In search of the past: (Mis)Communication

The Chetwood: Waterfall

A small stream cascades in a waterfall down among washed stones before collecting into a small pool. The waterfall is no more than ten to twelve feet high, with the landscape rising in a jumble of rocks to reach it. At the waterfall\'s base, the pool is ringed by small plants, their green leaves leaning out over the water. Set back from the smaller plants are larger trees, their roots running down and into the water, through the shrubbery. The stream that feeds the falls vanishes into the wood to the west. A small animal track that leads to the water, also leads away westward. It is in that direction that the country rises up from the pool.

================================== Bree Time ==================================

Real time: Thu Jun 04 15:24:31 2009

Bree time: Before Dawn <05> on Monday of Winter - February 7,1447

Moon Phase: Last Quarter Moon

Breelands Weather

The before dawn winter air is cold and dry around you. Heavy snows fall down from the nighttime sky.

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[Caelwen(#24844)]

Fat flakes of snow are falling, luckily fat enough that not very many reach the ground here as they are mostly caught by the trees. It feels very peaceful, the only sound the music of the waterfall.

But there is someone here, and perhaps she is the reason it feels so peaceful. Collwen is sitting cross-legged on a low, horizontal branch, and snow is caught up in her piled-up curls. She wears a cloak, but the hood is pulled back. She is slowly and methodically stitching on some green cloth in her lap and her clear green eyes are bright and vague at the same time.

Brev\'s steps are slow and careful as he nears the waterfall, ever mindful of the havoc that a single slip on frozen ground might wreak. His boots crunch softly as he nears, and at the glimpse of a bright patch of green he lifts the hand that had been clutching his dun cloak tightly about him to shade his eyes, and squints through the veil of snowflakes. The figure identified at last, he lays down the spear he had been carrying and calls quietly, \"Good day.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen\'s eyes drag toward Brev and when they touch him awareness seems to grow. And then she smiles, inhumanly fair in this expression. \"Brev,\" she answers, happiness in her thickly-accented voice. \"Good day.\"

How can the man not respond to a smile like that? Brev\'s eyes do not leave those shining features, and he seems almost unaware that his own lips are curved in an answering smile very different from his usual smirk. \"I - are you well?\" he asks at last, in singsong Common. \"I am sorry if that other fellow disturbed you. Just some local farmer, like as not, with overmuch brew in him.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen laughs and lays her sewing in her lap, her slender hands stilling. \"Well,\" she repeats with a nod that dislodges a little snow from her hair. She then tilts her head in a thoughtful way, still smiling. \"What is... ai!\" her brows lift. \"The man say you, with...\" she points in the direction where Ferny was, then touches her ear. \"Song. no. Sound. Tall sound, yes. No.\" She shakes her head. \"I am safe. Abanangel is safe. Thank you.\"

Brev\'s gaze shifts to watch the falling snow slide down from Caelwen\'s hair. Perhaps it recalls to him just how cold it is, for he uses one hand to pull his cloak tight once more. \"Tall sound?\" he repeats, his brows lifting in puzzlement, and then his face clears. \"Ah - you mean noise. The loud and noisy man. Common\'s an uncouth tongue, there\'s little reason to it sometimes. Useful, though.\"

Then the puzzled frown returns. \"Abanangel?\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

\"Noise! Yes. Noise.\" Caelwen points at Brev, delighted to have the right word, and then makes a face. \"Yes, bad tongue. It is ugly.\" For some reason she starts to flush now, color creeping into her pale cheeks and throat.

\"Abanangel is safe,\" she repeats. \"Abanangel at with fadther. Hunting?\" She lifts her shoulders in a short shrug.

\"Ugly?\" At that, Brev chuckles, not seeming to care about the flush, for his gaze is no less rapt than before. Still, though, he looks puzzled. \"Abanangel is - the young one? I thought he was called Quendi? \'He is with his father, hunting,\" he repeats, correcting the words automatically. Which raises a question. \"If your kind hunt, then - you eat and drink like we do?\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen nods, a small coil of hair before her ear bouncing like a stpring. \"Abanangel is young. Child, yes. Quendi is elf.\" Her smile fades and she looks at Brev seriously. \"Thank you. Do not know the hunting. Do know, he is with,\" a brief hesitance, \"his father,\" she finishes, then smiles again, the flush fading.

