Video &/or Palantir - not locked because frantic mama is frantic (Forward Dated to post mission)

[marriedanidiot]

 Feanaro! Feanaro, I can't feel them, I can't feel them, our boys are gone! Feanaro, what's happen to Maitimo and Makalaure? Curvo? Atarinke, where are you?

Comments

yes!

[marriedanidiot]

[ Nerdanel comes in a little slower, her steps not light the way they usually are, but she smiles to see Alice ]

Hello, my dear. Thank you for coming.

[irrationally]

[ For all of Alice's desire to constantly seem hard and invulnerable - and therefore uncaring - there's such obvious sympathy in her eyes when she glances at Nerdanel.

For a moment it seems like she almost doesn't even know what to say, before gesturing at a spot next to her. ]

Sit down. It seems things are quiet in here for once.

[marriedanidiot]

Thank you.

[ She smiles and settles down beside her ]

It does - a nice change. I find it soothes the soul to be amongst green and growing things.

[irrationally]

It does.

[ She agrees, a little more quietly than usually. It's been a while since she got to be among such things. ]

.. I'm sorry for your loss though. [ Since it's the elephant in the room. ] Will you at least be able to see them again when you return home?

[marriedanidiot]

Thank you... but no. [ She smiles sadly ]

It has been... nearly three Ages of the Sun, and my sons have yet to return from the Halls of Awaiting, no matter my petitions or pleas.

[irrationally]

[ Of course Alice has no idea what the Ages of the Sun are (.. years? a longer time, probably?) or what the Halls of Awaiting is (death..??) but she nods along anyway. She's grown to just roll with whatever weird things other people say, and this is too sensitive of a situation to pry to begin with. ]

That is.. rough. [ She's not too good at this comfort thing. But she's trying. ] Although I've found it's true that pleas very often accomplish very little.

[marriedanidiot]

Mmm... little pity, we were promised. [ She sighs and then her mouth firms and sets in a stubborn line ]

But little is not none! Not even the Enemy did they hold forever, and I have said so again and again. One day, I hope they will be allowed to be Reborn.

[irrationally]

If they will be, then it must surely be due to your efforts.

[ Nerdanel seems so caring. And being caring is so seldom rewarded. But she's so deserving of that reward anyway. ]

I wasn't aware being reborn was such a real possibility in other worlds.

[marriedanidiot]

I don't know about other worlds. But we Elves are not as Men - our fea - our spirits or souls, we are tied to the world. To live as it lives, and die as it dies - so even if our bodies are slain, our fea remain, and so we go to the Halls, there to heal and one day, to be Reborn. That is just how we are made.

[ She says thoughtfully ]

I don't know how it is for Men - or how it might be in other worlds!

[irrationally]

[ With a slightly wry hint in her tone: ]

I can't say I quite know for sure what it is like for humans, considering I've never died before. [ It's often felt like she was dead, sure, but it was never really that. She knows. ]

But if you'd have to ask me personally, I'd say being forever tied to the world sounds rather tiring. Although it may be a good thing for you, since it will give you a chance to see those you love once more.

[marriedanidiot]

For which I am glad! I would not wish that on you, Alice.

People have said that. [ She nods ] It was prophesied long ago that we would one day come to envy Men, who are but sojourners and go out beyond where we can go.

[ Some days, of course, Nerdanel feels VERY MUCH like that. Especially since Alice has no way of knowing but Nerdanel is well aware that she has a decent chance of not see her sons again in this lifetime. ]

[irrationally]

.. then what about you?

[ Alice glances over at Nerdanel. Maybe she's prying a little bit too much - she has no idea. She's never been good at these social matters. But she's trying. ]

How do you feel about it?

[marriedanidiot]

[ She's quite for a while ]

I... yes. Not all the time. But... I do envy your ability to change things, in a way we never can.

[irrationally]

[ She's quiet for a moment. Can humans change all that much? She's very often felt trapped in her own circumstances. But then again.. she's probably thinking on an entirely different level than Nerdanel is and she knows it. A human mind attached to such a short life must be so different.

So instead she considers a different angle to all this. ]

You can change things here though. [ On the train they might as well be all the same. All stuck in the same odd situation. ] With your disposition you must have touched the hearts of many here already.

[marriedanidiot]

Perhaps.

[ She smiles at her ]

Thank you for thinking so. I confess, being amongst so many Men... it does make one think.

[irrationally]

Hopefully we aren't too awful company.

[ Because humans often are! But at least this time she doesn't mean it 100% seriously, considering some people here on the train actually seem.. okay. Decent enough. Which is high praise by Alice standards. ]

[marriedanidiot]

Most definitely not!

[ She smiles at Alice ]

I understand now, why Findarato misses human contact so! Tuor doesn't count, the dear boy, as he is very nearly elven himself.