Post by Mîrioniel on Apr 15, 2018 10:14:49 GMT -5
T.A. 1981
Lothlórien
The previous eve, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn had arrived, being welcomed grandly and settled into the woodland ream and given the best flet within Caras Galadhon. Mîrioniel had not known anyone else she could have called upon to be guardians to Lothlórien in the absence of King Amroth, her father. Weeks past, her parents, Nimrodel, had left Lothlórien, intending to travel to Belfalas and the Grey Haven beyond. Amroth knew of Sindar elves in Belfalas that would build a ship to travel across the Sundering Sea to the Undying Lands, forsaken his people and the woodland he loved for his betrothed, Nimrodel. She had grown weary of the world, irritated by the arrival of the Beleriand elves that were not of the Sindar; she perceived them as elves who brought wars and destroyed the peace of her homeland. She was further worried by the Balrog of Morgoth awoken in Khazad-Dum, as orcs and dwarves we’re now fleeing Moira. Nimrodel had fled Lorien, getting as far as the borders of Fangorn Forest. It was there that Amroth had reunited with his beloved, he promised her to find a land full of peace, in return she’d promised to marry him. Together they’d abandon Middle Earth, leaving their daughter as Queen of Lothlórien.
However, tragedy had befallen them. Reports had come back to the Golden Wood that Amroth was dead. A great storm had set his ship to sea, and on the dawn of the following morning, he had thrown himself into the sea and drowned.
As for Nimrodel, no one had any answers. She had been separated from Amroth, no one knew where she or her retinue were.
Mîrioniel had been the guardian of the woodland until her parents fully married, with the blessings required. Upon that day, Mîrioniel would have been their legitimate child, and rightful heir to the throne of Lothlórien. Circumstance had stripped that from her. Now her father was dead, she would forever be the illegitimate offspring, not worthy of the throne. And what is more, because of the manner that her parents had fled Lothlórien, fully abandoning its borders and its people, she was unpopular. Mîrioniel could not hope to rule as she had been raised to, not with her own people so against her. It had left her no choice to bring in outsiders to rule in her stead, whilst she went in search of her mother.
Galadriel and Celeborn had been to Lothlórien once before, in the second age, and Mîrioniel had heard stories of the Lady, her wisdom and power. It didn’t matter to Mîrioniel that they were of the Noldor, and not Sindarin, it was a choice her father would have been proud of, even if Nimrodel would’ve been displeased. Mîrioniel was sagacious enough to know what Lothlórien needed now was a stable leadership, to consolidate the population, and to protect them all from the dangers of the world.
Mîrioniel was in a state of complete agitation. She had waited for several days for Galadriel and Celeborn to arrive, and now they were here. The morning had been spent reporting on the state of the woodland and its people. The conversation naturally turned to her parents, and Mîrioniel expressed her desire, nay need, to go out and find her mother. Galadriel had told her to exercise caution, to wait until a proper party could be put together and sent out to search. Despite her protestations, she was forced to wait.
Only by the following morning she knew she was incapable of waiting, and made plans to leave as soon as she could. It was not usually in her nature to be impatient, but every moment wasted was a moment lost to her forever, a moment her mother got further and further away. She was unable to take her horse, it’d draw too much attention to her plans to depart. And she had to pack light, only things necessary to travel, in her knapsack. There was Lembas bread, her twin daggers her father had gifted her, a cloak, a change of clothes and footwear. There was no way she could conceal a bow and quiver full of arrows, which was no issue as she had never been overly good at archery anyway.
Mîrioniel left in the afternoon, when there was a lull of activity within the woodland. Getting out of Caras Galadhon was simple, no one paid much attention as she was frequently seen going for walks through Lothlórien. It would be more difficult getting out of the woods itself. She moved swiftly and quietly, going on a path less travelled, but well known to her as she had spent her entire life in the Golden Wood.
Mîrioniel was close to the border, but a league away from the edge of Lothlórien, and once she knew she had left her woodland realm undetected, then would she plan the next phase of her journey, trying to retrace the steps her parents had taken, and extrapolate where her mother might have ventured from the last place she was seen. At no point did she suspect anyone might have tracked her, being so confident in her own realm to believe she could get away without being noticed, at least not until she was many more leagues away.