\"Yes, eat and drink. Food, like you, but not hunting for time. Husbenn was away.\" She drops her feet from the branch and swings them.

The furrows on Brev\'s brow slowly smooth out. \"Quendi. Elf,\" he repeats. \"Abanangel is Quendi, as I am a man?\" He looks to Caelwenn for confirmation, then lets the matter rest. Now that he is standing still, the cold of the dawn air is felt and he shivers slightly.

After a little while he reaches into his cloak and pulls out a small sackcloth bag, which he holds hesitantly out to Caelwen (his gaze drifts to her swinging feet). \"Then .. would you like some apples? These ones were bought and paid for.\" For a moment only, the old smirk flickers across his face.

[Caelwen(#24844)]

For a moment the old wariness returns to Caelwen\'s face as he smirks and leans closer and then hesitantly, she reaches toward his sackcloth. \"Thank you,\" she says in a timid way. \"What is apples and bought?\" She stumbles over these words more than the others, then pulls out an apple. \"Ah! Cordof! Apples and bought is cordof,\" she tells him cheerfully as she brings the fruit in toward herself.

\"Cordof,\" Brev repeats carefully, storing the word away, then shakes his head, smiling. \"No, no - only apples. \'Bought\' is how I got them. I gave the woman in the market some coin, and she gave me the apples.\" He looks up to see whether the explanation is being understood, then adds, \"I was buying supplies. Gidon and I will be heading east, as soon as winter breaks.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

But this seems to bring confusion. Caelwen\'s green-booted feet still and cross at the ankles. \"What is headineast?\" she asks carefully, then takes a crunching bite out of the apple.

Brev gazes at Caelwen as she begins to eat the apple, and it is a while before he answers her question. Then, shaking himself a little as though breaking the spell, he lifts his hand to point eastward, in the direction of the rising sun.

\"Gidon and I, we will go that way,\" he tells the elf-woman carefully. \"We will travel there, to look for,\" he hesitates, thinking, \"a father. And fathers-of-fathers.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen watches the man curiously as he is silent, chewing on her apple, and starts to look concerned as he does not speak. Her chin ducks down and she peers at him from beneath her bright brows. When he does speak, however, he is rewarded with another smile for his careful wording. \"That way is Rivendell. Do you go Rivendell?\" Another bite. \"Who is Gidon? Her, ah, you... your wife?\"

Brev bursts into a chuckle at those last words. \"I don\'t have a wife. I\'m young, as you pointed out. No, Gidon is the boy. The quiet one. The one whose house you came to?\" He looks to Caelwen almost for reassurance, that he has been understood.

The other question is harder to answer. \"I .. ah, I don\'t know where we\'re going,\" he tells the elf-woman a little awkwardly, dropping his gaze. \"Gidon is going to show me the path.\" Then he seems to realize something, for he looks back up, amber eyes bright. \"You know the lands to the east - ah, that way?\" Once more he gestures. \"Can you tell me of them? Are there others like me?\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen is paying strict attention to Brev while very slowly chewing. \"Gidon! Husbenn will speak at Gidon,\" she tells Brev excitedly. \"I speak at husbenn for Gidon father. Husbenn good hunter, tall, good. Old, old, old. Husbenn great help for Gidon.\" She trips over the words in her eagerness and hops off of the branch, apple in one hand and cloth in the other.

\"East is water, then no water, not trees, then tall trees and,\" her nose wrinkles. \"Olog. Ah, troll, say word troll. Then not trees. Husbann help you,\" she adds confidently. \"Husbenn speak more, ah, your words.\"

Brev blinks at the sudden stream of words, his brow furrowing anew. Husband? Father? Perhaps for a moment the old tales of faery folk that come to spirit the children of Men away come to him, for he shivers suddenly, despite the fact that his cloak is once more held tightly round him.

But the woman before him is radiating light and enthusiasm, and she is /beautiful/. He cannot help but smile at Caelwen for her eagerness.

