Weaving a Song

Chapter 84

After it was dark, they entered the woods, and they heard an endless rustle of leaves like poplars in the breeze. "Lothlórien!" cried Legolas. "Lothlórien! We have come to the eaves of the Golden Wood. Alas that it is winter!" He said, sighing to remember the springs he had spent here with his sister and Haldir.

"Lothlórien!" said Aragorn. "Glad I am to hear again the wind in the trees! We are still little more than five leagues from the Gates, but we can go no further. Here let us hope that the virtue of the Elves will keep us tonight from the peril that comes behind."

"If Elves indeed still dwell here in the darkening world." Said Gimli.

"They do," Legolas said softly, "but their dwelling is far from here, much deeper in the woods."

"Indeed deep in the wood they dwell," sighed Aragorn, and Legolas remembered that Aragorn had as many memories here as he did, if not more. "We must fend for ourselves tonight. We will go forward a short way, until the trees are all about us, and then we will turn aside from the path and seek a place to rest in."

Boromir, however, did not move. "Is there no other way?" Legolas and Aragorn exchanged a glance.

"What other fairer way would you desire?" Aragorn finally asked.

"A plain road, though it led through a hedge of swords. By strange paths has the Company been led, and so far to evil fortune. Against my will we passed under the shades of Moria, to our loss. And now we must enter the Golden Wood, you say. But of that perilous land we have heard in Gondor, and it is said that few come out who once go in; and of that few none have escaped unscathed."

"I have entered before." Legolas said, his voice low. "And I have never come to any harm."

"Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth. But lore wanes in Gondor, Boromir, if in the city of those who once were wise they now speak evil of Lothlórien. Believe what you will, there is no other way for us- unless you would go back to Moria-gate, or scale the pathless mountains, or swim the Great River all alone."

"Then lead on!" said Boromir. "But it is perilous."

"Perilous indeed," said Aragorn. "Fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them. Follow me!"

They went a long a ways, a little more than a mile, to find the Nimrodel flowing beside them.

"Here is the Nimrodel!" said Legolas. "Of this stream the Silvan Elves made many songs long ago, and still we sing them in the North, remembering the rainbow on its falls, and the golden flowers that floated in its foam. All is dark now and the Bridge of Nimrodel is broken down. I will bath my feet, for the water is said to carry healing for the weary." He went forward and climbed down the bank and into the stream. "Follow me!" he cried. "The water is not deep. Let us wade across! On the further bank we can rest, and the sound of falling water may bring us sleep and forgetfulness of grief."

Legolas cocked his head as he stood on the far bank, here was closest to the place where Almiel had first encountered the panther, whose descendants still roamed Mirkwood's halls. He closed his eyes, remembering that day, and then joined the others, telling them tales of Lothlórien that the Wood-Elves still remembered.

"Do you hear the voice of Nimrodel?" asked Legolas. "I will sing you a song of the maiden Nimrodel, who bore the same name as the stream beside which she lived long ago. It is a fair song in our woodland tongue, but this is how it runs in the Westron Speech, as some in Rivendell now sing it." He sang softly, his voice mingling with the rustling of the leaves, and the others listened entranced.

Afterword, he told them that the song was long and sad, for evil came to Lórien when evil came to the Dwarves, but that the Elves here were called the Galadhrim, for they still dwell in the tops of the trees.

"And even now dwelling in the trees might be safer than sitting on the ground." Gimli said, looking at the trees above them. Aragorn agreed and they stood and passed further into the woods. Not far, they found a cluster of trees, with great girths and an imponderable height.

*

It is the Woodland Prince.

Shall we say something to them?

Not yet, do you feel the evil they bring?

Yes, I know of what they bring, but I still wish it not upon our people.

And turn away the Prince? I can imagine how well that will go over. "Say Thranduil, your son came through here but we didn't let them stay, we thought it best we turned them away." I am not going to bring him that news.

Peace brother, no one will bring him that news. We are waiting. We will let them come to us.

I cannot believe you are actually saying that.

There is a lot of darkness with them, and unfamiliar faces. The Prince we may know, but not the others. It is wise to be cautious in this instance.

Hmmm… maybe you are wise.

Indeed. Now ready to meet them.