Eressëa POV
I am drowning, now burning, now falling. I tumble through the air and land in water starting the process again. I can't stop, scenes flash through my memory. I awake. I sleep. Faster and faster. Drowning, Burning, falling. Awake. Asleep. The wind blows. A Warg howls somewhere in the distance. Drowning, burning, falling. Orc knife. Light. Dark. Falling, Tumbling.
Faster. Awake. Asleep. Burning. Wind. Memories. Loss. Hope. Falling. Falling. Drowning. Air. Burning. Falling. Awake. Asleep. Stop. Go. Falling. Pain. Healing? Falling. Asleep. Awake. Help. Go Away. Stay. Falling.
"Stop her!" I can't even distinguish voices now. Falling. Orcs. Awake. Asleep. Faster. Stop? Go! Faster. Air. Tumbling. Drowning. I fall. Where is the water? I hit rocks. Everything goes black.
Estel POV
My mother cornered me.
"What has been going on, my son?" She says. Have I been that obvious?
"I met Lord Elrond's daughter in the woods on the way home after delivering the packages."
"His daughter?"
"Yes, his daughter. She is more beautiful then the sun and the moon and all the stars combined. Elladen and Elrohir had spoken of her before, but never of her beauty."
"Oh, Aragorn, my son." She says with a sigh. Uh oh, what does that mean? "She is an Elf-maiden, and we are but mortals"
"What are you saying?"
"My son," She replies. "Your aim is high, even for the descendant of many kings. For this lady is the noblest and fairest that now walks the earth. And it is not fit that mortal should wed with Elf-kin." I know all this. I say the only clever thing I can think of.
"Yet we have some part in that kinship of Elves," I at least sound smart. "If what I have learned is true."
"It is true," She says, see, I'm smart. "But that was long ago and in another age of this world, before our race was diminished. Therefore, I am afraid; for without the good will of Lord Elrond the Heirs of Isildur will soon come to an end. But I do not think you will have the good will of Elrond in this matter."
"Then bitter will my days be upon this earth. And I shall walk in the wild alone." I feel as though I will cry.
"That will indeed be your fate." Thanks for the encouragement, mom. Now I know I'll cry. I turn to leave.
"Aragorn." I turn around, don't cry. "Have you been with Eressëa recently?"
"No, I'll see her as soon as possible." That's who I was forgetting, I feel terrible. Was she all alone for four days? I walk away, remembering my fate.
As soon as I am out of sight I run. A few tears, A visit to Eressëa, and then I'll be on my way.
Eressëa POV
I wake up. It was a dream, I didn't actually die. I almost wish I would. I fall asleep again.
I'm taking a walk on a sunny day, it is beautiful. But soon clouds start to come in, my horse takes off. Oh why did I go so far from Imladris? I'll have to walk. It's getting dark. I hear a noise. I turn around slowly. There are Orcs all around me! I pull out my dagger, they are too close to shoot with my bow, and besides, my horse had it strapped to it's back.
"Ooh! The She-man wants to fight!" Says a particularly ugly Orc. He comes at me. I stab him and he falls over, dead. Oh boy, the other Orcs don't seem happy. They all come at me at the same time. I slay several of them, but more just keep coming.
"Help!" I yell, no one is going to hear you! I tell myself. They overpower me. One wearing what appears to be an Elf-Maiden's hair as a loin-cloth grabs me and carries me away. I've dropped my dagger.
"Ooh, we'll have fun with you!" Says a very non-comforting voice to the right.
Estel POV
I can never have the Light as my own. I'll never see her beauty again. Oh Arwen Undomiel! I'll always love you! You made me forget about the rest of the world, it just didn't exist with you. But how could I have forgotten about Eressëa? I should go to her now. I walk down the hall. I can't believe I forgot about her. I knock on her door; moans answer me. I walk in, she is tossing a bit on the bed. She looks thin-well of course she looks thin, nobody fed her for four days. I'll wake her up and get her some food.