The information she imparts, though, draws a grimace. \"I understand. Kiern! Trolls. I\'d as soon avoid them ...\" He sighs, the corners of his mouth pulling down. \"Collwen - \" and his voice is as hesitant as his worried gaze, \"would you ask your husband to speak with me? If there\'s anything we can do to avoid trouble, I\'d like to know.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen is still for a moment, studying Brev. She answers in a cautious, slow way, \"I did speak with husbenn for you.\" She is really looking at him very intently, right into his eyes-- or rather, it\'s almost as if she is looking at a place just behind his eyes, and they are close enough to see that for all of her slender fairness, she is a bit taller than him.

\"I...\" She shakes the apple while searching for a word. \".../see/ you,\" she decides on. \"Here.\" And, cloth over the arm, she points at the center of his chest.

Brev remains still as a rabbit that sees the hawk circling above. He does not look away - perhaps he cannot - but his jaw is set, and a muscle starts jumping in his cheek. Unnacountably, he colours slightly.

Then she speaks, and the spell is broken a little. He glances down at his chest, frowning a little. \"Uh - you see the heart,\" he translates, and shudders suddenly. \"Don\'t think I want to know what\'s in there. Even I don\'t trust me, sometimes,\" he mutters. He focuses on the forest floor - how still the morn is! How beautiful the new-fallen snow.

But then he looks up, jaw set. \"I want to find my father. And I want a future for my folk.\" There is no lie behind the amber eyes, though fear and doubt shadow them.

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen\'s smile grows until she looks mischevious and then she laughs. \"No, no,\" she says, voice light. \"I am not old. I not see here.\" She points at Brev\'s head. \"I see not fathers and future. I...\" She glances away, shaking the apple again as if searching for a word, and then shakes her head, dislodging a bit of white snow to melt down her cheek. \"You not hurt my husbenn,\" she decides on, looking back to Brev with solemn eyes.

Brev\'s gaze remains doubtful - surely, if she wills, an elf enchantress can see the heart and more? He watches the snow slide down her face, sighing softly. But there is a correction to be made to her words. \"Not unless he hurts me,\" he states, the muscle in his cheek still twitching. Then, that made clear, he shrugs. \"I\'ve never been one to start a fight. If he means no ill to me and mine, then why should I wish ill to him?\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen\'s brow furrows and her head bows. She switches the apple to her other hand so that she may brush away snow. \"I do not know word.\" Her face smooths again and uncertainly she looks at Brev. \"Fear not me,\" she tells him.

She looks around. \"Here.\" She points now at a tree, one which three men could not ring, even with arms stretched. \"This is young. I am old. Tree is young.\" She looks briefly at Brev to see if he understands, then looks up.

The dawn sun is casting pink fingers through the forest, lighting the snow. Caelwen points toward where it is brightest. \"This is young at husbenn. Husbenn is old, old, old.\" She smiles wide and her eyes soften. There is a light behind them, like dawn through new leaves. \"Husbenn is young, yes stars, not this. What is word?\" She points again at the light.

Brev stares at Caelwen, his brow furrowing in perplexity. Hesitantly, he tries to guess at her meaning. \"That tree must be centuries old,\" he protests, following the direction of the elf-woman\'s outstretched arms. And then, doubtfully, \"You are older than the trees?\" Surely he must have misunderstood? \"You look little older than I. Ten years, maybe ...\"

He squints at Caelwen\'s pointing finger, narrowing his eyes at the light. \"And that is the Sun.\" How can anything be older than the sun? \"I don\'t understand.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

\"Yes! Yes.\" Caelwen becomes animated, eyes bright for his understanding as she lifts on her toes. \"I am older than tree. Sun? Anor. Husbenn is older than her. Abanangel is,\" she lifts her shoulders. \"Not younger than you?\"

Brev\'s eyes are slightly glazed as Caelwen continues with her words, concepts he is ill-equipped to take in. He focuses on what he can understand (at least a little) - himself. \"I am no child,\" he protests, setting his jaw stubbornly. \"I left boyhood behind a long time ago. And the young one looks to be boy and not man. He does not act like a man.\"

There seems to be something else bothering him, for he looks away and rubs at his cheek. He does not voice it, however merely stands gazomg eastward, shivering a little as the breeze catches his cloak.

