The Lonely Star -- Chapter 4

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami had not found either Loremaster or Ancalimon, but had left messages for them to drop by to see her on the Star. Now she was working on the lower deck of the ship pulling together some of the things the hobbits would need for their journey. She'd been at this off and on for several days, and was putting the finishing touches on the project. The old tank for the sea-cows was empty. Instead, there were piles of goods and foodstuffs stacked in neat rows, as well as a stray goat or two tottering about that the children had managed to corral to take with them to the Third Age.

Gamba and Rose had been helping, but both had now disappeared. The boy had gone to Meneltarma to say goodbye to Kesha, and Rose was off somewhere with Anee. In the past few days, Rose had come to realize that Kali and Daisy were no longer to be part of her daily life, and had increasingly turned to Anee for friendship and support. Cami was grateful that the Fallohide girl and her family had chosen to remain hobbits and were sailing with them to the Anduin. Both girls seemed to have a genuine interest in herbs and healing that Cami hoped to encourage.

As far as supplies went, Cami was taking no chances. She had asked the Teleri in each of the swanships to put together a large store of preserved foodstuffs and other necessities that would be unloaded once they reached their destination. Then each of the families would select what they most needed for the trip overland to start a new life.

Ropes, weapons, cooking gear, tinder boxes, tools, fishing lines, heavy winter cloaks, even boots for the Stoors....Cami ticked off the items in her head that stood before her. Loremaster had seen her note and come down to help organize things. It was the first time they'd been together since the day before the choosing when he'd suggested she stay on Meneltarma.

Cami had been afraid there might be some tension left from that, but Loremaster had been careful not to allude to their earlier conversation. He had concentrated on the preparations at hand and asked questions to make sure she and the boy would be alright once the Star reached the Anduin.

"You are happy with your own choice?" Cami asked towards the end of the afternoon.

"Yes, I'm well content. The Sea holds amazing wonders. I will have no trouble keeping busy and productive. I'm hoping to set down some of the hobbit history from Beleriand and Tol Fuin, as well as the Tombs, so those things aren't forgotten."

Cami smiled sadly. It pleased her to think that somewhere, far away, her cousins would remember the tales of Maura and Nitir and Lindo, and pass them on to their children, along with the exploits of the Star that were aready outlined in the pages of Idril's daybook. Out loud, she simply said, "I wish I could read those. We've been together all these weeks, yet I've never sat down with you or Andril to find out more about our past. Now we're parting, and there's no more time."

Loremaster darted nervous eyes back towards Cami, "I shall miss you. You're very different than anyone I've met. Very special. I'll not forget that."

He quickly changed the subject. "Will you go by Cami or Nitir in the Anduin? Some seem to call you one name, and some another."

Cami laughed, "I expect Azra and I will carry two names all our days. But at least the other hobbits have stopped treating me as if I was a legend to be preserved inside a glass ball. The other day, Mika and I disagreed about something. He stood his ground and didn't give in. I'd rather not lose an argument, but at least he could fight back, and treat me like a real person."

She looked shyly over at Loremaster and confided, "Where I came from, before all this, I wasn't anything special. Only a poor girl of mixed Harfoot and Fallohide origin who tended other folks' children and taught them their letters. Thinking of myself as a 'wise-woman' has taken a lot of stretching. I'm still learning how to do that."

Loremaster listened to the woman, then fumbled with a small packet tucked away in his robes and held it out to the woman, "I have something for you."

She smiled sadly and took it, "But I have no mathom for you."

Loremaster shook his head, "It's not needed. I owe you a debt nothing can repay. And I take away memories of a kind woman with just a little stubborn streak."

Cami smiled and took the packet, stripping off its wrappings. It was a small day book, one he'd probably saved from the tombs. Its pages were blank and clean, but with Loremaster's name written on the front cover along with a greeting.

"I know you'll be busy where you're going. But will you do something for me? Use this book to write down the hobbit tales that will come after the time we go our separate ways."

Cami reflected a moment. She'd thought her remembering and recording days were gone forever. But perhaps, this was not a bad idea. Whatever she wrote of the early history on the Anduin could be safely given to the Elves of Rivendell at the end of her journies, to be stored there for permanent safekeeping.

"Thank you, I'll try to do that. Only I'll not say anything about how we came to the banks of the river, or the hobbrim and their appointed task."

"Nitir, there's one more thing, before you go. It's about Gamba. I'm going to miss him terribly, more than I ever realized."

Loremaster sighed, "For so long, I kept trying to pound Gamba into shape, to force him to be something different. All my hopes rested on Phura because he naturally loved the things I loved. I think Gamba knew that, and found it hard."

"But, now, I've seen the two of you together. Nitir, he blossoms with you. Gamba has strengths of his own that I never imagined. So, I wanted to say thanks for that. And, to let you know, you've taught me a lesson I hope I'll never forget."

Loremaster gave her a hug, and said in a husky voice. "Good luck to you, wherever your travels take you."

"And to you." Cami found tears stuggling down her cheeks. "I only wish there could be a magic portal between our peoples. We had so little time."

Then Loremaster turned to leave and left the hobbit to her more practical chores.

---------------------------------------------

Cami went up to her cabin and began sorting through her personal belongings, setting aside those special things that she wanted to take along. She got out a heavy backpack and slung a few items inside. The small collection of shells and stones she'd picked up on the journey, a few items of clothing, sheets of vellum and pens, a slate for children to learn their letters, her mother's brooch and a note from her father, a wooden recorder that came from Kali, the new journal from Loremaster with Maura's fragile sprig of dried heather tucked inside, a map of the Anduin from Mithadan, the mirror Pio had insisted she keep, and a large conch shell she'd gotten from Bird to make music at the party.

She smiled at her choices. Perhaps not too practical, but these things were like a roadmap of the journey she'd just completed. She also needed some necesssities, but these would come from the common pile of supplies they'd distribute near the Falls.

Just one more thing to remember. She loaded Idril's herbs and the handwritten notes she'd copied from the Elf's manual into a separate satchel to slip around her body. She planned to wear Maura's green stone about her neck, two hunting knives at her waist, and a bow and quiver slung onto her back over a tough leather jerkin that Ancalimon had given her to ward off arrows.

Cami stared into her mirror and burst out laughing. She looked nothing like the prim nanny from Gondor who'd first stepped onto the Star. If anything, she seemed to be one of those wild Fallohide lasses going off on mad adventures that she'd first heard about whenever Gandalf came to Bilbo's house and recited his tales. At the thought of Gandalf and his tales, Cami smiled.

Almost on cue, the door to her cabin was pushed ajar as Ancalimon smiled a greeting and asked to come inside. "You're ready," he said, pointing towards the satchels that lay waiting on the table.

"Almost. I knew it won't take very long to reach the Anduin with the time crystal, so I wanted to have everything ready. I was the one pushing Pio and Mith to leave tomorrow morning. I've had enough sitting around waiting."

"But you're returning to the West," Cami added, looking at him sadly and wishing that he was sailing again on the Star.

"For a while, yes. The fall of Numenor, as tragic as it was, has given us a moment to rest. I don't expect that will continue too long. We'll need to watch things carefully."

"You once said you'd look in on us sometime. Will you still be able to do that?"

He nodded. "One way or another. I've been checking on your people for many years, even before their travels to the West with Beor. I can't imagine that will stop. Especially now. Things aren't settled yet." He frowned, and looked out the porthole in the direction of the East.

Cami wished she could learn something of those more distant days when her people had first awoken, but she'd need to leave that tale to another. Her road clearly led to the Anduin.

"Can you tell me what the hobbits should do, or where we should go after the landing?" Her voice sounded uncertain.

"Cami, you and Rose have a simple task. Keep your people together as long as you can. If hobbits must wander off, keep them within the upper vales of the Anduin, between the Misty Mountains and the eastern border of Greenwood. No further apart than that."

The peddler went on to explain. "You must win them a little time to learn some things they'll need to survive. Only then, will the three clans be ready to split apart, and go their separate paths."

Cami interrupted. "But the history that I know..." she blurted out the words and then abruptly stopped. Nienna had told her not to discuss that with anyone, not even the messenger who would come from her own household.

"The recorded history that you know begins with the year 1050 of the Third Age, when the hobbits went off in three different directions. I'm aware of that much. But Manwe has stipulated that you and your people are to be dropped off some fifty years before that date."

"There must be a reason for that," she mused.

"Yes, there must be a reason, and you will need to figure that out on your own. But I'm sure of one thing. The hobbits spent over sixty years in prison, and, before that, thousands of years on a secluded isle. They've always been by themselves. Now, they must learn something about the other free peoples of Middle-earth. That won't be easy. Hobbits have a way of looking inward, and forgetting that others exist. There are also skills they'll need to master if they're going to survive."

"So this fifty-year window will be a time for Stoor, Fallohide, and Harfoot to stand together, before the years of wandering begin? To learn how to farm and hunt and fish, and live in a simple way." The simplicity and rightness of that idea struck her with force.

"Yes," Ancalimon nodded. "The hobbrim must learn to love the Sea, but your kin must develop that same feeling about the land. They must live quietly to escape the notice of the great, and leave the path of war to others as much as possible."

"But how will we meet or learn about the other free peoples of Middle-earth? It's true that most hobbits think their homes and families are the center of the world, and pay little attention to others. But, truthfully, most of those folk pay little heed to us. And, when they do, some have a hard time seeing us as anything other than children. So how are we to meet and learn about these other free folk?"

"I'll make sure there is a group of friends to greet you, and guide you northward once you reach the Anduin. They will teach you many things."

The meaning of Ancalimon's words seemed evident. Friends? Northward? Cami's eyes glowed with excitement. "Then we'll be going to Rivendell. Will Master Elrond send someone to lead us?"

At that point, Ancalimon stared at Cami with some exasperation. "Woman, use your head. I've just told you the hobbits must learn to love the land and to live in a simple way, far from the halls of war or power."

"Rivendell is a center of lore and counsel, a place for books and poetry and great Elven arts. I know you love these things, but that isn't what your people need."

Cami's face fell as she considered this.

Ancalimon added, "I have no doubt that, living in the area, you personally will manage to find your way to Rivendell, and spend some time there at the end of your journies. But that stands years away. Right now, the worst thing you could do is to desert your people and run off to Rivendell because you want to chase after books."

He fixed on her sternly. "Cami, there is a reason why you were asked to take up this task, and not Phura or Loremaster or even Andril. I am counting on your common sense. If we'd needed a great bard, someone else would have been chosen."

She nodded yes, and promised that she'd keep her goals clear and simple.

"Good, that's what the hobbits need." Then, he threw her a teasing look. "These friends will be waiting for you when you come ashore. I will make sure of that."

"But who are they?" she pleaded.

"No, we've talked enough for now. You'll have to wait." She looked at him stubbornly, but could see he was equally determined to say nothing further on this subject.

"One more thing, when you see me next, I may go by another name or look differently, but you should still recognize me."

Cami shook her head, "At least I didn't foul up there. I've read Elven history, and was able to patch things together. I figured that out some time ago. But I did have a question. When I meet you as Mithrandir or whatever name you go by, how much will I remember of our past, of the history of the hobbits, and the things that happened on this voyage?"

"You will keep all the knowledge of your past, including your friends on the Star and what you did together. You will remember everything about Beleriand and the tombs and even Sauron and the hobbrim. You may share this with Gamba or Rose, as they grow older, but othewise keep it secret, as it is not something that will be useful to the hobbits as a whole. But this history will help you, and later Gamba and Rose, to make decisions about what your people should do."

"The part that will be lost," he went on, "will be some of your memories of the future. You will recall your family and friends and even the teacher you speak so warmly of, but none of the history that surrounds them. If you had kept that knowledge, you would never have been able to make a truly free decision. Such a burden would be too great."

Cami thought a minute, then asked in a concerned tone, "But what about the hobbrim? Will the hobbits even remember they had kin?"

"They will remember their kin." Ancalimon said gently, "but only that they chose to stay behind and live a life at sea. The exact nature of that change will slip away, like a dream remembered dimly the next morning. You and Rose and Gamba will be the only ones to retain that knowlege. But, in years to come, there may be a few adventurous hobbits, particularly in the line of the Tooks, who will feel compelled to go to Sea, yet won't realize that they are actually hunting for their lost kin.

Cami sighed and felt sad. So Gamba's loss of Phura was to rebound in the hearts of the Tooks even down to the end of the Third Age. Some things did not mend easily.

"That is enough for now." Ancalimon softly interjected. "But, if I have my way, we will see each other very soon, by your reckoning at least."

"And I'll not forget you, Cami Goodchild. Neither you or Maura. Few will remember what you gave, but I will keep it in my heart. If you had done otherwise, there would have been no rescue or freedom for your people."

Then he hugged her. For a split instant, she buried her head into his grey robes and whispered. "However long or short, I shall miss you. You have taught me and the hobbits so much. I do not even know how to begin to say thanks."

He turned and left the room, and Cami resumed her packing with a curiously heavy heart.
---------------------------------------------

After all that organizing and packing and such serious goodbyes, Cami felt as if she needed to get away for a bit and have some fun. She didn't want to sit here on her last evening on the Star all by herself. Even if she couldn't find a companion, she at least wanted to go and pay her last respects to the isle.

Perhaps, Bird was in her cabin, and she'd agree to go exploring. It would be fun to visit the hobbrim in their coves, or swim out into the ocean to see Levanto, or even figure out a way to climb or fly to the top of Mount Eru and wish Angara well in her new role as its defender.

Cami slipped into the galley and stuffed a few picnic things into a hamper. A good hobbit never travels without a few treats in her pack! Then she ran down to Bird's cabin, still dressed in her gear for the Anduin, and began madly pounding on the door, hoping that she would answer.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[piosenniel]

‘So, Tulë has come to say farewell.’ Ancalimon sat at his ease on the helm deck with two other of his fellow travellers who would soon be accompanying him on the journey West with the returning Teleri. He watched as Pio came up the stairs, smiling a greeting at him as well as at Khelek and Veritas. Khelek poured a glass of sweet red wine for her, watering it to cut its strength, and handed it to her as she pulled a small crate near them and sat down.

Pio took a small drink of her wine before she spoke. ‘Yes, farewell to you, Ancalimon, especially, since I have just recently learned from Cami that you will not be accompanying us and the Hobbits to the Anduin. I had not thought you would leave us so soon.’ She looked in her glass as if to collect her thoughts, and ran her finger slowly around the rim of it. Looking up, she spoke directly to him.

‘Sailing back to the Star in the skiff, I thought of many things I wished to say to you before we parted. But all those pretty words I had put together seem meaningless now that we are face to face. You were the one to push me to return to my companions on the Star. You said they had need of me. And when I wished only to return as Tulë you said nothing to dissuade me, knowing even then that it was not my knowledge that was required but my self. I thank you for that, and for all the help you have given my companions.’ She raised her glass to him and took another drink. ‘I would hope someday that we might meet again, though I fear that may not be.’

His eyes twinkled as he raised his glass to her. ‘You know my standard answer to that sort of question, Pio.’ Her brow furrowed slightly at this comment and then she burst out laughing. ‘Indeed! No one can see all ends.’

The late afternoon passed pleasantly, Veritas and Khelek asking many questions of her and Ancalimon concerning what they would find in Valinor. And, in turn, the two answered them as they could. She spoke at length with each of them, thanking them for their friendship and their good companionship on this voyage, and wished for each to find the peace and fulfillment they sought.

Mithadan had come on board, returning from a few errands he had set for himself. He sat with them, talking, laughing, and drinking wine until the sun had almost disappeared beneath the rim of the world. The others excused themselves to finish their preparations for tomorrow’s departure, leaving the Elf and Man alone on the deck. For a long while, they stood at the railing, their shoulders just touching, watching the sun set and the stars wink into existence one by one.

Pio took him by the hand, and pulled him down the stairs to the main deck and toward the galley. ‘Let’s get some food and wine and a couple of blankets, Mithadan. Tonight will be our last night here, come spend it with me on the island. We can mark the patterns of the stars, and put away our cares for the while.’

He arched his eyebrows at her suggestion and then grinning broadly said, ‘I’ll get the food and drink, you get the blankets. Meet you in the skiff . . .’

[ November 30, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[mark12_30]

Gamba walked along the shore, towards the hobbrim's caves, and thought ahead to the time when Phura and Azraph would return here, after saying goodbye to him and his four boys. He hated the thought, but he realised as he approached them that he hated the caves more. He slowly approached them, dragging his feet more and more with reluctance. Finally, he stood in front of the opening, and took a deep breath, and plunged in.

It was dark, and he blinked, and called. "Loremaster?"

"He's busy, " Kesha replied.

"Kesha."

"Hi, Gamba." Kesha sounded very sad.

Gamba looked around, shivering. "Do you like these caves?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"All right, then."

Kesha puzzled at him. Gamba dallied until Loremaster returned.

"Dear boy." Loremaster's voice was very quiet, and Gamba looked up at him.

"I came to say goodbye, Loremaster. "

"I shall miss you terribly, " said the old man, softly.

Gamba looked at him. "Do you really think so?" he said with guileless curiosity, and Loremaster had to smile. "Yes, Gamba. Yes, I will."

"You'll have better students now, " Gamba said.

"You'll have a better teacher, " he replied, smiling.

"Nitir?" Gamba's eyebrows went up.

"You're a lucky, lucky boy, " Loremaster nodded. "Yes. I have asked her to be available for you. I believe she will be, " he said, with careful non-commitance.

"Oh, she will. She's invited me to join her and Azra, and be a part of their family, " Gamba asserted, and Loremaster smiled. "Has she now."

"I thought you knew that."

Loremaster nodded, and clapped his shoulder. "It's just very good to hear you say it out loud, yourself. Yes, you are in good hands. I can rest knowing that you will be under her watchful eye."

"I hope she doesn't watch me too hard, " Gamba replied.

Loremaster laughed. "She understands you better than I ever did, I think, " he said. "I don't think you need to fear for your future. I think you will be far happier with her than you were with me."

That suddenly made Gamba very uncomfortable. "Loremaster?" he said, frowning.

"She understands you, " Loremaster repeated, "better than I do."

"No, " Gamba replied, emotionally, and threw his arms around Loremaster. "No, she doesn't."

