Friends Of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams, Part 2 RPG - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 02-21-2009, 09:34 PM

Raefindan held Indil's right hand, and kept guard on Tharonwë, who was so doubtful now that he stood paralyzed, unsure of what was real and what was dream.

Mithrellas held Indil's left hand even as she set her thought on Nimrodel and Amroth. Long had she been with Nimrodel, caring for her ever, thanklessly. Never had she despaired. Even when hope seemed vain, she held firm from love. Then Imrazor had come back in the body of this young red haired man, and hope had rekindled; but more than hope, she had begun to know joy again. His name was Raefindan, and Imrazor, and Roy Edwards, and he loved her no matter who he knew himself to be for he was one. And hope had grown when little Indil had come, Indil who was a young woman named Angela. All these names, all these two-souled men and women! Some great thing must be afoot! So she hoped that Nimrodel would regain her own mind, and that she could again reunite with Amroth.

Indil glanced at Raefindan, proud that he was such a good defender of them all. Then she glanced at Mithrellas, who met her eyes with a smile, and loved her. She knew that she had lost her mother and father, but somehow chance had brought her a new mother and father, maybe not better than the old, but more than hope could have hoped.

Indil knew that she was Angela, and thought back to the short but full life she had lived, that Roy had been part of as her love's heart. It could have been overwhelming to Indil, but Angela was able to hold the seeming contradiction, and reminded Indil that there was something she had yet to do. There were two parts to it.

So Indil glanced back to Jorje Tirril and smiled back a the smiling dog.

"Come, Jorje, we need to go meet play with Nimrodel and Aeron and Gwyllion. Come sit beside me and I'll take you with me."

Jorje trotted over to Good Child. He loved her. He licked her hand and her chin and she laughed. Then she placed her hand on his head.

"Come with me."

Angela was guide, for she had through some special grace come from an undying realm to be Indil, and from that wondrous place she had taken ineffable secrets that aided her now. They passed into the place of ash and saw Nimrodel sitting in the ash, throwing it up with her hands childlike. At first they watched from behind Gwyll and Aeron and Amroth and Erebemlin as they spoke of a game of a swift stream and its young maid, and a king in his tree who loved her.

Indil started to sing a nonsense song and Jorje began to prance around her, yipping playfully, licking her hand and the others'. He came to Nimrodel and tried to lick her hand but his tongue passed through it, catching only ash. He coughed and started talk to her.

"What? Why not lick you? Play!"

mark12_30 · 02-22-2009, 07:02 PM

Nimrodel saw the dog, and stopped throwing the ash. "Mischief. Good hound! Are you thirsty? The stream is near. "

Indil laughed, and met Nimrodel's eyes, and Nimrodel saw her. Nimrodel leaped to her feet. "The girl! Are you the girl? Know ye the stream's song? You are singing now! Let me hear you!"

She ran forward after Indil, who ran between Aeron and Gwyllion and Nimrodel, dodging Jorge. Jorje yipped and bayed, and Gwyllion and Aeron giggled and whooped. Nimrodel's laughter rippled, now cold as starlight, now warm as sunlight; her tangled hair flew in the breeze, and she playfully tried to catch Indil's hands, listening to every note that Indil sang.

The blacksmith stroked the grey hair of the stooped and wizened crone, and watched her face twitch and brighten, and her withered lips move. She smiled, a faded and dry smile; her eyes blinked open and shut, and her hands began to twitch and reach for the child that she could see better in her mind than with her fleshly eyes.

But the smiles were real. The blacksmith leaned closer to her, kissed her brow, and watched her. His skin was red with fever, and his brow glistened.

Erebemlin watched the lithe elf-maiden dancing with the little man-child, and their glee blended in a rippling laughter, sweeter and sweeter to hear. Joy, sweet joy, began to fill the dell; the laughter spread from child to all the maidens, from maidens to warriors, till the only face not bright with laughter belonged to the dark elf.

littlemanpoet · 02-22-2009, 07:19 PM

Indil kept singing for though she skipped she did not become breathless. The song never quite repeated the melody, but was everchanging like a clean flowing stream, yet like a cascading fall over rocks, parts of the melody repeated over and over again; thus Aeron and Gwyllion picked up the repeated notes as they danced. Even Jorje's barking and yipping found the same cascading notes.

