Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams

[mark12_30]

They arrived at the first stream, where they had planned to make camp. But there would be no camp now. The lands were mostly flat, the night was cold and clear, and they could see a fair distance; there was no sign of Gond, Jorge, or Raefindan.

Ravion paused, and glanced back at his three weary friends. Aeron and Gwyllion met his eyes, and Aeron waved him onward. Mellonin did not look up.

They forded the stream. The water was so cold that Mellonin cried, but she did it quietly and no one knew. Gwyllion was less quiet, and Mellonin was glad; Ravion marched onward. Mellonin's legs and back ached more than ever, but she clamped her lips tight and kept up.

I should have made him stay at home.
I should have left Aeron alone.
I should have stayed calm around the horse.
Whatever befalls Raefindan I am to blame.

The stream of bent grasses went northwest through the delta. She bit her lips and tried not to think about how cold her feet were.

[littlemanpoet]

Raefindan lay back and thought about his circumstances. His head hurt from a bruise on the side. But the overwhelming sensation was loss. Maybe the dreams had come on the back of a fever, but they touched a deep part of him that he did not often pause to think upon. Mithrellas. He had come to love her! ....as Imrazor. But if she was an elf, did she still live? But that was not the core issue here. Mithrellas was Imrazor's heart's answer. Raefindan had had such a one in his life once, but no more. His eyes welled.

"Save your tears for the dead," said the elf.

Raefindan frowned at the elf. You do not know of what you speak, elf. He kept his thought to himself. He wiped his eyes and tried to sit up, with no success.

"You must remain as you are until I tell you that you are well. You humans never learn."

This elf's way was irritating. Raefindan was not given to dislike, but this elf made it hard for Raefindan to keep his peace. Maybe some pleasantness was in order.

"I am Raefindan. What is your name?"

"You have not earned the right to know it."

"How may I earn it?"

"You cannot."

So much for that. This elf reminded Raefindan of a professor he had known. A professor! He stopped himself in mid thought. Another memory. He was a student at a university! A type of school. When? Where? And what did that have to do with here? Raefindan shook his head and looked around at the rugged walls. He lay his head back and closed his eyes, and thought of his dreams.

[mark12_30]

As the sun came up, Mellonin went down. Gwyllion called Ravion, who turned, and saw Mellonin in a heap under her pack. Aeron reached for Mellonin and swayed, struggling for balance. Gwyllion knelt by her side.

"Go on," Mellonin said. "Leave me."

Ravion slumped, and passed one hand over his brow. "You three stay and make camp, and get some sleep. Aeron, can you track me? Or can you at least follow Gond's hoofprints?"

Aeron shot him a look that said those questions did not matter. The ground they were on was nearly dry. He shrugged off his pack, lay down with his head on it and began to snore.

Mellonin, still without meeting Ravion's eye, struggled to remove her pack. Gwyllion pulled it off of her, and put it under her head, and then removed her own and lay down.

"Try and set a watch, " Ravion muttered to the three sleepers, and then he scanned the horizon. There was nothing to see but swamp and marsh stretching to the horizons.

Loosening his sword in its scabbard, he turned to follow Gond's tracks.

[Imladris]

Sleep... How pleasant the word sounded, whispered in Aeron's mind. But that stupid ranger insisted on tracking the horse. Surely he was just as tired as they? Why did he continue to persue them when it was quite obvious there was no hope of catching them. A few extra hours would make no difference.

What was it the ranger had asked? He had asked for his help...the help of a thief. Aeron grinned. So the ranger was not too proud to ask help from scum such as himself. But...he was so tired. His legs felt as if stones were bound to them, and his eye lids struggled to close.

But if the ranger insisted on looking for that dratted horse that had carried that blasted red head away that had been bloody scared by Mellonin then he could do no less as well. His sister had taken the disappearance of Raefindan hard as well. Poor little Gwyllion...she rather liked the red haired man.

He sighed and struggled to his feet. He nudged his sister with his foot and whispered, "Get up and watch. I am going after Ravion to help him find that Raefindan."

She smiled. Aeron glowered at her and trotted after the ranger.