"Dear boy, " he replied, and held him tightly. "I shall miss you. But I shall not grieve at your departure. The road you take is a good one.
You will do well."

Gamba dashed his tears away, and said, "I wish we didn't all have to separate like this."

"Your forests need you, Gamba. Go, knowing that you will live fully there. That is where you belong." Loremaster kissed his brow, much to Gamba's astonishment, and then briefly placed his hand on his head, and then clapped both of his shoulders. "Don't be afraid, of the separation, or of the future. Abandon yourself to destiny, and go. You will soar."

The song about Bird, Gamba realised. Phura's dream. Soaring? He did love the wind in the trees. He thought about that, and Loremaster saw the thoughtful look on his face, and with one more kiss on his brow, Loremaster turned and softly went out. When Gamba looked up, he was gone.

Kesha stood up from where he'd been waiting in a corner. Gamba sighed. Kesha came to him and Gamba held him.

"Why can Phura and Azraph come with you, and Kali and Daisy and Andril, but I can't?"

Gamba shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, I wish I could come."

Gamba thought about that for a bit, and slowly smiled. "Why not?"

Kesha looked up at him. "How?"

"There's plenty of places you can hide on board the Lonely Star, " Gamba said thoughtfully.

"Hide?"

"Sure. The hold, the closets... under the beds... "

"Won't Loremaster worry?"

Gamba puzzled about that for a moment, and then said, "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

Kesha nodded.

Gamba got out a pen and ink and vellum, and carefully wrote a note, and then rolled it up.

"Then, right before you swim out to the Lonely Star, and shinny up the anchor chain, and meet me on the stern deck, give this to Coral, and tell her to give it to Loremaster once the ships have all disappeared from sight."

"You're the best, " Kesha said with a grin.

Gamba smiled. That was one goodbye he didn't have to say today, and that was all for the good. Relieved, he said. "When the moon sets, I'll be waiting."

"All right." Kesha's eyes shone, and he hid the note in a safe place til he could give it to Coral.

[ December 22, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[Birdland]

Bird stumbled out of her bunk, bleary eyed and bedraggled, squinting to keep out the daylight streaming in her cabin window.

She stumbled over a box, cursing at the pain in her toe, and yanked open the door.

And there stood Cami. Bird was about to give her a good talking to about waking her up at this time of the morning (just what time was it, anyway?), but the look on the halflings face silenced her.

"I thought we could go for a last walk around the island, Birdie. I can't stand to be on the ship anymore, and I've finished everything I need to do here. We could go and see Angara, if you like."

Bird smiled as she remembered her image of the great golden dragon dancing on the sand the night before. But she had avoided any private words with Angara, perhaps because she knew it would turn into a lecture on the dragon's part. But she knew it could not be put off any longer. It was time to start saying good-byes.

"Let me put on my shoes, and I'll be right there."
************************
The tide was low, and Kali was showing the Hobbrim how to find clams in the soft sand as Cami and Bird walked up the beach to join them. Angara was helping also, thrusting her long talons deep into the sand and plucking out the shelled delicacies before they had a chance to burrow deeper.

The children came running up, showing off their catch and chattering about the wonderful feast of steamed clams they would have that night. Kali and Angara came to join them, and after sending the children off to continue their hunt, the four companions walked far up the beach.

They talked and walked for hours, remembering all the adventures they had been through, laughing over some, and spoke without sadness about those that they had met and lost. And they rejoiced again over the fact that Pio had been restored to them again. Angara and Cami discussed their duties as the guardians of their peoples, and Kali talked long about the customs of the Hobbrim, and asked many questions about the lives of Halflings in the Third Age, hoping that they could incorporate these things into the lives of the Hobbrims, so that they would all truly be one clan.

Bird paused on the sand, watching as the three companions walked away from her, thinking that this was probably the last time they would ever be together like this again. And then a terrifying, lonely thought came to her: This would be the last time, and not because of the distances that separated them. No, once she, Pio and Mith made the leap once more into the Fourth Age, then these people that she had grown to love would be gone. No, not gone she thought, They’ll be dead. Dead for a thousand years.

Her stomach clenched at the thought, and for the first time, Bird actually felt pity for the Elven Kind. For this is how they must have felt when first they came to know and love the Second Children of Eru. For they had stood as on a shore also, and watched as Men grew old, and died, and left for a place they would never see or know. They would only be left with memories that would last as long as time.

At least Bird knew that when her own time came, that she would meet with these friends again, even after a thousand years. Why, this must be why the Elves called Death the “gift” of Men!

Suddenly she sprinted forward, calling “Wait!“ Kali, Cami and Angara turned and laughed as Bird came struggling through the soft sand, Panting, she ran ahead of them and stood, blocking their paths.

“Listen”, she said, trying to catch her breath. I have something to tell you all. Actually, I mean; to give you all.“

“What is it Bird-ee?” asked Kali, laughing. “You carry nothing with you.”

“Well, yes, I do, in a way. And this is actually for Cami. I doubt that your or Angara will have much use for this, but I’d like you to have it anyway.”

“What would you like to give me, Bird” asked Cami

“It’s my name. Oh, not those names“ Bird said as she saw the puzzled looks. “My real name. I don’t know much about my own folk, but my foster Da taught me a few words of the language, whatever the Beorn remembered from their own past, and he told me the name that my folks gave me, before they left me at the Carrock. It was written on a note, along with my ‘outsider’ name, so to speak. Which is Birdland, of course, though don’t ask my why.“

“You see, Cami, you might run into, and recognize, other skinchangers while you and your folk are wandering around in the Third Age. It’s possible, I know they were there. Now I can’t be there anymore to get you or Rose out of any jams anymore. But I’d like you to be able to call on my own people, if you ever have need to. But you have to know what to say. Else they won’t help you, you see. Now I‘ve never even told Pio this, there was no need. But you may have need, so I’m giving it to you.”

Cami said nothing, just ran forward and wrapped her arms around the changling in a deep embrace and started to cry. Bird started to tear up as well, but put a stop to all that by taking her arms from around the Hobbit and holding her away.

“Now, none of that. You must concentrate and practice how to say what I’m going to teach you, for my real name's a bit of a jaw-cracker. And if you say what I’m teaching you wrong, why the Skinchangers might not help you.“

Cami nodded silently, and brushing away her tears, sat on the sand next to Kali and Angara and waited. Bird stood upright and intoned: Camilia Goodchilde. I give you my name, which is Dester' edra.*

“Dester' edra” Why, it’s beautiful Bird! What does it mean?”

“Oh, it still means ‘Bird‘. Not any bird in particular. Just ‘a bird‘. It can also mean ‘horse‘, too, I‘m told.”

“That’s a long word for ‘bird,” wondered Kali.

Birdie laughed. “Yes, I guess it is. If you translate it word-for-word, so to speak, it means “wind-sibling”. If I were a man, it would end with an “E“, but since I‘m a woman, it ends with an “A“. So I am “sister-of-the-wind“. But that is not the only word you should know. Just my name won’t be enough. You must say this: Te' sorthene Dester' edra. If you say those two words together, that should be enough to convince them that you have known a skinchanger, and they will help you.

Cami said “So Te' sorthene means friend!”

“Not just ‘friend’, said Bird with a smile, “It means ‘friend of the heart’, or ‘friend of the spirit’.
*************************

*The two words that Birdie says are from the Romany language. My apologies if I have butchered them. - Birdland

[ November 30, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

[ December 02, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami reached out for Bird's hand and gently squeezed it. "Dester' edra....Daughter of the Wind. That describes you perfectly. I wonder how your parents knew you would be like that, when you were still so little?"

Cami's voice was soft and wistful. "Maybe someday, I'll meet another shapechanger, and say the words you taught me. And, in every kindness that's returned, I'll see and remember a friend who once stood by my side."

As Cami turned to go, another idea crept into her mind. There was one other quality she'd come to associate with Bird. Her friend would probably disagree, but Cami was sure she was right about this. Bird seemed to display an uncanny measure of grace in her every feeling and action. The hobbit had never met anyone who could calmly accept and welcome change with such humor and cheerfulness, even when circumstances were not ideal.

It was one thing to have a special person missing from your life. It was another to be totally bereft of kith and kin, not even sure whether your own people lived or died. Yet, she had rarely heard Bird complain, or bemoan the doom that had fallen upon her head.

On a sudden impulse, Cami glanced around one last time, and called to her from across the beach, "Bird, I too have a mathom for you. It stands somewhere between hope and belief. Someday, somewhere, you will find
other shapechangers, and discover the fate of your people."

Then Cami raced forward along the white sands to catch a skiff back to her cabin. A single thought ran through her head as she stepped onto the deck of the Star to start the last leg of her trip. Goodbye island. You are beautiful, and I shall miss you dearly, but I go to where I belong.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[piosenniel]

Day dawned bright and promising. The morning for departure had come. Cami shooed the last of the Hobbits on board the Lonely Star and hurried up the ladder herself. Fourteen elven ships plus the Star now awaited the signal to set sail. Earlier they had said their farewells to Tuor's ship and the remainder of the Teleri, and watched them set a course West. Now it was their turn.

A last lingering wave to the Hobbrim standing on the shore, and then Mithadan gave the signal. The crews weighed anchor and unfurled their sails to the morning breeze. Almost as one, the great ships leaped to catch the waves, carrying their precious cargo east.

[mark12_30]

The voyage was more pleasant than Gamba had dreamed, except that he missed the trees; but he promised himself that there would be trees where they were going; Cami had made that very clear.

At night, Phura rejoined Gamba and the boys, and Azraph slept in the same room as Andril. Gamba quickly got used to Phura's clammy skin, but the little boys didn't, and none of them wanted to snuggle with Phura during the night. Phura sighed more than once. "I miss Kesha, " he would say. Gamba always muttered something sympathetic and changed the subject.

If the wind was light, Azraph and Andril and Phura often went swimming, and Levanto and Bird would join them, and they would pace the ship. Kali and Daisy joined them sometimes. They stayed in good physical condition this way, and their appetites remained high, which concerned Mithadan occasionally. But the fishing remained good. The few times that the fish supply got a bit too short, and the nets had been empty for too long, the fleet hove to, and Andril, Kali, Daisy, Phura, Azraph, Levanto, and Bird would swim around til they found a school of fish, and simply herd them into the net. Bird always felt a little bit guilty about this, but she reasoned that the hobbits did have to eat.

Phura spent a fair amount of time swimming with Bird, and sometimes when he did, Gamba would come down and join Levanto. This puzzled Mithadan at first, but Cami took the captain aside, and explained how popular the hobbits' Levanto game had been in the tombs with the young hobbit children. Mithadan laughed wryly at first, and then sobered.

"So-- this Levanto/Piosenniel game has what to do with Gamba?"

"Esta was Gamba's Piosenniel. Levanto lost his Pio; Gamba lost Esta. They understand each others' loss."

"Ah, " Mithadan said, and turned to look over the rail. While Phura and Bird swooped and gamboled, Levanto swam alongside the Star with Gamba clinging to his back, and they were deep in discussion. Every now and then a wave broke, and Gamba would splutter a bit, but he spat out the salt water, and the conversation continued. Cami suspected that Levanto and Gamba's parting would be another difficult one, and she looked up at Mithadan. There would be too many goodbyes.

She sighed, and turned back to watch the strange foursome, the hobbrim frolocking with the dolphin, and the drenched hobbit clinging to the merman. And suddenly she laughed, glad that Gamba did not know he was doing something that no third-age land-loving hobbit would have been caught dead doing.

That night, as other nights, she wondered why Gamba left the little boys with her, and disappeared with his large dinner and went elsewhere. She wondered if he was sharing it with Levanto. She shrugged, and thought she was glad he had someone to talk to.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

As Cami glanced around the Star, she was pleasantly surprised to see so many hobbits enjoying themselves on deck, gazing out across the waters. When she had lived in the Shire, hobbits and the Sea were two ingredients that never seemed to come together. Before she'd met Mithadan and Piosenniel, Cami had not even visited the coastline, or gone adventuring in anything larger than a rowboat.

Although living on an island, the hobbits from the tombs also knew little of the Sea or its mysteries. Yet many now seemed to relish the voyage, hanging on the rail or leaning out to point their fingers towards the gliding seagulls. Their children regularly ran down to the galley to steal bread from the cooks. Then they'd stand in the stern of the vessel tossing their offerings into the sky and watching as the birds swooped down to catch the morsels between their beaks.

Sometimes, the ship stopped dead in the water for lack of wind, or because they decided to beach at one of the windswept, deserted islets along the way. Bird would plunge into the water along with Kali and Daisy, or Phura and Azraph, and Levanto would surface to join them. They'd bring some of the braver hobbit children in to splash and play and learn to paddle. Sometimes Cami would slip off her outer skirt, and jump into the waves from one of the side ladders, chasing Asta and Roka in circles.

They were making steady progress towards the east, but there didn't seem to be any real reason to hurry. However fast or slow they sailed, they'd get to where they were going at exactly the same time. Their arrival was to be the year 1000 in the Third Age, the end of a long period of relative tranquility and the distant beginnings of a new era that would see the shadow rise again to threaten the free peoples of Middle-earth. But, right now, those problems seemed happily far away.

Cami found herself enjoying this voyage on the Star more than the others she'd taken before. Perhaps it was because she knew this would be her very last time at Sea. She managed to push that thought to the back of her mind and concentrated instead on the little things that could be enjoyed and shared. She spent many hours with Andril, talking about hobbit culture and history from the First and Second Age. Sometimes, in the morning, soon after the sun peeped over the horizon, she met with Ban and a few other youngsters to help them learn their letters.

Even Mithadan and Piosenniel seemed to fall under the spell of the fresh sea breezes and calm afternoons. Mithadan's face looked more relaxed than Cami had ever seen it. As days turned into weeks, Piosenniel's slender frame was, for the first time, beginning to soften and fill out, the first outward hint of the new lives that were starting to take root.

The only puzzling thing to Cami was how Gamba acted towards her. Unlike their time on Meneltarma when she'd felt close to him, the boy seemed to go out of his way to avoid her company. He spent time with Phura, but even his brother confided to Cami that there was something strange about Gamba's behavior. The boy often ate alone in his cabin, taking plateloads of food out from the supper table, enough to feed three or four hungry hobbits. Once or twice, Cami thought she'd caught him swimming in the Seas late at night when the ship was standing still in the water, a very dangerous practice indeed. But she couldn't be sure. The voices and shadows melted away whenever she went to investigate.

Yet Cami really wasn't suspicious until one evening about three weeks into their sailing. Daisy and Cami had unexpectedly come into the galley after dinner looking for something. Daisy was complaining to her about a missing plate of searooms she felt sure she'd left here, hoping to share it later with Rose. At that instant, a strange shadow played on the wall and went creeping across, almost as if there was a small animal who'd decided to exit very quickly.

Daisy and Cami caught each other's eye with a puzzled expression on their faces. This was too familiar to be ignored. The women agreed to stay alert for the next few days to see if their hunch was right.

*********************************************


For the next week, Daisy and Cami did a fair amount of scavenging over the decks of the Star. Yet, whatever closets or trunks they searched, they found nothing further that aroused suspicion. Cami was beginning to think she'd overreacted terribly and that she'd seen nothing more than the shadows of flickering candles innocently reflected along a wall.

One night, the women had been up on deck assisting with the sails and rigging after an easterly unexpectedly hit. Tired and strained from physical exertion, the two pushed their way back into the galley where they'd left their uneaten dinner plates. The plates still sat there, but the food that was supposed to be on them had totally vanished.

With the piercing insight of a veteran smuggler, Daisy cocked her head towards the garbage chute, hearing noises that merited investigation. It sounded as if several large rats were digging for cover, burying themselves under a pile of apple peelings and fish bones. Daisy grabbed Cami by the skirts and placed an index finger over her lips to inicate they should both be quiet. Then she seized the chute handle with both hands and wrenched it open, reaching down into the smelly debris to pull up two small heads.

"Look what I've found!" she chortled, lifting the culprits up by the hair.

Cami stared aghast to see Gamba and Kesha awkwardly clamber out of the trash.

Gamba placed himself in front of the younger boy as if he was expecting to be hit and stuttered out words of apology, "I'm so sorry. Kesha wanted to come, and I wanted him to. It's the last time we'll all be together."

"Please don't send him away. Please." The boy sounded desperate.

Cami shook her head, "Whoa. Calm down. No one's being sent away. Now, sit down and explain what's happened."

Cami coaxed the story out of the two bit by bit, including the part about Gamba's letter to Loremaster. The woman tried unsuccessfully to stifle a grin, thinking about poor Loremaster reading that letter, his last treasured legacy from a loving but wayward student. Cami suspected he'd appreciate that note a bit more, once he had Kesha back at his side and was assured of the boy's safety.

"Are you going to punish us?" Gamba queried.

"I suspect I'll have to do something, but that's not the point."

Cami sighed and continued. "Gamba, look at me. Listen up and listen hard. There was no need to do this. If you'd just come and spoken with me, I would have done everything in my power to have Kesha come with us. I understand perfectly why you don't want to be separated. Perfectly."

"In the future, I'd appreciate if you would trust me instead of going through a charade like this."

She bent down and kissed the top of his curly head, drawing sharply back at the mingled odors that lingered there. "Go on, both of you. Clean yourselves up and get to bed. I'll talk to Mithadan and Pio in the morning."

For the next two days, Kesha and Gamba spent their afternoons side-by-side assiduously polishing all the brass hardware on the ship.

Daisy came up to Cami and whispered, "Whose idea was this?"

Cami flicked her thumb backwards towards the Man and explained, "If you find an effective punishment once, and it has such good results, you definitely stick with it a second time."

Mithadan grinned impishly and nodded in their direction to acknowledge the truth in Cami's words.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[mark12_30]

Kesha and Gamba got used to looking for their reflections in brass. It wasn't exactly easy work, and their arms got tired, but they polished on. For one thing, the fresh air smelled much better than the garbage chutes, and the crannies and hiding places in the Hold, and even better than Cami's closet, which got stifling after a boy had been there for a night or five. And Gamba was very relieved that he had not gotten in far worse trouble.