While they sang and danced the ash began to change. It seemed to writhe at first, but began to take on color, turning green and reshaping as blades of grass and fronds of reeds. Then long stemmed flowers grew and the darkling gray of the enclosed place gave way to a growing light just at the edge of the land, and slowly began to light the sky.

But the singers and dancers paid it little heed save that it added to their play. The lithe Elf maiden did not tire and her face began to shine, for she began to pick up the same cascading notes of the children and the dog.

mark12_30 · 02-22-2009, 07:21 PM

Nethwador approached Aeron, and then turned to Gwyllion, and held out his hand. She took it. With his other hand he reached to Bella, and she joined hands with him; Liornung stepped forward onto the green and flowering sward, and then Leafa.

Ædegard came forward, hesitating, eyeing Leafa. But he looked down to his own arms; and he gasped. Leafa reached for his missing hand, and he felt her warm grasp; his missing fingers wrapped around hers. And he joined in the dance as the sky glow brightened.

The only ones with open eyes, now, were Tharonwe, Raefindan, and the blacksmith. Raefindan saw in both realms at once; Tharonwe was lost in his own confusion; but the blacksmith's stare grew weary and distant, even as he stroked Nimrodel's ashen grey hair and sagging skin. He heard the laughter, and saw Nimrodel's withered smile, his eyes grew bright with tears, and he leaned forward once more and kissed her brow.

mark12_30 · 02-24-2009, 10:46 AM

save just in case

mark12_30 · 02-24-2009, 10:47 AM

The sun rose. The grass, young and tender, now grew thick around the dancers' ankles. Summer daisies, lupines, and columbines grew amidst the winter niphredil and elanor. Honeysuckle-bearing tendrils wove across the banks of the stream; mint blossomed amidst daffodils and yarrow; the air was thick with fragrance. Ravion, watching, could not choose the season; the laughter of the dancers made him smile, but it was the humming of the bees that summoned his first tear. Soon, sparrows and swallows swooped and sang, whippoorwills and owls and nightingales serenaded, but the clearest was the cry of the lark. It pierced his heart. Ravion pressed his eyes against Mellonin's neck, gathered her as close as he could, and wept in earnest.

Raefindan stepped forward, and laid his hand on Ravion's head; Ravion shook as he wept, burrowing into Mellonin's shaggy dark hair, drawing his knees up, tightening into a block of racking grief. Raefindan stood stock still, and waited. The dance wove, now further, now closer, and suddenly splashing through the stream, circled around Erebemlin, Nimrodel, Mellondu, Mellonin, Ravion, and Raefindan. The laughter surrounded them, the song flowed through them, the fragrance caressed them, and in time, as the dance grew wilder, Ravion's storm fell quiet. Raefindan released him, Ravion drew one deep shuddering breath, and another, and another, and raised his face to gaze at Mellonin. She sat up in his arms, and together they stood. Ravion looked about him, saw all that was made new, and peace flooded through him in waves. He stood in the heart of stillness as the dance whirled around them, and knew that his past was gone.

mark12_30 · 02-28-2009, 05:14 PM

Taitheneb's laughter rang through the dell. The sad song of the cold stream seemed to brighten; Taitheneb rose and reached out his hands, but the dancers were far to the south, and he paused. But his laughter grew, and he looked for a wide place to dance.

He stopped, and closed his eyes, and looked down at Avarien, and reached his hand to her.

She stood, gazing into his eyes, and took his hands, and led him three steps up the gentle hillside, and smiled.

He waited for her to laugh with joy. BUt instead, he was surprised to see tears forming in her eyes.

What ails you, lady?

Nought ails me, young one. But tis an odd thing, for an elf to see.

What do you see?

Perhaps tis what I do not see.

Taitheneb waited.

All the wounds, and the griefs of my past. I no longer see them.

