The

Ilanhe-chei went down to the river every day, for the Princess loved to have water from the Great River Vat’hë for her flowers, even though there was a well in the palace grounds.

Ilanhe-chei enjoyed the walk down to the river, beneath great sheltering trees. She loved to kneel at the bank and gaze deep until she could see the fishes far beneath the water’s shining surface. She loved to watch the things that floated down the river – leaves and twigs; the occasional feather – she loved to watch their course down the glittering river even as all things glide forever down the river we call time.

Sometimes too much of the time-river would pass as she gazed and the Princess would scold her for taking too long to fetch the water; but not often, for the Princess loved Ilanhe-chei and was mostly indulgent to her foibles.

One day, as she watched the small debris of forest life slip down the river on its long, long journey to the distant sea, where time becomes eternity, Ilanhe-chei saw something different from the things she was wont to see. It was a tiny raft, clearly made by the hands of maidens or of faeries, and upon the raft rode what appeared to be a very small maiden. As it came closer she saw the figure on the raft was neither maid nor shia, but a pretty little doll, beautifully formed and exquisitely painted with a smile as of one who knows much and says little.