Game:Continue the Legend!

[Melian]

This idea has been conceived in the Creative Endeavours' Hall:
Why don't WE create and tell a legend TOGETHER?
One will begin,another one will continue,third one will add something---and here we are,we might create some very worthy tale ,inspired by Tolkien's epics.
I once thought how little we know about the Elves of Doriath.And lo!---our heroine appeared to me.She is called Sindabeleth,a beautiful maiden from the realm.Who she was and what she did is up to you!
Participants in the chain-telling should observe a few rules:

1.Consider the main events and characters in the Sil and relate our story to them.
2.Keep alive Tolkien's exquisite narrative style!
3.End your post at an interesting point and leave an unfinished sentence for the next one to continue.
4.You may post as many times as you wish.
5.For question and comments pm me instead of interrupting the course of the plot.
6.You may post any pieces of artwork-- e.g images,poetry,quotes--as long as they relate to the story.

And here it begins....
Special thanks to Elenn.,Eledhwen,Nenya and Lhun--my companions in the Hall.

[Melian]

OF SINDABELETH FROM DORIATH



Little is said in the Books of Lore of the Elves from Doriath,albeit fair and noble they were.With the downfall of their kingdom most of the knowledge of them sank into oblivion.But not everything was lost forever; even through the bitter times of suffering some records survived.For Queen Melian had dearly loved her folk and dedicatedly gathered in the royal library countless scrolls of legends,ballads,verse and other delightful creations of her people...The wisest say she might have seen beyond what others saw,and known times of destruction approached.
Among those surviving scrolls is the legend ''Of Sindabeleth From Dotiath", a tale of valor and beauty.here it follows as Queen Melian recorded it:


Gilthalion was one of the Grey Elves who during Dagor Bragollach,scattered by the power of the Enemy and chased by its vicious creatures,reached Doriath and were accepted into the realm.There he became a craftsman and contrived bows.In the splendid woods of the kingdom he met and fell in love with Nimriel---a beautiful maiden who served in the castle of Menegroth.They ardently loved each other,married and had three children,who derived their noble nature and beauty.Anaglin and Galandil were their twin sons,who excelled in the skill of archery; and Sindabeleth was their magnificent daughter.
The fairness of Sindabeleth was so awe-inspiring that whenever one looked upon her,sensed in his heart the distant memory of the glow of Telperion,the Silver Tree.
Of all things she most loved the long walks in the woods.It is told that there she learnt to tell the herbs from one another,and acquiired the skill to use them to heal.
It was not long ere she was renowned for her gift and...........

[Elennainie]

...was called upon to use it. She was walking alone, at dusk, as was her wont, searching for the herb ninquëla, the white flower which could only be gathered at a time after sun yet before moonrise. The sound of hoofbeats in the distance startled her, as riders were not comon in this, the deepest part of the woods in the Forest Region. With her far sight she perceived a single horse, with a large burden upon his back, running erratically through the trees. It neighed painfully in the distance. She bethought that she might stay the horse and relieve its suffering. Swiftly, she ran to a ledge high above the horse's path. She raised herself up tall and spoke in a commanding voice, "Be still!" The horse reared up, dropping its burden to the ground. It snorted and tromped wildly about. Whip marks burned in its side. Then, all was still. Sindabeleth calmly climbed down to the horse, laying her hands upon his mane, and spoke soothing words to him.

"Mercy, vanya vendë (fair maiden), take care for my horse, for he is sorely wounded," gasped an elvin youth, the "burden" which had been thrown to the ground. He tried to rise and...

[Melian]

...in the moment he beheld her,he felt such a relief as if a divine balm had alleviated his wounds.For Sindabeleth was so magnificent that he at first thought moonlight was woven into her hair and garments...
She laid her hand on the horse's mane and whispered into its ear.Then she picked up a single leaf from a soft seedling of a green herb.She touched the horse's scars softly and lo!---they began to vanish!
The Elvish youth held his eye on Sindabeleth in bewilderment and sensed neither pain,no fear.He inqured then.....

[Lhunithiliel]

The Elvish youth held his eye on Sindabeleth in bewilderment and sensed neither pain, no fear. He inquired then: “Who might you be, fair maiden?”

Sweet was his voice and tender, yet Sindabeleth could feel he found it not easy to speak. Pain she felt, his pain, although he tried to conceal it, and she was deeply worried about this stranger.

Yet, at that moment, it was not only pity and sympathy that her heart was filled with! Sindabeleth felt herself somehow strangely attracted to the stranger. This feeling confused her. It was as if some magic spell cast upon her, whenever she looked into the young man’s eyes.
Bright deep-blue and soft were they – asking for help and yet relieved with her presence. His face was handsome. His hair was long, raven-dark, smooth and shiny. A few carefully made plaits held it off his forehead. Broad and strong shoulders were covered by a dark-blue cloak and, as he lay on the soft grass, Sindabeleth could see that underneath the man was dressed in light, comfortable clothes, made of fine blue cloth and richly adorned with silvery embroidery. His garments were however stained with dirt, dust and, what worried her much, with blood. The man was seriously wounded.

“Hush now!”, she whispered. “Rest! We’ll talk later. Let me now help you as much as I can.”

And she kneeled beside him and……..