Eressëa POV
They take me to the mountain and throw me an a small prison.
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It has been five days, and they haven't even fed me. Wait, I hear footsteps, an Orc. He grabs me and harshly pulls me out. He practically drags me into a large room with several other Orcs standing around. One with a bottle comes up to me and pours Orc draught down my throat. It burns, I'm awake now at least. The one that had been carrying me drops me. Another kicks me. Then another, then another.
"Eressëa!" Who is that? Estel! He remembered me!
"Eressëa!" The male voice that keeps helping me.
"Eressëa! Wake up! I brought you some food, I'm sorry I forgot about you!" Estel. I wake up and he holds some food out to me. I can't even take it, I'm to weak. I look at him silently pleading for help.
Estel POV
She looks at me with pleading eyes, she can't even take the bread I brought for her.
"Oh, Eressëa! I'm so sorry!" I'll have to hand feed her. I'm feeding her and she eats it as fast as she can get it down her throat. She's finished now, and she's looking at me with grateful eyes. She has nothing to be grateful about to me. I forgot her. I can't leave her like this. I'll stay with her until she is strong enough.
Eressëa POV
Thank you, Estel. I'm falling asleep. Falling. Drowning. Burning.
"Wakey, wakey!" I hear a sinister voice call. I blink open my eyes to see an Orc standing above me. He kicks me and pain shoots through my side.
"Ready to have some fun today?" asks another one and grabs a whip. I feel it sting my back.
Falling. Fear.
I grunt at the Orc in response to his rhetorical question about fun. The whip cracks again.
Hurt. Hate.
"This one is clever, we'd better watch out for her." Says a third voice.
"It's alright. A few days with us and she'll lose this independent attitude." The second Orc says and then laughs evilly. Oh no, this can't be good. All the Orcs laugh menacingly. The whip cracks again. I try not to look like it hurt.
"This is a dream." That's not an Orc. It's one of the voices-guess who.
"Don't!"
"Yavanna, She needs help."
"Then leave it to Nienna, she'll take care of her."
"The Lady of Mercy will not save her."
"Aulë,"
The whip hits me again, drawing me out of my daze. I gasp, it is unexpected. They beat me and I cry out in pain.
Estel POV
Eressëa yells, I can hear her even from down the hall. I was headed back to my house. I turn around and head back. As I walk in she tosses and turns. I'll wake her up.
" Aulë!" She shouts and sits up right. Aulë?
"Oh, Estel,"
She's talking! These are the first things she has said since I. . . since I forgot about her.
"It's just you." Yep, just little old nobody me.
"Do you need anything?" I ask her, she looks at me for a moment before answering.
"Why are you so good to me? You have no reason I can think of." Wow, she has entire sentences, this must be a good sign. Yeah, no reason. I must speak to my mother about this. Eressëa needs to know.
"You. . . you need someone to look after you, why not me?" She is giving me suspicious looks.
"Why not someone else?" Yeah, she's suspicious.
". . .Because I'm here." Okay, I sound cheesy, but it got her to give it up. She closes her eyes and I sing to her. She's asleep now, I'm sure.
"I love you." I whisper and kiss her on the forehead. I sit beside her bed for a little while before I leave.
I seek my mother out, I must talk to her of Eressëa. Oh! There she is!
"Mother!" I call. She turns and looks at me.
"Estel, whatever is the matter?" Shoot, I really need to get a hold of my emotions; I'm to easy to read.
"Eressëa, I need to tell her." I say without hesitation.
"Yes, but wait for the right time, don't rush ahead."
"Of course."
"Then you have my blessing to tell her, she may be old enough now." She says. "Oh! And Aragorn, Elrond wants to see you later. He'll send word."
"Thank you for notifying me." I head back to my room and fall asleep.
I awakened by a knock on my door; it was my mother.
"Estel, Elrond has sent for you."
"Why so early?" Oh come on, I wanted sleep. . . Eressëa probably does too.
