Neder

[inafadingcrown]

[Room 304 has undergone quite a few changes. Most noticeably, it’s not really so much of a room anymore, as it is its own little world.

Anyone who enters will find themselves in a beautiful old forest, surrounded by Mallorn trees, their golden leaves shining as the starlight hits them. And starlight it is, for there is no moon. But it should not be

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[beyondimagining]

[Late in the day Will knocks politely on the door. He'd spent most of the day in his room, merely thinking. His own experience with the mind was limited, and he was uncertain about about many of the conclusions that had come to him. But for now he thought it would be helpful to speak to some of the others he had come to know here.]

[inafadingcrown]

[Galadriel eventual emerges from the forest. She pauses at the doorway and upon seeing who it is, she smiles. Yes, it's fitting that he should be here.]

Will Stanton. You are welcome here.

[beyondimagining]

I thank you for that.

[Will dips his head and steps inside, looking about himself with bright curiosity.]

So it has changed for you as well.

[inafadingcrown]

It has. This both is and is not Lórien.

[She gently places a hand on a tree and grows quiet for a moment, as if she is listening to it.]

But it is, perhaps, even more my realm than those Golden Woods.

[beyondimagining]

Lorien? That is your home?

[inafadingcrown]

It is. You see something of it here.

[Home. The word triggers memories and the misty figures respond, taking on the forms of a tall, regal man and a small girl, both with striking silver hair. The two seem to take little notice of Will, and continue to walk hand in hand, talking and laughing. Galadriel just glances back for a moment and smiles.]

More than I thought you would, it seems.

[beyondimagining]

[Will smiles at the misty figures.]

It is quite lovely. Your family?

[inafadingcrown]

They are, though this vision is from a time long ago. My daughter has now three grown children of her own.

[beyondimagining]

[Will replies slowly, in a quiet voice.]

Any ending that may seem to come is not truly an ending, but an illusion. For time does not die. Time has neither beginning nor end, and so nothing can end or die that has once had a place in time.

Someone told me that, once.

[inafadingcrown]

[She just continues to smile and shakes her head a little bit.]

You are well named an "Old One," my friend. I have seen for myself the endless nature of time and I know its complexities. [Anyone who regularly sees past, present, and future has to, after all.] But I have seldom been told of such things by one who appears so young.

[beyondimagining]

I am young in one sense only, I think you could say. [He smiles suddenly.] I don't understand much of what I know, myself. I only know that it is.

[inafadingcrown]

Which is more than many may boast.

[beyondimagining]

Many would not care to know.

[inafadingcrown]

True enough. Knowledge may be a burden as much as a gift.

[beyondimagining]

The heaviest of all burdens, I think.

[inafadingcrown]

Or memory, mayhaps. But for those who will not die, the two are oft intertwined.

[She looks to the misty figures for a moment. There's over eight thousand years of memory there, fading in and out. Domestic scenes, great feasts, secret councils, battles. And quite a few people who live on only in her mind.]