Forget me not

Chapter 1

I watched from behind her as she worked on target practice. She didn’t see me hiding in the trees. Inwe was so focused on the bull’s-eye that she didn’t hear me approach until I was upon her. She fell to the forest floor with a sickening thud and immediately spun me over so she straddled me placing one of her blades at my throat.

I held my hands up, so she knew I meant no harm, and she sighed when she finally saw my face. “You fool, I was about to take this from this,” she said gesturing to my head and then my shoulders. “Be more careful when I am armed, child.”

I laughed as she allowed me up and retrieved my sword from the ground, “For one thing, I am only ninety years younger than you, and secondly, lighten up, Inwe! Did someone die or something?” I asked sarcastically.

When she did not respond, I turned back around to face her. “Inwe, is everything okay?”

She did not speak for the longest time, until I began to move toward her, then she spoke, startling me because she had been still so long, staring at the ground. “I feel like… there is something wrong. I used to be able to… know. You know? Of course you don’t, how could you?” She sighed. “I used to be able to… tell. I used to be able to know that he was okay. But something is different these past weeks. It is like our connection is severed.”

“Helas? What would… I mean… do you think…?” I could not ask the question that burned in my mind.

“I don’t know if he is living or dead. I am so frightened.”

I reached out to her, but Inwe was not one who liked physical contact. She was someone who liked to be intimate through her words, not her body. She backed away from me and turned away again. She would not let me see the tears in her eyes.

“Inwe, we can go to Elrond, he will know. We can ask. Perhaps he will allow us to go to him,” I suggested.

She nodded and waved me on ahead. I knew she wanted to compose herself before she would go on. “I will meet you in his chambers, I will inform him of what you have said. Perhaps he will know….” She nodded, and I stalked off.

*****

“That is odd indeed. Are you certain this is what she told you?” I nodded. “Well then, it is not for me to question Inwe’s senses. She will know more than I. Perhaps,” he paused thinking a moment, “perhaps it is best we keep her mind off of it until we can know more.”

I interrupted here, before he could say more. “With all due respect, my Lord, but I think that this is more serious than ‘let’s wait and see’. This calls for some kind of action. She is never wrong, not since I have known her. I have not seen her cry in years and years. She wept today. There is something wrong, Lord Elrond, and I fear that if we do not find out what, Inwe will not be able to keep it together.”

He nodded, thinking on my words. I knew well enough that he had never seen her cry, nor had anyone here in Rivendell since he summoned us here years before. “What do you propose, Merewen?”

“Sir, I think it is in the interest of everyone that Inwe feels she is doing something to assist in whatever matter we may be facing. I think we should leave with a party of a few elves and make way for Lothlorien. Aside from Inwe’s well being, this would benefit us and possibly Lothlorien. We must know whether they are in trouble. Surely, if a soldier like Helas is injured, or hurt in a way that could sever their tie, there is something wrong in Lothlorien. We must help them, if we can.” I made my point as strong as I could, knowing that if I did not serve the interest of Rivendell, Elrond would not lose two potential healers.

He nodded, and Inwe walked into the doors of his study. “I agree with you, Merewen. It is in our best interest to send a party to Lorien. Pack what you may need, and you also, Inwe. You will depart when the sun rises tomorrow.”