“The Foam-Rider ascends; we should break fast and quit camp. We cannot eat nothing, we must eat something,” said Parnard in that peculiar sing-songing way of his.
Danel looked at the ruin he had pointed out to her in the gloaming. “Sometimes I look ahead…and I see but a few remaining Noldor, and maybe some Sindar and a host of Avari, keeping the presence of our folk a little more than memory.”
“It may be up to the Avari to keep our memory alive. Yet there is much my people do not know.”
“That is what I mean - we will fade away and diminish to a rustic people.”
“Perhaps I should persuade some of my folk to leave and return with us, and they can live among the Noldor and learn what they can. Estarfin might find an apprentice in Felegoth, some young strong elf eager to learn smithcraft. What about yourself? You could get an apprentice, too, or perhaps a lady-in-waiting, hmm? There is no lack of pretty young maidens in the Greenwood.”* Parnard’s eyes gleamed in the twilight.
Danel paused. She had never thought of that before. “An apprentice loremistress from the Avari? That is something that may serve more than one purpose. Filignil makes herself like a lady-in-waiting, though she need not do so."
“Filignil is ages old. Your focus should be on the young and untutored: they are our future, those who will have children. They will teach their young and so our ways will not be abandoned,” said Parnard.
“There will be elves here for ages to come - hidden from the Secondborn, able to defend themselves...” considered Danel.
“We will build a new settlement!” cried Parnard, and in his excitement said, “My people will join with yours, and then we will be of one kindred.”
“I need to know Estarfin’s thoughts on this, he is a Noldor through and through. But it is as the vision I have for us: different clans but one people, and we preserve the best of our cultures.”
“We will bring vitality and joyfulness, and you will teach us craft and wisdom.”
“Then we will never depart these lands, ever, and we will never part!” said Danel, and the two elves clasped each other’s hands and laughed, their hearts full of renewed hope and love for one another.
*: Since the Battle of the Dagorlad in 3434 S.A, there were fewer male Elves of the Greenwood than female; although they both served in that battle the neri served in far greater numbers and so were slain in far greater numbers. Elven fecundity is notoriously low because they are immortal, and each child is created intentionally, without haphazardness or mistake; the creating takes a share of the parents’ vital essence, so the desire to procreate fades once children are born to them, and in this way Eru keeps the lands from being entirely overrun, else there would not be enough for all of his creations, including the Elves. - Malthusius the Sage
