A rider cloaked in forest green rode fast towards the gates of Gondor. The guards at the gates were alarmed by the speed of the horse; for it did not seem to be going the speed of a normal horse, but much faster, travelling several leagues in mere minutes. In fear they opened the gates for the rider, but did not catch a glimpse of who rode upon the quick silver horse. They ran in behind the horse to watch as it sped towards the castle in the center of the city.
The rider slowed the horse once inside the gates, closer to the castle, down to a canter, and rode ever onward towards the castle. When they reached it, they stopped the horse and dismounted. The guards at the doors to the castle now watched as the rider leaned in to pet the horse's head, and seemed to whisper to it. As if by magic, when the horse was released by the rider, it turned and began to walk towards the immense stable that was behind the castle.
The rider turned to walk up the steps to the castle, it's face still cloaked by the hood they wore. The guards were now on edge as the figure came closer to them, and then stopped in front of them, head cast down.
"Who goes there?" One guard asked, a hand on his sword as his side. The figure was smaller than he, by a head, but still he kept his hand on his sword as he walked closer to it.
The figure raised it's head, and lifted the hood off. The guard was almost blinded by the waves of blonde hair that shone at him once the hood was removed, before him stood a small woman.
"I wish to speak with King Elessar." she said to him softly, her clear and reflective amber eyes looking at him hard. The guard looked at her with amusement on his face, his hand now relaxed on his sword.
"Lady, not just a commoner can speak with King Elessar." he said, smiling at her, taken by her beauty. She reminded him of the Queen, with the way her eyes were reflective and her skin luminious.
"I am no commoner," the woman said, her eyes searching his. "I am an old friend of the King. Please take me to see him."
The guard did not believe her, though she looked quite like the Queen, who he had heard had been an Elf. But he could not see her ears, and her beauty did not speak for her. Beautiful or not, she was not going to see the King.
"An old friend, did you say, my lady?" he asked. "And who should i say is here to see him?" He was mocking her, he planned on going in and telling other guards to remove her from the castle at once.
The woman's eyes stared into his. "I am Jairah, Lady of Ithilien, wife of Legolas Greenleaf, Lord of Ithilien. I am a friend to both the Queen Arwen and the King Elessar. Now please, take me to see the King."
The guard did not believe his ears. The Lady of Ithilien was spoken of as a great warrior of immense beauty, an elf that had fought at many battles with King Elessar before he'd been crowned. But no elves had been seen in Gondor for quite some time; and the guard was hesitant to believe her.
"How do i know you are telling me the truth?" he said, now a bit uneasy. The woman smiled at him, and he heard her voice coming at him in his mind.
"You do not." he heard it as if she was speaking with her voice, but her lips did not move and she was staring at him. "But i am who i say. Please take me to the King, or allow me entrance to the castle."
The guard nodded, scared by her voice inside of his head, for none that he knew in Gondor had the power to do that, and he moved aside and she went through the door, smiling at him again as she entered. She left him standing dumbfounded, outside of the castle.
She made her way through the darkened hallways, lit by torches, untill she came upon the room where she'd felt her old friend Arwen Undomiel, who was sitting, reading by the fading sunlight of the late afternoon. She looked up and saw Jairah standing in the doorway, and a smile came across her face.
"Jairah!" she said, and rose from the chair to embrace her. "Long has it been since we have seen you here in our home. How it pleases me to see you!"
Jairah smiled at her as they broke away from eachother. "Has Legolas come with you?" Arwen asked, looking behind Jairah. Jairah shook her head.
"No, I come alone." she said quietly, but that was all she spoke of it. "And i am afraid, my dear friend, that i am not here for long. I wish to see your husband. Might you know where to find him?"
Arwen nodded. "He is in his study, of course," she said, her eyes sparkling. "He is forever reading, or writing. Now that peace is in the world, he has time for such things."
Jairah smiled, squeezed Arwen's hand, then turned and left, bound for the study.
Quietly she crept into the study, where she found Aragorn also reading, his back to her. He was engrossed in what he was reading and did not hear Jairah come into the room.
"King Elessar," she said, bowing to him, before he could see. He turned abruptly and looked at his intruder, then smiled.
"Jairah Greenleaf." he said, rising from his chair and going around his desk, and stopping a few paces from her. "It has been a long time since I have seen you." He said after a moments silence, and moved forward to embrace her as Arwen had.
"That is what your wife also has said," Jairah replied, smiling as she stepped back from him. "I apologise for that." He smiled back at her.
"Come, please!" he said, motioning to the chair across from his desk. "Sit." He sat in the chair opposite from the one he'd motioned to, and she removed her cloak from her shoulders, revealing a dark blue dress, letting her hair tumble forward, then she sat.
