First Impressions by Grundy

An Unexpected Opportunity

Merilin could barely contain her excitement as she picked her way carefully through the trees, cautious and silent, just as she’d been taught and practiced all these years. She still couldn’t quite believe that she was being allowed on this mission, that she’s almost within earshot of their mysterious kin from the west.

She had never expected that she would be allowed to join her brother and their cousin, much less intstructed to do so. With her mother taken and her father dead, her granduncle stood in place of a parent to her, and if ever she loses patience with Oropher or Celeborn, they are quick to point out that Thingol is more overprotective than them by far.

So it had come as a surprise when the page who summoned her older brother to a private council with the king and queen announced that the king desired her presence as well. She knew perfectly well what it was about – all Menegroth was abuzz at the rumor that some of their kin had returned with the golodhrim who had walked the Ice, and she had already wormed out of her big brother that he expected to be sent to meet them.

She did her best to be dignified and mature as she entered their uncle’s council chamber, but as all others in the room were her closest kin, they would know she was both nervous and pleased to finally be allowed such a role.

Elu Thingol waved at them to be seated, as Celeborn and Melian already were. Eöl was also just arriving, and Luthien was fluttering about, but Nimloth was not present. Merilin frowned until she remembered that her older cousin was likely still beating the bounds in Region.

He might be the king in public, but in private, even when he was handing down orders, Uncle Elu was rarely ever formal. This was no exception, as he explained carefully to his younger kin that rumor was quite correct. Some of the Lindar have returned from beyond the Sea. Celeborn and Oropher would be leading the party going to meet the guests they shortly expected – and that Merilin would accompany them.

“Me, Uncle?” Merilin asked, startled.

She didn’t want to say anything as silly as ‘why’ or ‘what can I do that Celeborn and Oropher can’t’, especially not when she was fairly sure everyone but Aunt Melian was already thinking it.

“Yes, you,” he replied indulgently. “Your brothers have pointed out several times in recent months that you are more than old enough now to begin taking on more serious duties, and that it is perhaps overly sentimental of me to keep you so close to Menegroth. I admit I have been perhaps a little overcautious, but I simply cannot bear the thought that my brother’s youngest grandchild should meet with misadventure.”

“I am to go beyond the borders?” Merilin asked, suddenly nervous.

She would have been perfectly happy to walk the boundaries with Nimloth, or spend time in Nan Elmoth learning something of how to manage a holding from Uncle Eöl. Being sent northwest was a bit more than she’d bargained for.

“Indeed, you will have to,” Aunt Melian replied with a smile. “But do not trouble yourself. There will be little danger in this – Celeborn is to lead, and Oropher his second, but there will be plenty of others on guard, and you will not need to venture very far beyond the Girdle. You will not be beyond my aid should you need it.”

“I don’t understand, though. What am I to do?” Merilin said.

“Observe,” Uncle Elu said quietly. “And discover what you can of these newcomers. I would know all that I can about our sundered kin, and how it is that they came to cross the Ice, and what their connection is with the other Icewalkers and the golodhrim who sailed.”

“But they will hardly tell me any of that,” Merilin protested.

She has listened as curiously as any other, and the traders and scouts who have returned from Mithrim speak of a folk who do not hold their women as equals. It’s possible their sundered kin won’t even speak to her at all.

“Perhaps not,” her uncle said thoughtfully. “I have heard all that you have, and more. But a people who think little of women, and of young women in particular, may be less cautious before you than they would be before others. Their tongues may be freer, or their actions bolder. Speak as little as you think they will find polite, and learn all that you can of them.”

Merilin blinked. It all sounded so important when put that way.

“It is not by Melian’s power alone that we defend our people, little songbird,” Eöl added. “We depend on the eyes and ears of our scouts. And if the golodhrim are foolish enough to imagine that Doriath holds its princesses of less value or skill than its princes, we will use that.”

Merilin glanced toward her brother, who nodded.

“But won’t they be trying to learn more of us?” she asked. “What if I give away as much in conversation as I learn?”

“I doubt that will be a problem,” Uncle Elu said, tossing a roll of a strange material onto the table.

Merilin could see that while it was not the dried leaves the Iathrim used, there was writing on it.

“But if they have written to you, do we not already know about them, and what to expect?”

She could see by Celeborn’s sharp glance that she was only voicing the general thought.

“Oh, I’m sure my brother’s grandson has written a very handsome letter,” her uncle snorted. “If only any of us could read it.”

Her brother had already reached for the roll, and pulled it flat. Looking over his shoulder, she could see that the markings were not at all like the letters Daeron had devised.  They looked more natural, flowing as they did across the page, but what they meant she had no idea.

“I have written back, of course,” Elu continued. “Though I doubt Finderato Eärwenion understood my writing any more than I did his. However, the couriers who bear the letter were charged to explain my invitation: he may send those who are also my kin, and they will be met by guides who will bring them to me. I am told he has two younger brothers, so that is who I expect.”

Merilin sighed.

Just what she needed, more boy cousins. As if Celeborn and Eöl weren’t enough – and Eöl being of her parents’ generation made him more an uncle than a cousin. She hoped at least some of these new cousins would be her age. It was frustrating being the baby.

She’d find out soon enough. They could hear voices now, rising and falling in a rhythm that was not quite the familiar tongue she’s heard all her days. An occasional laugh, but mostly just the quiet murmur of folk who don’t wish to draw the attention of any of Bauglir’s creatures should they happen to be nearby.