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Death and other Distractions - Part 3



Alagos the Smith looked seriously at Lif, watching the girl depart. “Trollmistress, that little slip of a girl really means ta find Gwindeth? Keep her safe….ya know what happens when mortals mettle in such things, sword or no sword.”

Xandilif sighed. “Yeah…nothing good.

The elven champion followed the girl towards where she had left her flowers, one hand stroking  the hilt of the greatsword SilverWand across her back. “..but maybe she ain't the only one with business there…”

And so, once Finchley had her new sword strapped firmly to her side and after regaining her massive load of flowers, Lif rented a boat and began to slowly row out into the lake...'Just don’t fall in this time babygirl'

Finchley sat in the prow, looking around excitedly, but also with a touch if nervousness. 'You know, the last time I asked to borrow a boat, they said no. Had to swim across the whole lake to find Mister Dewitt.'

The Banshee grinned and rowed a bit faster. “Let em tell me no..I dare em...it would be funny. Bunch of half-baked Rangers protecting a city they already lost a thousand years back.”

Finchley peered out across the lake, 'Maybe they just like you better.'

'LIKE me? That’ll be the day…No, they just ain’t SCARED of you, babygirl”. Lif spat into the water

Finchley grinned, '... Maybe next time, I'll bring Destiny with me when askin' 'em.'

Lif laughed and glanced around now and again to get her bearings, 'Maybe so'. They were getting close…she could feel it…and their goal knew they were coming.

Finchley let her fingers trail in the water a little, dreamily. "Water's warmer here than it is at the top of the lake. Just as I remember."

'I don’t remember none of it being anything but cold...' For a moment she was lost in her memories. The blood, the fear, the shards of stone, the icy cold water as she fell down and down and down into the depths of a tomb forgotten so long ago it wasn’t even a myth any longer. The cold of a pointless death. The pain..and the cold..and the voice..calling her, drawing her towards the pulsing blue light…the same voice she had been hearing more and more of late, in the back of her mind, mixing with others.

Finchley’s voice brought her back to reality, “Trust me, it's colder up top. And even colder'n that at the bottom.'

Finchley peered into the distance, seeing the small bay coming closer. She pointed out into the darkness. 'Right in there is where I found Galvra.'

Xandilif nodded, and rowed tirelessly...until finally they drew into the shallows in the tiny bad and beached the rowboat. As the mists seemed to part, they saw a crystal blue waterfall, one which you would never see unless you would know where to look...or perhaps were permitted to see it.

Finchley bit her lip and looked at the elf with wide eyes, 'Right in there is where I woke up after drownin'.' The memory made her shudder. 

Xandilif nodded and made sure the boat was secure. 'Yep...little wonder about that....I have had a my suspicions about that damn bird...'

Finchley raised an eyebrow, 'Eh, whaddya mean?'

'Nuthin bad...just that Bird ain’t no ways quite natural...' Lif took a sandwich from a pouch and tossed it automatically to Finch.

Finchley nodded as she took a bite, talking with her mouth full, 'He's a natural cusser by now.'

Xandilif drew off her gauntlets, tucking them into her belt as she looked around at the ancient trees that sheltered the waterfall, 'Alright baby girl...time to drop your flowers'

Finchley shoved the rest of her sandwich into her pack and scurried to the boat to pull out her massive trove of wildflowers. Some were a bit worse for wear after being dragged halfway across Eriador, but she hoped the blue lady wouldn’t mind. She glanced down into the shallow water. "Right here?"

Lif shrugged, 'Anywhere in the lake will do...so this should be fine'

Finchley nodded and reached up to take off her hat, carefully holding onto the bouquet. She tucked the hat away and pulled out her dagger to cut the twine binding the flowers together. Slowly she separated the blooms and set them into the water. "Okay... Some for Gwindeth as a thank you and some for Tris."