His laughter quieted, but his smile deepened. Tell me?

Perhaps I do not know how. But the regret... and the sorrow are no more.

She pressed both his hands in hers, and released him, and walked slowly away.

At first, she only walked in circles. But slowly, quietly, she began to move, and Taitheneb watched her weave a slow, peaceful, quiet dance among the trees on the bank of the stream.

littlemanpoet · 03-15-2009, 08:03 AM

Roy held Indil's left hand, Mithrellas her right, and they watched Mellondu and Erebemlin minister to Nimrodel as the others danced in spirit with the children. The only other who stood stock still was Tharonwë, confused by his thoughts which were buffeted by Roy's willful spirit.

"I know your thought, Imrazor," said Mithrellas, her brow creased. "He does not deserve such a grace."

She spoke over the head of Indil whose blissful face with closed eyes showed what they both also knew, that she was elsewhere in her thought. Jorje lay on his side at her feet, the tip of his tail wagging, his paws moving in sympathy with his dashing, running dream, letting out a whispered woof now and again.

"No, he does not. I read a story in which words similar to yours were spoken, and a wise counsellor answered that of course he doesn't. But who are we to judge? Who knows how he against his own desires may do what he does not intend?"

"That sword cuts with two edges, my love," she answered.

"Don't I know it?" said Roy. "It could be for the worse and my judgement in doubt for its failure; but should it fail, that does not mean I was unwise to attempt it. If he repents, its worth is undoubted."

"And if he does not?"

"I think it worth the risk. There is no other way for him to turn from his ill will."

"Aye, that is so," Mithrellas allowed. "I do not like it, though."

"Your thought and my thought may follow him. And Indil, Gwyllion, and Aeron are there too. So is Jorje."

"You have answered my fears, though my fear is not entirely quelled. Nevertheless, I will follow you in this."

Roy nodded and smiled, and gently squeezed Indil's hand, who squeezed his and Mithrellas' at once. Mithrellas matched his smile with a grave one of her own.

Roy sighed. "Soon, now," he said, and composed himself.

02-22-2009, 07:02 PM	#2
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Nimrodel saw the dog, and stopped throwing the ash. "Mischief. Good hound! Are you thirsty? The stream is near. " Indil laughed, and met Nimrodel's eyes, and Nimrodel saw her. Nimrodel leaped to her feet. "The girl! Are you the girl? Know ye the stream's song? You are singing now! Let me hear you!" She ran forward after Indil, who ran between Aeron and Gwyllion and Nimrodel, dodging Jorge. Jorje yipped and bayed, and Gwyllion and Aeron giggled and whooped. Nimrodel's laughter rippled, now cold as starlight, now warm as sunlight; her tangled hair flew in the breeze, and she playfully tried to catch Indil's hands, listening to every note that Indil sang. The blacksmith stroked the grey hair of the stooped and wizened crone, and watched her face twitch and brighten, and her withered lips move. She smiled, a faded and dry smile; her eyes blinked open and shut, and her hands began to twitch and reach for the child that she could see better in her mind than with her fleshly eyes. But the smiles were real. The blacksmith leaned closer to her, kissed her brow, and watched her. His skin was red with fever, and his brow glistened. Erebemlin watched the lithe elf-maiden dancing with the little man-child, and their glee blended in a rippling laughter, sweeter and sweeter to hear. Joy, sweet joy, began to fill the dell; the laughter spread from child to all the maidens, from maidens to warriors, till the only face not bright with laughter belonged to the dark elf. Last edited by mark12_30; 02-23-2009 at 10:44 AM.

02-24-2009, 10:46 AM	#5
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	save just in case Last edited by piosenniel; 02-25-2009 at 08:23 PM.