[Orual]

Ravion's boots thudded dully on the packed earth. The sound echoed in his ears, and despite his attempts to whistle the same old Gondorian marching saw that he had been humming the night he had stumbled across the Seventh Star Inn, he could only hear the sound of his own boots. It was a hollow sound.

He had been to hard on Mellonin, and Gwyllion. Maybe even Aeron. Perhaps if he had not kept them to such a strict, driving schedule...what? What would have happened? Maybe Gond would not have bolted. They certainly would have gotten the encounter with the merchant over with sooner. Why couldn't he have realized sooner that he was pushing them too hard? Who was going to suffer for his mistakes?

Thud. Thud. Thud-thud.

Ravion turned around when he heard an extra pair of boots. He saw Aeron running up to him. "What are you doing here?" Ravion called, crossing his arms, though in truth he was relieved to see the boy. He had a feeling of foreboding about this mission.

"Tracking you," Aeron said. "It seems that I did a fairly good job."

Ravion smiled wanly and clapped Aeron on the shoulder. His smile then faded and he grew somber. "Mellonin and Gwyllion..."

"...can take care of themselves," Aeron finished. "They're fully capable."

"Their what?" Ravion queried, then stopped. He and Aeron fell silent, and Ravion knew that Aeron was realizing the same thing as the Ranger: the boy had picked that up from Raefindan.

"We have to find him," Ravion said quietly. Aeron nodded. "We should not waste any more time." Aeron nodded again, and they set off, trying to find Gond's hoofprints in the silent, untelling marshes.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

The sky loomed dark an ominously as Bellyn sat up from her bed roll. The sun had started to rise just as Bellyn had woken from her dreams. The clouds above her remained a sea of blue-grey morning, rolling like waves to some unknown place beyond the horizon and heavens. In the long, quiet minutes following, a peach-cream pink came to adorn the clouds and seep into the deep violet that had previously dominated the sky. Bellyn felt silly for feeling awed at something so simple that happened every single day, but then she became too wrapped up in noting all the colors of the sky that she could never duplicate, no matter how hard she could try mixing paints.

Soon Bellyn could see birds flying westward, racing against the warm colors of the sun that began flowing away from the east. The edges of the sky were caressed with shades of red, orange, blue, and violet until the lattermost faded into the hazy blue that lightened with every moment of sunrise. In the chill morning, every inhale tasted of fog. Bellyn sighed in the damp thickness of the air.

Shuffling noises brought Bellyn out of her reverie, and she turned around to see Argeleafa waking up. Liornung was in the process of rolling his blankets, and Ædegard was ready and itching for departure. Bellyn could see the elves watching over Amroth, with Mellon-Nethwador by their side. Bellyn wondered at the situation they had all gotten themselves into, and for a moment she wished she could just stay on a hill and watch the entire sunrise, instead of having to go off and find a long-lost love that did not even belong to her heart. Then the young artist and map-maker realized that in her former day-to-day carelessness and stagnancy, she would not have even noticed or cared about the sunrise.

"Where are we going, Argeleafa?" Bellyn asked as she began to pack up her bed roll.

[Nurumaiel]

Argeleafa started but when she saw it was Bellyn who was speaking to her she relaxed and even smiled a little. "I apologize, Bellyn," she said. "I was thinking of something else." She reached over to help the younger girl pack her bedroll. "Where are we going?" she mused. "I really haven't the faintest idea. If you like I'll go ask Ædegard." She stood from her knees and went to the aforementioned Ædegard. Bellyn watched her with a startled but pleased expression. The past day or two Argeleafa had been more friendly... no, perhaps friendly was no the correct word. But the Rohirric maid had been more willing to speak.

"Ædegard." She tapped his shoulder and then blushed in confusion. How many times had her mother told her it was not polite to tap one's shoulder to get attention? But if she was not tapping one's shoulder she was pulling one's sleeve. It would be best, she resolved, to, in the future, keep her hands behind her back so she would not make any such mistakes.

Ædegard had turned. "Good morning, Argeleafa," he said. He did not seem to mind in the least that she had tapped his shoulder. Some people in the past had.

"Good morning, Ædegard," she replied. "Bellyn has asked me where we're going, and I don't know at all. I thought perhaps you...?"