As she watched the flowers float in the clear water, Finchley heard a sound, almost like music, was it a voice singing, in words she couldn’t understand. A prayer, a dirge? It was hard to tell….

She spun to see where it could be coming from, and beheld Xandilif, her face lifted her towards the ruins far in the distance, eyes closed. She was singing in slow, precise Adunaic, sounding similar to Westron, but strange, like broken elvish.

Finchley watched Lif for a bit, feeling somewhat sad out of nowhere. She reached out and helped the flowers separate a bit more in the water and then took Lif's hand in her own.

The water around them began to change...growing bluer, brighter, as if glowing orbs were swimming around them beneath the lake water.

Finchley squeezed Lif's hand but didn’t move or breathe too loud, afraid to make a wrong move. "Uhh, Lif?" she whisperd, brows furrowing.

Xandilif gripped her hand tighter and changed the song into Westron...."Lady of Blue Water, Guardians of Kings, Keeper of Ancient Secrets and Edain Dreams, accept our prayer, embrace our dreams, grant us your wisdom as another age descends to dust....Patron of the Open Sea, Maiden of Hildorien, come to us....come to us.'

The water around them grew bluer still...and very warm, seeming to rise up around them as a sea spout, encircling them in thick, white mist...and as it receded, they were in a chamber of ancient blue stone. Parts of it seemed to be a natural sea cave, while others were clearly the works of men, archways and columns of gleaming stone. It seemed similar to the ruins of Annuminas, and yet different, more refined, more graceful. Xandilif nodded to herself, having seen such designs every night in her dreams, before they would sink horrifically into the sea.

Finchley glanced around, gripping Lif's hand tightly. It occured to her that she didn’t know when she had gotten to be so afraid. Things like this had always been a big adventure to her. After Fornost... everything seemed more fearsome. And she didn't like it.

Moving up to the largest archway, Finchley carefully traced the design on the lintel with her fingertips. An open, angular, diamond shaped V, with a diamond shaped stone inset. With a start, she placed it. It was the same motif on the hilt of SilverWand..and now the same motif was part of your new blade. She remembered suddenly things Alagos, the weaponsmith in Tinnudir had said of SilverWand, that at the time had seemed like just an old crafteman’s nonsense. “A blade of the Atanatari.... a true blade of the Edain…”. Lif had just used that word again in her song. “Edain” she whispered to herself, wondering what it meant, and if she should be more afraid then she was.

Finchley frowned and rested a hand on the hilt of her new blade, casting a sideways glance towards SilverWand. She opened her mouth to say something but then thought better of it.

Lif looked over to her and waved a hand, 'Gwindethrond...likely you were too waterlogged to remember it the first time...All that is left of the first settlements of Men on the shores of Nenuial.

Finchley tilted her head. "Maybe... I didn't stay too long. Just enough to get my bearings and help Galvra out. It was like... somethin' or someone made it clear that we were to leave quickly."

The elf snorted, 'Yeah..she gets a bit stupid about privacy, but who can blame her? The Angmarim have poured tens of thousands of lives into trying to get a hold of her...to get a few necromancers in this chamber to see what they can find…or raise.

Finchley elbowed Lif in the side slightly. "Shhh, don't call her stupid, what if she hears it? I'm supposed to be thankin' her."

'Are ya, Babygirl? Come on then...' Xandilif led her through the largest arch, down a long passage of blue light and stone. It smelled of lake water, but not foul. Just old, and primal. 'Don’t get lost...she ain’t all that lives down here...

Finchley looked at the elf and for a moment nearly cried. 'Lif... I dunno how to bow correctly…And fancy sort like her I think like that.'

The Banshee just shook her head as the stepped out into what seemed like an endless, moss strewn chamber. 'Just don’t do it with yer back to her..and you will be fine.'

Finchley nodded and fidgeted with her scarf nervously with her free hand. "I just don't wanna accidentally make her mad like last time... I was just tryin' to be honest. I want to thank her, not hurt her."