02-24-2009, 10:47 AM	#6
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	The sun rose. The grass, young and tender, now grew thick around the dancers' ankles. Summer daisies, lupines, and columbines grew amidst the winter niphredil and elanor. Honeysuckle-bearing tendrils wove across the banks of the stream; mint blossomed amidst daffodils and yarrow; the air was thick with fragrance. Ravion, watching, could not choose the season; the laughter of the dancers made him smile, but it was the humming of the bees that summoned his first tear. Soon, sparrows and swallows swooped and sang, whippoorwills and owls and nightingales serenaded, but the clearest was the cry of the lark. It pierced his heart. Ravion pressed his eyes against Mellonin's neck, gathered her as close as he could, and wept in earnest. Raefindan stepped forward, and laid his hand on Ravion's head; Ravion shook as he wept, burrowing into Mellonin's shaggy dark hair, drawing his knees up, tightening into a block of racking grief. Raefindan stood stock still, and waited. The dance wove, now further, now closer, and suddenly splashing through the stream, circled around Erebemlin, Nimrodel, Mellondu, Mellonin, Ravion, and Raefindan. The laughter surrounded them, the song flowed through them, the fragrance caressed them, and in time, as the dance grew wilder, Ravion's storm fell quiet. Raefindan released him, Ravion drew one deep shuddering breath, and another, and another, and raised his face to gaze at Mellonin. She sat up in his arms, and together they stood. Ravion looked about him, saw all that was made new, and peace flooded through him in waves. He stood in the heart of stillness as the dance whirled around them, and knew that his past was gone. Last edited by mark12_30; 02-24-2009 at 11:12 AM.

02-21-2009, 09:34 PM	#1
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Raefindan held Indil's right hand, and kept guard on Tharonwë, who was so doubtful now that he stood paralyzed, unsure of what was real and what was dream. Mithrellas held Indil's left hand even as she set her thought on Nimrodel and Amroth. Long had she been with Nimrodel, caring for her ever, thanklessly. Never had she despaired. Even when hope seemed vain, she held firm from love. Then Imrazor had come back in the body of this young red haired man, and hope had rekindled; but more than hope, she had begun to know joy again. His name was Raefindan, and Imrazor, and Roy Edwards, and he loved her no matter who he knew himself to be for he was one. And hope had grown when little Indil had come, Indil who was a young woman named Angela. All these names, all these two-souled men and women! Some great thing must be afoot! So she hoped that Nimrodel would regain her own mind, and that she could again reunite with Amroth. Indil glanced at Raefindan, proud that he was such a good defender of them all. Then she glanced at Mithrellas, who met her eyes with a smile, and loved her. She knew that she had lost her mother and father, but somehow chance had brought her a new mother and father, maybe not better than the old, but more than hope could have hoped. Indil knew that she was Angela, and thought back to the short but full life she had lived, that Roy had been part of as her love's heart. It could have been overwhelming to Indil, but Angela was able to hold the seeming contradiction, and reminded Indil that there was something she had yet to do. There were two parts to it. So Indil glanced back to Jorje Tirril and smiled back a the smiling dog. "Come, Jorje, we need to go meet play with Nimrodel and Aeron and Gwyllion. Come sit beside me and I'll take you with me." Jorje trotted over to Good Child. He loved her. He licked her hand and her chin and she laughed. Then she placed her hand on his head. "Come with me." Angela was guide, for she had through some special grace come from an undying realm to be Indil, and from that wondrous place she had taken ineffable secrets that aided her now. They passed into the place of ash and saw Nimrodel sitting in the ash, throwing it up with her hands childlike. At first they watched from behind Gwyll and Aeron and Amroth and Erebemlin as they spoke of a game of a swift stream and its young maid, and a king in his tree who loved her. Indil started to sing a nonsense song and Jorje began to prance around her, yipping playfully, licking her hand and the others'. He came to Nimrodel and tried to lick her hand but his tongue passed through it, catching only ash. He coughed and started talk to her. "What? Why not lick you? Play!"

