Long Lost Leaves - part II

[The Sasquatch of Fangorn]

Borin struggled to keep a hold of the rope. "How much farther, Radagast?"

[Curufin]

Abasi sat at the entrance to the cave, sharpening his t'rai to a razor-sharp point. It was calm outside, and there had been no disturbances or threats to the entrance of the cave.

He sighed, and returned his t'rai to his belt, looking over at Tabrîl, who was still chanting. It was comforting, to hear the ballads of his people from the tongue of another. It had been so long since he had, and the sound of it brought peace to his heart. He sat in silence until she had stopped, then looked up at her.

'Do you have any stories of Kuiviénen in the lore of your m'had?'

[Midge]

As Aerin's head began to come above the rim of the hole, she looked around at the strangest group of people she'd ever seen. Radagast she knew by sight.. anyone who'd travelled through Greenwood the Great usually knew him. There were two, three, four humans, a dwarf, an elf... Was that a WARG?

Of a sudden, her eyes became wide with fright. Was this the right group of people???

[orithil]

Hedrim and Borin pulled them just high enough so they could climb out, Hedrim and Borin held the rope as the rest went to help the others.

[Earniel]

Radagast helped Aerin from the shield unto steady ground, while Nami and Aelfwine took care of Quickleaf. "Don't worry," he said as he saw the frightened look Aerin gave Borin's wolf. "The wolf's harmless, he won't bite."

[Coffeehouse]

The rope came to a halt and Quickleaf felt many hands pulling him out, and up into the passage.

Quickleaf felt very lucky.. "Well.. I'm back! Refreshing swim!" he exclaimed in dark humour, the bleeding from his eyes having stopped but the tears of blood that had rolled like a river down his cheeks remained, dried and stained, and Quickleaf looked about him.. but to his sadness all was black.

[Midge]

Now that Aerin was standing (and having had Radagast reassure her about the Warg), she was quite comfortable, and ready to continue looking after Quickleaf while the others pulled up Haldis and all their gear.

She sat down by where he was sitting against the wall, leaned over and said, "I'm still here. You doing okay?"

[Aikanáro]

Tabrîl glanced over at Abasi as he asked this. She had hardly noticed when he had stopped sharpening his t'rai, wrapped up as she had been in the story she had been reciting to herself – and to him, it would appear.

'Yes, we have plenty,' she replied quickly, but then frowned slightly, thinking that it might not be an entirely accurate answer to give. 'But perhaps not in the way you mean. There are very many stories that mention Kuiviénen, but only a few that do so in any detail. They usually speak of it as first homeland, as Kuiviénen-that-was, a lost place even in the oldest fragments of the lore.'

She sighed. 'I think it a pity there is not more said of it. From what is remembered in the lore, it is said to be a beautiful place, Kuiviénen, the birthplace of the People.' Tabrîl paused, tilted her head to the side slightly, smiled at him. 'So you must forgive me my earlier envy that you had seen it, I have never before to my knowledge met a m'had who had done so. Your people must have had many stories of it, with you to tell them.'

[feawen]

One at each side Nami and Aelfwine helped Quickleaf up and out of the hole. An arm around his waist the two guiding him to a safe distence from the hole so he could sit down. Nami was worried by his blooded face and his staring sightless eyes. His dark humour was not comforting her at all.

"Oh you silly elf! What did you have to go and do that for?" The words might have been harsh but her tone was full of concern as she bent down and brushed some of the dryed blood and filth off his cheek.

"I'm still here. You doing okay?"

Nami straightened and looked towards the new elf as she joined Quickleaf. "Oh...i'd better help the others get Haldas out of the hole." Turning to go Nami gave Quickleaf a worried look. It seemed he already had someone to look after him.

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf sat sprawled on the floor, his body a mess, and yet he felt comforted now. It would heal, he'd been lucky, a long fall, but he was alive!

The voice of Nami sent a wave of color through Quickleaf. He looked towards her voice, but she left as soon as she arrived.

They'd been on a look for her, but she was here, and she must be alright although Quickleaf wished to see her, with his own eyes. And Ellysa? She must be fine too.

A flood of pain seared through Quickleaf's head and he put his one hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes. His other hand searched down the side of his hip, for his water flask, but there was none. "Aerin.. " And he looked blindly to his right, "If you're here, a water flask.. did you find one. Did you.." Quickleaf fumbled with both his hands. "Must have lost it.." His face went a slight pink. He felt like a child.

[Curufin]

Abasi shifted a little, resting his arms on his bent knees.

'There are some, yes, but not as many as there were when I was young. Much has been lost, even with me to keep the memories alive. Even my memories are old, although they are sometimes as clear as if we had only just left. Still, the world is much changed, and you are right in calling it Kuiviénen-that-was, for it is surely lost forever.'

He paused, lost in his memories. His eyes looked distant as he stared at the grassy earth before him, recollecting long bygone days.

'And nothing can ever again be as it was...'

The sadness that dripped from his words was almost a physical pain.

