The Second Fellowship: The Stone of Might

Chapter 17: Once Lost, Now Found

A/N: The elvish in this chapter, some of it may not be correct bcos i may have my plurals and singulars mucked up. Raich! [curses] Anyway, this is a bit of a filler chapter.

Chapter 17: Once Lost, Now Found

Bria POV

In my heart I had expected it. Known it, even, for everything Tirnel had said or done pointed towards it. Her hatred of me and my kin from the outset. The way she had bitterly called my grandfather's name. Everything.

But it still came as a shock, and struck me hard. I tilted my head back and took a breath, then exhaling into the cool air. When I looked back, Tirnel had tears running down her face. I felt compelled to go and put an arm round her.

"I am sorry, Bria," she choked out. "I judged you by your grandfather's sins, and I have done you grievous wrongs."

Brod had not been a good dwarf, by any means, for his lust for gold and all things beautiful had been so great that it eventually consumed him. But I had never heard of him doing such things as this, as murder and forceful robbery. He had gifted me many wonderful things in his time.

We sat in silence for a while, when I realised something, and my heart dropped like a stone. It could not be! No, surely not...but... My hand went to my chest, and found the jewel I had always worn, since Brod had given it to Boro my father, on my birth. It was a large white jewel, that always reflected the light strikingly. An exquisite gem, the likes of which are not made any more. I knew naught of it, and neither did my father, except that it had strange words carved into it, in a tongue we did not speak nor care of. The chain was of mithril, and the whole necklace was stunningly beautiful. Gamut Kunzek we called it in the private tongue of our people. Wonderful Stone, that is in the common language.

And it was remarkably similar to the necklace that Tirnel now spoke of. The necklace that rightfully belonged...to her.

Slowly, surely, I unclasped it. Tirnel had now noticed my strange actions, and she had stood, her head cocked slightly to one side. I closed my hand around the jewel, and stood myself.

"I believe.... I believe that this belongs to you."

And with that, I held out my hand, giving her what I thought had been mine.

She said nothing, but, hands shaking, she took the necklace and held it up to the stars. The cold starlight glinted and caught off all the many faces, but it was not that she looked at, but the letters engraved in the words of her people. Silently, she closed her eyes, holding the jewel close to her, lips slightly parted, lost in memory.

Thus I left her, and went back to the camp, with a lighter heart, and no weight around my neck.

Tirnel POV

I sat in silence for what felt like many hours. Shaking, my hands found each other, and I cradled the gem to my breast. I knew not if I was happy or sad, consumed by grief or overjoyed with gladness.

It was rightfully mine, and it had been returned to me. But it held memories of my mother, and my father, and the family we had been. And that broke my heart, yet another reminder, like Faineth's wooden flower, that Nana was all too gone. Never again would she dance beneath the trees of Greenwood the Great, never would she kiss my father, or gently stroke Faineth's hair again. Never would she whisper secrets in my ear, or teach me to fight. Never would we sit beneath the stars.

And I had known all this for hundreds of years. I had not had a mother longer than I had had one. But it still hurt.

At long last, my thoughts turned to Bria. She had not known, and yet she had hidden my treasure beneath her cloak all her life. Perhaps it meant as much to her as it did to me.

Starlight bathed me, reflecting off my hair and catching in my eyes, and as I stared up to the constellations, the eagle of the west, the butterfly, the swordsman....all seemed to gaze upon me, and I felt happier. Wistful still, yes, for things I knew and things I did not yet know, but happier. And I stood, and returned to the camp.

Bria was also there, and most of the others now slept. Oreth and Alden had now returned, and my sister sat watch. She jumped up as soon as she saw me.

"Ai! Tirnel!" [Hail! Tirnel!]

She came forward, as if to talk with me, and embrace, when she saw my face, and stopped, startled.

Before she could begin to speak, I held out my hands, the jewel of our family enclosed within, and said, simply; "Den ichiren," [I found it]

Her hand came to her mouth and she stepped backwards, shaking her head. "Û!" [It is not so!]

I nodded, and gently placed the gemstone in her soft hands. Faineth turned the stone over, tracing the outline of her name, and then raised her head to meet my eyes. I saw hope reflected in them, hope, and nostalgia, and the far off stars.

"Ma den aw?" [Who had it?]

"Bria." I replied, and instantly Faineth nodded.

"Goheno den," she said immediately, laying a hand on my shoulder. [Forgive her]

"Agoren." [I did]

My sister smiled, her hair swaying in the gentle wind. "Ni 'lassui, Tirnel." [I am thankful, Tirnel.]

We were silent for a few more moments, until she spoke again. "Gwathon anin chaust nîn." [I am going to bed]

After her badgering me for a minute or so, I consented to take the rest of her watch until the morning, but I soon drifted off into the world of slumber, and did not wake 'til morning.

They were not angry with me when at last we awoke, so most must have had some inkling of what had passed the previous night. Only Caranel was in any way irate with my careless guarding of the camp.

For breakfast, we ate one of the precious lembas wafers. To me, on that morning, it tasted sweeter and more delicious than ever it had before.

The starlight of the previous night was still bright in my mind as we ate. The stars had been so vivid, so strong and bold that it felt as if Iluvatar himself had gazed down upon me. My mother, perhaps, had seen me then, from her seat in the Halls of Mandos, and perhaps she was smiling as she saw how her daughters stuck together, and how they mourned and loved her.

I had not noticed, so submerged in my thoughts and memories that we had started to pack up.

"You seem distracted today, Tirnel," remarked Alden as I started, and grabbed my bow.

"Just a passing thought." I replied, though I noticed both Bria and Faineth trying to catch my eye.

As soon as we were packed and ready, I took the Shard out of the pouch where it had been kept. Thankfully, the previous day's battle had not damaged or lost it.

I held it up to the sky, and my company's eyes followed it. Then, after a strangely short time, it began to pull me due east. So that was the way we walked, and Oreth's keen eyes spotted that the stone was glowing a brighter gold than it had been previously.

Hope was instilled in our hearts, for we were near our goal, and all would soon be well!