[Caelwen(#24844)]

\"You are not a child,\" Caelwen says in a light, reassuring voice. \"Abanangel is a child. You are a man. Abanangel is an elf. You are father\'s father\'s father at, ah, Abanangel is a man. Ah, I do not know words.\" She falls silent then and watches Brev with her piercing eyes. She takes a step away and hops up to seat herself gracefully upon the tree-limb again. A snowflake settles in her eyelashes but she does not blink while studying the man.

Confusion reigns uppermost on Brev\'s features as he tries to make sense of the babble of conflicting words. \"I don\'t understand,\" he murmurs again then, almost pleading, \"I /can\'t/ understand.\"

He turns his gaze to Caelwen, and his amber eyes are clouded now, with a hint of fear in them. He murmurs something under his breath in his native tongue, then straightens his shoulders and asks, \"Tell me just one thing. Your - your husband. Is he ... Kiern?\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen tilts her head and looks down at Brev with brow furrowed, concern and wariness in her eyes. \"I do not... no? Not Kirn? Husbenn is Giliath Lothdaimoth Darthalion. Old old old old elf. Yes, not Kirn?\" Her glance flicks away to where Brev dropped his spear.

Brev lets out a long breath he did not realize he had been holding. \"So,\" he says at last, not even attempting to repeat the babble of Elvish speech, let alone query his meaning. He follows the direction of Caelwen\'s gaze, and almost eagerly seizes on the change of topic. \"That\'s a spear,\" he states, a little of his lost confidence returning. \"I carry it in case - well, in case there is trouble. These woods are not always safe.\" He scowls then, his expression conveying some old irritation rather than his current confusion.

[Caelwen(#24844)]

\"Spear,\" Caelwen repeats. \"Giliath say, good you spear.\" She pauses, looking intently at Brev\'s face before going on. \"I do not spear. Giliath see.\" She points somewhere westerly. \"I am safe.\"

Brev shakes his head as though to clear it, turning slightly away from Caelwen\'s all-too-spellbinding gaze, then frowns slightly. \"It is good to have protection,\" he says slowly. \"Where I come from everyone - man, woman, or child - learns to use a spear, or an axe, or a dagger like this.\" He gestures to his hip. \"But ... I think you have other weapons.\" And his head remains slightly bowed.

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen\'s head tilts, and her eyes are softer as she watches Brev. \"Elf hunts, hunting hurt elf,\" she explains in a soft and kind voice, her accent as thick as ever like music around the common syllables. \"Giliath... kill, yes, Giliath is hurt. So I do not kill, I am not hurt.\"

Between Brev\'s brows a furrow is appearing that seems like to become permanent if he continues his conversation with Caelwen. \"If he\'s hurt, then shouldn\'t he- wait. I see.\" He adjusts his cloak carefully so that it provides better cover from the frosty chillness the morning sun is so slow to banish, then queries, \"You\'re saying - you don\'t like to hurt others?\" He turns to her, then, and manages, just for one instant, to look full into those glorious elf-eyes. \"When someone you care about is in trouble, you don\'t stop to worry about those things.\" Perhaps embarrassed by his own candour, or perhaps just with some belated awareness of how cold it is, he mumbles, \"I should be going.\"

[Caelwen(#24844)]

Caelwen is watching Brev\'s eyes when he looks up at her. \"Yes and no.\" Her voice is growing softer, more shy. She nods slowly once. \"Giliath speaks with you, you will know. He knows all words.\"

Brev\'s eyes reflect awe, earnestness and .. yes, just a little fear. \"Not sure I\'m ready for that yet,\" he admits. Then, carefully, he steps back so that he can retrieve his spear, its haft fitting snugly into his hand. He grips its familiar form carefully. \"Goodbye, Collwen,\" he says softly, and then he\'s turning to walk away, down the course of the icy stream. Slowly at first, then he increases his pace as he moves further away. He stops once to look back, shaking snow from the hood of his cloak - then he is gone.

[Caelwen(#24844)]

\"Namarie,\" Caelwen answers quietly, but probably too quietly for Brev to hear. She watches him in a concerned way, brow furrowed, as she swings her green-booted feet and munches on the apple.