The past few days had been a glorious blur as Uilossiel and her brother set out from Imladris, riding west at a steady but unhurried pace towards Lindon. All around them the budding leaves waved upon the branches, veiling the once - bare wood in a layer of translucent green. Uilossiel fancied she could even hear a laughing music in each fresh brook they passed, newly sprung from the melting snows of the Hithaeglir. As they passed west of the Bruinen, the trees grew more dense and the undergrowth more abundant. Tancamir never tired of pointing out to her a rare tree or fern and giving its name, or showing her the tracks left by wandering deer and rabbit. And the wildflowers lay strewn like stars amid the ferny underbrush, glimmering brighter in the half-shadowed realm of the forest. Ever and anon they would come across a new scattering of flowers, and Uilossiel would stop and twine some in her hair, and in the mane of her horse as well. Then her brother would merely roll his eyes, smiling at her indulgently. Ah, but it was good to be free of the Valley once more, as the world was stirring to life around them.
They had forded the Mitheithel with little incident, Uilossiel exclaiming on the rugged beauty of the lands around. Silent as forest shadows, they passed west, unseen by mortal eyes. There were herbs scattered around the wood, which Uilossiel made note of in her journal. Tancamir seemed to fall into a pensive mood as they traversed the North Downs, often speaking of the Rangers who watched over the lands west of the Mitheithel. Uilossiel had smiled sadly, remembering the compass he kept ever close to his heart, and asked no more.
The sun hung low in the clear sky when they had reached the Emyn Uial - rugged hills which looked down upon Lake Nenuial, still as limpid and mirror-clear as the day Tancamir had looked into its depths for the first time. They halted on a grassy bank overlooking the lake, overshadowed by stern and tall fir-trees. For a few moments, the two busied themselves with setting up camp as they had done for many a day before, and turned loose their horses to graze at will upon the mountain grass that sprang up in abundance. With a contented sigh, Uilossiel settled against the trunk of a nearby tree and began to write in her journal. Tancamir had vanished, somehow, and it was not until she heard muffled laughter in the branches above that she noticed her brother, stretched lazily out on a bough.
"What, too tired to hunt today?" She glanced upwards and laughed. "If we continue at this pace we shall be in Lindon before I even know it."
Tancamir grinned and clambered onto a lower branch, so that he was almost directly above his sister. "Despite what some say, I am capable of enjoying myself in leisure. We have time to stay a day in these woods, if it pleases you. Well do I remember the shores of Nenuial, and the wild woods around. There is no place I would rather be, when the year turns to summer. But what do you think of it?"
"The lands around are beautiful and wild, like nothing I have ever seen, Tyelco." Uilossiel frowned at her journal, covered with scribblings in pencil and rough sketches of herbs and flowers. "If only I could actually draw them - though I do not think I have the skill. The lake - ah, I feel as if I could write poems about its crystal depths, and the rocky cliffs reflected in its waters. I wish Ada had brought me here sometime, instead of on his business journeys to Lindon."
Her brother shrugged. "I could hardly see him taking time out of his schedule to spend a day or two here. Has he not always been about duty, and work, and scholarship before all?"
"Yes and no, Tyelco. He has changed much, since you left." Uilossiel looked up at her brother, a pained expression on her face. "And for the better, I deem. You were not the only one who left Imladris that year." Setting down her journal and pencil, she began idly plucking flowers and twining them into a chain.
Tancamir stared at his sister, brow furrowed in confusion. "What? Did he travel to Lindon in an attempt to find me? What an absurd idea. I had no idea he cared that much about his disappointment of a son."
Uilossiel drew a long breath, her eyes resolute and hard. "No. After you left, and it was clear you would not return, our mother fell ill. You know how much she loved you - we all did. Even after Tinwen was born, you were always her darling. Why else would she allow you to get away with skipping lessons to go out hunting, or decorating your room with hunting trophies? It broke her to see that you were gone, Tyelco. For a long while she would not do more than lay in bed and weep, speaking to no one. "
There was an agitated rustling in the tree above, but Tancamir made no reply. Uilossiel shrugged and continued speaking, voice calm though tinged with bitterness.
" After the summer had passed, Naneth was at least healed in body. Yet she turned on our father, blaming him for your departure. I think it was true that he had been overly harsh with you, but the fault was not entirely his. " Uilossiel stared up at her brother, a question in her eyes. "Why did you not send word from Lindon, at the least? During her illness, Naneth would not stop raving about how our father had driven you off to your death in the Wild. At last when the first leaves of autumn began to fall, she returned to Lórien with our sister Tinwen. Ada and I did not see them again for the better part of this Age." She paused, face shadowed with grief.
