View Single Post
Old 04-09-2004, 08:48 AM   #234
Hilde Bracegirdle
Relic of Wandering Days
 
Hilde Bracegirdle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: You'll See Perpetual Change.
Posts: 1,488
Hilde Bracegirdle has just left Hobbiton.
Menecin

It was so quiet there, the room open and airy, in sharp contrast to his crowding thoughts. The sun rays that slanted through the trees giving dappled illumination to a vast garden that flowed below the balcony and down toward the river, in imitation of the peaceful tranquility of Illuvatar’s thought before the existence of Arda, a harmony now only to be gained though years care. Wild but trained, the view looked as though the verdant grounds might have happened there by chance. But Menecin had seen that it took great skill to achieve this balance, the appearance of a natural state that should have come artlessly, and had been more readily near the mark in earlier ages. And it took work to tame the abundance that would threaten it, so unlike the wild fragrant beauty of Ithilien to the south.

It had been many years since he had last been in those lands that rested between the Anduin and the Mountains of shadow, when his long searching had ended there, and he lay broken upon the red stained rocks and wildflowers that drew their life from a deep cloven torrent below Henneth Annûn. The flame of his hope snuffed out as his life drained away, like a candle that guttered, leaving his mind as shattered as if she had crushed the bright mirror of it under her slender boot, when she turned and left him for dead. Menecin clenched his fists, as the familiar sickening storm rose in his heart once more, and causd him to desire violent action, to lash out and through his rage dispel the intensity of these disjointed memories.

“What was she like?…I mean she wasn’t always the way she is now, was she?” Came a voice soft and hesitant, as if the breeze itself whispered to him. Menecin clutched the balustrade firmly as he struggled to quell his fury and piece together an answer to the simple question. But he could not. He had thought at one time that he had known the answer, but it would not now be reconciled to his experience and what he had been told.

He studied the young elf that stood beside him in the doorway. So striking she was, and echoing her mother’s grace. Like a young sapling grown in the shadows hints of its future strength and beauty. What could he tell her? He did not wish to damage her, nor yet to encourage a destructive curiosity.

Her mother had been a spring breeze to him, dancing through the tall pines and upon the sandy shore of Belfalas, cool and clear and inspiring. It was then he had first come to be fascinated by this elegant and uncommon one, who clothed in choicest raiment, sought not the trappings of court, but to know of the deeper themes of life. And uncovered them with keen intuition and insight, as if her eye had been trained to discern between the fine underpinnings of life and the result those forces brought to bear upon those around her. Then she had delighted him with her continual discoveries and revelations.

“What was she like, you ask daughter?” he said turning once again to the trees. “She at one time was like the ocean, the surface of its great depths sparkling brightly in the sun. Deceptively calm and peaceful she was, and beautiful. But like the sea, she harbored hidden and treacherous currents that would drag a man under so that he might be carried away, to despair of ever breathing again.

“No Vanwe, I do not think she was always the way she is now. In early days, when she still explored the extend of her gift; she had not yet begun to dedicate it to the evil pursuit she now follows. Something changed in her path. At first I thought it Sauron who held her thrall to his purpose, as Morgoth his master had enthralled so many before him, and so I fought to discover your mother’s whereabouts to release his hold on her. But found only that she was not as I thought, and she would now have her plunder, violating even those who held her dear. Killing them also if it suited her ends. So it happened to Léspheria’s mother your kinswoman, and so I fear it will be also for you if you return to her. She knows the effect of her searchings. And I deem she views this ruthlessness as a sign of strength. I will not hold you here by force,” he said letting go of the balustrade to face her again. “But I pray thee, do not go back. It is a warning I give from experience, and the one thing I am sure of in this constant night.”

“Then there is no hope of a change? That she might become again as when you spoke of the early days?” Vanwe asked looking hopefully up into her father’s face.

Recognizing this delusion, Menecin overcame his own deep impulse and recited that with which he ever reminded himself, that which he knew to be the truth. “No, some great flaw is in her heart from the time her making to achieve this disposition, and to think otherwise is grave mistake.”

And so they stood silent for a time glancing out over the balcony to the healing garden below, and did not speak of the travelers and fighters who could be seen in the distance slowly returning to Imladris after defending her from the one of whom they spoke..
Hilde Bracegirdle is offline