Cami continued to surprise him. And yet, the more he thought of it, she wasn't really that much more merciful than Loremaster had been. Gamba had just never seen the mercy in the old man. His old punishnments had always involved studying more, which sometimes seemed like an intolerable burden, whereas the brass seemed almost like fun, since it was outdoors, under the sky and in the wind. As he polished one bit of brass after the next, Gamba reviewed the many times that Loremaster had disciplined him. Studying was really a pretty merciful punishment, he reflected, thinking back over the rescue and the battle and the weeks and weeks of gravedigging, and he reflected that the only time the punishment had ever been severe-- being sent to dig graves-- was when he had been disrespectful about Loremaster's favorite poet.

Gamba wondered who Cami's favorite poet was, and resolved to ask her, and never, ever be disrespectful about that poet. But then he thought about it again.

I bet Loremaster Maura is her soft spot, he thought. And then he relaxed. After singing Lindo's Lament for Maura night after night as Little Maura's special lullabye, he had developed his own respect for Loremaster Maura, and had no desire to be disrespectful to him anyway.

Maybe, though, he would still ask her, and maybe she'd tell him a story. He hoped she would.

He went on to the next peice of brass, and felt the wind in his curls, and thought that polishing brass wasn't that bad at all.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[piosenniel]

Pio sat on the helm deck, watching Daisy take her turn at the Wheel. Late summer and still the days were hot. She fanned herself with the small tray her tepid tea had come on, and tried to focus on the chart spread on her knees. The sail billowed in the west wind, and the Star moved quickly through the waters of the seas, cleaving the waves in its hurry to bring its cargo to their new home.

She was in two minds about their progress. The first, her practical, orderly approach, chafed at the thought that this journey, now three weeks long, should only have taken a week and a half had the winds been always with them and no stops taken for pleasure. There had been only one or two days when they were becalmed, and even tacking should have brought them sooner than this to the entrance of the great bay, Belfalas.

In her other thoughts, though, lay the desire for this journey to never end. And in her wilder reasonings, she dreamt of seizing the wheel at night as the others lay sleeping and sailing the Star far to the south, or even back to Tol Meneltarma. Already she missed the droll humour, the pointed barbs of Angara. She longed to hold Shell and Coral once again and hear their childish chatterings, feel their little arms about her neck, the sweet smell of them. She gazed at Daisy and sighed, not wanting to say good-bye to her forever.

And Cami . . . she feared the Hobbit did not understand why she had put on the armour of Elven aloofness, avoiding as she could any chance meetings. Life, she knew, would soon push them down their separate paths, and new friends and loved ones and fresh places would fill their days and their dreams . . . almost, but not quite. Shaking her head at these shadowed thoughts, she almost missed the cry from Daisy.

‘Pio!’ she said, pointing excitedly. ‘Look! Land!’

The Elf stood, shading her eyes against the glare of the sun, and looked west. The growing shape of Ras Morthil, the Cape of Andrast, held her gaze to the north. Mithadan had come up to stand beside her, and then gave directions to Daisy. Soon they would anchor, when Mithadan had reached the position he desired. Then he and the Star would enter the bay, sailing up The Great River to Minas Anor to secure the needed ships.

[mark12_30]

Phura, Azraph, and Kesha suddenly jumped up; they had been sitting on the bow, dangling their webbed feet over the tossing waves.

"Get Gamba!" Phura told Kesha, and Kesha's webbed feet slapped across the deck and he hurtled down the ladder. Phura smiled. A hobbrim's webbed feet did make it harder to walk quietly like a hobbit would. They would practice, he decided.

Phura and Azraph stood on tiptoe, and barely discerned the glimmer of faroff mountain peaks. Soon Gamba joined them. "Where?" he demanded. They pointed. He stood on tiptoe also, straining, and then a gasp of delight escaped him.

It was followed by tears, which he dashed away; they remained there and stood together, eventually joined by Andril, and watched the mountains slowly, slowly grow larger.

Days passed, and still they spent most of their time on the bow. Cami joined them frequently, and Rose, and Andril; but the three hobbrim and Gamba hardly left the rail. The four little boys played across the deck and down in the hold; Gamba did not worry about them, although he often held Maura. The weather was fair, the swells relatively low, and Ban, Asta, and Roka all stayed well away from the rail. The three Hobbrim and Gamba stared and stared at the horizon til their eyes hurt.

"Look at it, " Gamba would mutter. "One after the other, and another one after that. Do they never end?"

"It's like a forest of Meneltarmas, " Kesha said once, and Phura smiled.

They really had little to compare it to. Phura struggled making his own comparisons. It reminded him of a work detail, all in line, marching off to the mines, shovels and picks on their shoulders. Azraph joked that the mountains were standing in line waiting for dinner, and that was the image that ended up sticking in their imaginations.

Weeks later when they would finally arrived at Minas Anor, and realise that Mount Mindolluin was the front of the line, Kesha would say, "So that's the kitchen?" And among themselves, that was what the three Hobbrim and Gamba called the city. Years and years later, Gamba would always associate the vast range of the White Mountains with dry crusts of bread and wrinkled apples. That Cami told him there were tombs in Minas Anor would not help matters.

But now, today, they were mesmerised with the blue bay, and the snow-capped peaks, and the miles and miles and miles of green and purple shore that stretched on before them. None of them had ever imagined anything so vast. Gamba wanted to go and explore, but Cami reminded him that they had a long ways to go.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[Mithadan]

Mithadan scanned the broad expanse of the Bay of Belfalas. It seemed little different from the way it appeared (will appear) in the Fourth Age. Yet, his seasoned eye picked out subtle variations. Here a small island where later there would be only a shoal. There a reef where later there would be nothing at all. He sought and found an area where the water was deep both now and two Ages hence and ordered the sails furled.

The flotilla gathered around the Lonely Star. When Mithadan was satisfied with the placement of the vessels, he nodded to Piosenniel. She took the crystal and inserted it into its slot, then closed her eyes, contacting the Telerin ships. A minute later, their surroundings shimmered and, in places shifted slightly before becoming clear again. She looked at the land, still several miles away and said, "This should be the 1000th year of the Third Age."

Mithadan looked about and spotted a familiar isle not far away. "Have the Teleri moor there," he said. "Then we go to Minas Anor. Our friends will require transport up the Anduin."

Bird looked up at this. "I would not exchange the past months for anything beneath the sky," she said. "But this voyage has hardly been profitable. How will we pay for transport? With searooms?"

Mithadan smiled. "Leave that to me..."

[Child of the 7th Age]

As the Star pulled into the Bay, Cami had to admit that her mind was not on transport arrangements. She'd decided to leave all that to Mithadan and Bird and Pio. She trusted them to make things turn out all right. All these months on a vessel and she'd never really gotten the hang of navigation. No wonder she was destined for solid ground!

Cami leaned against the rail as the distant outline of the White Mountains slowly came into clearer focus. The snow covered tip of its nearest peak was barely visible amid the mists and clouds.

Phura and Gamba had come up beside her to catch their first close glimpse of Middle-earth. The brothers pointed and gestured with excitement towards the coastline, which extended towards the east as far as they could see. Rose had perched herself up on the railing, lost in dreams and memories of the last time she'd been near those hills.

Cami explained to Gamba how the range swung eastward and inland down towards the Anduin, rambling on for over six hundred miles. They were likely to see it again to the west when they sailed up the River, and passed Minas Anor.

With a pang of remembrance, Cami recalled how she'd bid farewell to this same range just outside Minas Anor to embark on her voyage. Less than a year ago, yet it seemed like a lifetime. The household where she'd worked for so many years had lain on the hills of Emyn Arnen. She remembered sitting in her tiny room every evening looking out, wishing and hoping that something would push her along a different path.

On a clear day, she could see the slopes of Mindolluin and its Hill of Guards from her little window. How many times had she sat and wondered what it would be like to walk along the ridge of the White Mountains, clear to the other end, to see the Cape of Andrast with her own eyes? Now, from the deck of the Star, the Cape stood before her.

Rose leaned over and whispered, "Do you remember that last week in Minas Anor? Going to the Hill of Guards? Just before we searched out a ship to find sea-hobbits?"

Cami laughed. "How could I forget? It was the Tombs that decided everything for me." At the mention of the word "Tombs", Gamba flinched as if someone had jabbed him with the prick of a knife.

"Tombs?" he asked with a grumble. "I thought we'd left those behind."

"No, Gamba, not a prison. Just the tombs of burial for the Kings and Stewards of Gondor, and other great ones of the land."

"Let me tell you a story about that, one that Rose has heard before. I worked for the household of Beregond, the captain of Faramir's guard, a great hero and a decent Man. The family had built such close ties to the Stewards of Gondor that, when Beregond's father died, they allowed him to rest in the Stewards' burial plot. There used to be a Hall there, I think, but that has long since gone.

"There was a day when the whole household went through the Closed Door to mourn their departed, and I saw the Hallows. It was the day they laid Master Bregor to rest, right next to the Tombs where the Kings and Stewards of Gondor lay. Like his son and grandson, he was a good Man, kindly to the servants who worked in his house."

"Yet, when I saw that burial plot, I knew I had to leave. It reminded me I was mortal. No matter what I did, whether I stayed in the city or went on some madcap adventure, someday, somewhere, others would build a barrow for me. The only real difference was what I'd do with that time before the barrow came. Plus, I was the only hobbit there, the only mortal who did not share in the tales behind those Tombs."

"Most hobbits wouldn't care about that. Yet I felt so lonely, so pitifully lonely. I was away from the Shire, and I had no tales from my past, no lays or songs, to comfort me as these folk did. They at least knew where they'd come from. I knew nothing beyond a few whispered rumors and a strange note about sea hobbits."

"So, like you Gamba, I walked out of the Tombs and decided it was time for a change. My teacher Bilbo was gone. He wasn't coming back, no matter how much I wished it. No one wanted to find those sea-hobbits except for me. I was hardly the ideal candidate to go off on an adventure, but someone had to do it, or it wouldn't get done. Right away, I knew I needed help. So the very next day, I went to the harbor and pounded on doors until I found Mithadan."

"That's what I think of when I see these mountains, even clear down here, on the other end of the range."

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[mark12_30]

Cami rejoined Gamba, Phura, Azraph, and Kesha on the bow. Gamba had been thinking.

"You said this ... range... is six hundred miles long, " he replied. "Is that how big this island is?" Six hundred miles?"

Cami laughed. "It's not an island. It's land. "

"But..."

"After the mountains end, the land keeps going. Although... north is better than east."

"It is?"

"We will go north, " Cami said firmly.

His bafflement penetrated her soul, and she said, "Wait here." Not that they had gone anywhere else in days and days, she smiled, but he dutifully did not budge, nor the Hobbrim either, until she returned carefully carrying a large map. She spread it carefully on the deck, and told them each to hold a corner.

"We are ... here, " she tapped the vellum. There are the mountains, from here to here; we will be going to Minas Anor... right here... and then we will go up the river, and to the forests."

Gamba squinted at the runes, and shifted so that he could see them right side up. "An... du... in. Anduin."

"Yes, " she smiled at him. He was obviously getting rusty, and almost against her better judgement she began plotting how to return him to his studies. Wait, she told herself. We have years and years for that.

He studied the river, and tapped at Minas Anor. "This is where the tombs are?"

"Yes, " she said.

He wrinkled his nose. "Then I'm going up here." He pointed to the very top of the Anduin, as far away from Minas Anor as he could be and still be on the river.

"Gamba, darling, " Cami began. That was too far from Rivendell to suit her!

His jaw tightened with resolve, and he pointed again. "La... Lang... Langwell, " he announced. "Right up there. Langwell river. That's where I'm going."

"But, " Cami began, her jaw dropping. and Phura laughed.

"No caves for him, " Phura chuckled. "Not ever again. Right, Gamba?"

Gamba sat back, satisfied. "This... Greenwood. That's a forest, right? A big one. And there are mountains over here. I bet there are elves in that big forest."

"Well, yes, there are, " Cami admitted reluctantly. She pointed hesitantly to Thranduil's kingdom, across from Erebor. "There are wood elves here."

"That's where I'm going, then, " he finalized.

"But, there are also elves here, " she pointed hopefully to Lorien, "and here-- " she pointed to Rivendell.

"That forest isn't as big as Greenwood. I'm going to Greenwood. And Rivendell doesn't show a forest at all. Forget that. I want the big forest. I'm going there. Langwell."

She sighed at him, frustrated already. And then she softened. "When you come of age, Gamba, you can go wherever you want to go. But until you do, " she said with a wry smile, "I would rather that you stay with me, and with Rose. And we weren't planning on going quite so far North. Perhaps here, " she tapped the Anduin near the Gladden fields, "Or here, by the Carrock. Or here, maybe, by the Old Forest Road crossing. We haven't really decided that. And all those spots are right next to Greenwood."

"Not far enough from those tombs, " Gamba said flatly, and Cami shook her head, and almost regretted showing him the map. But she shook that off. Perhaps there were other forces at work in the boy than his own whim. She watched him for a while, and suddenly knew that to be true. And she smiled, and reached up, and ran her fingers through his curls. To her surprise, he blinked back tears. But just as quickly, he shook himself, and returned to gazing at the Langwell river, and the north end of Greenwood.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[Mithadan]

The journey up the river took nearly three days. During this time, the crew of the Lonely Star spoke little of what was to come and, instead, discussed the events of the months preceding, laughing at their foibles and smiling at fond memories. Yet, at last, the ship finally approached Harlond.

The docks and landings were different, Mithadan saw, and there were more great ships of war than cargo vessels swaying at their moorings. This was a time of the Ship Kings, when Gondor had extended its reach far to the south, even unto Umbar. Many tales were told of this time during the Fourth Age, and the might of Gondor during this period was almost legendary.

The Lonely Star pulled slowly into port and found a space to dock amid several swift attack ships. Mithadan descended to the dock and was met by a uniformed Man who asked few questions but took the mooring fee and walked away. Returning to his ship, Mithadan spoke with Bird, Piosenniel, Cami and Rose. "We must obtain an audience with King Ciryandil," he said. "Hobbits are unknown to Gondor at this time. I suggest that all but Bird, Piosenniel and myself stay on the ship, lest we have to answer too many unwanted questions."

He looked over to where the Hobbits and Hobbrim were gathered by the rail, gawking at the mighty city. Then he turned to Cami and Rose. "It seems to me that, for once, there is no place here for the rewnowned Halfling curiosity," he added with a smile. "If it is secrecy that you wish, then it is with secrecy that we must act."

He went below decks, only to return quickly with a black box. Then he removed all but his sword from his belt and turned to Piosenniel. "Just two knives, this time, love," he suggested. "And none hidden away. We'll be safe enough here and need not arouse the suspicions of any guards."

Minutes later, the three descended the gangway and began their walk to the gates of the Tower of the Sun...

[ December 10, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]

[piosenniel]

The Elf felt a little defenseless, dressed as she was. She had opted to look her most harmless to enter the city of the Ship Kings, and she felt ill at ease. No leggings for ease of movement, tucked into high boots concealing her favorite throwing knives. No loose tunic pulled snug about her waist with a twice looped belt holding other blades. No sword weighing comfortably against her hip.

Instead, she looked every inch the Lady and wife to a Man of Gondor. Long flowing dress, a discrete blue, just tight enough about the bodice and waist to give a hint of her condition. Soft leather shoes and blue stockings. And all covered with a dark blue cloak. Her only adornment her wedding band, and a small knife in a silver sheath, hung from a silver chain about her hips. ‘No wonder,’ she thought to herself as she walked beside Mithadan, ‘that women often resorted to more subtle and nefarious ways of arming themselves.’

A small dark striped cat darted out from behind a stack of crates, and wound its way about her legs almost tripping her. Mithadan steadied her at the elbow, and wondered at her as she laughed at the scurrying feline. ‘If we see nine more of them,’ she said grinning at him, ‘I shall think the wraith of Queen Berúthiel still sits in the palace sending them out to collect information. Perhaps, even, now that tabby is telling her there are three entering the city who do not smell quite right.’

Mithadan raised his eyebrows at the comment, as did Bird. Pio drew her hood up and pulled her features into some semblance of seriousness and walked on between them.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

The hobbits lined up along the railing with wistful eyes to watch Mithadan descend the gangplank, Piosenniel flanking him on the left and Bird on the right. Bird turned to wave a final goodbye to Cami, then trotted forward to regain her place beside the Man. Cami wondered whether the Elf or shapechanger had the slightest idea what Mithadan intended to do, or whether he had left them as much in the dark as she was.

Both women were respectably dressed, quite different from the unconventional attire they usually wore aboard the Star. Cami tried unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter, and was given a brief, sharp glance by the Elf.

Her friend's dress and demeanor were definitely those of a good wife of Gondor, as she tried to walk demurely by her husband's side. Somehow, the image did not fit. Pio looked uncomfortable, as if she was wearing shoes that were too tight for her feet. Every now and then her strides would lengthen when she forgot the role she was expected to play. Then she'd slow down and pull back to stand just to the rear of her husband's shoulder with a strained look showing on her face. As the trio disappeared into the crowded streets, Cami could have sworn she'd seen Mithadan trying to hide a smile or two as he looked over towards his own dear wife.

Even after the landing party had departed, a number of hobbits clung to the rail, pointing fingers towards the city sights and asking why they couldn't disembark. Cami had told them several tales of the Green Dragon and Prancing Pony, and many were hankering to go see if there was a similar establishment in Minas Anor.

Andril and Phura helped Cami shoo most of the onlookers away from the railing and directed them down to the lower decks in case any residents of Minas Anor happened to be strolling too close to the ship. Several younger hobbits eluded Andril's grasp entirely and were clumped together in a knot at the top of the gangway, bitterly complaining about their fate. Andril shooed them away once more and, with Phura's assistance, began pulling the gangplank up onto the deck to prevent any possible escapees.

"This isn't fair!" Gamba retorted to Cami. "I feel like I'm in prison. I want to see the city. I want to buy something in the market and have a drink at an Inn. You told me to talk to you if I've got a problem. I'm talking now, and you're not listening."

"Gamba, be reasonable! We can't have dozens of hobbits turning up in the middle of Minas Anor with no explanation. Of course, people will gradually learn about us in Middle-earth, and we won't try and hide our faces. But now is not the time or place for that, epecially since we'll have a whole fleet of ships trying to get up the river. Do you want the entire population of the city ending up on our doorstep, wishing us well as we leave or, even worse, preventing us from sailing so they can see the miraculous little folk?"

