Imladris, some time last month.
"When have I last stayed in one place this long?"
She descends the steep slope down to the rushing waters with a well-practiced jump.
"Was it when the Elvenking kept me in his halls, after his wardens dredged me from the accursed river? How many years ago now..."
She kneels down on a damp, moss-covered rock formation. Raafi* sets above the Valley, her departure tints the waters with rosy and indigo hues. The Stars shall soon appear again.
"I should not be here."
She sighs and sit down, dangling her unclad feet in the stream.
"Kind though they are, the Deep-Elves of this place... granting me shelter under their roofs of glass and stone, rest in their feather-stuffed beds, wine and warmth in their Halls of Fire... I should not be here. I do not belong here."
She sits in silence, repeating this notion to herself, and a wave of melancholy washes over her.
"If I don't belong here, why don't I leave? No bonds or wardens keep me here. Nothing binds me to this place, not even his words. Yet, the urge to disappear is... absent. I shouldn't stay but I cannot bring myself to go. I am but imprisoned by my own desire."
Darkness falls over the Valley. The Stars glimmer brightly in the deep blue sky above. Paanu's** fair face is a sharp sickle tonight, mirrored in distorted shapes by the wild waters of the river. She leans back and lays her head upon the rock.
"I am afraid. My feelings and desires make me uneasy, leave me questioning myself. But the implications they hold, those frighten me to my very core. Are you plagued by like thoughts I wonder, oh kind-tempered, warm-hearted Lord? Or do you rest peacefully under a roof this night?"
She closes her eyes.
"Wherever you are, please be so kind as to haunt my dreams ere you're with me again."
~~~
*Raafi - Sun, literally "seizing one (f.)" as she steals the Stars which the Avari love above all.
**Paanu - Moon, literally "fair one (m.)" as his presence is much more gentle and less intrusive to the peace of twilight.
(Many thanks to Aurandel Elaran for providing me with Hwentin-Avarin vocabulary, you are a treasure!)
