Newly bathed and dressed in fresh clothes, Haldir and his warriors assembled before the chieftain much the same way they had lined up for review before Lord Celeborn on the morning of their fateful departure for Helm’s Deep. A throng of villagers pressed closely, cheering from the moment that the warriors came down among them from the trees until Chieftain Saelon raised his arms, calling for silence.

Each warrior held his head high with shoulders squared and eyes glowing with fierce pride. Lord Saelon paced before the six, looking each one up and down. Finally he stopped before Haldir and saluted him.

“I understand from my son Damrod that the hunt did not go as planned. He told me of your failure to bring home any meat. Yet, he also told me that the other ellyn in your party likely would not have returned at all if not for your skill and prowess at arms. He and every one of the other ellyn told the same tale of your courage and awareness of the wood around you and your might in defending the party from the giant spiders which attacked and would have slain our hunters.” The villagers applauded and cheered, but the chieftain called for silence.

“What is more, my friends from Lothlórien, you endured mockery for many turns of the stars and criticism from those who dismissed the idea of ‘warriors’. Yet you rose up and protected from harm those who disparaged you. That took another kind of courage as well, which I hold of greater worth. Beyond that, you proceeded to treat with profound skill the wounds inflicted by the spiders. You defeated this enemy and proved your great worth on many levels. As the chieftain of Celos Galen, I extend to you both my deepest gratitude and my sincerest admiration. I am most proud to count warriors such as yourselves among the ellyn of my village.”

Stepping forward, he embraced Haldir as he would a son, and then proceeded to embrace each of the other warriors in turn, while the crowd remained silent.

When the chieftain withdrew from the last one, he addressed the villagers. “Let us feast and show our gratitude to these new warriors of Celos Galen!”

While the crowd cheered, Saelon called the warriors together and quietly commanded, “Captain Haldir, I would like for you to choose from among our ellyn those who you think would make good warriors and begin training them in your ways of fighting. They must continue in their other duties to our folk as well, just as I would see you ellyn contribute in other ways to our settlement. However, I see the need for defenders such as yourselves, and I would have more than six valiant sons of the Galadhrim to protect our folk in time of need.”

Haldir bowed before the chieftain, feeling as deeply honored as if Lord Celeborn himself had just praised him, and replied, “We would be honored to serve you in every way we can.” The other five bowed as well, following suit.

Lord Saelon clapped Haldir on the shoulder, saying, “Thank you, my son.”

The captain only had time to nod in reply, his cheeks flushing with mild embarrassment and perhaps something else as Gilwen suddenly appeared, quietly slipping her hand into Haldir’s and whisking him away from the smiling chieftain and into the crowd.

***********

Over the next several weeks, ellyn of the village came to Haldir and his warriors in groups of six for testing. Accustomed to putting potential soldiers through the rigors necessary to seek out those who possessed the strengths and virtues necessary to become a good warrior, Haldir had little difficulty in setting up a testing ground. With so few villagers to choose from, Haldir was careful to see that everyone who wished it received at least some training while those who excelled were groomed for battle as the soldiers of Lórien had been.

Much to his surprise, all of the ellyn of the settlement showed promise as defenders and an unusually large number of those proved they had the makings of fine warriors. Once the potential warriors were chosen, Haldir set up regular practice sessions for all of them, building on what they knew and teaching what they were lacking. What these ellyn lacked in the awareness possessed by a soldier of Lórien, they made up for in strength, stamina, and determination.

When the ellyn of Lórien were not testing and training, they found themselves being tested and trained. Surprisingly though, they had much to teach in other disciplines as well.

“All of those ennin working side by side with the Noldor have to account for something,” Angaril had commented to his comrades as he took a break from forging swords and other tools using techniques the smiths of Celos Galen had never even dreamt of.

“Can you believe they actually accused me of being raised by dwarves?” He asked, thoroughly appalled.

“Well, the Noldor can be as annoying and obsessive as dwarves when they wish to be,” Ferevellon pointed out.

“Which is actually quite often come to think of it,” his twin added with a mockingly thoughtful look.

Angaril swatted him on the head, scowling. “Whatever their faults, the Noldor are amazingly skilled artisans and crafters and we owe them much.”

“Yes, we do owe them much. I am surprised myself at how much their influence has changed our ways and made them so different from those of the Galadhrim here,” Orophin observed. “All this time I used to take so much pride in how close we remained to the ways of our kin before us, yet I look around here and I just…” His voice trailed off with a sigh. “I see how far we truly have advanced.”

Several moments of thoughtful silence later, Rúmil asked, “Haldir, is it wrong that we teach them what we know? Are we changing things?”

“What are you suggesting, Rúmil?” Haldir quietly asked.

“Could…could we be influencing the future of the Galadhrim by imparting our knowledge to them such…such that it changes the time from which we come?”

“We have been teaching them much about the arts of warfare, the making of weapons, smithying, jewelry making,” Angaril added.

“Farming, pottery, the building of telain…” Fereveldir further supplied.

“The chieftain already is planning to bring smiths and craftsmen from other villages here in a few days…er…turns of the stars…” he paused, looking embarrassed at the slip. “to see our handiwork and share our techniques. What do we do?”

Haldir remained still for a time searching the land around them, then scrutinized the faces of each ellon before him before replying. “We should have thought of this before now. They already know what we can do and they already have learned much from us. I do not think that ceasing to share our knowledge now will be of any use. They cannot and will not unlearn what we have taught and shown them. If we stop now…” he shook his head, sorrow furrowing his brow. “If we stop now then lessons only half learned could in some cases be more detrimental than the damage done by sharing all that we know. And…this is very selfish…but if we stop now, then we could jeopardize our chances at having a life here.”

The others looked on their captain with sadness and regret in their eyes as he added, “Besides, according to what history we can remember, this village will not last to see the rise of Anor and Ithil. There is a chance that we and the villagers might all be dead before our influence ever spreads beyond the confines of these few small settlements.”

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Fae - spirits

Adar – father

Anor – the sun

Ithil – the moon

Daeradar – grandfather

Edair – fathers

Daernaneth - grandmother

Ennin – a period of 144 years