"I have no intention of letting anyone off this ship. Just wait a day, and you'll have plenty of woods to explore. Anyways, we have no money. You can't go to an Inn or a market without money."

"Alright, I hear you, but I don't think it's fair." Then Gamba turned abruptly to go below deck with Kesha.

*********************************************

Two small figures crept cautiously about in the hull of the Star where belongings and supplies for the hobbits had been stowed. These were the provisions Cami and the Elves had collected that would be distributed to the families once they left the ship. There was a large assortment of useful things for someone undertaking a journey, plus a few odds and ends to help furnish and decorate a hobbit hole.

"Why do we need this junk?" Kesha asked. He fished through a pile of clothing and pulled out a cloak with a hood that was spacious enough for two young hobbrim.

"Put it on. We need to cover up. That way, they'll think we're some of the big folks' children."

"But what about this stuff? It's really old. I bet it's from Tol Fuin or even before." Kesha pointed towards a pile Gamba had collected that contained several items, including a long sturdy rope, a painted picture, a small stone tablet, and a book.

"We'll use it to barter. To get things we want. Cami told me some people like real old things. This stuff is sure old, so it should go fast."

The boys stuffed their treasures into a large cloth sack, put on the cloaks, and wrenched open the square door that stood nearby, one of several that were intended to be used for offloading supplies and provisions from the ships's hold. As there was no gangplank in place, the two boys had no choice but to jump.

"Can you make it?" Kesha asked.

"Sure!" With that affirmation, Gamba lept through the air, and landed in a crumpled heap on the wooden dock.

"Come on Kesha." The smaller boy jumped and ended up in the water, which was no disaster for a hobbrim. Gamba leaned down and fished him out.

"Let's go. Fast." Gamba exhorted his friend. "I don't know how much time we'll have."

With that admonition, Kesha and Gamba pulled their hoods over their heads, and scampered off into the streets of Minas Anor. Cami and Andril were just sitting down to a pot of tea in their cabin, congratulating themselves on having settled everyone down.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[mark12_30]

Gamba found himself wishing that the sun would go down soon. Many people sent puzzled looks at the dripping Kesha, and when Gamba realised that his green webbed feet were still quite visible, he made Kesha cover them with mud. After that, the looks that Kesha got expressed distaste rather than curiosity. Gamba was none too clean himself; he hadn't been swimming in three or four days. People gave them a wide berth.

"Quiet, " Gamba ordered, as they moved onto the hard road, and Kesha's webbed feet slapped loudly on the stones. "Ow, " Kesha complained. "Well, tiptoe, then, " Gamba retorted. "Can't, " Kesha grumped.

"Hello, " Gamba smiled at a young girl passing by. She drew her clean, white cloak closely about herself, clutched her basket defensively, and looked at his feet with distaste. Kesha gaped at her pretty leather boots laced up to her ankles. She passed without comment; he decided he didn't want to talk to her anyway.

They were approaching the wall. Gamba slowed, looking up nervously. It was large, and circular, and at the gates stood guards with spears and swords. But the gates did not trouble him. He slowed further, coming to a halt, and looked up at the great, towering, circular walls.

"What?" Kesha asked.

"Nothing, " Gamba replied, suddenly terrified by the vast, circular wall towering over him, and trying to hide his terror from Kesha. "Nothing." It's not the temple, he repeated to himself. It looks like it, the round wall, but it's not the temple. It's a city. With an inn, and a place to trade for things. Nitir and Azra liked it here. They said so.

"Are you all right, Lad?" asked a tall soldier, looking down at him. Gamba started, and looked up at the man, who pondered their dirty bare feet.

"Fine, thanks, " Gamba muttered, now more terrified of the man than the walls, and moved on. At first he felt that he was walking to his own doom, and then Esta's last night came flooding back to him, and he shook like a leaf and broke into a sweat. He flinched at every man who passed, and scanned the skies looking for the friendly black and silver dragon. Finally he put his back against the wall, closed his eyes, and fought for self-control, and found just a little. They continued on to the gates.

He wondered whether they would need a password or something at the gates, but to his amazement, the guards smiled at them and wondered what kind of fun they'd been having to get so terribly dirty. "Better wash up before your mother sees you, lads, " one of them said, chuckling kindly.

"Thanks," Gamba said, and led Kesha through the gate, with Kesha trying not to slap his feet on the cobblestones. The guards glanced at each other wondering at his terse, familiar answer, but let it go.

As soon as he got well past the gate, Gamba dodged into an alley, and sat down hard, and to Kesha's shock, rolled up a bunch of his cloak, buried his face in it and sobbed, stifling the sounds and gasping for breath. Kesha stood by him, wondering what was the matter.

"Are you hurt?"

The new voice sent a shock through Gamba, and he looked up to see a young boy staring at him. He didn't answer.

"Should I call the guards? Did somebody beat you up?"

Gamba shook his head, and dashed his tears away. "Who are you?"

"I belong here, " the boy snapped. "You're a stranger."

"I'm going, " Gamba replied.

"Wait, " the boy replied, sensing his adventure slipping away before it had begun. "Where are you going?"

"The marketplace, " Gamba said, "and then an Inn."

"You?" the boy laughed.

With tightened lips, Gamba stood and pushed past him, Kesha in tow. The boy jigged beside him, mischief sparkling in his eyes. "What are you going to sell? What inn are you going to?"

Another boy saw them go by. "Gilthor!" he said, and turned to follow.

Gamba sized the now boy up. "Which way to the market?"

"So you are a stranger." Another boy joined the parade, and another.

"Of course I am."

"How'd you get through the gates? We should call the guards!"

"Then you won't find out what I'm going to trade."

"Weapons?" asked one.

"Gold?" asked the other.

"Jewels?" asked the third.

"Dauran will buy anything, " said the fourth. In another moment, they had entered a wide plaza, with stalls and booths and tables, and people crying their wares and waving their goods.

Gamba stopped in his tracks, and so did Kesha. They gaped. They had never seen so much food-- good food-- anywhere, at any time, in their lives, as they saw spread out, booth upon booth upon rows and rows of booths. Their mouths watered, and they sniffed, amazed at the smells; fresh baked bread, sweet fruit, the strong smell of vegetables-- they were standing next to a booth of cabbages and kale and broccoli. Further down, animal carcases hung, and well beyond that, savory smells wafted by and men and women purchased delicacies and snacks and ate them right then.

Gamba turned. There were more booths. Clothing; blankets; swords; jewellry... his head spun. He had never seen so much expensive beauty, so many lovely things, all clustered in one place. Kesha reached up to touch something beautiful, and Gamba caught his wrist. Trembling again, but for a completely different reason, he turned to the boys. "And where, " he stammered, "will I find Dauran?"

"This way, " the boys replied, and gamboled ahead of him. Several adults shot them suspicious looks, and a few kept half an eye on the gaggle of boys as they passed.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[Mithadan]

Mithadan, Piosenniel and Bird climbed through the circles of the city. After a brief lunch at an inviting inn (roasted meats, fresh bread and vegetables!), they began making discrete inquiries of various guards and officials that they came across as they walked along the streets.

Afternoon found them waiting in the offices of the King's Treasurer, a handsome but officious gentleman named Ardamir. They waited nearly an hour, but were eventually escorted into his cluttered office. Ardamir ignored them for a moment as he perused a scroll, then looked up and spoke. "Yes? Yes? What is it? What to you require of me?"

Mithadan smiled and introduced himself as a trader and captain of a vessel that plied the seas seeking profit. Piosenniel he introduced as an Elf from Lindon and Bird as a representative from a town in the North. After exchanging some half-hearted pleasantries, Ardamir again asked what their errand was.

"We seek the assistance of the King," replied Mithadan. "In a matter of some importance and urgency and are prepared to pay handsomely for such assistance." At this Bird choked, and when Ardamir turned to her with a frown, she feigned a cough and smiled. Mithadan continued. "Far to the north, a great storm struck the coastlands and a town was inundated by the waves. Its people were rescued by ships out of the Grey Havens; a task with which I assisted. But its people are now homeless and ruined. I seek the King's assistance in relocating them to the lands to the north of Rauros on the Anduin where it is said that there is room for many to settle."

Ardamir snorted. "Why should the unfortunate loss of a town to the north concern the King of Gondor? And if these people are homeless and ruined, how shall they pay for the assistance which they seek?"

"The benevolence and power of King Ciryandil is legendary throughout the Northlands," replied Mithadan. "And as for payment, I will bear the cost out of pity and charity."

Ardamir looked askance at Mithadan and his companions as if weighing the worth of their words and the clothing they wore and finding them wanting. He fingered a fine gold chain which he wore about his throat and asked simply, "With what?"

Mithadan smiled and drew forth the black box which he carried and, turning it to face Ardamir, opened it. The treasurer first squinted at its contents, then his eyes grew wide. Mithadan closed the box and returned it to its place under his cloak. "Where did you find these things?" demanded Ardamir. With a broad grin, Mithadan responded, "I shall tell that tale to the King if you will..."

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Shoving and jostling through the crowds, the boys pushed towards the stall that belonged to Dauran, the trader.

Gilthor stared over at the cloaked figures of Gamba and Kesha. ”How old are you?” He barked, “ Maybe seven or eight?”

“Old enough, and big enough.” Kesha growled under his breath.

“Look, I don’t care how old you are. But if Dauran thinks you’re little, he might not trade fair. Let me handle it. I’ll take a cut.”

Kesha and Gamba eyed each other dubiously, then shrugged their shoulders. “Alright, we’ll be watching,” Gamba promised.

Dauran and Gilthor haggled back and forth and finally agreed on a price for the rope. Then, the trader handed Gilthor a large pile of copper coins. The boy started to push most of them into his own pocket, and offered Gamba two small pennies.

“No fair,” Phura objected.

“Sorry that’s my cut.”

The tallest boy who’d said nothing the whole time now stepped forward. “Gilthor, give them the coins. Keep two for yourself.”

“Brodda, whose side are you on?”

“I know what’s right. Give them the coins.” Brodda stopped and raised his fists.

“Alright, here they are,” Gilthor shot back, spewing the coins across the ground with a quick flick of his wrist.

As Kesha and Gamba scrambled to retrieve them, the boys' cloaks fell away for an instant revealing two pairs of very large feet, one green and webbed and the other quite furry.

Everything broke loose at once. Gilthor and his two friend hurled themselves at Gamba and Kesha. The boys wrenched away and began running down the aisle of stalls, slipping in and out between the other customers, with Brodda following immediately behind.

Gilthor's voice rang out over the marketplace as he shouted at Dauran, “But that fellow did have green, webbed feet, and the other one looked like a rabbit. They’re dangerous. You should get them.”

“Sure lad,” the trader laughed, “And you have a pointed head and twelve fingers. Now get going.”

After the trio had made their escape, Brodda guided them into an alcove. “Take my advice, both of you. Use those pennies to buy shoes.”

“You’re not going to tell on us?” Kesha asked, with eyes wide and frightened.

“No, my father hails from the North. He’s told me many stories of Woodland Elves. They're different, and you're different too. I don’t know what you are, but you're not bad.”

“Follow me. I'll find you some old shoes. Then we'll go to the Inn together.”

Kesha turned to Gamba and grinned broadly. “We’re right behind you, Brodda. Keep going.”

*********************************************

Cami had spent a leisurely afternoon, swopping stories with Andril and dreaming about the road that lay ahead of her. So Gamba hoped to go to Greenwood. Cami smiled. Ancalimon had warned her to steer well away from Rivendell, yet never actually stipulated where the hobbits should head, or who their helpers might be.

Cami hated to admit that the boy's stubborn insistence on Greenwood might actually have something behind it. Not an easy place to live, she thought. Full of beauty and trees! But there would be less pleasant things making their way into the forest in just a few years. Hopefully, they'd have time to organize and plan before dealing with anything like that.

Cami was wondering if she had the energy to walk down to the galley to round up some food when, suddenly, Phura pushed his head inside the doorway, a haggard look upon his face.

"Azraph and I, and Kali and Daisy, have searched this ship twenty times. Others have helped us. We can't find my brother or Kesha anywhere.

"That's not possible!" Cami's fingers stiffened. "We pulled the gangway up to be sure everyone stayed on board. I saw the boys leave the main deck to go below. It doesn't make sense."

Phura shrugged his shoulders, worry surging over his features, "Maybe not, but then where are they? When I talked with Roka, all he would say is that Gamba promised him a treat."

A treat?....something clicked ominously in Cami's head. Just yesterday, she'd talked with the boy about the sights of Minas Anor, including the amazing number of treats that could be purchased in the central market. And, as far as figuring out a way to leave the ship, that hadn't posed any difficulty for either of them when they'd gone on their late night swims.

Cami grabbed Phura's arm and pulled him down the ladder to the deck where the supplies and storage bins lay right next to a series of small doors that could be unlocked to offload provisions once the ship docked in a port. One look at the tangled mess on the floor with the doorway still gaping open told Cami everything she needed to know.

"Let's go. I'll come with you," Phura was about to leap out of the ship onto the dock below."

"No!" She shook her head fiercely. "None of the hobbrim can be seen in Minas Anor. You know what Ancalimon said. I'm sorry Phura, but you just can't do that."

He pulled back with reluctance, but had to acknowledge she was right. Cami quickly responded, "I'll go. I think I know where the boys headed. I hope so anyway."

"You can't go by yourself!"

"I won't. I promise. I'll get Bird or Pio or Mithadan to help me." She sounded more confident than she felt.

"How will you do that?"

"Don't worry. Leave that to me. Phura, get my bow, and your large cloak to cover me. Also go to Pio's chamber and bring two of her large daggers that lie there on the table." Cami hoped the Elf would forgive her boldness in this, but she felt she had little choice.

Cami quickly exited the Star the same way the boys had done and hurried along towards the central market. Leaning against the large oak that guarded the entrance to the plaza, she whispered fiercely inside her head, Pio, Bird, Mith, someone, help me. We've lost Gamba and Kesha. They're wandering around Minas Anor. Meet me at the entrance to the central market as quickly as you can.

She stood and waited, hoping and listening for an answer, hesitant to strike out on her own in a world that had not seen a hobbit for over 4,000 years.

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[piosenniel]

The Man was pleasant enough to look at, she thought, but he had such a dull and officious personality that she thought him capable of dropping a frenetic midge at twenty paces. Pio pulled a handkerchief discretely from the sleeve of her gown and held it to her mouth as if to delicately cover a cough. She was bored to tears already, and chafing in the unwieldy clothes she had worn. Turning her head while Mithadan and Ardamir engaged in politesse and finesse, and jockeyed for just the right balance so that both would get what they wanted, she yawned widely under cover of linen and lace.

Bird, sitting to her side, placed her arm behind her as if to pat Pio on the back, and pinched her hard on the back of her arm. Pio blanched and covered it with a smile. If you do that one more time, I will rip the offending fingers from your hand! she thought.

Sit still, Elf! I’m just as bored as you are, and you don’t find me yawning in our host’s face. returned Bird, though this stern statement was impishly followed by the briefest of images – a neekerbreeker crawling on the collar of the King’s Treasurer, and about to bite the lovely lobe of his ear. A cough suspiciously resembling a giggle escaped the Elf.

They had just gotten to the place in the negotiations when Mithadan had hauled forth the box and shown the treasured blades of Númenor to the official, when she felt a strong tug at her attention. She looked at Bird, but she was staring into the box along with Ardamir. Pio sent a focused call out toward the source of the tug.

Who calls me? She leaned forward attentively, appearing quite interested in the treasures before her, as her mind sought the other voice. And now she heard it, faintly at first and then stronger. A frantic calling – Cami!

Pio pulled in the other woman’s call and responded that she heard her, asking what was wrong. The story of the missing Kesha and Gamba and the probability that both of them had come into Minas Anor seeking to buy treats came tumbling helter-skelter from Cami’s mind.

Wait for me at the entrance to the market. I will come directly. she sent strongly back to Cami.

Pio thought quickly, then bent over double and gasped as if in pain. ‘The Lady seems in some distress, perhaps we should continue this another time.’ said Ardamir in concern, both for the troubled female before him, but more at the thought these treasures would fall through his hands. ‘Please do not stop on my account.’ said Pio, who had now raised her face to him, pale and wan. ‘I only need some air, if you will. The twins are active today and have kicked their mother quite strongly in the ribs. If Bird would be so kind as to walk a little with me in the hallway, I will be fine.’

She laid her hand on Mithadan’s arm and sent him a tight quick reprise of the urgent plea from Cami. ‘Please do go on and see the King about getting the needed ships, with the assistance of this dear man.’ She nodded at Ardamir. ‘I will be fine, Bird will see to it.’

The men stood as Bird assisted Pio from the room. ‘By the One!’ Bird hissed quietly at her. ‘What was that little drama all about? Those babies aren’t big enough to kick fleas yet.’ Pio leaned on Bird’s arm for the benefit of the guard at the doorway, and maneuvered her quickly into a side hallway, where no extra eyes or ears were lurking. Straightening up, she pulled the other woman close and told her what Cami had said. ‘We have got to get down there to meet Cami and haul those Hobbits back to the Star before there is more trouble than we can handle.’ said Pio, gathering up her skirt for quicker movement.

She led the way to the exit as fast as decorum would allow, Bird in tow.

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Mithadan]

Mithadan maintained a pleasant expression upon his face as Bird and Piosenniel left Ardamir's offices. But he too had heard Cami's sending and was quite concerned. He doubted that the Halflings would come to any harm in this city but did not relish the thought of explaining away their existence to some suspicious captain of the guard.

To Ardamir he said, "The travails of women. Little enough do we understand them." Ardamir chuckled knowingly. Then he lifted a book and leafed through its pages. "I am due to meet with the King briefly at sunset," he said. "I would be pleased if you would meet me here one hour before and you shall accompany me at that time. I shall bring a scholar learned in history and artifacts and we shall discuss your prayer for assistance and proposed method of payment with the King."

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, then Ardamir escorted Mithadan from the offices. As the door closed behind him, Mithadan broke into a run and proceeded down through the circles of the City...