[Midge]

"Aerin..."

She turned to Quickleaf at the sound of her name. He was searching his side for a water flask which wasn't there. She touched his shoulder to get his attention and give him a direction to look, give him some form of normalcy.

"You didn't have one when we found you. It must have been swept away by the river. Here, here's some water." Aerin fished a water flask out of her pack, which was sitting beside her now and handed it to Quickleaf. "Drink up."

[orithil]

Hedrim and Borin pulled Haldis the last few feet up and as haldis got out, they heaved the shield up and over then set it down. Hedrim exhaled deeply then went over to see Quickleaf, he knelt down "Quite a fall you had there eh, can you see?"

[Coffeehouse]

His eyes slightly off, staring into the darkness, at Hedrim's right ear, Quickleaf exclaimed happily and reached out his hands "Hedrim! We meet again. My sight is.. not good" and he caught hold of the King's neck and whispered as if a secret "To my right is.. Aerin of Lothlorien. We must show hospitality. She has been very kind"

[feawen]

As Nami helped to pull up Haldas and pack up things she kept casting looks over to Quickleaf and this new elf, had he called her Aerin?

Nami frowned, what was so special about her? As soon as the thought crossed her mind she frowned, why had she thought that?

Shouldering her pack she walked over to Quickleaf, she watched as he whispered into Hedrims ear, what was he talking about?

"Come on mister, lets get you outside so i can have a proper look at you. Anyway you know what i'm like in the dark!" Bending towards him she put her hand in his to help him up. Then a thought suddenly entered her mind.

"Oh no, what about Ellysa? I promised i'd look after her i can't just leave with out her!" She looked around the group trying to find out if anyone had seem the young girl who had been in her charge.

[Aikanáro]

'It cannot.'

Tabrîl wished there were words of comfort she could say to him, but he had spoken truth, and a truth that no empty platitudes could lessen. She felt it too, and yet knew that her years were few compared with his, and so his sorrow must be all the greater.

'It will change, and this we must accept, and not dwell too much in times past if we can help it,' she said quietly, but she got up then from her place and sat down beside him, hoping by her closeness to show a kind of solidarity.

If Tabrîl were to allow herself to think of what had been lost even during her own lifetime, she would surely end up feeling as Abasi looked to her, and she wished desperately to distract him from the pain somehow.

'But perhaps there is still something for us,' she said at last. 'I know that this path I must walk now would be far darker had I not your company. Perhaps not all that remains to us now is memory.'

[Coffeehouse]

Her voice again.

And Quickleaf's eyes shot up into the abyss "Yeah..",
but the breeze of dead, still air in the wake of Nami's voice told him she was off again.

His hand reached out into the nothingness, wavering, and he rose up and stood centre in the passage, clueless, his skyblue eyes reflecting the crowded scene in front of him.
"Yeah.. it is time to leave. But I do now know what direction" he mumbled to himself.

[feawen]

Hearing Quickleaf mutter to him self Nami stopped and turned to look at him. Torned between the girl she had said she would look after and the elf who seemed so lost even when he was surrounded by his friends. Nami sent a silent prayer to the valar that Ellysa was safe. If she went looking for her now Nami would only get her self lost again and Quickleaf needed help here. But was it not Nami's fault he had fallen in some way, she had gotten her self lost, most likely he had come looking for the two of them. Nami looked at him as he stood lone in his own dark world and felt a pang of guilt. Quickly stepping up to him she slipped an arm around his waist so she could not only lead him out but help to support his weight should he need extra help.

"Come on, i'll take you out." Half laugh, half guiltly feeling Nami continued, "But i got my self lost remember, don't trust in my directions!"

[Coffeehouse]

Quickleaf felt the supporting arm of Nami and the scent of her hair sailed past him, giving him memory of lighter days out in the greens of the forest. What had he been thinking running down these passages? His eyes sent a flicker over towards the place he thought he'd sat.. Nodding, as if thanking Aerin, but he did not know if she saw.
"So where are we off! Another adventure deeper down these passages?" Quickleaf's face smirked, covered in blood.

[Willow Oran]

Safely among the company once more Haldis joined Truor and Radagast. The other Beorning had his arms folded and was looking (as far as could be told beneath his beard) rather disgruntled. Haldis had no doubt that she would be called on to explain her disappearance as soon as he found the chance.

Well he would just have to wait. Radagast needed to see the scrolls Aerin and she had found and Haldis had every intention of looking at them along with him,
"I think I have had enough of exploring these caves," she said, smiling wryly at the two males, "I wandered through many tunnels today, both accompanied and alone, and I felt no sense of un-natural danger. Nor, I think, did the others for all their fear.
When next I send word to Grimbeorn I can assure him that the Lady did her work well before she left Lorien. And our search was not totally ignored, Radagast! My wanderings took Aerin and I past a space that seems to have been a study and we recovered many manuscripts from it. Then we fled, for we heard the echoes of Quickleaf's fall and feared a cave-in. But I do not think there was one, it may be worth trying to find that room again."