"Aragorn! It's nearly lunch time!" Huh? Did I seriously sleep that long?
"what?" I groggily ask.
"It is almost lunch time!" WHAT? I slept that late? I spring out of bed, I gotta hurry. "That's more like it."
I throw my clothes on and grab a bite to eat before running out the door. How did I sleep in so long? I get there just a couple minutes late. I calm my breathing before I step inside.
"Aragorn, Arathorn's son, Lord of the Dunadain, listen to me! A great doom awaits you, either to rise above the heights of all your fathers since the days of Elendil, or to fall into darkness with all that is left of your kin. Many years of trial lie before you. You shall have neither wife, nor bind any woman to you in troth, until your time comes and you are found worthy of it." That is encouraging. NOT!
"Can it be that my own mother has spoken of this?"
"No indeed, your own eyes betray you. But I do not speak of my daughter alone. You shall be betrothed to any man's child as of yet. But as or Arwen the fair, Lady of Imladris and Lorien, Evenstar of her people, she is of a lineage greater then yours, and she has lived in the world already so long that you are but a yearling shoot beside a young birch of many summers. She is too far above you. And so, I think, it may well seem to her. But even if it were not so, and her heart turned toward you, I should be grieved to because of the doom laid on us." What doom?
"What is that doom?"
"That so long as I abide here, she shall live with the youth of the Eldar, and when I depart, she shall go with me, if she so chooses."
"I see, then I have turned my eyes on a treasure no less dear then the treasure of Thingol that Beren once desired. Such is my fate." I understand the future. The days of Elrond are running short. "But lo! Lord Elrond, the years of your abiding are running short at last, the choice must at last be laid upon your children, to part either with you or Middle-Earth." What am I saying?
"Truly," He says, I guess he understood. "Soon, as we account it, though many years of men must still pass. But there will be no choice before Arwen, my beloved, unless you, Aragorn, Arathorn's son, come between us and bring one of us, you or me, to a bitter parting beyond the end of the world. You do not yet know what you desire of me."
He sighs, then is quiet. There is a bit of an awkward silence following.
"The years will bring what they will. We will speak no more of this until many have passed. They days darken, there is much evil to come." I nod my head in understanding an leave. I must go in the morning, there is nothing left here for me.
Eressëa POV
"She is doing a lot better, did you have something to do with this, Aulë?" The woman. This is a pleasant alternative to Orcs.
"Maybe,"
"Aulë!" She seems disapproving.
"What?" Aulë, I know of Aulë.
"She needed to get better by herself! She could become worse then she was before!"
"I know, but, Estel is leaving tomorrow, and I wanted her to be able to say goodbye." Estel is leaving? Where? Has he forgotten about me again?
"Why this one? What has gotten your attention? Why not any of the other hundreds of people in Middle-Earth?"
"I know not. She just needs me." Suddenly Orcs surround me, laughing as I yell out in pain. I've been here for nearly two weeks by my count - which may be wrong.
A sharp pang suddenly shoots up my left leg, I gasp for breath. I open my eyes, the Orc with the knife licks my blood off of his knife. I look at my leg, it's very bloody and ends just below my knee. The Orc laughs and saunters off; no doubt to torture some other poor soul. I can't breath. The pain is to great. An Orc with only one eye pours Orc draught down my throat. I hear the crack of whips and feel them come down upon my body.
I've been here I'm certain for two weeks. My left leg is swollen and infected. I struggle for consciousness. I hear yells, Orcs start running around screaming about Elves. I have a fluttering thought of hope – are they here for me? The chaos is almost to much for me, I feel queasy. I look around, Orcs running everywhere. But the one with the knife, the one that took my leg no more then three days ago, is not fazed.
He comes closer, his knife glistening. I know he will kill me. I scream.
My screams don't help, he comes closer.
He is almost on top of me when something slams into him from the side. . . It is Estel!
I look around, Elves are killing Orcs left and right.
I pass out of consciousness.