[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Bellyn rolled up her pack, working alone and in silence. She had dreamt a troubling dream the night before, and pondering over the meaning of it kept her dark brows knit in confusion. Before she could finish her task Bellyn was joined by a silent Liornung. The fiddler sat down besides the kneeling Gondorian woman, his eyes lost in deep thought and his face showing a horrified expression.

“Liornung? You are troubled,” Bellyn ventured, daring to speak the obvious. She hoped that only words would comfort him, because she doubted her advice and ability to help the person in which she had always confided with on the journey. Bellyn remained resolved, as always, to do her best and try her hardest to do what she could for those who had been so kind to her, but Liornung’s face seemed grave and it was early in the morning for advice and help.

“I would speak naught of it, at least until I understand it better myself,” Liornung spoke softly, and Bellyn sat down from her kneeling position. If he will not speak to me, perhaps I can take his mind off the dreadful…Bellyn thought, smiling for a moment.

“Well, I have myself in a problem just like yours, then. I had a strange dream last night, very strange indeed,” Bellyn interrupted the silence, folding her hands in her lap. She was prepared to recite what she remembered of her dream, even if Liornung would not hear it. Bella still hoped that just speaking with Liornung might help, even if it was not about the matter that bothered Liornung so. “In the dream I was falling through clouds. The clouds were dark grey, and as I fell I tried to grab the clouds but they fell through my fingers. Just when I thought I would plunge to my death…I splashed into the ocean. This did not seem much better, though, because the sea was overcome with waves and stormy skies. I could not breathe, but then someone in a boat saved me, even when the boat was being crushed by the storm. When I looked up, I saw Amroth with a raven-haired lady. Behind him stood everyone of our company! It was rather frightening, I must say.”

“You do have strange dreams, Bella,” Liornung admitted slowly, letting a smile tug at his lips a bit.

“If you do wish to talk of whatever troubles you, I will listen, as I am certain most in our company would listen,” Bellyn murmured, standing from her seat and smoothing the wrinkles in her skirts. Before she could turn or move or finish her light packing, Nethwador approached Bellyn. He moved slowly, lifting his hand and taking Bellyn’s hand in his own outstretched one. Bellyn’s brows furrowed once more, confusion once more in her eyes and face.

“Dortho…” Nethwador began, his face looking nearly as confused as Bellyn’s. “Dortho…dortho…I northa Nethwador.”

Bellyn's hazel eyes widened, her jaw dropped for just a moment. Memories came flooding back. The words...she knew the language that Nethwador spoke. The words of the elves...Bellyn thought. She recocgnized the sounds his voice made. The language that her mother and father knew. Her father had stopped speaking such words when his wife had died, and Bellyn probably knew just a little more than the Easterling before her, only remembering the phrases her mother had spoken or sung in the years past.

Doubting her ability to reply with confidence and Nethwador's ability to understand her words, Bellyn hesitated for a moment, watching Nethwador pause and blink before he repeated them again. His expression made Bellyn's heart drop, and all the phrases and songs she had memorized and all the knowledge of that Elvish language left her for a moment.

"Mellon...mae...mae govannen, mellon..." Bellyn fumbled with the first words she could think of and the first words she could force out of her mouth. Would he even understand? Bellyn doubted and doubted, not just herself or Nethwador, but for a moment she doubted everything around her. "Where did you learn this?" Bellyn knew he would not know her tongue, but her last words were gently and softly spoken as some sort of awkward afterthought.