After aiding the proprietor of the Forsaken Inn tracking down a shipment that had been overrun by goblins, the last days have been quite uneventful - but still beautiful and somber in their own right. I made my way through the Lone-lands and into the Trollshaws without too much excitement. Walking along the Trollshaws road with it's eternal fall-trees on both sides, yellow leaves swirling past me, my mind begun to wander. The memory once more arose.
...
The woods started to change before I was born. When the elders told about a forest floor dancing with the emerald light of sunlit leaves, I saw a gloomy shadowland. When the elders reminisced the chirping of joyful wood-spirits and enchanting songbirds, I heard creaking and growling and slithering. The elder sung their songs of old, but no new music would come from the woods of my youth.
And then there was a girl, and a clearing.
She was older than me, and much wiser and stronger. Mirnel, was her given name. We had already made our wows to each other - she was my betrothal, but the marital feast had not yet taken place. Mirnel hated the shadow hanging over the woods even more then me. She remembered the better days, but only vaguely. It was but a longing in her heart. Suddenly, a summers day when we were hunting together, we came upon the clearing. It just was there, deep in the forest surrounded by a particularly dense patch of gloomy, murky trees. A sunlit clearing, with a beautiful little pond. Butterflies dancing in the small bushes, and fragrant wildflowers everywhere. It was stunning, but something was wrong. I felt a...presence there, and not a benign one. I tried to tell her, many times, that it was not a good place to linger. But her longing was too strong.
One day she strayed into the woods, and never came back. I know she was going to the clearing, I saw the burning longing in her eyes as she talked of it. Many days and many nights I searched to find her, but it came to naught. Never even found the clearing again. I now believe it was a trick, a lie to our minds told by the foul presence I felt in there. To lure her in.
...
As the fog of memory lifted and I saw the outstretched road ahead of me, I realized that Mirnel is the greatest reason why I must return to Mirkwood. If there is any chance that I can find and face the being that took her away from me, I must follow this road to the end.
I have now reached Imladris. I will stay here some time and see if I can help master Elrond with anything. I am also invited by the son of Thranduil to hear word from the Realm. I do hope the news are not too discerning.
