[Feanor of the Peredhil]

"And it is cold with blowing snow all over the mountain, right?" asked Raefindan.

"Yes."

"What happens next?"

"Next Ædegard slips because it is icy, but he does not get hurt, because somebody," Indil acted it out, "catches him. And he says, 'Thank you,' and the other person says, 'No thanks are needed, friend,' and then they keep walking, and they are shivering," This was punctuated by a shiver in the girl, "because it is cold and snowing. Brrr, cold. And it is hard because it is a mountain and it is not flat, so when it gets slippery they slip a lot."

"Who caught Ædegard?" Raefindan asked.

"Silly Raefindan," she said, "That rock is yours. That means you get to pick."

"Ahhh!" The rules of the game dawned on Roy and he smiled. "You are right, Indil, I was being silly. Hmm-" It would not be Ravion because he would be in the lead. "It was Liornung who caught Ædegard. And then he sang a song he made up to keep their spirits up. Ravion would be leading them all but Jorje is too eager to be in the lead and he jumps through the snow with leap after leap, barking as he goes, trying to say 'halloooo! Where are yoooooo'!"

Indil giggled at the thought of Jorge. "And then Ravion says, 'Quiet Jorge!' because he thinks he hears something."

"What does he hear?"

Indil looks seriously into Raefindan's eyes as a deafening series of crashes echo outside of their cave. "Snow is falling off the mountain."

Roy sat up straight and his eyes opened wide. Avalanche! But we are high up, he thought. He looked back to Indil. Her eyes were wide too. He snuggled her into his arms again, glad of the warmth of her little body to calm his worried nerves.

"The snow falls and gathers more snow, and Ravion sees it far above and drawing near. Without a word, he points them to their left, then leads them as they struggle to avoid the thundering mass as it approaches."

Indil said something then, but Roy did not quite hear. "What is that?"

"I said, 'I hope Jorge listens to Ravion.' Because he is ahead of them and maybe he didn't see Ravion point. I wish Jorge was here with us."

"I do to, Indil." Roy had more confidence in Jorje's good senses than he did in that of the humans. "Dogs know their packs. Jorje notices the change when they start going the other way and bounds through the snow after them.

"But the avalanche (that's what we call snow that falls down the side of a mountain where I come from) keeps building and getting closer. But by chance, if chance you call it, the slope was not so steep just above them, for they were at the knee of the mountain. An arm of the mountain reached over and placed its hand on its knee just above them, and caught most of the snow. What snow it didn't catch, slowed and was turned away from our friends."

"And then they climb over it!" she cried happily as the pounding from outside slowed to a dull rumble. "Raefindan, does it snow a lot where you come from?"

"Yes. Where I come from there is a big lake. The cold wind picks up the water from the lake and turns it to snow and dumps it on the place where I live. Many feet of snow fall on us each year. But not as much as way up here." Raefindan looked all around them, looking at the dark ceiling of the cave as if his mind's eye pierced through and saw snow in every direction. He looked again at Indil, and smiled. "So do the hunters find those they hunt?"

"Yes." she said. "But the mean elf is not happy when they do."

Roy shot a glance toward Tharonwe, who watched with what seemed to be disinterest, yet Roy could tell he was listening intently by the light in his eyes.

"You said the mean elf was over there." Roy pointed across the cave into the dark.

"Yes, Raefindan." Indil sounded exasperated and Roy briefly hid a smile. "But now he is back. Because he never goes away for very long and he is always watching and I do not think he wants us to be saved. Or hunted. I think he wants to be the hunter instead."

"That may be, Indil," Roy said with a wink, "but he is hunted will he or no."

Her eyes went wide suddenly. "Oh. You mean the others."

"Not only," he whispered. "But back to our game. Ædegard, Jorje, and the others peek around a lee of the mountain and find staring back at them Bergil, Mellondu, and Erebemlin. And what do you think they say to each other?"

"I think they are very happy to see each other and they do not hug because they are busy being grown up men, but Jorje kisses everybody!"

Roy laughed. "You think that they would not embrace out of gladness to be together again?"

Indil nodded seriously. "I think that Erebemlin does not like to touch people. I think it maybe makes him sad because sometimes he looks at people and he does not seem happy. 'Specially Mellondu. And sometimes Mellondu is the same way, but sometimes he is playful. Raefindan, why is Mellondu not always like Mellondu? And then Ravion would say 'Where is Aeron and Raefindan? Were they not with you?' and Bergil would say 'Aeron is with his sister,' because that is where he is."

Roy looked closely at Indil as she picked out several new pebbles and kept them in her lap, safe in the folds of her dress. "Aeron and his sister and Mithrellas and Nimrodel and Angela." she explained. "Singing songs. Except they are not always happy songs because they are not always happy."

And of me, thought Roy, what to they say? That I am a turncoat and pawn of Tharonwë, and a murderer. Will the others believe it? Roy teetered for a moment over a chasm of self-pity before righting himself and firming his resolve. It did not matter what they thought; what mattered was what he did from now on.

Tharonwë rose. "The storm has abated. We will leave here now."