Nimuviel’s Diary: Page 6

Iavas day 4, I Randír Îdh It is afternoon and we are all rested. A cool breeze that blows from the sea takes some of the heat out of the garden. Nathoruil and the lord Gildin have departed to walk some way along the banks of the Lhûn, the maiden Ashareth has gone to take her weaponry to the smith for sharpening (and she has brought so much with her I wonder she can carry it all). Hiril Aldalin took me into the pantry this morning and intended to show me how to make cherry pies in the ways of the little folk. After half the morning was over she had ten perfectly round pies ready to go into the oven, and I ten heaps of dough with cherry mash smeared all over them (and, indeed, all over my own face and elbows too). I felt embarrassed at first but she merely laughed at my clumsiness. We then scraped the cherry mash off the dough and ate it with spoons, and from the dough the lady managed to create pie-crusts that will still be good enough for other fruit to bake in. Just past noon a lady who appears to live near to these halls past the bridge came into the garden, and she spoke with Hiril Aldalin and the lady of the halls told introduced us. Her name is Celebhir and she is a healer by trade. She and Hiril Aldalin appear to be old friends and they have currently retired to Aldalin’s study to speak with each other. Now that I have been here four days my thoughts seem to finally begin to settle in my mind. These wondrous halls seem no longer but a dream to my eyes, but have taken shape for me now and I know all the rooms, and all the trees and plants in the garden, and all the statues and the lanterns, and I already miss the murmuring of voices when the wanderers have gone out. It feels as if the bleak loneliness of my flight disappears from my memory with each passing hour and each new arrival of Hiril Aldalin’s company, like dreary mists fleeing from the rays of the dawning sun, and all that I find here is warm and sweet and good to me. Another walks down the lane to our garden now, that I have not seen before. His hair has the fairest golden sheen and he wears robes that are green and white, and in his right hand he carries a walking stick that is somewhat taller than he is. Hiril Aldalin is still speaking with the lady Celebhir. I will go down and meet with him.