Leaving

Written for the ALEC "Missing You" contest where it won first in the General category.

Summary: The Galadhrim weren’t the only ones who felt a sense of loss when they left their homeland.

Thanks to Fiondil for the beta.

Disclaimer: Playing in Tolkien's forest and making no money from it.

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I remember the touch of your smooth hands, the gentle caresses, your firm grip. I remember the wonder of your song as it filled and surrounded our home with deep melodies carried on the ever present breeze. I remember how I held you close, protecting you in my strong limbs from that which would part you from me, and how your nimble limbs protected me and my own from that which would drag us down and destroy us. You dwelt with us since the time of our birth and the births of so many of our foremothers. I watched your children blossom and grow, planting seeds of their own, and I mourned when they died defending us, watering the sorrowful dirt with the rain of their blood and tears.

Now I stand silent and mournful in the punishing wind. My limbs are not nearly so strong as they once were. My rough skin peels and cracks with the beatings of weather and torrents of passing seasons. Yet I will never forget you, WE will never forget until the last leaf falls and the last blossom shrivels and dies on the unforgiving ground. Slowly, solemnly, we will sing with voices you gave us long ago, sing of your memory until the last of us falls.

Oh, how we mellyrn will miss you, our beloved Speakers. East and west are both the same to us, yet may you find trees in your West to love you as did we.

Fare you well from Lothlórien.