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]

[Birdland]

Birdie had been enjoying herself throughly, playing the role of ambassador with Mithadan and Pio. It had been hard to find any Elven finery on the ship that would fit her smaller stature, but the women-folk of the Star had managed to put together a very fetching ensemble. And though in a few places they had to rely on the placement of a few pins to shorten or tuck in some dangling hems, the little skinchanger had been quite pleased with her new robes and upswept hair.

Now while a change in form could come in very handy, especially when one had to fight or flee, a change in dress could have definite advantages as well. Bird had glided regally beside the splendid figures of Mithadan and Piosennial, trying to absorb some of their reflected glory and drawing herself up to appear as tall as possible beside them.

She was not unaware of of the few appreciative looks from some of the courtiers and captains they passed on their way through the city; though most glances lingered on the lovely form of the Elf-woman, not a few had turned to the more human, assessible figure of Bird, and she chose to reward a few with a slight inclination of her head and a what she thought of as her hint of a "regal smile". It was all quite heady, and Birdie was relishing her play-acting as "a fine lady".

But when they arrived at their destination, the glamor started to wear a little thin. The droning, diplomatic tone of the negotiations between Mithadan and Ardamir were starting to make Bird's head feel thick and foggy, and the weight of her upswept hair had started the hint of a headache. Also, one of the pins in her gown had worked loose, and it was all Birdie could do to resist not reaching under her robe and scratching. Mith and the city representative talked on and on, and not so much as a glass of wine or a small cake were offered to them.

Pio's sudden "attack" had come as an almost welcome relief, and Bird solicitously led the Elf-woman out of the room, trying hard not to favor a foot that had gone asleep from sitting for so long. But she was not at all happy to hear the real reason for their retreat from the council room.

"Those wooly-pated little gad-abouts!" she hissed angrily, then turned and offered a demure smile and a polite refusal to a servant offering assistance. When he was gone, she continued with her rant. "What were they thinking? Taking off into the middle of this city as if they were taking a stroll in a meadow? If this is the way they are going to behave here in Middle-earth, we'll be lucky to have any Halflings left by the end of the Third Age. They'll have all been killed off by their own stupidity!"

As Bird followed Pio down the hall, trying not to scuff her delicate slippers, she muttered crossly to herself "This little rescue mission better not cause me to ruin my dress!"

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

[piosenniel]

Once outside the building and below the top tier, Pio broke into a run, Bird trailing.

She paused briefly, hearing a string of protests and imprecations, and turned to see Bird's hair had now fallen awry, and one shoe was lost. She motioned her into the shadowed side alley between two tall buildings. 'Forget the finery, Bird. Fly, you fool! Find Cami in the large market place.'

Pio ran on, throwing all fashion caution to the wind, and soon stood panting by Cami's side. She gave cold looks to passerbys who glanced disdainfully at her state of dissaray. 'Tell me what they were looking for, Cami. Then I'll know where to start looking.' The Hobbit looked askance at her, her brow furrowed.

'I've been here, once or twice.' she said simply. 'Now tell me, what would they be seeking. What might those two have to trade . . .?'

[ December 13, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami listened to Piosenniel's questions and struggled through her brain to find something, anything, to say in response.

To be truthful, Cami had no idea what the boys had pilfered from the pile to take to market. There were heaps and heaps of supplies, and she would have no way of knowing exactly what was missing. Nor did she have the slightest idea where the two had gone after they'd made their trade.

She stammered out, "Give me a minute, Pio. Just a minute. Let me think."

The crowd was thick near the gates, and one or two stared pointedly in their direction at the sight of two women with their skirts askew standing beside a tiny cloaked figure who appeared to be a child. Cami tugged her hood further down over her eyes and wriggled her toes uncomfortably inside the boots she'd 'borrowed' from Bird's closet. The boots were several sizes too small for Cami's generous feet, and were making her life miserable. Perhaps she should have borrowed a larger pair from Mithadan.

At the thought of Mithadan, Cami cringed and shrank further down into the shadow. She could not imagine what the Man would say if his audience with King Ciryandil was interrupted by the unfortunate news that a riot had broken out in the city, caused by the antics of two very small strangers with very large feet who'd come from over the sea. Gamba certainly had a knack for getting into trouble!

At that instant, just when Cami was ready to concede defeat, she heard a commotion coming from inside the gate. Someone was approaching, with a shrill, discordent voice that rang out above the throng. A boy had grabbed onto the arm of a City Guard, and was pulling him through the archway, out of the marketplace, with two lads in tow.

"I tell you, sir. One of them had great webbed feet--green they were. And the other looked just like a rabbit."

"That may be so, lad," the guard replied, "But Minas Anor has no laws that says anyone's feet must be a certain way!"

"But, those two are thieves," the boy charged. "They stole a whole stack of money that Dauran gave me. Just ask the trader. He'll tell you."

"You're sure of this?" the Guard sternly intoned.

"Very sure. And they're with a scoundrel, so I've got a good idea where they're headed."

With that, Gilthor turned abruptly towards the harbour, with the Guard and two boys following close behind. Not the new harbor where their own ship was docked, but an adjacent section that was among the oldest in the city. More respectable citizens of Gondor tended to avoid that quarter of Minas Anor. Its buildings were regarded as creaky and uncertain, with some of them close to tumbling off into the waters of the River.

[ December 13, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[piosenniel]

‘Sweet Stars! Those damnable imps are down in the dicey quarter, Bird!’ Pio rubbed the back of her neck, and looked down at her dress. ‘I cannot go in looking like this.’ she muttered, looking at Bird. ‘Stay here with Cami, for a few moments, while I rectify the situation.’

She swept her eyes about the market place, picking out a questionable looking sailor who looked well into his cups. Making her way toward him, she pinched her cheeks and bit her lips, and slipped her arm through his as he walked down the street. ‘Come, luv.’ she said low in his ear. ‘I have need of you.’ He went happily into the darkened space behind an empty market booth, thinking that this was indeed his lucky day. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, luv,’ she crooned to him, ‘but it is your clothes that I have the most need of.

Pio pulled him close and cracked him hard on the back of the head with the pommel of her knife. She laid him gently on the ground and stripped him to his small clothes and put his outer wear on herself. She threw her clothes over the man, and placed a silver coin in his fist.

Moments later, she stepped from the alley - a pair of dirty canvas breeches with a length of rope to hold them up; bare feet; loose homespun tunic with the remains of every meal for the last week wiped along its hem; and a cap greasy with sweat, her hair stuffed under it. Cami stepped back from her as she approached, and even Bird looked as if she were wrinkling up her beak from the stench.

‘Mithadan is coming Cami. Wait for him here. You really are not the type to be found down there. Tell him we have gone into the harborside, southwestern quarter, to the Broken Pikestaff. That’s where the ‘scoundrel’ and the other two are probably heading. It’s an old, falling down Inn, the sort that the guards usually give wide berth to – letting them sort out problems and disputes on their own. Those who wish to be “lost” go there.’ Cami looked at her friend, wondering at the untold history behind her acquaintance with this Inn. She reached beneath her cape and handed Pio the two long knives she had brought. The Elf's eyes gleamed in delight as she strappend them to her forearms, and placed the silvered knife she had worn, in her waistband.

‘Come on, Bird. We should go.’ Pio waved the jackdaw flying high above her on, and ran swiftly in the direction the guard and boys had taken, using the hidden and shadowed backways. She wished to reach the Pikestaff before the guard could make his inquiries . . .

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami listened quietly to what Pio had to say. Yes, of course, someone needed to stay and give Mithadan instructions so that he could join them. And no, she wasn't the "type to be found down there.

But, no matter how sensible all this sounded, something inside Cami was not accepting Pio's order to stay and wait. She was not a child to be told what to do when her own son lay in danger. The old Cami might have shrugged her shoulders and looked away. The new Cami felt very differently. She struggled to explain to Pio why she had a responsibility to go, a responsibility that lay heavily on her conscience, but the Elf did not listen.

After Piosenniel and Bird departed, Cami proceeded to do the opposite of what her friend had asked. There was no doubt in her mind. If it had been a friend or comrade, she might not have questioned Pio's judgment. But Gamba was her son, the child of her heart. As his mother, she would not stay here when there was the slightest chance he could be hurt. After the twins came, Piosenniel would understand why she had to do this.

There was one other thing everyone had forgotten. Cami had lived in Minas Anor for over ten years. Her life focused on her young charges and on her obsession with sea-hobbits. She'd spent her free time doing just two things, scavanging the archives for sea-hobbit clues, and wandering through the older streets of Minas Anor, dreaming of what it would be like to live in another time and place. She knew every nook and cranny, every reputable and disreputable establishment, every path and small doorway that a hobbit could squeeze through, and she could make her way down the back alleys very quickly. Cami suspected the streets of the older quarters had changed little over the years.

Without hesitation, she hired a boy to remain near the gate and pass on directions to Mithadan. Just in case the lad ran off, she tagged a note onto the tree, explaining where they had gone.

Cami stuffed her curls under a cap, and paid a few coppers to a nearby vendor to secure ragged pants and breeches so she could pass more easily as a messenger boy. Then she scampered swiftly through the streets and alleys, taking every shortcut she knew, slipping underneath the throngs of big folk who crowded the streets and slowed traffic to a plodding pace.

[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[mark12_30]

"Wait, Brodda. Are you crazy? Not the front door..."

Brodda checked his stride and looked down at Gamba. "Let's have a look, " Gamba slowed him down, and surveyed the surroundings. "There."

"The kitchen? I don't want to run into the kitchen staff!"

"Trust me. Kesha, follow. Brodda, do what I tell you."

Brodda watched open mouthed as Gamba and Kesha melted into the kitchen practically under the noses of the cooks and waiters, and then beckoned to him. He shook his head.

Instead he went around to the front door, drew himself up to his full height, and bluffed his way in.

"Looking for a lady-friend at your age?" said a waiter. "Starting down a bad path early, aren't you?"

Brodda blushed, stammered, and muttered something about his money being as good as any older man's, and the waiter laughed coarsely and moved on. Brodda, trying hard not to blush and wondering what on earth he had gotten himself into, found an empty booth and wondered how he could make himself look less out of place. He wondered where on earth Gamba and Kesha had gotten to. But suddenly a quarrel broke out at one of the tables.

One man cuffed another. "Yer stole my drink!"

"I did no such thing, " replied the man, indignant and getting angry. "Why would I do that when I've for one of my own right here?"

"Becauise yours is empty, that's why, " the first snarled. The second man looked into his mug in disbelief, and then swung at the first. "Thief!"

"Aye, and a better one than you, " he replied, swinging. Someone threw a tub of soapy water at them. But a few tables over, an old man called, "Waiter, I asked yer to fill my brew! What did ye charge me for, and leave me empty?"

Brodda wondered in all this commotion, where was Gamba and Kesha; and he wondered all the more, when a painted, haggard woman made her way to his table and slyly said, "The waiter says you've come to lose your money. But I'm thinking I should send someone to find your mother."

How he was going to get out of this one, he had no idea. Where were those northerners with their furry and webby feet?

Another fight broke out across the smoky room. The waiters began to wonder where all the drinks were disappearing to.

*********************************************

Child's Post

After a hectic run through winding alleys, Cami reached the establishment known to local dockhands as the Broken Pikestaff. Under her arm, she carried a tray of pastries that she'd rescued from the local delivery boy with the help of a silver coin. Piosenniel's description of the Inn was accurate. In fact, "dicey" might be a more generous term than Cami would use for this dump, with its shady patrons staggering in and out, and a stench that was overbearing.

Cami hesitated before entering the building. Everyone towered over her, sporting an impressive array of weapons. She was counting on a single hope. As hardened as these men appeared, perhaps they wouldn't murder a child in cold blood. And, to their eyes, Gamba and Kesha, and even Cami, were just that--two boys out on a drinking spree, trying to act ten years older, with their bigger brother coming to find them in the course of his deliveries.

Cami could not see Bird or Pio, but maybe they'd be coming soon. She cautiously approached the rear of the Inn, and crept stealthily inside the kitchen, expecting to find the boys in the next room and make a hasty exit.

As Cami made her way forward without a sound, she heard grating voices coming from the front. She dodged back and waited, trying to figure out what was happening.

"What's this, Jacko? We've caught our thief." The man scooped up Gamba with a massive hand, holding him several inches off the floor. The boy still held an empty flagon of ale and looked quite sheepish.

"Yer right about that! What a scrawny 'un. How'd he put all that away?"

"He's got a helper, all right." The painted woman pointed towards the retreating figure of Kesha still half-hidden beneath his cloak.

"What'll we do with 'em?"

"Let's have some fun. Teach 'em some manners." He wrenched out his dagger and placed the point near Gamba's throat.

Cami stood petrified, uncertain what to do. She could not let this happen. With bravery born of desperation, she swaggered out, holding a dagger in her right hand. She tried to act as if she knew what she was doing.

The Innkeeper glared malevolently, "Another pipsqueak!" He spit on the floor. "We seem to be starting a nursery here. And that one," pointing to Brodda, "is probably with them."

Cami broke out with a string of invective, trying to imitate the Elf in her grimmer moments on the Star. "Leave them alone." she yelped. "They're my brothers. I've come to get them and drag them home. Then they'll get a beating! A real good one." At this point, she glared threateningly at Gamba.

"Sorry mate, these are ours. Now if you had some gold coins....."

"I do," Cami could not keep from shrieking. "I really do! Give me my brothers, and the coins are yours."

"I don't see those coins," the Innkeeper growled. "So maybe we'll turn you upside down and get that gold, and leave you sprawlng on the ground."

"No you won't!" Brodda spoke with quiet authority. "My father is captain in the Guards, and if they get hurt, I swear he'll come here and make you sweat."

There were grumbles and curses all around, but there was something in the way the boy talked that made the Innkeeper put up hi hand to halt the discussion.

"All right, where's the coins?"

Cami looked at the taller boy, and he shook his head yes. She reached into her tunic. It was every penny she had left from her meager inheritance. With this gone, she'd be broke. She put a handful onto the table.

The Innkeeper eyed her suspiciously. "You've got more. Let's see them, or you and your friends will wind up in the alley."

Cami ripped out the last of the coins and set them on the table.

"Now, get out of here. And keep your mouths shut about this."

Gamba mouthed the words 'thank you' to Brodda who nodded his head, coming over to stand by them.

Cami collected the boys, intending to leave quietly through the kitchen to avoid the unfriendly mob that congregated ahead. Gamba was still talking with the Innkeeper, pointing towards the things he'd brought in with him, which had somehow ended up on top of the bar. Cami tried several times to tug on the boy's sleeve to lead him away, but he continued talking. At one point, she leaned over and whispered, "Leave those things be. We need to got out of here. Worse will be coming." But Gamba stubbornly continued to talk.

[ December 13, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[piosenniel]

The old Pikestaff looked as rundown as ever to Pio’s eyes. She slipped in quietly, adjusting her eyes to the low lighting in the room. Her nose wrinkled from the years old layers of soured ale, spilled wine, and Men’s unwashed bodies. ‘Or perhaps that is me, I am smelling!’ she laughed to herself. She slid into the shadows along the wall to her right and narrowed her eyes taking in the scene.

There they were, with some boy at their side, in deep conversation with the Innkeeper. Her eyes flew wide as she saw Cami there, dressed as a boy, and talking also. There were three objects on the bar that Gamba kept pointing to as he spoke, an old book she thought and something like a large flat stone with an engraving on it; and what was that other thing - a framed picture of some sort. He was arguing about something, and Kesha was standing on one of the bar stools, making comments of his own while glaring at the Innkeeper. The anger in the youngsters’ voices was escalating, as was the irritation in the face of Gareth.

She had just made up her mind to step forward and confront the Halflings, when the door to the Inn swung open once again and the Guard she had seen in the marketplace walked in, accompanied by the boy who had made the complaint of stealing. Brodda’s eyes went wide at the sight of the Guard and he tugged on the shirts of Gamba, Kesha, and Cami saying that they must get out of there and quickly.

‘Hold those boys!’ cried the Guard, seeing that his quarry was on the verge of escaping. He pointed with his cudgel at the two smaller Hobbits arguing with the Innkeeper. Gareth, for Pio had now remembered his name, grabbed the two firmly, by an arm each, in his big ham fists and hauled them up to the bar top, plunking them firmly down on their backsides. Brodda thought wildly for one moment that he still had time to escape, but he looked at his new friends about to face a City Guard and opted to stay by their side. He nodded at them, and Gamba looked back at him gratefully.

‘And what might you be wanting with these two?’ asked Gareth, eyeing the guard with suspicion. ‘Their brother’s paid the bill here, and we won’t be needing the likes of you.’ He preferred to take care of matters concerning the Pikstaff at his own discretion, without interference from the city. The guard cleared his throat nervously, noting the patrons, all hearty men of the sea, who had suddenly come to hem him in as he approached the bar. ‘There’s been a complaint.’ he said, ‘From Dauran, or so this boy says.’ He hauled Gilthor foreward. ‘He says that Dauran’s been robbed and these are the boys who did it.’

Brodda glared at Gilthor. ‘You’re nothing but a liar, Gilthor!’ he said, walking toward him, his hands balled into fists. ‘If anyone tried to steal, it was you that tried to cheat them out of the money Dauran paid them in trade for their wares. You’re only here to cause trouble because I stopped you from doing that!’ Gilthor backed away from Brodda and ducked behind the Guard.

‘Here! Here!’ came the deep voice of the Guard as he raised his cudgel to push back Brodda. ‘I think perhaps I had better haul all of you back to the market place and we’ll get this straightened out there.’ His gaze took in Cami, who was looking just as suspicious to him as were the other boys. ‘You,too! To my way of thinking you probably put them up to this.’ He stepped toward the trio, menacing them with his club. ‘Come along now!’

‘I think not, Sir.’ came the low voice from the smokey shadows. Pio stepped foreward, and strode to the bar. The faces of the Halflings blanched as they watched the rough figure come toward them. ‘They are mine, by right. Three runaways from The Star now at anchor in port. These two are cabin boys and she, their sister, works in the galley as cook’s helper.' She pulled off Cami's cap, showing her to be a girl. 'All sworn to the service of the ship and Captain for this one year voyage by their parents. I am the First Mate on the Star, and I have come to claim them.’