"Does your husband come with you?" Aragorn asked, and Jairah shook her head.
"No." she said, her eyes averting to him. "He has not. In fact, he does not know that i have come, for i have come to see you on a matter concerning him, and on one other." She looked up at him.
"Is he in danger? Is everything in Ithilien well?" Aragorn asked. "I have not heard of any trouble there."
Jairah shook her head again. "No. Everything is well, the matter is with Legolas. I have come to ask for your advice, for i cannot think of what to do myself, and it has been many years."
"What is it?" asked Aragorn, concerned, for Legolas was a dear friend of his.
"He is unhappy." Jairah said simply. "He has been for many years, restless. I do not know what to do to remedy it. I have tried many things, but none of it seems to work. It is the sea-longing, Aragorn, i fear. All of my kind at some point recieve it; he has had it since before we settled in Ithilien, since before the fall of Mordor. He longs to go over the sea, for his days on Middle Earth seem stretched, and he feels as though his time upon it is over."
"So you have come to say goodbye, then?" Aragorn asked her, looking sad. "You will leave for Valinor soon?"
"No." Jairah said. "I am not ready to leave this earth yet, and he stays because he does not want to go over the sea without me. It has long been our agreement that we would go together, but the sea-longing came for him sooner than it did for me. He has hoped for many years that i would also long for the sea, but i have never. And so he has stayed. But he grows ever unhappier. And now, I have come to you for advice."
"Lady Jairah, I do not know how to cure your beloved of the sea-longing. I remember long ago, the warning he recieved from the Lady Galadriel herself; that if he heard the cry of the gull upon the shore, his heart would no longer lie in the forest." Aragorn looked at her sadly.
"Yes," Jairah said. "In South Gondor, after the battle of Pellenor Fields, he saw them. I remember his reaction to them. And long has he stayed upon this earth from that moment on. But his heart has always longed for the sea. We visit it, he and i, frequently. And every time i know he wishes to build a boat and sail to the Havens. And not long ago, i was ready to tell him that I would go with him, though i was not ready, to the Undying Lands. But then two things happened that stopped me." She looked at him, her eyes intense.
"What were they?" Aragorn asked, his eyes full of wonder. He was saddened to hear that his friend suffered so with unhappiness. And he could feel the strife in Jairah, knowing that her husband suffered so.
"One night, about a fortnight ago, i dreamt of Frodo. He is also preparing for a journey over the Sea. But something is amiss with him, something dark has descended upon him and i fear it, and i fear for him, Aragorn. But i do not know where I can find him, or what it is that has descended upon him. But i know he must not go over the sea with a darkness descended upon him. I also dreamt of a power emerging, a white, blinding power. Why i do not know, and whether this power is of a good or evil, i also cannot say. But it troubles me, it troubles my mind. I come to you because you are the Elfstone, because you are the leader of the free peoples, and because you are my friend."
"I will help you, we will contact Gandalf and seek his help." Aragorn said. "What is the second thing?" he asked, and to this Jairah dropped her eyes.
"I will soon bear Legolas a child." she whispered, to this Aragorn reached forward and took her hand.
"That is wonderful news, is it not?" Aragorn asked. "Does he know?" Jairah shook her head.
"The child was concieved less than a week ago; i have not told him. I knew immediately after the child had been concieved. But i did not tell him because I was not sure how to, for he wishes to go over the sea. Now with a child he will be upon Middle Earth for several more years. Legolas has wished to go over the sea since before we were married, for we were not married untill after you were crowned. We have never thought of children. And now one is upon us and i do not know how to tell him." Jairah's eyes filled with tears.
"You must tell him. You cannot keep this a secret from him." Aragorn squeezed her hand. "Above anything else he loves you, Jairah, and any child you bring into the world to him will be cherished, of this i am sure. You should not doubt that. He will find joy in this news."
Jairah smiled at him, his words somewhat reassuring. She patted his hand. 'This is why I came to you, my old friend. You have always been able to advise me." She rose from the chair now and he did the same, and she moved to embrace him. "Thank you."
He smiled. "You are most welcome, Lady Jairah. And you must promise me that you will come to visit more often. Ithilien is not so far away that you cannot come more than once every six years!" He laughed. "It is just across the river."
She nodded, and then they walked towards the door. "I must be going now," she said. "Legolas does not know that i've left, and it has been a long journey here, no matter how close it is."
He walked her to the doors of the castle, where they found Arwen waiting to say good bye to Jairah as well.
"I will come again," she said.
She bid them farewell and found her horse waiting for her outside, at the bottom of the stairs. She mounted it and took off towards South Ithilien, where she and Legolas made their home.