death

Red really does look simple.

Norliriel, the healer in the party who bore Themodir home to Imladris for the last time, was distraught. Upon entering Manadhlaer's chambers -- Manadhlaer, wife of Themodir, who had married a dying Elf-knight as he lay on the path before the Last Homely House; who had become bride and widow in almost the same breath, as Themodir used the last of his to tell his new wife that he had always loved her -- she almost skidded to a halt.

Well beyond the end of the Third Age and the passing of most Elves into the West, this ballad was carefully preserved and sung by Elf-friends in all corners of Middle-earth, some say even the Shire. It was carried by the best of the minstrels home to Valinor, where even Nienna, whose tears of compassion constantly flow, is rumoured to believe it is a worthy expression of grief. The authorship of the song is unknown, but some believe it was originally written by Manadhlaer herself, at least in part.

Ballad of Themodir's Fall

   What is this? Pheili clearly lives, I have sent Captain Thorbeck, and a young charge, to find and bring him to me.

To say Rickstan was surprised would have been a great understatement, the last thing he expected this evening was to come face to face with his "Father". Today he had passed an usual day, sharing a drink or two with a friend, sorting a stupid fight, teased by Ellae. The last thing he expected as he stood in the back rooms to the Inn was to see the face of the man he had for so long despised and hated. 

I am ill.

I have been bedridden for the last few weeks, my body wracked with disease.  It seems there is nothing the healers can do, besides identify the cause.

It is poison.

The wind whipped her loose hair into her face, nearly obscuring her view of the ocean before her. It tugged at her skirts, trying to pull her back from the edge of the cliff that she was slowly approaching. She stopped only when her toes could curl and grasp the lip of the precipice. And there she stood, in nothing more than a shift, watching the distant horizon with a gaze so blue that the sea and sky might have been called mere imitations of that fine color.

(A compilation of small interactions between Rilanu and his... "Sister")

- "Hey Ril, why do you hate the rich people in town?"

"Because... they're no good sis, you've seen 'em always pushin' us little folk around, never giving even scraps to us here in the Alley... oh come on you know why more than most why're you askin' me?!"

*Giggles* "Just cuz"

"Yeah yeah, now go to sleep ya wee devil you..."

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