"Do not think your actions were of no consequence to anyone save yourself, Tyelco. Your departure tore our family apart, and such it was for many years. I recieved letters from Tinwen, but Naneth never wrote. " Uilossiel shrugged, and smiled ruefully. "Is there any wonder that all Ada and I could do was turn to our work and studies when nothing was left us at home save each other? "
With a sigh, Tancamir leapt down from his perch in the tree and settled on the grass beside his younger sister. He drew a deep breath, eyes fixed on the ground.
"What caused Naneth to return? I see her in Imladris now, sewing and mending contentedly in our father's house. I can hardly imagine a time when our parents were estranged." The sound of tearing grass punctuated his words, as he absently pulled up blades of grass, eyes cast sullenly downward.
"Many things which once were broken may be mended, though the cracks will ever remain," Uilossiel replied. "It took a war for Naneth to realise that she would rather return to Ada than lose him to Mandos. When the shadow in the North fell even upon Imladris, I left for Lórien, to stay with her and Tinwen. I cannot say I persuaded Naneth, or Tinwen whom I hardly recognised, but they returned with me to Imladris when the war was over."
"Why tell me all this? You cannot believe I have not once regretted what I did." Tancamir looked up, scattering the severed grasses upon the ground. "I hardly dared to believe I would even be welcome in Imladris, should I return. And what of Nolomir? I fail to see how the years have changed him."
Uilossiel sighed. "Tyelco, it is only because you have not spoken to him. Do you see Ada treating me only as a pawn to advance his own ambitions? Or stubbornly refusing to listen to Naneth when they disagree? He loved you too much, and paid for it when you left. You must speak to him now - he is no longer the ambitious and insistent father you knew. Why, he is even quite acquainted with several lords of Vanimar, and quite approves of your decision to join the Arrow. "
Tancamir nodded, though his face was still clouded with doubt. "I will see, when we return home. You know we hardly spoke, though I stayed in his house for a few weeks after returning to Imladris. But Uilo, you speak of such things with no anger, no accusation toward me. I do not deserve such kindness. After what I did, you must think me a heartless fool."
"You are my brother, remember? I could not hate you though I tried. You were heartless and stupid, but it did not make me love you any less. All those years I knew somehow that you had not fallen, no matter what Naneth or Ada said. And I had faith that you would find your way home. Do you remember that map I made for you, before you left Imladris on your first hunting-expedition? "
"Aye, I do. Unfortunately the parchment did not withstand the beating of time, and I was obliged to burn it. " Tancamir held up his hands as Uilossiel glared at him in a mock-threatening manner.
"Do not worry, I had a copy made in Mithlond when the parchment was beginning to show wear. It may be there still, in Falasgil's home. Still, I do remember your words when you gave it to me: 'No matter how far you wander, may it bring you back home.' " He shrugged at Uilossiel. "I do not think you ever expected me to wander for so long, when you said that. "
"You are home now, Tyelco, and that is all I care for." Uilossiel smiled up at her brother. "Please, try to speak with Ada when we return to Imladris? You are not the only one whom the years have changed. " She placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "I know you have lost much - and I have not been a stranger to sorrow either, in the years we were apart. Would it not be better to put off the past and start anew in the time given us?"
Tancamir cracked a smile, pulling out a slender metal flask from his pocket. "I can drink to that," he said as he uncorked the lid and offered it to his sister. "Miruvor, the best of Sogadan's stock. Ladies first, of course."
Uilossiel swatted him playfully on the shoulder, taking the flask and raising it high. "To new beginnings, and to my rogue of a brother who cannot go anywhere without a drink, it seems. " With a smile, she took a sip and passed it back to Tancamir.
With a shrug, he took the flask. "I am no poet, but that was severely lacking in style." Clearing his throat, he raised the flask and said with a grin," To the memory of the past, and the promise of the future. To the fair shores of Lindon, and the wild woods about Esteldín, and the valley of Imladris, most beloved of all. "He took a swig of the bottle and added with a wink, "And to my sister, who cannot stop loving me against her better judgement."
"I could not have said it any better," Uilossiel replied. Before he could protest, she had planted the crown of daisies into his hair which she had made when they were speaking. "There! Receive your crown, oh esteemed orator! "
Tancamir looked around in bewilderment, but made no motion to remove the flowers. Instead he tugged on the pins in Uilossiel's hair until her black hair was loose of its severely up-swept style and fell loose about her shoulders. Laughing, he swung himself up into the tree before she could retaliate.
With a laugh, Uilossiel flopped down onto her back, staring blissfully into the greening branches above, and the bits of clear sky that shone through them.
"You are a genius, Tyelco. Some time away from the Valley was just what we needed. Remind me to listen to you more often." The branches of the tree above rustled in reply, as Tancamir's laughter floated back to her from above. In such a moment, she could well believe that the hurts of the past would heal with time, and that the future shone with hope as bright as the sunlight streaming through the budding leaves of spring.
