yet if you should forget me for a while by Zdenka  

Chapter 1

Nellas is thinner, her garments tattered, when she crosses into Brethil. She has barely paused her search, snatching a few hours’ sleep when she must and eating only what little she needs to sustain her. She can scarcely believe it when she passes light-footed through a village and sees a form tall and golden-haired, one her heart knows at once.

Nellas runs to Nienor, calling out her name.

“Who are you?” Nienor asks, her eyes like a stranger’s. And then Túrin is at Nienor’s side, putting his arm around her protectively.

“Túrin! You found your sister,” Nellas says with relief.

Túrin jerks back from Nienor as if her touch burned him. “My sister?”

“Nienor daughter of Húrin,” Nellas says, bewildered. “Did you not know?”

But Nienor is shaking her head wildly. “No! No, it is false. You are some lying wraith of the woods, come to trick me.”

“You were lost,” Nellas whispers. “I feared for you. You have friends in Doriath—your beloved—”

“I care not for a love I cannot remember! I am betrothed to Turambar.”

Nellas can see that Túrin believes her, at least. With difficulty, she asks Nienor, “Why do you refuse your own name?”

“I was lost once already,” Nienor says. “I was found naked, without speech or memory. Would you tear away all that I have?” She cries out in despair, “Must I lose everything I know a second time?”

But it was me, Nellas wants to say. You were in love with me.