Lif nearly laughed, but her voice was uncommonly hushed now. 'You can’t hurt her baby girl...not sure even I could...she is older and stronger then every last one of her daughters, the river maidens, put together....Ain’t many others what were born before the first age and can still be found in Middle Earth.'

Finchley frowned, 'I meant hurt her feelings, Lif... She seemed so sad. Why would I wanna make her even more sad?'

'She's got her purposes, same as we do....and much of what she was sworn to has passed from this world....' Lif shrugged. “She ain’t got feelings like you would understand, and I don’t reckon insects like us can hurt em.”

Finchley nodded, 'Aye. Even so, if I can bring her some amount of... maybe not happiness. Justice? Respect? Honor... that's a good one. If I can bring her a bit of the honor she deserves, maybe it'd help. I dunno how that'd help but I can't not at least be properly grateful. She saved my life. I've been wantin' to say 'thank you' since you told me of her.'

As they walked, the ground underneath their feet grew drier and the mists parted to reveal a iridescent blue figure standing in a shaft of light at the far end of the chamber. 'Well, come on on then, she is waiting'

The blue maiden looked up from her reverie...face impassive as the sea. Looking at her, Finchley thought at first she was a beautiful woman despite being blue, dressed in a gown which seemed made of sea foam and moonlight. Then, a gnawing feeling in her stomach told her that she was NOT actually a woman, but something altogether else that simply wore this shape as a convenience. She was Gwindeth.

Finchley’s mouth fell open slightly, though no words come out at first. She was exactly as she remembered seeing her in her dream that may not have been a dream. Finchley finally said, 'Oh.. uh...' then abruptly bowed deeply.

Gwindeth’s voice was sharp and soft and delicate, like old crystal filled with clean water. "The little bird returns, after flying far, over fair and foul.' She smiled, amused..."And so my works proved wise..you stand before me alone.'

Finchley glanced alongside to Lif, wondering if she should just say what she wanted to say or wait. Xandilif nudged Finch in the ribs with her elbow

Finchley gathered her nerve. 'Oof!... Uh, beggin' your pardon, Miss-... Lady? Miss Lady Gwindeth. Um... I'm not alone. Lif's here right next to me... Oh, but Galvra's back at Tinnudir. Thank you for savin' him. At least... I think it was you that saved him. And me. I know now it was you. So, thank you very much for savin' my life."'

The blue maiden raised an eyebrow, her expressions fluid as the tide. 'Your companion, the Knight of Ages, is neither here, nor there..but your soul now stands alone when once it did not...I plucked you from the water not from pity, but from fear of what might transpire should the depths keep you.'

Finchley struggled for what to say to that, '... Oh. So you knew back then too, even afore I did?... Is that what you meant when you told me my story weren't over?" Finchley looked down to her toes and frowned. "... I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry if I messed up your lake or somethin' with her. I promise, I didn't mean no harm. If I knew..."

Gwindeth turned away, contemplating the waters flowing past in her chamber placid. 'But you did not know…and it was not over....it IS not over....'

Finchley swallowed hard, 'Beggin' your pardon, but, what d'you mean it ain't over?'

Gwindeth’s gaze shot back to the girl’s face like a riptide. 'Do you think that it IS, little bird?'

Finchley shook her head. "I should hope not. I mean, I was only hopin' that the chapter with Aganalu is over. But I'm afraid more'n anythin' it might not be. I can still see her when I close my eyes. Less so as time goes on but... she's still there in my dreams sometimes."

Gwindeth sighed, and the air grew colder and still as death, 'Her Master survives still..then so does she, in the twisting turning spaces between dreams and fears.'

Finchley nodded, 'That is what I thought... I'm sorry.'

'Sorry? Why do you say so?' Gwindeth seemed to flow to the side, a bit closer to the girl. Had she been there before?

