Long Lost Leaves

[Earniel]

NOTE: Discussion thread for this game is here

Four years had passed since the Middle-earth had faced one of the greatest upheavals in its history, which had culminated in the destruction of the One Ring. The events had rung in a new age for many, and a silent end and departing of others. In his home of Rhosgobel, Radagast the Brown, the last known remaining wizard in Middle-earth, remembered those days well. But the memories never failed to instil him with a sense of embarrassment, for those memories also included some of his failures.

He cast his mind back to a sunny, if somewhat chilly autumn morning in the year after the Ring and its master perished. He had had a visitor then, which in itself had already been quite a novelty. But this had been no ordinary visitor, Gandalf the White could have been called anything but ordinary.

"You have changed, my friend" Radagast remarked as he passed Gandalf a cup of herbal tea, "in a way you seem no longer Gandalf the Grey, and yet at the same time even you do seem to be more like who you were before."
Gandalf laughed. "Perhaps, I am. But many things have changed since we last talked, yourself included."
"May it be for the better," Radagast sighed. "I do think I know why you have come here, Gandalf. You have come to show me that I have failed the task that had been set before us, that which you have completed."
"It is not for me to judge your doings, Radagast," Gandalf said, not without kindness. "You may have strayed from our path, yes, but I know you have not stood by idly when the darkness fell on the Green Wood."
Radagast waved the covert compliment away. "It would be difficult for anyone to stand by idly when there are orcs on your very doorstep," he said with some bitterness. "It does not take away that I have much neglected the world outside the eaves of the forest for many a long year. I do have failed."
"Do not be too harsh for yourself, my friend. For even Saruman, who exceeded us both in power and knowledge, strayed much further that you ever could. However," Gandalf continued, "if this troubles you so, Radagast, there are other paths still untrod and other tasks unfinished."
Radagast looked up. "Are you trying to offer me redemption, Gandalf?" He asked.
"If you feel you require it as such. But as my time here is running shorter, I am not blind to the matters that were never properly looked into. There is such a matter, that I believe requires a wizard’s care. A matter that would prosper far better with your qualities than mine."
"And what matter is this?" Radagast asked, his curiosity aroused.
"The matter of the Entwives, Radagast. Long lost, but not forgotten by the slow memories of the Ents."
"But centuries have passed since their disappearance, Gandalf!"
"True. But as the Entwives’ disappearance was in a turbulent period of war, no one ever managed to search for them. I believe their disappearance was not purely coincidence and that foul play was involved. They might have perished in those uncertain days, that much is true. But the Ents still believe they may have fled, fled so far that they never found a way back. I have spoken long with Treebeard on this, and now that there is peace in the lands in the south and the east of Entwood, some of the younger Ents have expressed the wish to look for them, or at least discover what was their fate. A journey he and I are loathe to let them make on their own."
"A wizard’s care, you said."
"You are by far the most skilled man for this task, Radagast. You know the languages of beasts and birds, and if there is anything the Brown Lands still can tell, you will know how to read it."
Radagast pondered Gandalf’s offer for a while and then said: "But I am not you, Gandalf. This task…" he trailed off uncertainly.
Gandalf laughed. "Indeed you are not, and you are far better off for not being me. But my dear Radagast, I never suggested you should take on this task alone. No, if you should wish to take on this search, and I do mean ‘if’, then you will not be without companions. I have met many people on my travels, some on whom I have relied in the past, and some who will gladly offer you their assistance for my sake. I have readied letters to them. The addresses where you can find them, or where they are sure to pass by regularly to receive it, are on the envelopes. All you have to do is send them if and when you are ready. If they accept, you can expect them to arrive here in Rhosgobel three months later."
"You have considered this very well," Radagast said with some surprise.
"Do not be deceived," Gandalf said gravely, "there will be far more difficult matters to consider when I will be gone. One cannot simply walk into the Brown lands to follow a trail that has been cold for many centuries. Think well, Radagast, and as long as you need."

~~~

It had been three years now since Gandalf had left Rhosgobel, never to return again. And Radagast did think long. He had travelled long, and farther than he had in years. He spoke with Treebeard, Tom Bombadil and many others. And finally, when he felt confident enough at last, the letters Gandalf had left for him were sent out.

Within days it would be new moon, and then the three months of waiting were spent. Soon he would have visitors in Rhosgobel again.