Gareth’s eyes went wide at the sight of her. ‘Pio?! Have you had a rough passage? You look a little the worse for wear this time.’ ‘Rough enough,’ she said, winking at him. ‘And now made rougher by these three.’ She came close to the Halflings and looked at them closely, smelling the tell-tale scent on their ragged breaths. ‘Drunk, to boot!’ she cried. ‘Surely the Captain will see you get a taste of the lash for this.’ She chuckled at the thought, an evil glint in her eye. ‘Loan me a length of stout rope, Gareth. I shall need to bind them to make sure they do not get away from me again.’

The Guard started to protest at this, but the seamen gathered round him and showed him the way to the door. A ship and her Captain always had first claim on the lives of its crew, they let him understand.

Pio securely bound their hands along the length of the rope – Cami at the end of it, with Kesha and Gamba in a line in front of her. The Elf led them, the rope grasped firmly in her hand, through the door, their heads hung down, their faces sullen. When they had gone a fair distance, and the Inn had receded round the curve in the street, Gamba called out to Pio. ‘You can let us go now, they can’t see us any more.’

She halted, and turned round to look them over. Her cold gaze froze any hope of release. ‘Let you go!’ she laughed. ‘And risk having to spend my time hunting you again. You are going back to the ship in my keeping and until Mithadan has negotiated the deal for ships - for your safe transport, I might remind you – I will be your very best friend, as close to you as the air against your skin.’ She drew her knife, testing its point against the palm of her hand. One drop of blood welled up, proving the sharpness of the point. She resheathed it saying, ‘If any of you, so much as approaches the ship’s rail or steps near the gangplank, I will pin you by the collar high on the ship’s mast until we are well away from port.’

They stumbled down the street after her. She smiled inwardly as she heard Kesha’s whispered question to Gamba. ‘Do you think she really means it?’ and Cami’s quiet response. ‘Best not to trifle with Pio. Once she has laid the rules down clearly to you, she means for you to abide by them.’

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[mark12_30]

Mithadan's post:

As he approached the entrance to the Marketplace, Mithadan slowed to a jog. Nonetheless, he nearly collided with a young boy who leaped out in front of him with arms waving. "Are you Mithadan?" asked the lad. "Cami has asked that I give you a message. She said go to the Broken Pikestaff in the southwest quarter of the harborside." Mithadan thanked the boy and tossed him a few coppers. Then he turned and continued out of the city and down the road towards the port.

He did not recognize the name of the Inn, so he proceeded to the harborside and asked a passerby. The scowl he received when he mentioned the Broken Pikestaff spoke volumes. Alarmed, he began to run again, only to stop, trying to laugh between deep breaths at the sight of a chaingang of Halflings being led to the docks by a grim faced Piosenniel.

"I see that we have found our truants," he panted. "You are taking them to the Star?"
Piosenniel nodded with a half-concealed grin. "Very well," continued Mithadan. "But make haste. In an hour's time we are due to meet Ardamir at his offices and then proceed to the Citadel to meet with the King."

He looked at Pio's clothing and wrinkled his nose. "You will have to change before the meeting," he added. "And I am not going to ask where you might have come across the 'finery' you are wearing."

Piosenniel laughed at this. "That might be best," she confessed. They proceeded towards the docks.
-----------------

Helen's post:

They rounded a turn in the road, and were no longer in view of the gate or
the inn, and Cami said, "All right, Pio, you can take this rope off of my
wrists now."

Pio turned toward her with an arched eyebrow, and turned forward again.
Cami fumed.

A few moments later, Kesha heard a grumble from Gamba.

"What?"

"Snotspeckle."

"Ugh!" Kesha groaned.

Cami frowned. "Gamba?"

"Snot speckible ner tie up Nitter, lef or no lef. Nitter zerves speckt."

"Pio, stop." Cami wanted to hear what Gamba had to say, and the boy could
hardly walk and talk at the same time in his current condition-- which was
getting worse by the minute, Cami noticed. Four mugs of beer did this to a
sixteen year old hobbit male? she wondered, frowning.

But Pio did not stop.

"Gamba, how many drinks did you have?"

"Chumbes."

"What?"

"Chum... mmmm... mBunches."

"Bunches! I paid for four!"

"Old man share fumgle faffer fumgle."

"Pio, stop."

Pio kept walking. Gamba kept mumbling.

"Nice old man. Fumgle... mug... mug-full."

"I take it he didn't know he was sharing, " Cami replied irritably.

"Nice old man. Bud nidit work."

"Didn't-- what didn't work?"

"Srown dorrow. Still ere."

"What?"

"Sro... Ndor.. Drown sorrows. Sorrow still here."

"Pio!"

As if oblivious, Pio kept walking. Suddenly, Cami's eyes flashed, and in a
moment, she had planted her heels and leaned back with all her weight.
Gamba toppled backwards, and Kesha landed on top of him. Pio turned, eyes
flashing, and then she saw the look on Cami's face.

Bird saw it too. "Umm, hmmm. Hmmm." She took a step back.

The shock from landing flat on his back and being slammed immediately by
Kesha brought sudden clarity to Gamba's speech. "Old man saying one more
mug, drown his sorrows. Sounded good. So I kep having one more mug too.
But--" Tears started. Kesha rolled off of him.

Cami, hands still tied, leaned up on one elbow. "But what?"

"Still sad, " Gamba groaned.

"Sad about what?" Kesha asked.

Gamba shook his head, and looked at Cami. "Why nidnit work?" Gamba moaned.

She instinctively tried to reach for him, but her hands were still tied.
She glared up at Pio, and said, "You can untie me now, Piosenniel."

Pio opened her mouth to protest but Cami was having none of it. "Now."

"You weren't supposed to go to the Inn, " Pio said cooly. "I told you to
stay put."

"Oh. And I suppose under similar circumstances, Piosenniel would do Exactly
What She Was Told," Cami all but snarled, eyes blazing. "Untie this
confounded knot!"

Pio, her back up now, said nothing.

"Very well, " replied Cami. "But it will be a long walk back for you,
carrying the three of us. Or dragging us. Your choice." And with that,
she lay back down, motioning to Kesha. He did likewise. And Gamba was
already dead weight.

"Umm, " said Bird, cheerfully, "Looks like you and your prisoners will be
later than we thought. I'd best warn the Captain, " she said, morphing
into a crow, and flying off.

"Bird!" Pio gasped indignantly.

Gamba's stomach rumbled, and Cami asked him again. "How many mugfulls did
you have?"

Gamba counted on his tied fingers, "Gaahhh... Eight."

"Eight full pints??"

"Three...mmm...four pints, and shared nine other pints. Nine halves..." his
fingers were getting tangled.

Good heavens, she thought. "Gamba, right now, right this minute, I want you
to-- Kesha, turn your head." Pio, waiting stubbornly, watched in growing
horror as Cami told Gamba what to do.

"Ugh! By the One! Cami!" Pio grimaced as all eight and a half pints
violently resurfaced.

Cami hoped that the boy was too drunk to remember in the morning.

The smell got to Pio. She had planned to wait it out in a test of
wills with Cami, but with a snort, her patience evaporated completely, and she drew close to Cami. Her words hissed through clenched teeth.

"Listen, Halfling. Mithadan, Bird and I have an agreement to negotiate with the king of this city. We are doing it for the good of you and your people, despite all your best efforts to hinder us, " she spat with an icy glare at Gamba, and then she returned to Cami. "And here you lie, delaying us even now. If we miss the meeting, you can explain your stubbornness to Mithadan yourself. The destiny of your people hangs on this meeting; surely even you can see that. Now make your choice."

Thr fire in Cami's eyes did not die, but since she closed them, Pio did not know that. Cami lay still for a few moments more. Her heart, previously in turmoil, writhed and churned now like a hurricane at sea. And then she sat up, an turned to the two boys; her son, and his little brother who would soon depart.

With a great effort she mastered her own heart, subdued it, set it aside, and spoke to the boys.

"Kesha. Gamba. Get up."

Kesha's eyes went wide, and Gamba moaned. Cami motioned to Kesha, and they both awkwardly helped Gamba to rise. He was sick and dizzy and practically passed out, and he swayed trying to find his balance. Pio considered slinging him over her shoulder, but his stench deterred her, and she tugged on the rope.

Kesha and Cami helped Gamba along as best they could, and with relatively few stumbles they made it back to the ship.

By then even Kesha was angry.

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Returning to the Star, Cami quietly excused herself, went to her cabin, and locked herself inside, speaking to no one. She stayed there for the remainder of the afternoon.

At one point, Gamba came pounding on her door, but she told him to leave. Even through his haze and throbbing head, the boy thought he heard the muffled sounds of a hobbit crying.

When Cami failed to meet Andril for her regular healing rounds, the hobbrim went to speak with her. At first, there'd been no answer. But, after a while, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door, and then it swung ajar an inch or two. Andril pushed it open and went inside.

"Are you alright?" she whispered, taking Cami by the hand.

"I don't know. I thought I'd reached a point where I knew what was expected of me, and I was happy to do it. Now, I'm not sure."

She shook her head. "What a time for this to happen. Soon, I'll leave the Star. I'll be responsible for making sure the hobbits survive in difficult times. No one else here has that kind of burden. Yet I couldn't even get two boys out of an Inn."

Andril smiled, "Cami, it's a blessing, this thing you fear. The hobbits escaped Numenor and live. That's why we have this chance. Ancalimon would never have asked you to help unless he felt it was right."

"Perhaps, but I have no idea how to deal with Gamba."

"Gamba? That was a childish prank. And Kesha is a hobbrim. He's no better."

Cami shook her head. "Maybe, but it's not just Gamba. It's all of them."

"How do I explain this?. I know enough to keep us safe, but only if the hobbits show the common sense and caution I'm used to seeing at home. Sometimes, I think I'm back in the Tombs battling the guards."

Andril looked puzzled and asked Cami what she meant.

"For a long time, the Guards made our decisions. We had no choice but to obey. Now, we're free, but it's as if we lost a piece of ourselves, that ability to 'think like a hobbit,' to know when to stick our necks out and when to blend in and disappear."

"That's what I see missing in Gamba, and the others. When I told him to stay on board and tried pushing him out of the Inn, he had no idea why I was urging caution, and I don't think the others would either. The hobbits say they're free from the Tombs, so they can do whatever they want. Only life doesn't work like that, not in any Age."

"It's strange. Elves and Men pride themselves on their ability to think. But they really don't need it, not the way we do. They've twice our size and strength, and can beat down enemies with threats and weapons. We're the ones who must use wits to survive because that's all we have."

"In the place where I was born, the hobbits decided to ban Men from their community. The King couldn't even set foot in our lands. Since I have been on the Star, I have wondered if that wasn't too extreme. I began to believe that it was possible for big and little folk to join in friendship and common endeavors, with respect for each other."

"But now I am beginning to question that. Maybe, it is only on a haven like the Star that this can happen. Once we return to Middle-earth, as we are doing now, all the old feelings and dilemmas come back. Perhaps, the only way hobbits can be granted respect is to throw off the help of others who, however well meaning, make decisions for us. And, if that is so, then we must look immediately for a separate path, at least until the time when those things change."

Andril sighed, "I can't answer that. My own people are safe on Meneltarma, where no others dwell, so we don't have these difficulties. But I think you should wait a day or two before taking any action to make very, very sure of what you are doing."

Andril looked into Cami's grey eyes, which still held deep shadows. "There's something else, I think."

"Maybe," Cami replied, "but there's no good discussing it. It doesn't change anything, and I'll be leaving soon." She went to her satchel and began fiddling with her things.

As she fiddled, she talked, "I went to the Inn because I was afraid for my son. What no one understands is that, two days from now, the Man and the Elf and the shapechanger will be gone, so I'd better learn to do things on my own. Except for Piosenniel, I am older than any of the crew on the Star, and among my own people I am accounted a 'wise woman.'"

"Yet I manage to end up in a chain gang with two children whom I was trying to help, with the entire population of Minas Anor, and the Star, staring at me. I have seen many big folk blunder on the Star, or fail to carry out a task, but never has anyone been thrown into chains. Just once, I'd like to be twelve feet tall. Just once, I'd like to trade places and see how others felt." Her voice faded away.

Andril wrapped her arms around Cami, pulling her head onto her shoulder. "There is little we can do about that, and I'm sure it was a jest. Too many on this ship have given too much for there to be hard feelings. It will look better in the morning. But if you're still this angry, you'd best speak with Pio or Mithadan."

"Perhaps," Cami agreed, "although, right now, I am too angry and tired to speak with anyone."

"I do have one suggestion on your other problem. If you fear the hobbits have lost caution, and can't make wise decisions, the answer is simple. You must teach them."

"How could I do that?" Cami questioned.

Andril smiled, "But you already know, the same way you did in the tombs. You talk to people, have them listen to your ideas, and hear what they say in turn. Then you decide together."

Andril looked intently at Cami. "Have you talked with anyone besides Gamba about where you'll head along the Anduin? Or how you'll find food, or shelter? Have the hobbits started thinking about those things?"

"Cami, you complained when others treated you without respect. But aren't you doing the same thing? You're not the only one who bears the burden of hobbit survival. That burden belongs to every member of the community, and the sooner you share it out, the happier you and the others will be."

Cami looked hard at Andril. What she was saying, as far as it applied to her own people, made a great deal of sense. And perhaps Andril was right about the other as well. If she still felt this way tomorrow, she would go and speak to the Elf. And she would certainly need to talk with Gamba as well, once his head had cleared out a bit.

If things could not be resolved, one way or another, then she would have to think very carefully about the path ahead.

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[piosenniel]

Once back on ship, Pio ushered Cami and both the boys back to their rooms. She drew up the gangplank and sent for Daisy and Kali to come to her. They looked askance at her as they approached and moved to stand up wind. ‘What happened to all that finery you left in?’ asked Daisy, wrinkling up her nose. ‘You really did look quite nice.’ Pio laughed at this statement. ‘I think I am not meant for such trappings, Daisy.’ She picked up the hem of her soiled tunic and smiled. ‘This served me well enough for what I needed. Pity the poor sailor who wakes to find my dress covering him and a silver coin in his hand.’

She told them what had happened and how the three were now safely back on the ship. ‘I must be back at the meeting with the King in less than an hour. I need your help in this matter.’ Both the Hobbrim stepped forward, saying they would help in any way they could. She outlined the conditions she had laid down for the three she had brought back, saying that she wished no further interference from any of them. There were some delicate negotiations to be got through with the King and his ministers before they could secure the ships for safe passage to Rauros Falls. Mithadan must be allowed to have his full attention on this without worry that some Hobbit or Hobbrim would be causing trouble in the city. She, herself, would stay to keep things in order on the ship, but Mithadan had asked that she accompany him, and she would put him first.

‘Will you stand in my stead, the both of you?’ She regarded them both closely, making more of a statement than asking a question. ‘I would have this meeting with the King go smoothly.’ Both Kali and Daisy nodded in the affirmative, and Pio gave them instructions on what they were to do. ‘I will be back directly after the meeting, any problems that arise, deal with them in any way necessary to keep the Hobbits hidden on the ship. I will treat further with those who chose to contravene my wishes when I return.’ Kali and Daisy both took note of the seriousness of her statement to them and agreed to keep the passengers on the Star under their watchful eyes. ‘We will stand in your stead, Lady Piosenniel.’ said Daisy, a smile of remembrance playing about her lips.

Pio ran quickly to her room and stripped her clothes off. She washed herself with clean smelling herbed soap, and lathered her hair twice to rid it of the smell of the sailor’s greasy cap. Satisfied, she dressed hurriedly, but this time for her comfort and not for show. A soft, dark blue velvet tunic over black leggings. Her boots of soft leather cleaned and rubbed as she could to a muted gleam encased her legs to her knees, and into the tops of them she snugged her knives against her calves. About her waist a belt of Dwarven silver shone, set on the buckle with mother-of-pearl that winked and moved in the light like the surf playing about the shores of the Falathrim. Two long knives in fine worked leather sheaths hung from it. Over it all she flung her grey cape. And on her brow a slim band of mithril worked with twined leaves of holly. She would be every inch the Elf as she presented herself to the King.

She strode quickly from the dock, and worked her way in haste to the seventh tier of the city, where she was to meet Mithadan and Bird. The crowds in the passageways drew back from her and made way for her. There was a clear light which shone in her eyes, and she moved with a purpose that even the guards at the final turning could not deny, but ushered her through, whispering to each other that one of the Eldar had come to grace the King with her presence.

Mithadan smiled at her approach, regarding her with great affection. At his side was Bird. She had managed to pull her outfit back together, and though her hair now hung down about her shoulders, it gleamed in the light of the sconces, and there were many side glances from the passing courtiers at this fetching and mysterious lady.

Ardamir also stood near them, waiting to usher them in to the meeting with the King. He stepped forward as she approached and inclined his head to her. ‘My Lady, you have recovered as I can see.’

‘I thank you for your concern, Ardamir.’ She said, smiling at him. ‘Now come, let us go in to the King, if you will. I would see Ciryandil and what sort of King he has grown into.’

The Minister led the way through the tall doors to the hall, Mithadan at his side. Bird entered next, while Pio brought up the rear, her eyes taking in the surroundings. The King stood, his back to them, at a low table, looking over a large map spread before him. As the doors closed behind them, he turned . . .

Mithadan's Post:

Ciryandil was tall as was the wont of descendants of the Kings of Numenor. His hair was dark as the night sky and silvered at the temples. Lines of care ran across his brows and at the edges of his eyes which were clear and grey. He wore a dark blue cape over his black tunic and leggings and on his brows rested the Star of Anarion.

Mithadan dropped to one knee and, after a moment's hesitation, Piosenniel and Bird followed suit. The King stepped forward and said "Rise" in a deep voice and gestured that they should be seated at the table. Servants brought chilled wine and a platter of breads and cheeses. When all had been served and formalities exchanged, Ciryandil addressed Mithadan and his companions.

"I am told that you come before me on a mission of mercy," he said. "And that you seek not charity but aid in exchange for fair payment. I would hear your tale and the aid which you seek."

Mithadan spoke, addressing the King respectfully and with the proper formalities. At length, he repeated the story he had told Ardamir, embellished with comments concerning the large number of children among the refugees.

