This Place of Dol Amroth is most unsettling. When I try to calm my thoughts and meditate the sound of the sea takes hold of me and shakes me until it feels as if my blood is on fire. There is a pulling at the back of my mind which I must push away, for my time here is far from finished and I must keep my Lady's charge ever in mind.
As I walked around the great fountain, my head covered among the many men and women who frequent the market in the square, I noticed a woman standing at the stall where loaves of bread were being sold for two coppers apiece. When the baker had turned away, she slipped a loaf under the worn mantle she wore about her shoulders then walked quickly away. My hand went to a purse that hung at my belt. This is a land besieged, beset with roving threats and unspeakable horrors that trouble those who would live peaceably here. There is reward for those who would ride out against them, though this trade in coin is a mannish thing which at times baffles me. I placed a silver coin in the place where the loaf had been and quietly followed after the woman.
By the docks of Dol Amroth there are many dark corners and small alleys. At the back of one of these, a small shelter had been built, lit from the inside it seemed with a single candle. I heard the woman's voice,
"I am sorry, Yozhin....he will not eat it. I do not know what else to do."
I heard a small moan come from the ramshackle tent and took a step towards the doorway. I saw a child of about twelve years lying on a bed of rags, two others standing beside him and the woman kneeling beside the sickbed, a morsel of bread in her fingers as she offered it to the child. In less than a breath's instant, she rose to her feet, turning to point a curved blade at my heart.
" Bâ kitabdahê!"*
"The child is ill. Please allow me to help him." Our gazes locked in what must have seemed a very long time to the woman. Finally, she lowered the sword and stepped out of the path to the child's bed, bowing her head in a gesture of obeisance. I knelt and placed my hand upon the boy's forehead. There was fever, and he was hot to my finger's touch...but there was more. I stilled my breathing and let my thoughts quieten. I felt the rush of the blood in his veins, heard the throbbing of the small heart and the quick, bird-like breaths of air he took into his lungs. I let the hood fall back from my head, and for a moment heard a wordless exclamation from the woman's lips. Murmuring some quiet words of blessing, I continued to listen, stilling my thoughts even more 'till I stood in a place of light and peace, and there I listened for the whispers of the boy's Heart. Tears began to fall from my unseeing eyes. Such pain, such sadness...such despair. In the deep places of my Heart I reached out to take him into my arms, saying both within and with my waking voice...
"Menno o nin na hon i eliad annen annin*...Oh little one, do not despair. There is always hope, for you are loved beyond any imagining..." and as I spoke the Light grew and blossomed around us until there was nothing but brilliance. For a moment I did not even breathe, yet when I drew breath again I woke to find my hand still resting on the now damp forehead. The child's breath came more slowly and he slept, though it was evident he was still sadly malnourished. I took away my hand and faced the woman who stood with the other two boys standing behind her.
"He will sleep now, but he needs food and rest...he is your child?" The woman looked at me from the dark face of the Haradrim, yet her eyes shone clear and grey as the sea.
"He is not. But he is in my charge."
"I am told that your people keep others as slaves and chattel." The woman gazed at me, eyes unwavering.
"That is True. I am told that your people are so secretive, that if any should discover them they are instantly killed and their blood drunk in moonlight revels." I gazed back at the woman, unblinking.
"That is not True....we much prefer wine." The woman was silent a moment, then laughed aloud...the laughter soon turning to sobs as she wept. The two boys by her side wound their arms around her to comfort her. I took a satchel that I carried with me from my shoulder and set it gently at her feet. It contained waybread and small wineskin of Miruvor. I stepped towards the doorway. Turning, I said
"If you would take a path better than this, come and seek me out. I will know if you do. I am Gladaewen of Lorien."
The woman wiped her eyes and raised her head proudly. "I am Leeda Belanna of Umbar." I nodded my head and raised my hood, walking out into the night. And the sea called to me in vain.
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* "Do not touch me!" (Adunaic)
*"Let the blessing given me be sent also to him" (Sindarin)
