Tasarin

Night was falling as she returned to the village. Looking up to the flets above, she smiled - a casual traveller would not have noticed a village, so hidden were the flets in the great boughs of the trees, so similar their forms to the natural shapes of the forest. Yet an Elf could detect the traces of civilisation - plants groomed to their best effect, nature rich with the blossoming that only the love of the Elves brings to a place. She passed by the flets towards her own glade, set apart from what was called the village - many of the flets were far apart, yet there were places in which they clustered closer together. As a spirit-speaker, she had always preferred the solitude of the glade - not a place sacred by any Valar, yet it had been treated as such by the Nandor ever since they settled in the Greenwood. Her own house was there - not a flet, but a low longhouse, hidden under a grassy roof. It had been home for her and her apprentices ever since she had started teaching the wisdom of the forest. In the dusk, it hunched in front of the forest like a great beast, all outlines blurred by vegetation. She passed it by as well, entered the glade. Here, the forest gave way to allow a glimpse of the stars above. She smiled, remembering a time when the Elves were young, and first caught sight of the stars. The elation she had felt then still held its wonder now, ages later... Yet the memory also brought back a reminder of her duty, and what she had set out to do. She looked up, expanded her senses to feel the presence of her apprentice. She was sitting at the spring on the other side of the glade, no movement or sound betraying her presence. Her grey robes blended in with the shadows of the forest, a shade among many. Only her hair shone in the darkness with a pale shimmer. Silently, she watched her student's meditation for a while. Then, listening to a sign perhaps only she could detect in her heart, she approached and spoke. "Curugladiel." The student, motionless until now, opened her eyes. There was no sign of weariness in her, no pause in waking from meditation as she focused her attention on the other Elf. "Yes, teacher." The elder sat down next to her on the stones overlooking the pool that sprung from the glade. Around them, the Greenwood stirred as it awoke for the night. They heard the calls of night beasts, the rustling of the trees. It was as always - wild, but peaceful. The teacher sighed, remembering her vision. Without bothering with long introductions, she started to speak. "No apprentice of mine has ever spent as long time in my service as you have. Yet you have never asked to be released from my service. Why is that so?" Waiting to gauge the reaction of her apprentice, she paused a bit before continuing. "You do not believe you are not ready; for you are as good a healer as any of my students, and you shall be better yet." There was no protest from the student. They both knew this as a fact, and the teacher noted with satisfaction that her student calmly seemed to agree. "Is it then that you have no ambition to become a healer; that you would rather take the easy path and remain a student, free from responsibility?" She frowned. "Or is it that your ambition is higher, you believe the status a mere village healer would give you would not be enough, daughter of the wood crafter?" She emphasized these last words, giving them a sting as a reminder of the elf's parentage, as humble as any other Nandor. This time Curugladiel reacted. "Teacher... If you wish it, I shall leave you; to become a healer to a village or to return home. But my place is here." She nodded at the quiet calm of her student's reply. "Why is that so?" "For there is no one else who can teach me; no one who does what you do. This is what I wish to do; and I desire no other status than to be this." She looked down, her hands touching the soft moss on the stones. The elder nodded. "Yes... you know what you are," she whispered. "I do, teacher." She spoke with soft confidence, though her face showed apprehension. "Then it shall be so. I shall release you from my service. From now on, you are a spirit-speaker, and no longer my apprentice. Do you accept?" The student lifted her face, studying her. "Shall you send me away?" "No..." She hesitated, searching for the words. "Your mother is not with us any more; but I have been as a mother to you, for many years. I have been searching for a vision for you, to give you your mother-name now that you finished your apprenticeship. You shall be known as Nimlith." The apprentice nodded slowly, tasting the name on her tongue. Nimlith. White Ash. "Yes, Teacher." Her teacher clucked her tongue, smiling at her in mock disappointment. "You really ought to be less accepting and more questioning. As my equal, this is part of your duties." Curugladiel smiled. "I shall always be your student, teacher." "I know..." The elder's face grew sad with concern. "But you must learn to rely on your own judgement, when I am gone." "When you are gone? Are you leaving, teacher?" She nodded, sadly. "In my search for a vision for you... I saw a coming storm. And I am sad for it, for I wish to keep the Greenwood beautiful in my memory..." her voice faded. "I shall be leaving, perhaps to stay at the Havens for a while longer. I have never seen the sea, it should be interesting." Curugladiel thought about this for a while, pondering. "Your vision..." "I am very sorry, my child. You shall have to live through it... but I shall not be there with you, that much I have seen. We have dwelt here for long enough, it is time now for me to continue the journey." She paused, thinking of the years she had called this place her home, from the time when the Elves first arrived there. "I am not leaving the forest behind unguarded. You are a good healer, yet you shall learn from the forest and be even more powerful when the time comes. This is your duty now." She gestured to the glade, the house. "You shall be my successor in everything; what little I owned is yours now, except for what I shall take with me. My duties... you have been doing for a long time." The younger Elf nodded. "Do I need to use... Nimlith... my mother-name from now on?" "That is up to you, dear. You will find that there is a time when you shall grow into it, and take it. Some never do... I know you shall." "Thank you, teacher. Thank you for everything." "Do not thank me before you have seen the evening. You shall yet scorn me, for I am leaving when many would see it as my duty to stay with you." "I do not understand..." "No, you do not - and I wish you would not. But I cannot fight fate much as you cannot. I shall not be a part of the coming storm. Be glad for me, for that, and please keep me dear in your heart, even through it." ((continuation, of sorts, is here: Page 1 | Page 2 ))