Ciryandil nodded gravely at the tale. "Grievous indeed is such a calamity," he said. "And I doubt not that my brethren to the North lack the resources to succor the affected. Yet you ask much of me at a time when my resources are strained as well. I am told that you do not appear here without means. How do you propose to pay for the aid you seek? And how many are the refugees of this tragedy?"

"Nearly five hundreds must be relocated," replied Mithadan. The King's brows rose at this and Ardamir's eyes grew wide. "But we do propose to pay for my Lord's aid. With these..." Mithadan again drew forth the black box from under his cloak and opened it so the King could view what it contained. Like Ardamir had earlier, the King's eyes widened upon seeing the contents of the container. Then he looked to his treasurer and the man seated next to him. Mithadan presumed this was the scholar Ardamir had spoken of before.

Ciryandil turned the box around so that the others could see its contents. Within it were six daggers, finely wrought with hilts plated with gold and adorned with jewels. But the blades themselves were of mithril and each bore a name upon it; the names of various Kings of Numenor. Bird gasped and leaned forward to see the daggers more clearly.

The scholar leaned forward with trembling hands and lifted the blade bearing the name Tar-Elendil. He examined it closely for many minutes, turning it over and over in his hands. Then he drew forth a small pick made of steel and scratched it against the blade. It left no blemish upon the mithril. He replaced the blade reverently back into the box and addressed his King.

"My Lord," he said. "The name was set in the Mithril during the weapon's forging. Mithril cannot be engraved in this manner. The art of doing this is lost to us now. These daggers are authentic."

"How came you upon these treasures?" Ciryandil asked Mithadan. The Man smiled and replied with head held high. "I am a mariner, my Lord. I have travelled far upon the waves of the great sea. And one day my vessel came upon a small island and I would not have thought twice about bypassing it except that on its rocky shores could be seen the ribs of an ancient shipwreck. Curious, I approached but little remained of the unfortunate vessel. Yet in the sands which filled its rotting belly, I found these six blades and I took them up and carried them away when I left the island."

Ciryandil thought for a moment. Then he looked Mithadan in the eye and said, "500 refugees will require more than 20 vessels with threir crews. You will need food and provisions for their journey and weapons and tools to aid them. I think that these daggers would adequately cover the cost of this expedition..."

Pio's Post:

Pio watched as the scholar turned the blades lovingly in his hands. They were beautiful, indeed, she thought and their worth far more than the twenty ships and supplies they would receive from the King. But ships and food and provisions were what they needed at the moment and these were the means to obtain them.

The King had directed his Minister of the Treasury to work out the finer details of the exchange with Mithadan. The pair stood apart from the small group, now, working through what needed to be done and when, while one of Ardamir’s clerks wrote furiously, keeping track of what had been agreed upon. It looked to be a long discussion.

Pio strolled about the room looking at the few pieces of artwork which decorated the walls. One drew her attention, and she stood before it, looking at it in detail. It was a large tapestry, finely worked, depicting one of the great victories of Gondor - the sailing of her great navy from Pelargir, south to Umbar , ending in the taking of that area from the Black Númenóreans.

‘That was a time when fortune shone on us.’ came the deep voice behind her. She had not heard him approach, so intent was she on the history laid out before her. ‘A great time for the Sea Kings of Gondor.’ she agreed, turning to see who had spoken to her.

He stood close before her, and she marveled at how well he had grown into his role as King. ‘That Sea King was . . .’ he began. ‘Your father.’ She finished for him, smiling. ‘Eärnil. A wondrous naval tactician, or so I have heard, to have defeated so fierce a foe and held the area against them for so long.’ His brow furrowed as she spoke, and a sudden memory niggled at the back of his mind.

‘You are the Elf from Lindon, or so my Minister said to me. Yet, I feel as if we have met already. How is this so?’ His keen grey eyes assessed her, lingering on the stray curls which brushed her shoulders.

‘I knew an Elven lady once, when I was very young. She was a visitor to my father’s court on a number of occasions. I remember finding her often in the library looking through the old books and scrolls. She always had time for a little boy of five as I was at that time. Always she would make time for us to play in the courtyard fountain, sailing ships and fighting great battles of our own.’ He laughed in delight at the memory. ‘Sometimes I would win, and she would tell me how one day I would be as great and able a Sea King as my father.’

He reached out to touch her hair, and then, thinking better of it, pulled back his hand. ‘She had hair much like you, dark and curling. Though, as I recall, it fell much further down her back than yours. Pio smiled at him fondly. ‘Lucky, indeed, the Elf to have had such a keen playmate and adversary as you.’

She saw Mithadan motion for her to come over to him. ‘I must go. My companion has need of me for the moment.’ She inclined her head to him, her eyes shining with delight. ‘It has been my great pleasure to speak with you, if even for so short a while.’

A smile creased his careworn face and he waved her off, watching as she walked away from him . . .


[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Birdland]

Before they left the ship for their audience with the King, Bird had frantically tried to "pull herself" together, brushing down her surcote and gown and scrambling to find a new pair of shoes to replace the ones ruined in the "rescue mission". There would be no time to dress her hair again, which secretly relieved her), but she was fuming over having to go through all this, just before she was about to meet a king!

Thank the One that Elves have somehow figured out how to keep wrinkles out of cloth, else I'd never be ready in time! she fussed silently to herself. And at that moment she saw Gamba passing down the passageway. "Gamba, boy! Come here! I would speak to you a moment."

Gamba turned and shuffled back to Bird's room, head down and a sulky look on his face. He stood in the doorway, waiting for what he knew would be just another "lecture" from yet another "big folk", which he was growing very tired of hearing. Hoping to change the subject, he murmered "You look beautiful, Birdie. That dress looks very pretty on you."

"Well, I looked a sight better a few hours ago, and we all know who put an end to that, don't we?"

"It's not right!" Gamba sputtered angrily. "Pio didn't have to treat us like that. Leading us through the city like a lot of slaves. She embarrassed all of us, including Niter. She shouldn't have done such a thing."

"I'll grant you, Pio can get a bit carried away. The Ents would say even "hasty". Bird held up a hand to interrupt the young Hobbit. "Never mind about Ents. I'll tell you later. Let's stick to the subject. We all know who's to blame for any embarrassment caused to Miss Cami, now don't we?"

Gamba hung his head. "But the city was so beautiful. We just wanted to see it."

Birdie knelt down and took Gamba's hands in her own, noting how much healthier and strong they looked compared to the pale, thin hands of the Hobbit of the Tombs. "Gamba", she said. "All of Middle Earth is beautiful, and you will have a lifetime to see it. But it also is perilous, and if you don't remember that, your lifetime will be considerably shorter than need be."

"Did your years in the Tombs teach you nothing of the ways of Men, Gamba?" He looked down in sadness. "I thought that was just...well...there. I thought things would be different here."

"Well, take it from me. There not. Birdie sighed and squeezed the young ones hands tighter. "Gamba. You must listen. For the sake of your people, you must always remember: Men are not to be trusted! And your folk are going out there into a world full of them. The Elves will not help you, they are more concerned with their own affairs. The Dwarves will be the same. Your folk will have to deal with these matters themselves."

"As the Hobbits scatter throughout the world, they will discover one thing. Whatever they try to accomplish, where ever they decide to go, Men will be there to hold them back. Oh, not because they will actively hate you. At least, not most of them, but Men are greedy, and take whatever they can, thinking it is theirs by right. The rights of smaller folks will not give them pause for an instance."

"Oh, some of them will feel a little guilty about this, but they'll come up with all sorts of reasons to deal with that. They will say that the things they do are so much more important in the grand scheme of things. They will say that little folk like you are not much better than animals, and can't have the same rights as doughty Men. They will say since they are bigger, they need more room. They will tell themselves anything in order to justify the things they do. And on the whole, the Hobbits won't be able to do a thing about it. Men will run roughshod over them for many, many years. Until time and their own doings leave a small piece of Middle-earth abandoned, and Hobbits will have a place to call their own."

"But that is still many ages in the future. Right now, your folk are going out into a world where you will have to compete every day for the things you want and love. And you won't be able to do it with swords and feats of arms. You'll only be able to do it through stealth, and using your head."

"Now Cami knows just what you will all be facing. And she's that scared that she won't be able to do what needs to be done to get you all settled, and teach you what you need to survive. And your behavior today has just made her even more sure of that. Because she told you what you needed to do. And you wouldn't listen! She's expected to keep you all safe, but if everyone just goes off and does whatever they want to, that just won't be possible. She's crying right now. Crying because she just doesn't think her people are going to be able to make it here."

Gamba looked up with horror. His little jaunt had not seemed to be that much of a bad thing. He had certainly not intended to make Niter cry! What would Loremaster think of him now? And the picture Birdie had drawn of Middle-earth was far different from the one he had in his head. It seemed they were not headed into a paradise after all. He hung his head in shame. "What can I do, Birdie? How can I make it up to her?"

"Grow up, and grow up fast. You never had the chance to do that in the Tombs, bad as they were. But now you will have real responsibilities, and real choices. Cami needs the help of a man now, not the responsibility of another child. Stand by her. Support her. Show her that she can trust you to do the right thing. Not just for her, but for all your people." Bird smiled down at the young one" You'll grow to be a fine Hobbit, Gamba. Perhaps a leader of your people. And you will have a wonderful life, full of adventures, and sorrows, and joys. I almost envy you." Bird looked off, and murmered to herself "All the things you'll see, and all the things you'll do."

But then she shook herself and laughed. "But as for now. I have my own adventure to go on. For I am off to meet a King!" and with a swish of her skirts, she left Gamba to join Pio and Mith.

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Helen's Post

Phura came softly to Gamba's side and whispered, "I hear you've got quite a headache."

"Yeah, " Gamba whispered with an effort. Talking hurt.

"Sorry, " Phura said, gently laying his hand on his brother's arm.

"Yeah."

"What did you go and do that for?"

Gamba grimaced. "I thought... I wanted to see the place. I thought I wanted to find out what this new world of men was like. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about."

"Did you? What's it like?"

There was a long pause. Phura waited.

"I'm never going back."

Phura waited again.

"I hate it."

Phura waited some more.

"Seven of those horrible walls. I should have known."

"What? The circular walls?"

Gamba rolled over, and Phura heard him weeping. "They're all the same. All of them. Bird is right. One way or the other, we mean nothing to them. They either cheat us or they beat us up or tie us up or they sacrifice us. The round walls should have been a warning to me, and I was too stupid to see it."

Phura watched him quietly, and thought how much he had changed since Levanto's arrival at the tunnels-- and how little. "Mistress Nitir tried to tell you to stay put."

"She lived there. She said she liked it. That's why I wanted to see it, because she said it was a good place. But it's not. It's awful. And-- and if she was wrong about the city, then ... then what about the elves? "

Phura's eyebrows went way up. "The elves?"

"After what she did to us, I'm not sure I can ever trust an elf again. She worked so hard to free us. And then she tied us up again. And she was so mean to... to my mom."

"Come on, be fair. Remember what all the elves have done to help us. There's a whole fleet of them out there that have done nothing but help us for weeks and weeks. We can't blame them all for... for the ... for what she did to you."

"Bird says they're all the same. All the big people. So any elf would do it. Any of them would have tied us up. It's just what they do."

"I don't think Nitir believes that."

"Yeah, well, look what it got her."

Phura frowned, looking down at his brother, whose framework of belief had suddenly crumbled, and struggled to find something to say. Gamba no longer trusted men, elves, Piosenniel. And now he even doublted Nitir's judgement-- his own mother, Phura realised with a sinking heart. What did the boy have left?

Phura bit his lip, and suddenly his efforts to convince Gamba to follow the loves of his heart-- the elves, the forest-- did not seem so wise, and he wished desperately that his brother had become a hobbrim so that Phura could look after him. But it was too late. Had he been a fool?

He tried to think what Loremaster would have said, and something came immediately to mind. "Why is it that you could trust Nitir's love for the city and want to understand that, but you cound't trust her or try to understand her when she gave you a simple command, not to leave the ship?"

"Oh, stop talking like Loremaster, " Gamba said. But he wept miserably as he said it; and then he sat up painfully and slowly, and with an effort, threw his arms around his brother's neck.

Phura worked hard at his own self-control, and succeeded in hiding his own tears from his brother. But he was deeply shaken, and wondered if there was any way that he could possibly bring Gamba back to Meneltarma. He did not think there was, but he spent the rest of the day trying to think of one.

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: Helen (in the guise of Child of the 7th Age )]

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[Birdland]

Bird's eyes had widened in astonishment when she had seen the precious objects offered, then quickly she rearranged her features, hoping no one else in the room had seen her reaction.

But this gift should have bought more than safe passage for a few hundred refugees. The weight of the mithril in the blades should have been enough alone to buy the keys to the White Tower itself, along with the rest of city! These knifes would become a precious heirloom to the Kings of Gondor through the ages, used in ceremonies and seen on only the most special occasions. Bird wondered if the story of how the knifes were acquired would be remembered through the ages as well.

Now why did Mith not think to keep at least one of those knifes for himself? thought Birdie. He could have clad the Star in gold leaf with just the weight of the handle. Bird sighed. With just one of those knifes, the owners of the ship would have been set for life. No need to sail anywhere. Let others do the work.

But it was too late to say anything now. The case had been closed, and two guards were now standing on either side of the table, waiting to take the marvelous gift to more secure quarters as soon as the negotiations were over. I suppose Mith would have thought it a pity to break up the set. He would think like that. fumed Birdie with annoyance.

And just where had Mith found these wonderful instruments? Bird knew the story of the shipwreck was patently false. She had explored the waters around Meneltarma while the Star had sat offshore, and while she had seen many wonderful things lost in the waters around the island, there had been nothing like this. Could these knifes be an heirloom of Mith's own house? If so, she wondered that he could bear to part with them. I should have let Mith know about all those things I saw below the waves. she thought guiltily.

And yet, except for the gift of the loving cups for Pio and Mith's wedding, she had taken nothing. Now why was that? Those baubles just didn't seem important at the time she thought, though they seemed very important now. Perhaps the island protected its treasures in ways the little skinchanger could not understand.

Oh, well, the sea is full of treasures. I suppose if I have need of some, I can always do some exploring on my own. Though dolphins don't have pockets, so I couldn't carry much away, anyhow. Still...I wish Mith had kept just one of those knifes!"

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

[piosenniel]

It was late when they had returned from negotiations wth the King and his Minister. The ship was quiet, most had settled down for the night. Daisy sat at the railing, near the gangplank, her legs propped up on the lowest rail waiting for them. Mithadan waved at her as he walked up the plank, and she stood, waiting for Pio to come on board.

‘Everything seems to be quiet, everyone on board just as they are supposed to be.’ She yawned widely. Pio thanked her and sent her off to her own rest saying she would see her tomorrow.

Mithadan and Bird had already gone below, and Pio followed after them, walking slowly down the steps. Thirsty, she stopped in the galley to make herself a small cup of herbed tea. Cradling the warm mug in her hands she inhaled the soothing scent of it. She sat, in the shadows of the galley now lit only by the feeble glow of one small lamp, and let her mind drift.

He did not see her when he came in to get a small glass of water. Her voice startled him when she called his name, ‘Gamba.’ He turned not seeing who had spoken, his eyes still adjusting to the shadows.

‘Pio.’ he spat out, once he had seen her, in a tone of such anger that she jerked back from the force of it, her eyes going wide at the raw emotion which hit her. He came toward the table at which she sat and slapped his hand down hard on it. ‘You had no right to do that to Kesha and me, and especially not to Nitir.’ His words battered at her as he laid out every accusation of wrong that had been simmering in him since she had dragged the three of them back to the ship. And when he was done, he sat down hard in the chair opposite her, his arms crossed over his chest, daring her to deny it. He was angry and ready for any challenge she might offer him.

What he did not expect was what happened next. She spread her hands on the table before her, and her face changed from grave as she listened to his words to one of great sadness. Tears fell from her eyes, splashing on the backs of her outstretched hands. She wiped them from her face with the sleeve of her tunic, then spoke softly into the air, her eyes seeing things beyond the Hobbit who sat now before her.

‘Soon you will part from us. And my dear friend, Cami, will be far from what small protection my hands can afford her. I had thought to look to you to take up this task for me, to share the burden with her of keeping all of you and herself safe in this wide and dangerous world. But I fear now that when she looks to you, you will not be there.’ She rubbed her face with her hands, smearing the teary trails on her cheeks, and gazed deep into his eyes. ‘There are so many perils that will meet you on your journey. What hope is there if she must face them all alone?’ Tears dropped again upon the table top.

‘Rail at me, if you must, Gamba. Oft times my actions are ill thought out, and harsh. I am not the most politic of creatures. But I love my friend, and it tears my heart to know that even in my brash way I cannot be there when she has need of me.’

She stood, wiping at her tears once more, and sighed deeply. Silently, then, she turned from him and went to her room, hoping only that dreamless sleep might claim her.

[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami sat up in her bed, abruptly woken from sleep by disturbing dreams and images. She reached down and touched where the chains had wrapped around her wrists and ankles, lightly chaffing against her skin. She brought her shaking fingertips to her face and groped towards her cheeks, feeling the soft tears that fell unbidden even in sleep.

Where was she? Was she really here, safely hidden on the Star? Or was she somewhere else, long ago and far away? She remembered the night when she'd left Gondolin behind, with her arms bound in chains, not knowing that the Elf had died. The forced march held such bitter memories, in the ugly threats of Orc guards and the weeping of hobbits, as those who were elderly or unable to keep up slipped down to their deaths. Cami rubbed her wrists again, remembering how the lifeless bodies had dragged along the ground until the jailers brought their great swords to cut through the bonds, leaving hobbits sprawled along the trail as a grim reminder of their passage.

She shuddered and got up, unable to sleep, pulling a light cloak over her shoulders. Her own jailers were gone. Daisy and Kali had been cheerful enough to her, even talking through the closed doorway, but now they had left for bed, and she was free to roam.

Gamba was sleeping in Phura's cabin. She padded softly down the corridor until she came to his door, pushing it open and going inside. The boy was curled up on a pallet in a corner of the room, tossing and turning and muttering words in his sleep. She crouched down beside him and ran her fingers through his tangled curls.

I have no children of my body. You and Rose and the boys are the children of my heart. What must I do to protect you? To keep you from the threats of others and from your own lack of wisdom. I do not know.

