Author: Elelome (elelome@yahoo.com)
Website: http://www.geocities.com/elelome
Series: None.
Archive: Yes.
Rating: PG-13
Feedback: Oh yes. CC, praise, flames, I don't care.:-)
Summary: A lovers' reunion and a few memories. Arwen's POV.
Notes: I wrote this years ago, probably when I was
sixteen or so. Just found it again, and figured why
not post it? :-)
****
I turned at the sound of slow, yet eager, footsteps.
I quickly guessed who it might be-my beloved, of
course- and stood up swiftly.
"Arwen, my dearest!" he exclaimed.
"I waited long for your coming, beloved," I said
quietly, putting out my hands to him. He took them
with fervent possession.
"I came with the one who bears the Ring, Frodo the
Halfling. He is there, with Bilbo, who is his uncle,
by the door."
I smiled at the halflings as they passed out the door.
Aragorn gazed at me, his heart in his eyes.
"Come, heart's beloved," he said. "We have much to
speak of and to do. Our hope rests with that one,
little though he is."
Quietly we slipped out to the moonlit terrace. Then
Aragorn turned and drew me to him. I looked into his
face for a long while, or so it seemed; then he bent
and kissed me softly.
"Am I now welcomed, dear lady?" he asked.
"Beloved, you are always welcome, whether you succeed
or fail, for my heart is yours!" I whispered.
"What if I should fail?" he said tensely.
"Then I will follow thou my lord throughout the
world. But you will not fail! Come, see what I have
made for thee."
It was a banner of dark silk. On it were laid the
Seven Stars of Gondor and the White Tree of
Numenor-but not yet was it finished.
"In hope I am making this for thee, Dunadan. When it
is finished I will send it to thee-I know not when or
how," I said quietly, in the shadows of my room.
"This then, Evenstar, thou hast made for me! With love
thou hast long labored and"-he took my hand and held
it up, "thy hands grow fairer because of it."
He took me in his arms and kissed me again. I looked
into his face and noticed the lines care had put
there.
"Oh, beloved," I said. "Thou hast had many cares.
Here, I beg you, forget them a while. Thou art weary.
Here rest, Estel."
I laid my hand on his brow, my heart thrilling to his
nearness and his touch.
After a while we wandered slowly out into the garden.
We walked to the place we had always gone to-across
the porch, up the steps to the stone bench that
overlooked the waterfall. Aragorn took my hand.
"The Evening Star is bright this night," he said. "And
so is our hope. What will tomorrow bring? That is both
fear and joy."
"Nay, lord, not to me," I said, raising our clasped
hands to the sky. "Those stars will shine, for it
matters not who triumphs. Good still reigns."
"Yes, lady, you are right, for it is beyond those
stars that we are bound and there is no sorrow or
weariness there!" he exclaimed.
"Beyond the stars?" I asked wonderingly. "I do not
know of what you speak."
"It is placed in the spirit of man to yearn ever for
something higher than the ever-changing earth. More
awaits us than the soil of Arda. Lady, thou art one of
the Eldar and I know thou canst not see, not yet, at
least. One day, if our hope is accomplished, thou too
will ascend beyond the stars."
I still did not understand.
"Yes, beloved," I said. "Then I will see! Yet, is it
not sorrowful, even to despair, to part from those
thou lovest, who go you know not whither?"
"Dearest beloved," he said, holding me close, "Speak
not of despair! Sorrow, yes, but I will not die in
despair. And thou wilt not despair, even should I
die!"
"But I foresee," he added, with a slow smile, like the
day's dawning, "That event is dim and far in the
future. Fear not for me, Evenstar. Our hope will be
attained, although the paths are dim."
"You are my hope, dearest, as your name signifies.
You have been Estel, you are Aragorn Dunadan, and you
will be the king Elessar, the healing hand that wields
the sword!"
"And thou, thou art the fairest star the earth has
seen," he said, bending his head to look in my eyes. I
laid my head against his shoulder and heard the swift
beating of his heart. He kissed me again, his mouth
passionately pressed to mine.
"My love," I whispered softly. "What gives you hope
when all is dark about you and what gives you joy when
all is sadness?"
"Many times I have protected, how I do not know,"
Aragorn said. "I am encradled, loved, held as a father
would hold. I cannot explain it, although such joy
cannot be equaled."
"I know what you speak of, beloved," I quickly
replied, "though I have never spoken of that joy to
any. It was like lightning flashing through me, the
feeling that I was not fashioned in vain, that the one
who made me did not abandon me but cares! Even the
memory brings back some of the joy."
As I spoke, the years slipped away and I remembered
the saddest day of my life.
I stood silent on the quay. The last kisses and
mingled tears were over and she was gone. A little
apart my father stood and the thought in his mind
chimed with my own-she is gone!
Mother, Celebrian, beautiful daughter of Galadriel,
fair wife of my father, noble mistress of Imladris-she
had departed in grievous pain to be healed in Valinor
and never to return. My grief was too great to be
expressed in word or gesture or tear. I silently
turned and walked down to the seashore, wandering on
the sand for a long time. As I did, night swept over
the water, but the clouds covered the stars and all
was black.
"This, then, is the night no stars will shine in, " I
thought, sorrow washing over me like the waves I
walked beside. "Will the stars ever shine again?"
Loking toward Valinor, whither the ship was bound,
grief and anger filled my heart and ill-considered
thoughts my mind.
"Oh, how could you take my mother, my mother-the one I
share my dreams and hopes with-the one I laugh
with-the one I follow and hope to become like? Have
you abandoned my life? Can you not care? do you not
feel any pain or joy, sorrow or loss? Is there no Hope
then? Does darkness indeed rule the world?"
At that thought I cried, "No it is wrong to even think
thus. I cannot. 'Arda was made by loving hands for the
dwelling of the Eruhin-Children of God,' I quoted out
of old books of ancient Elvish lore.
"Yet it is not just that my mother, who is like to the
Valar in beauty, so saith my father, to leave me and
go whither I cannot come! Eru, if you truly care,
rescue me!" I said as I fell back lightly against the
warm dark sand.
At that moment, I felt a quiet voice through the core
of all that was myself, Arwen Undomiel. It stilled my
racing heart as a peace spread through me, of source
unknown, yet it felt as though light flowed through my
veins.
Just then, the clouds broke and revealed a moonless
night. The stars hung faint in the distance, but I
took courage.
"My hope shall indeed come," I whispered," though far
away it may seem and long still is my waiting, he
shall come."
I rose to my feet and walked back to the quay. Far off
in the black night I saw a faint light, like a star
shone in the water.
And now here in Aragorn's arms, I knew that my dream
had been fulfilled and that Hope indeed was standing
beside me, his hand clasped in mine.
I was content.
~end~