Finchley closed her eyes, the woman’s strange way of moving was making her even more nervous, 'You pulled me out the lake and even let me come upon Galvra and I didn't beat her fully. Lif says I did beat her so I suppose it counts. But I didn't get rid of her for good. My friends and I tried, but..well. So, it feels like you pulled me out for a good bit of nothin', even though I'm glad you did so anyway... I know you don't like her or folk from Angmar... If you were hopin' for a more complete victory, then I'm sorry I didn't get one.'

Finchley glanced at the ground beneath Gwindeth's feet, remembering how she felt when she woke up there the last time she was here. Cold and afraid and half sure she was already dead. She would never forget how that felt.

Gwindeth turned to face the wall, seeming to flow like rushing surf. 'How great a victory was to be had is impossible to say....things shift quickly around these matters...and besides, the fact that Aganalu, Matron of the Infernus and greatest of the four Archbishops of Morgoth lives was not YOUR choice...but your companion's.'

Finchley says, 'Archbishop of what? What's a Morgoth? I remember Alagos used that word, said SilverWand had faced Morgoth in some great war.”

Gwindeth’s face darkened like a storm on the horizon and thunder echoed across the chamber. 'The Master of he who styles himself your great Enemy, defeated and sent into the void by your companion's ancestors, before the rise of Numenor...he who destroyed those I sailed with from distant Beleriand...my first children, my first lament. With them came many words of great import that are now lost, and weapons and relics of great power which have slowly been swallowed by time....one I fused with your companion, though she but suspects my hand in those matters and has never been certain. And now she is concerned about what else of her heart I may already know.'

Finchley thought for a moment, mind pouring through whatever history she had read. Eventually something clicked. "You mean uh... the one called Melkor? Sorry, so many names for folk..." She considered this some more and froze. "And you knew. And you plucked me out of your lake and didn't just kill me afterwards or somesuch even though you could've. And I'm very grateful-..." She stops short and looked at Lif and her sword. "Fused?"

Thunder echoed again, mingling with Gwindeth’s words, 'He was named Melkor before the birth of the world, but when his true malice was disclosed, Feanor named him Morgoth...Dark Enemy....that first name he had been granted by Eru is allowed to fade away and I will not speak it even here where my will is supreme. I knew, little bird....and knew that should you die here, in my domain, a great evil would be visited upon the world....but I knew that in time, all that now walks would be under peril should your twin souls become one...and that one was she and not you. But I had known such a moment would come...I had seen it long before I found you, little bird, fallen from your nest into my domain. I had prepared for it, at the behest of those I loved long ago.'

Finchley bowed, '... Thank you. Even though it weren't out of pity. Thank you, nonetheless. Oh, and I'm sure Galvra'd say thank you too except um... I didn't bring him 'cause I didn't want him to say it like he says most things now…”

Gwindeth smiled and sunlight filtered through the misty chamber. “And I think that the Child of Ages, she I laid this burden upon...made the right choice, even if it may not have been what I would have opted to. I know well what the Child of Ages has done with the bird, but he still serves his purpose...and through him I watch over you.'

Finchley blushed but then grinned at Lif just a bit.

Xandilif watched Gwindeth...face impassive...'So...in Men Erain...that WAS you then, that voice, the blue light...you led me to Agon...to SilverWand?'

Finchley just held Lif's hand, looking a little more nervous again.

Gwindeth met the elf’s gaze, until Xandilif looked down. “I allowed that which the Sword of Ages desired to happen, when circumstance allowed...and then did what had to be done. The Sword was required elsewhere...and Agon was, and is...selfish. The Sword chose you..it required you...and you required it...and I knew fate would bring you to Fornost, beside my little bird and then a choice would be made. You allowed Aganalu to continue...you allowed the Witch's plan to bear fruit...and I cannot yet say if you were wrong or right nor can any say.'

Xandilif spat and looked up again, submissiveness gone. "I feckin know I was right...I can say."