02-22-2009, 07:19 PM	#3
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Indil kept singing for though she skipped she did not become breathless. The song never quite repeated the melody, but was everchanging like a clean flowing stream, yet like a cascading fall over rocks, parts of the melody repeated over and over again; thus Aeron and Gwyllion picked up the repeated notes as they danced. Even Jorje's barking and yipping found the same cascading notes. While they sang and danced the ash began to change. It seemed to writhe at first, but began to take on color, turning green and reshaping as blades of grass and fronds of reeds. Then long stemmed flowers grew and the darkling gray of the enclosed place gave way to a growing light just at the edge of the land, and slowly began to light the sky. But the singers and dancers paid it little heed save that it added to their play. The lithe Elf maiden did not tire and her face began to shine, for she began to pick up the same cascading notes of the children and the dog.

02-22-2009, 07:21 PM	#4
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Nethwador approached Aeron, and then turned to Gwyllion, and held out his hand. She took it. With his other hand he reached to Bella, and she joined hands with him; Liornung stepped forward onto the green and flowering sward, and then Leafa. Ædegard came forward, hesitating, eyeing Leafa. But he looked down to his own arms; and he gasped. Leafa reached for his missing hand, and he felt her warm grasp; his missing fingers wrapped around hers. And he joined in the dance as the sky glow brightened. The only ones with open eyes, now, were Tharonwe, Raefindan, and the blacksmith. Raefindan saw in both realms at once; Tharonwe was lost in his own confusion; but the blacksmith's stare grew weary and distant, even as he stroked Nimrodel's ashen grey hair and sagging skin. He heard the laughter, and saw Nimrodel's withered smile, his eyes grew bright with tears, and he leaned forward once more and kissed her brow.

02-28-2009, 05:14 PM	#7
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Taitheneb's laughter rang through the dell. The sad song of the cold stream seemed to brighten; Taitheneb rose and reached out his hands, but the dancers were far to the south, and he paused. But his laughter grew, and he looked for a wide place to dance. He stopped, and closed his eyes, and looked down at Avarien, and reached his hand to her. She stood, gazing into his eyes, and took his hands, and led him three steps up the gentle hillside, and smiled. He waited for her to laugh with joy. BUt instead, he was surprised to see tears forming in her eyes. What ails you, lady? Nought ails me, young one. But tis an odd thing, for an elf to see. What do you see? Perhaps tis what I do not see. Taitheneb waited. All the wounds, and the griefs of my past. I no longer see them. His laughter quieted, but his smile deepened. Tell me? Perhaps I do not know how. But the regret... and the sorrow are no more. She pressed both his hands in hers, and released him, and walked slowly away. At first, she only walked in circles. But slowly, quietly, she began to move, and Taitheneb watched her weave a slow, peaceful, quiet dance among the trees on the bank of the stream.

03-15-2009, 08:03 AM	#8
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Roy held Indil's left hand, Mithrellas her right, and they watched Mellondu and Erebemlin minister to Nimrodel as the others danced in spirit with the children. The only other who stood stock still was Tharonwë, confused by his thoughts which were buffeted by Roy's willful spirit. "I know your thought, Imrazor," said Mithrellas, her brow creased. "He does not deserve such a grace." She spoke over the head of Indil whose blissful face with closed eyes showed what they both also knew, that she was elsewhere in her thought. Jorje lay on his side at her feet, the tip of his tail wagging, his paws moving in sympathy with his dashing, running dream, letting out a whispered woof now and again. "No, he does not. I read a story in which words similar to yours were spoken, and a wise counsellor answered that of course he doesn't. But who are we to judge? Who knows how he against his own desires may do what he does not intend?" "That sword cuts with two edges, my love," she answered. "Don't I know it?" said Roy. "It could be for the worse and my judgement in doubt for its failure; but should it fail, that does not mean I was unwise to attempt it. If he repents, its worth is undoubted." "And if he does not?" "I think it worth the risk. There is no other way for him to turn from his ill will." "Aye, that is so," Mithrellas allowed. "I do not like it, though." "Your thought and my thought may follow him. And Indil, Gwyllion, and Aeron are there too. So is Jorje." "You have answered my fears, though my fear is not entirely quelled. Nevertheless, I will follow you in this." Roy nodded and smiled, and gently squeezed Indil's hand, who squeezed his and Mithrellas' at once. Mithrellas matched his smile with a grave one of her own. Roy sighed. "Soon, now," he said, and composed himself.