Daeron stepped out into the clearing, the soft grass making no sound beneath his feet as he walked slowly toward the solitary figure that lay sprawled upon the hilltop. He had come looking for her, and knowing exactly where she would be, had found her. But now, though he had thought he would have figured out what to say this far into his venture, no words seemed fitting, and his thoughts were too jumbled anyway.
He was standing over her now, but she did not appear to be aware of his presence. Her face was buried beneath the crook of her left arm as it wrapped around her head, and the other was entwined about it, her black hair streamed around her body, hiding most of her form from his sight. Daeron knelt beside her.
"Luthien."
He said her name, but she didn't reply. He reached out and gently shook her shoulder, calling her again. She did not stir for a long while, and he had nearly given up hope that she was going to do so when at last she stirred, her head rising. Her eyes, once bright, and filled with such innocence and joy, were cold, and filled with grief and darkness. The grass had imprinted itself upon her pale, soft skin, and dirt and grime clung to it.
He repressed a sob as she looked up at him, as though the action was almost too hard for her in her sorrow, and those beautiful silver pools, which before had known no pain or hurt, were filled with more despair and distress then he had ever imagined. A shudder passed through her, and her thick lashes cut her gaze from his abruptly, tears sliding past them and tumbling down her cheeks as her head fell, her midnight locks falling over her shoulder and hiding her face behind their veil.
"Beren..." she murmured, her voice so filled with passion and grief combined that guilt and regret knifed through him. That voice, which had been raised so often in happy, youthful song untouched by such sadness, lovely as the stars in the heavens which she praised, as the sound of the waters upon the rocks in ancient days where the protection of Ulmo dwelt, was made even more enchanting by the love she poured into the single word, and his heart was broken by it. "Beren..."
He reached out to take her face in his hands, but she flinched away at his touch, and the tear filled eyes she turned upon him spoke more blatantly then any words she had uttered. He could not meet them, and his arm fell to his side numbly. Without a word he stood, and walked silently and slowly out of the clearing, leaving her alone in her grief. Luthien did not watch him go, but buried her face once more into the cold ground where once she and Beren had walked together, and let the memories wash over her.