost. And even the Elf seems out of sorts.’