Chapter 1
When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay; When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day; When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again!
When winter comes, and singing ends, when darkness falls at last; When broken is the barren bough, and light and labor past; I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again: Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain!
Together we will take the road that leads into the west;
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.
I am old, old, old as the hills. All my brethren have become the trees they shepherd. Of those, many have been destroyed, by fire or axe. Only I remain; the last of my kind. I have walked and searched in all corners of this land for a glimpse of the lost Entwives. Are they lost to me forever? Ah, Fimbrethil! I have never forgotten you, and never will, though we may never meet again until the end of the world.
Together we will take the road that leads into the west;
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.
I mumble to myself, remembering that old song. I cannot resist the tree-sleep any longer...
~~~~~~~~ The Dagor Dagorath comes and passes ~~~~~~~~~
Yavanna walks through the devastation. Fallen trees lie throughout the mined hills and the polluted remnants of clear-cut woods. The nights are clouded from manmade lights and Varda's stars cannot be seen. A soft rain falls, not sweet, but bitter and foul. Awake! and create anew the forests of old. This is the land you sung of long ago. And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest. That promise I gave I will honor. Awake!
Around her, within trees blackened and long dead, the song wraps around the branches and roots. Sap begins to flow.
The Ents awaken to their maker's voice. Treebeard opens his eyes and Fimbrethil is the first word he speaks. Her face is the first thing he sees. All around him his fellow Ents have their long sought reunion.
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.
