Mistvale

Hunters from the Westfarthing seldom crossed over the White Downs into this valley. It seemed, if such a thing was possible , too green and healthy. Those who had camped here had lost friends or themselves, it was said. Mist filled the vale more often then might be expected for the climate, and in these mists walked things beyond mannish understanding. The understanding of the Elves, not often shared with mortals , was that this pleasant valley , guarded by chalk ridges and tumbled fells on all sides , was a last gathering place for Faerie-folk of the natural world , the Feamarhi h or "Spirit-dwellers in Mist. " In this term's original usage , the mists in question were not those that shrouded the valley of times even in dry weather. Rather, they described the mists of time that confuses all memories of the most ancient of days , before the nature of Arda came to be fixed by the coming of the Sun and the children of Eru. The Dwellers in Mist were more ancient than the cycles of light and life, of hunter and hunted , that rulde the Middle-earth of Elves and Men. They practiced a oneness with the natural world that made them alien to the thoughts and feelings of the Free Peoples. The Old Forest and Cape Vorn were similar refuges—in their way, so were Lindon and Lorien—but the age-old malice of the awakened Trees s dominated the darkened forests. The creatures of Mistvale, by and large , did not hate mortals ; rather, they failed to understand their weaknesses.