Elbereth, Queen of heaven, I am no Elf. But perhaps you listen to the little ones as well. My people are small, and I am afraid. I do not know what path is right for us.

Then Nitir leaned over and pulled the covers over her child and kissed him softly on the head. She sang a simple lullabye in Westron, much as she had heard from her own mother. When Gamba finally lay quiet, she stood up and went out, wandering further down the corridor.

She came to the Elf's chamber and halted. Piosenniel would be alone, for Mithadan was up above keeping watch over the ship. No longer could they rely on the goodness of their neighbors as they'd done in Meneltarma. Instead, they must post guards, and look out with suspicious eyes on everyone who walked past them.

For one sad moment, Cami wondered why she hadn't chosen to be a hobbrim. Perhaps there was still some way that she could claim passage on a ship bound for the Blessed Lands. But that seemed unlikely. The last time she'd checked, hobbits weren't welcome there, at least not those like herself. In the West, surely, there were no chains or guards.

Cami leaned against the walls of the corridor and heard the sounds of the Elf pacing inside her cabin. Piosenniel must be up. She might as well confront her and tell her what she was thinking. Best to get it over as quickly as possible. By the morning, her courage and resolve might not be there.

She knocked softly on the door. She heard the sound of footsteps approaching and the handle being turned to let her inside.
Piosenniel stood in front of her with a weary expression, her face solemn and strained.

"We need to talk," Nitir's voice was hushed but firm as she sat down on the bed.

For a moment, it seemed as if the Elf would begin the conversation, but Cami gestured with her hand and shook her head, asking her to wait.

"Give me a moment to speak my mind, and then I will listen to whatever you wish to say."

"If I had spoken with you this afternoon, I would have shouted in rage at what happened today. There was no need to put me in chains, and to drag me through the city and especially in front of my own people. Surely you understood that. I was going nowhere, except back to the ship."

There was sternness in Cami's voice as she continued, "It was I who discovered the boys were missing and shared that information with you and Bird, because I trusted you to help. Now I wish I had acted on my own, and said nothing."

"Nor is there a need for you to make my decisions about where I go and what I do, without giving me a real chance to respond. Perhaps, you don't understand what happened at the market, but after the twins are born, you will."

"I know you well enough." Cami continued, shaking her finger for emphasis. "You would not leave your child in danger, even if that child was guarded by a twenty-foot troll. You would laugh at the danger and stride inside, and do whatever you needed to do."

"I am no Elf, but I, also, am not a child. I can not stride through the front door to fight as you might. But one way or another, I'll find the back entrance and figure out how to slip my child to safety. City Guard, or no City Guard, I would have gotten those boys back, even if you had not been there. And if that is not true, I have no right to be a leader. I should go back to the library and read books, and let someone else do the job."

Cami sat for a while saying nothing. She looked out the porthole to the city beyond. The tiny lights of Minas Anor were visible, full of promise and the threat of danger, at least for her own hobbit kin. Once again, she struggled to find words for what she intended to say.

"Pio, you're part hobbit yourself, and you and Mithadan and Bird have given more than any I know to save the hobbits from danger. When I heard how your husband had traded those treasured knives for ships, I was touched, even in my anger. You might have held onto them and earned a king's ransom for yourself. Your generosity and bravery know no bounds."

Cami looked over at the Elf and sighed. She had so many to thank for so much. That debt would never go away. Yet, sometimes, just sometimes, that debt made her feel uncomfortable. She pulled her thoughts back and continued.

"I know we couldn't have done any of this without you. But there is one thing you forget sometimes, perhaps because you're so much bigger. There were times on the Star when you and Mithadan would have failed if it hadn't been for hobbit wit and stealth and endurance and, in the end, hobbit blood."

"You must understand that my people and I have had enough of chains. Where another might laugh at what happened today, we see no jest. The reminders they carry are grim indeed. I do not wish to see chains again, not for myself or my kin."

Cami stood up and paced about the room, seemingly talking as much to herself as to her friend Piosenniel. "I promise you I will deal with my son on my own. I will speak to him tomorrow. He has much to learn, and he needs to learn it quickly. Without hobbit commonsense and caution, none of us will survive, and everything we did on the Star will be lost. I will not allow that to happen. These are my people, and I love them."

She sat a moment in silence, wondering whether she should even bring up the other concerns on her mind. Yet, she could not ask Piosenniel to be honest without extending that courtesy to her. Her words came tumbling out in all their blunt honesty, "Today, I even thought of suggeting to Mithadan that he leave the Men's ships here in Minas Anor. Then we could sail the Star back to the Cape, so the hobbits could walk overland to where we need to go, joining together and standing on our own feet without help from others."

"But such a scheme does not make sense. The trip would be long and hard for many. Hurt feelings are not the best way to decide things."

"From our own friendships on the Star, I know it's possible for big folk and little folk to respect and treasure each other. But how much of that camraderie can there be in Middle-earth itself, where so many look after their own interests and compete for what they want? I'm still not sure. I wish I knew. But perhaps even Varda herself could not answer that."

"So we will try again to make this thing work. I am not angry with you. I am only bitterly sad. And, even though, my years are far fewer than yours, today I feel very old indeed."

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[piosenniel]

First the son, now the Mother. Heated anger from the one, cool reasoning from the other. This is what happens when you attach your life to others. Their concerns and problems spill over into yours, and oft times the results are disastrous and beyond control.

Pio rubbed her temples at this line of thinking, an unaccustomed headache playing behind her eyes. What a fool I was for ever thinking I could play this out aright. She blinked back tears that gathered now at the corners of her eyes. I am in it now, though, and deeply. I have no choice but to step up and see it done.

She sat down on the bed, while Cami spoke to her. The Elf’s face was an unreadable mask of forced composure. She listened carefully to each word the Hobbit spoke, and her mind read the emotions cached behind them. What she understood was that the friendship and affection that had been built between them over the long course of this journey, now stretched between them by a single, thin strand. Her unthinking action had brought them to this, and one false word or gesture on her part would snap it.

Cami had finished speaking, and a deep silence hung between the two women. Then Pio drew her down on the bed beside her. She knelt on the floor at the Cami’s knees, and taking her friend’s two hands in hers she kissed her inner wrists where the recent ropes had chafed the memories of those other, brutish chains.

Her grey eyes looked deeply into Cami’s and held her gaze, unwavering. She clasped both of Cami’s hands together in her own and laid her cool cheek against their warmth.

‘Would that I could undo that unthinking deed, but I cannot.’ she said softly. ‘I was wrong to do what I did. You are dearer to me than any friend I have ever had, and I have hurt you deeply. I am sorry.’

Cami made as if to speak, but Pio shook her head, saying, ‘Please let me get through what I need to say, before the small light of reason grows dim again.’

‘You are right in thinking that I have not always seen you as capable of taking care of yourself in this wide and dangerous world. It is a conceit I bear as one of the First-Born and because I have lived through too many ages and seen how even reasoning creatures prey upon what they consider the lesser. I have been guilty of that myself.’

She sighed. ‘I would take care of you . . . all of you, that is what I came back to do. It is only with great difficulty that I can think of stepping back to let you make your own decisions, decide your own actions. Especially true is this for those I hold dearest.’

‘You think I do not understand why you did what you did when you stepped in to protect your child from danger. I do understand it. That is one of my faults, if not my greatest, I think of you all in the same way I would my children. I understand that you think that wrong. And perhaps it should be, or at least perhaps my actions should not proceed from that belief. I feel responsible for you and for your well being. I think I always will – I who have been granted so much by life.’

Pio paced the small area of the room like a caged animal, and spoke as if to herself, reasoning the twists and turns of this relationship out in her own way. ‘Were I the old Piosenniel, the one you first knew, I would have laughed at your concerns, knowing that I had done right, that my actions were the most expedient to bring about the necessary outcome. And had you chastised me, even as gently as you have, I would have disregarded it, as being the unskilled thoughts of someone without my understanding.’

She stopped and regarded the Hobbit. ‘You thought me your friend, then, and in my own way I was. But I would use my understanding of what you needed from me to meet the goals necessary to complete the task set for me. I would never have considered that the task was something you, on your own, might attain, or even that the task set was for you to accomplish.’

Pio resumed her pacing. ‘That is how I saw things then. And when I returned as Tulë still I saw myself as the one who would guide you. I was insulated then from the web of friendship, relying only on what I knew was necessary to be done. The resolution of this quest was a series of steps to be eased into place by me through you.’

She paused and breathed deeply remembering that fateful night. ‘Then Mithadan called me back. And I could not refuse. Yet even then, I told him that I did not know who had answered his call.’ She furrowed her brow at the thought of it. ‘I only know that it was someone new, someone, who for all her years on this earth, was quite new to it. Someone who did not know her way.’

‘And still I do not. At least it seems so when I try to puzzle out relations to other people.’

Sitting down once again on the bed, Pio laughed at herself. ‘This sounds like so much Elvish excuse making even to me. I have turned this away from you and your concerns to fit my needs once again. Let me stop myself here, and bring the focus back to you.’ She took a deep breath, and looked her friend in the face once more.

‘Again, I am sorry, Cami, for the hurt I caused you. In my heart I do know how capable you are of leading and teaching your people. You will do it with kindness and gentle words and most of all by your example. Fate chose well when it chose you for this task. I can only say it has been my great privilege to help you as I could and to count you as my friend.’

‘Let me make these promises to you for the short time we have left together. I will meet you as an equal. I will honor your decisions and your actions – not stepping in unless you request it and only to the point you agree to. That is all I can offer to assure you I will cause you no further pain. That, and this last request – that you speak up and bring it to my attention when my actions step beyond the boundaries you have set.’ She gazed down at the floor, her shoulders hunched. ‘What I cannot guarantee you, what you will have to find out for yourself, is whether other folk, big or little, will respect and treasure you and yours. I can only say that I will try.’

Looking out the porthole, Pio noted how the moon had moved across the night sky. She picked up her cloak and drew it close around her.

‘Walk with me, if you will,’ she asked of Cami, ‘up to the deck. The hour grows late, and I would relieve Mithadan of the watch.’

She offered a hand up to Cami, still seated on the bed, saying, ‘Will you come . . .?’

[ December 20, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami took the hand offered to her. Then she stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms about the Elf's waist, "You've been a good friend to me. None has been dearer. Your own example has given me courage to begin thinking and doing more things on my own. If I have any hope of being a good leader, it's because of what I've seen in you."

She looked Piosenniel directly in the eye. "It doesn't surprise me you acted swiftly and without thought, or that you only saw the end goal and paid little attention how you got there. Pio, you've never been known for circumspection. But I also believe you when you say this act grew out of your love for the hobbits and desire to protect us, and that, as one of the Firstborn, you find it hard to stand aside and watch others make mistakes."

"That, I can understand. Even I feel sadness about that. Whether we like it or not, the Firstborn are departing, even in the year to which I am headed. You've chosen the lot of a mortal, Pio. With that one act, you and I stand on equal ground. So I accept your promise and, in our little time left, will try to do my part as well."

Cami's voice cracked a bit as she continued, "This is such a hard thing, a very hard thing, to find where to draw the line between helping someone by your own actions and helping someone by teaching them how to act. I also find that very hard to do."

"This afternoon, Andril taught me something. She showed me how I'd taken on too much, trying to come up with all the answers, intead of letting the other hobbits share their ideas and help make decisions. Perhaps, we're not so different after all. We'll both have to work on it."

The women left the cabin together and continued to the deck above. Cami looked up to see the stars but, with the distant city lights, they were not quite as bright, certainly not as clear and sweet as Meneltarma. Still, Mithadan greeted them with a smile. He shook his head, "I know there has been a falling out between you two, but I see you have managed to talk."

Cami smiled and nodded, "Things are much better, and we've promised to be more careful with each other. Now, the only thing left is to go down, and talk some sense into my son, which may be an impossible task. But I will leave that for the morning, when heads are clearer and minds sharper."

"I still wonder if the kind of friendships we have on the Star between big and little folk will ever be possible in Middle-earth itself. So many times, Bird has spoken to me about the need to be cautious, and look out for oneself. But then, every time I turn around, I see her doing good deeds for someone--a hobbit, or Man, or Elf--who is no relation at all. So then I scratch my head and can't fit the two together."

"It was actually Bird's behavior and speech that helped me decide how the hobbits should behave in the Anduin. We'll have to be very careful at first, and I will tell everyone that. But if someone extends a hand in frendship, I will not refuse it. Otherwise, we'll all end up in the top branches of different trees hurling fruits at one another. That makes no sense to me."

"I did want to thank you, Mithadan, for what you did today in the court of the King. You might have lived in luxury a long while from the sale of those mithril blades. Was that the one you found Coral playing with back on Meneltarma?"

"But, let me ask you also, Mith, how will we proceed now? Won't the Men see the Elven ships, and ask questions about that? Do we need to hide those ships from them?

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[mark12_30]

Mithadan's Post:

Mithadan smiled at Cami. "Yes," he said. "The blades which I traded to the King were those which the Hobbits took from the tombs. Coral gathered them, as I requested, and brought them to the Star. So, in a way, your people have paid your own way. Indeed, it would have been a danger to you if you had retained them, for if word were to reach the wrong ears that you possessed such treasures, your people would have been hunted rather than ignored."

He smiled again. "And do not concern yourself that we have deprived ourselves and our children of any reward for our efforts. There will be plenty and to spare even for our partner, Bird." With that, he twitched back his cloak and withdrew a blade from a hidden pocket. The scabbard was of black leather embroidered with stars of silver. He drew forth the blade and they saw that it was much like those he had traded to the King, but the name engraved upon it was 'Elros'.

He looked up at the city for a moment, then back at Cami. His expression grew sad. "Even now, the King is gathering a number of ships, shallow in draft, to carry your people up the Anduin. Your transport will be ready perhaps even tomorrow. The following morning, if all goes well, we will sail forth with our flotilla and meet the Elven fleet where it is moored in the bay. The Men of Gondor will be aware that your people were rescued by the Elves and will not think this strange. The Hobbits will be transferred to the Gondorian vessels and you will be carried to the foot of Rauros where you will be landed on the western shore to make your way into the north..."

He turned away and looked out over the Anduin and the forest of masts rising from the docks. "I will miss you Camelia Goodchilde," he said with a husky voice. "We have been through the fires of Gondolin and the waters of the Great Sea together. We have accomplished great things, yet none is more rare than our friendship. And in two days you will be lost to us beyond any hope of reunion. It will be a sad parting, yet not one without hope, for because of you one day the Halfling will stand forth among the great of legend and be accorded no lesser place even if compared to the heroes of the First Age. Yet I will miss you. And I will always remember that but for you, Piosenniel and I would never have been brought together."
--------

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]

*********************************************

Child's post

Cami smiled as Mithadan extended his hand to her in thanks. "I'll miss you too," she confided. I owe you and Pio so much that there's no way I can repay it. I just hope your life will be happy, and your family strong and healthy."

Cami turned to him and laughed, "There's one more thing. If either of you think back on our adventures, try not to be so glum when you talk about me. I intend to live a good, long life to see my children and grandchildren grow. And when the time finally comes to say goodbye, I want no regrets. I've every reason to let go gently, and not look back." The Man looked at her and smiled.


Helen's post:

Mithadan heard the ladder creaking, and turned to see Gamba emerge, rubbing his face. He halted, and glared at Piosenniel, and, to Mithadan's surprise, glared at him too; and then he met Cami's gaze, and turned towards the rail, and wandered aimlessly to the stern.

Cami loked at Mithadan, puzzled, and Mithadan sighed, and headed for the boy. Hearing his heavy footsteps approaching, Gamba turned with a look of puzzled indignation. "What do you want?"

Knowing he would get more out of the boy if he pushed him to anger, Mithadan spoke with a quiet edge to his voice. "A little more respect from you while you are on board my ship, for starters."

It worked. "You laughed at us. You laughed at mother, " Gamba replied, coldly, and turned away again. "I don't know why you rescued us, but it wasn't because we mattered to you."

"Gamba, you're wrong."

Gamba folded his arms and leaned against the rail, sullen.

"Look, you're still a boy. And you've done some pretty boyish things lately. Now I shouldn't have laughed at your mother, and I'm sorry that I did; and she knows that now, I think, and if she doesn't, I'll make it clear. But you-- " Mithadan chuckled. "You remind me of, well, of somebody I knew once."

No answer.

"Gamba, I'll never admit it in public, but I did some boneheaded things in my own youth; things that I'd rather nobody else knew I did. Fortunately, I've left much of that behind me. But I've had my share of hangovers, and I've even had to be rescued, on occasion."

"Then if you did it too, why is everybody so upset about it?"

"That I'll leave for you to discuss with your mother. But Gamba, part of growing up is learning to obey orders, from many different sources. Would you have obeyed if I had told you to stay on board the ship?"

Gamba didn't answer, at first, and then he looked up at the man, and then back at the waves, and said, "If I'm such a boy, why is everybody upset that I'm acting like one? And why does everybody expect me to act like a grownup? And if I'm supposed to act like a grownup, then why can't I do what I want?"

Mithadan came and stood at the rail beside Gamba, looking out at the waves, trying to decide how to anser, but all he muttered was, "You're a teenager, all right."

"What?"

Mithadan sighed. "Oh, nothing." Twins, he thought; I'll have two teenagers at the same time, both struggling with the transition from childhood to adulthood, and they'll be ... Eru Help Me, they'll have Piosenniel's fighting spirit. His blood ran cold at the thought.

"I don't understand, " Gamba groused, and Mithadan gently mussed his hair.

"I know. You'll be all right. But remember this-- obeying orders doesn't stop just when you become a grownup. You'll always have somebody to obey."

"You don't. You're the captain; you just give orders."

"It might look that way, " Mithadan replied. "But it's not that way at all. Not at all." Ruffling the boy's hair one more time, Mithadan turned, and went below.

Cami slowly came to join Gamba, and she gently ran her fingers through his curls, smoothing what Mithadan had ruffled.

"Nitir... mmm... Cami-- " Gamba tightened his arms across his chest, and tried again. "Mmm... umm... Mom?"

She waited, still combing through his hair, and he leaned against her hand as she did.

"Mom, I'm sorry I made you cry. I didn't mean to."

Cami took a deep breath.

[ December 17, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]