[Melian]

...and,as it is said in the legend,she healed him at once with her breath.
The youth then fell asleep and it was a slumber of bliss and recovery.Sindabeleth stood beside him and her powers protected him from anything evil and hostile that might disturb him.In her heart then she foresaw that her life was to be bound with this stranger for eternity;and he heard a whisper in his dream that called the same.
But when he rose when the morrow arrived,Sindabeleth was gone.He felt he had taken his worst wound in this parting,albeit now he was sound.Then he decided that he would search for her in the woods and find out who she was for he felt a great desire to see the magnificent maiden again.
Sharp was his sight and restless his will,for he was Meneldar, a fair Sindar from Doriath.He strode for three days and three nights the quiet woods......

[Ceorl]

Yet his search was in vain, for a feeling of disquiet had fallen upon her parents, and, for fear of her safety they had requested that she stay home, and not wander afar. For many weeks she stayed in the house and village where she lived, and the forest mourned for the loss of her. She spent her time aiding her parents in their daily chores, the baking of bread, and the cleaning. Yet her heart longed for the wild forest and the stranger she had but once set eyes upon. Yet the more her discomfort grew, so did the will of her parents grow firmer, until loth were they to allow her past the threshold, for fear of they not what. Yet in secret...

[Eöl]

She would wander in the forests, often straying from her tasks of gatherings herbs and thinking of the strange elf from that night. She would sit upon the rocks in the sunlight and sing sweet melodies she had composed while wondering who he was, and in walk in the twilight underneath the same sky where she had found this stranger. She dreamt often, and her visions would often tell of...

[Melian]

...encounters in the moon light with the Elf youth.
Alas,those walks where hasty and tense for she was afraid to upset her family.
Yet one day one of her brothers,Anaglin,brought her unexpected tidings. He accounted of a recent raid of a squad of Orcs on the fair kingdom. The dauntless Sindar warriors had eliminated the danger and defeated the malicious creatures.There had been but a dire toil among the magnificent Sindar kin.Meneldar,son of Analdar,had been sorely wounded and that very night disappeared carried by his horse into the woods.No one had seen him ever since.....
Sindabeleth felt a pang in her heart.She perceived as well a bitter sense of fear---he was alive,yes,she was aware of that---but then he wandered now aimlessly somewhere near....
Sindabeleth then was resolved to find him,whatever it might cost her.That night she prepared a special herb to use to make her family sleepy and.........

[Lhunithiliel]

……and the evening came in the house of Sindabeleth. The family gathered as usual for the dinner meal and it was delicious. And Sindabeleth was there too and her mother looked upon her daughter with wonder, for the maiden was merrier and laughed and sang with pleasure. She was restless though. She could hardly find herself one place to sit still. She found such a pleasure in serving the wine at the table that she almost danced around. And noone there could resist nor refuse the cup offered with such a grace and blessing, as it came from the hands of the fair maiden.
“It must have passed”, thought her mother with relief. “Whatever troubled that pretty head, must have passed away. So good to hear her laugh again!”

[Lhunithiliel]

...The evening gathering did not last long. Soon the house grew silent and filled with the wonder of the night.
But when the divine Lorien had summoned all to his magical gardens of dreams there passed a shadow through the family hall. It slipped quietly through the door and only when it stepped out a thin moon-beam lit it and…it was Sindabeleth.

She stopped for a minute and listened. The house was quiet and she could only hear the nightingales singing sweetly on the nearby tree.

Sindabeleth dashed into the dark of the night.
It was a warm and moonlit night. The air was full of the strong fragrances of herbs and wild flowers. She loved these smells and she knew them so well. But now Sindabeleth did not care for the sweetness of the herbs, nor she noticed the songs of the nightingales. She was running by paths known only to her and to a place where her heart led – to that place where she first met Meneldar.

[Lhunithiliel]

.....“Meneldar!”, she sang the name in her mind. “Meneldar!”, sang her heart.
And she startled with wonder when she heard her own voice singing out loud and clear “Meneldar!”
Sindabeleth stopped frightened by the sudden sound. She listened. And it was quiet. She looked around and realised she had almost reached the place, but somewhere a bit to the south. She knew it by the stars. They were shining up above so brightly and the night was so beautiful and Sindabeleth’s heart was anxious…and she sang.

The song came tender and quiet and the wood kept silent to listen to the beauty of the sound.

[Lhunithiliel]

......Then, suddenly she heard a noise. Faint and as if frightened to come louder…but it was someone singing too. In answer to her song! THAT voice! She couldn’t be wrong!

On the moonlight glade, under the stars of Doriath stood the fair elf-maiden and there, for the second time she met the Elf youth.

He came out from the shadows and…..

[Melian]

...there they stood,speechless, as if the time had slowed down and minutes elapsed in ages. There they stood like from times immemorial love had made two young people freeze and stare into each other's eyes. There they stood with the legacy from all loves past and a new,at the same time old, flame was born in their souls.
How long they spent in this bliss of numbness, no one knows...But it is said in this old tale that sanguin were their hearts and they sensed it was a love that would last for eternity, although trials it had to overcome.
No one heard what they whispered there in the moonlight, but wise men claim the radiance of their happiness could outdo the tender sideral glow!...
And it was then when Sindabeleth the Healer and Meneldar the Fair took vows of devotion.
But a veil of sorrow stealthily descended there,too, and they both knew it, for......

[Eledhwen]

their union was without blessing and darkly secret. They must now either remain outcasts from their peoples, or return in shame and admit their love. They wondered long in the forests, wondering what should be done. They took no heed of time, and Sindabeleth's father sent her brothers to find her and bring her home.

Now Analdar had been searching long months for his son Meneldar, knowing that he took hurt and fearing him slain. His search now took him into those same forested lands where...