Finchley resisted the urge to smack herself in the head on Lif's behalf. You can't just say the word 'feck' in front of someone like Gwindeth. 'W-What would you had had her do?'

Gwindeth looked frankly at the girl, her eyes turbulent and gray. "If she had allowed The Sword of Ages to devour Aganalu once she had mastered your form and been reborn, the Archbishop would be cast into nothingness forever. She stayed the sword until the Witch had aided your struggle, and you had cast Aganalu out...A shade cannot be truly destroyed, simply dispelled...she can and shall return.'

Finchley frowned and clenched her fists. "Don't blame Lif then. Aye, she waited but I told Aganalu no. And even if Grams hadn't come to help I'd have still told her no. Even if she hurt me worse than she did, I would have still said no. I wouldn't let her have me and I'll not be lettin' her have me in any way ever again. The answer'll always be no. This is my body and my life to live. I belong to me. So, Aganalu can't have it.”

Gwindeth nodded. "And now she will not..that road is closed to her though others still remain....and your part in this story is nowhere near complete, Finchley, Daughter of Averill...Namegiver. I am not displeased with the way the waters have flowed....'

Finchley sighed out loud in relief and leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees. "Oh, thank goodness."

Gwindeth's attention seemed to flow away like the tide, 'But now your time here draws to a close, and I tire of the questions you have not asked yet. We will meet twice more, Namegiver....until then, farewell.'

Finchley blinked, shocked, then smiled brightly. "If I know ahead of time, I'll bring flowers."

Another spout of water...and they were back in the shallow pool they had started in, only all of the dozens and dozens of flowers Finchley had cast in the water were gone...save for one...gleaming like silver.

Finchley glanced down at the flower and smiled. "That one's for Tris."

Xandilif bent to pick it up...the small flower was indeed made of pure silver..."No, I figure this one is for YOU, Babygirl.” She gently pinned it onto Finchley’s armor.

Finchley tilted her head, 'You sure?'

Xandilif nods..."Yeah....I'm sure baby girl....and now we better get out of here.”

Finchley walked to rowboat and glanced back, '... You okay, Lif?'

Xandilif nodded pensively. "Yeah....this much foresight gives me a damn headache....and how the feck did Morgoth come into all this?

Finchley shrugged as she took her seat. "I dunno... Maybe we ought to ask Addie when we see her again. She's smart."

Lif settled herself and taking up the oars began to row Back against the lake, just not touched by dawn. “Yeah, the Horseimp is good that way....anyway my stupid sister has been screamin' in my ear the past week....she is in Bree and wants to know you ain’t dead so we better head back there.'

Finchley smiled, 'Also, why didn't you ever say you sang well? I mean, I heard you singin' somethin' on our way out from Fornost but I dunno what it meant.'

The elf kept rowing, 'I don't sing...'

Finchley gigglesnorted. "Yeah you do. I heard you. Twice now.'

Lif did not look up from her task, 'I got no feckin idea what you are talkin about. Clearly the swamp gas has got to you Babygirl.”

Finchley just laid back in the boat, 'Xandilif the bard! La la la la! Oh, c'mon you've got to tell me what it was you were singin' in Fornost. I feel bad I missed most of it with my cryin'. It was nice.'

The Banshee shrugged, 'Just a song...about a rabbit...and the biggest fecking carrot in the world...but I wasn’t singin nuthing, and you dreamt it ALL.”

Finchley looked up at the brightening sky as she remembered the sandwich she had left in her pack, pulling it out and chewing thoughtfully. 'Ooh, but you don't want anyone to know, huh? I won't tell anyone that you are Champion of Dol Amroth by day and a bard singing songs about bunnies by night. Your secret is safe with me...' and she continued to giggle again every few minutes thinking of it, between bites.

Xandilif glared at the girl...but let her have her fun as they rowed back to Tinnudir. It was going to be a long ride back to Bree, and likely a highly dramatic reunion.