[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami knelt on the grass and gazed into her friend’s earnest, questioning face. Pio was right. More sad goodbyes would not help either of them face the burdens that lay ahead. Whatever happened with Maura, whether he came or didn’t come to Greenwood, what joys or sorrows lay ahead for her family, Cami knew things wouldn’t be easy where she was going. Mithrandir had emphasized that fact. However her destiny played out, it would come knocking on her burrow door in just a few short hours. And setting aside her wild dreams and wishes, she was powerless to alter any part of that doom.

The one thing she could control was this tiny speck of time....this single instant that she had with her friend, and perhaps, if she was lucky, a few minutes with Maura back at the Inn. She could waste these precious seconds, throw them away as worthless, because she was drowning in self pity and desperately wanted something more. Or she could meet the moment with some measure of grace and good nature.

Her people had generally managed to do the latter, even in times of hardship and sorrow. Once more a smile played on Cami's lips. How ironic that she needed an Elf to remind her of that. But then Pio was Holly’s daughter too.

Cami sat on the grass and leaned back against the trunk of the mallorn, staring up at the starlit mantle that covered the skies while pondering the question her friend had raised. How can I make them understand? My little ones back home.

She reflected for a while before responding out loud, choosing her words with care, “I will tell my children to look at the skies. That the glittering lights they see are the same ones smiling down on you and your children. That we are all part of one song, and the feelings are still there, even when our families can’t see or touch each other. ”

“And, Pio, show your children this,” Cami scrambled through the pockets of her skirt, fumbling for something she’d mislaid earlier that day. She pulled out a rather crumpled piece of vellum and carefully unfolded and smoothed it out, and then held it up to the moonlight. She glanced shyly over at her friend before offering her the precious sheet. “Please don’t laugh. I drew something for you and Mithadan.”

Pio could glimpse a rough charcoal outline of a hobbit family seated round a campfire with a circle of stars shining down from above. They seemed to be near a river. Cami eagerly sketched out the grey shapes with her finger, "You see, that's me, and the boys, all five of them. Plus, I'm holding my newborn son on my knee. And there's Holly."

Pio gingerly took the gift from Cami and held it closer to her nose while trying to puzzle out the shadowy figure in the foreground. "What's this?" the Elf queried, pointing to another hobbit form, sketched in even more roughly at the very apex of the circle.

"That?" Cami looked down at the ground and squirmed. "That's Maura. I wasn't sure what to do so I put him just half-way in. I figure, one way or another, he'll be there, if only in spirit."

"And this," Cami added hopefully. "This is the best part. Can you tell what it is?"

The Elf smiled and shook her head. "I can't quite make it out."

Cami forged ahead undeterred, "There in the dirt, I've used a stick to draw an outline of our ship and the Star that flew upon her mast, almost like those stars above our own heads."

"I'm telling everyone a story, my little ones and Maura, so they won't forget anything important that we did, certainly not you or Mithadan or your beloved children."

Cami wiggled her toes and sighed, "You said a sword didn't suit me. That it wasn't my weapon. So I drew a picture of me fighting the way I like best...with words. Fighting to hold off forgetfulness and complaisance, to cling to what's important. That's how my children will remember you."

Cami looked sternly at her friend, "I know Mithadan's asleep now, but make sure he sees this tomorrow after I leave, and the twins too once they get older."

Rising from the damp night grass and starting their trek back to the Inn, they halted for a moment at the very edge of the party field for a last look at the golden mallorn and the receding image of Bag-end. Pio carefully tucked the little sheet under her belt and looped her arm around Cami's shoulder. There was silence on the way homeward, as the two friends listened to the soft chirps of crickets and silently wondered what the morning might bring, until they mounted the steps of the Dragon for one final goodbye and parted in the corridor with a gentle hug.

[ September 04, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]