All had started so nicely. Mallenhadh had sent her into the wilderness again, with yet another task to prove her skills. Collecting a new quiver from the Last Homely House she walked right into a gathering of some very talented elves. She recognised hiril Tamaren among the musicians and sat down to listen for a while. Later, riding up the path away from Imladris, Plinnlim had been singing with joy. That sounded terrible though, since she had no musical giftedness whatsoever.
But then Barachen had probably misunderstood something. When Plinnlim heard she was to go against trolls, she was not sure if that was for testing her judgement of dangerous situations; and thus she simply had to say no; or if they had more trust in her than she herself had. But she was determined that once more she would prove them what she could do and set out for the trolls. Her determination faded a little bit when she was eye in eye with her first troll, who unlike herself did not stand there petrified - but charged with what could only be interpreted as a hungry growl. Had not hîr Tahjun happened to pass through the valley at this very moment, who knows...? But here he was, and so they fought their ways through the rocky valley, leaving no troll alive and making the Trollshaws a little safer again.
Gleaming with pride Plinnlim arrived back home and told her parents about what she had accomplished - well, with a little help. She'd better not. Never had she seen them as angry as this. Her mother declared she'd have a word with Mallenhadh and Barachen about letting Plinnlim fight against trolls, and she also threatened to send her to a safer place like Celondim, where she would have some time to think about how a young elf of her age was supposed to behave.
Plinnlim walked through Imladris for saying goodbye to every waterfall. On every bridge she balanced on the balustrades, as she loved to, but even that did not maker her feel better. Then she ran into hiril Aewiel who had just come back safely from a long journey to Ered Luin. Hiril Aewiel told her that although it was a very beautiful place indeed, the elves there, too, had their sorrows with evil creatures like goblins. That had raised her spirits a little bit. Goblins were fast and tricky; they could be a nice practicing target, too.
And now she sat at the docks in Celondim with tears glistering in her eyes and watched the reflections of the stars floating on the waves. And all she wished for was that she'd soon be back again in Imladris.
