Ash stumbled forward and into the waiting arms of the three elves. "How..we set you on fire!" Elladan stated looking her over. "Like the wizards of old I have returned after facing death, but have returned physically stronger." She said to them. She felt she couldn't say stronger in all, fore she recognized the weakness of her mind.
"Hold things precious and watch them grow. Let purpose thrive again in your heart and let you find the way only that which is precious can bring you toward. You have a great many deeds ahead to fulfill now daughter, find your way back to Middle Earth in this heat, once you fall, you may never return here again until the end of your days. This is the one time I will heal you child." The dragon spoke to the shivering mass on the floor. "Yes Mother." She answered. There was a whooshing sound as she crawled across the floor, finding the hole she was looking for. She fell.
"You awaken Princess." Elrond said grasping the hands of the woman in the bed. "I am a Queen among my people now." She answered sitting. He just nodded, even if he didn't understand. "Do you wish to eat?" He asked. "Yes." She answered and he brought her some soup and bread.
In the passing days after Ash's miracle healing, she found herself wandering the beautiful Elvin city. She was lost, stumbling on and on, the words said to her by the Dragon queen becoming a mantra. Her own personal mantra, the only thing keeping her sane in the day and at night she would not close her eyes in fear of what lies beyond the darkness that used to heal her.
Five lengthy days after her healing Ash stumbled upon a woman and what appeared to be her child playing in the fountain. The child was splashing about wildly as the mother watched with a smirk. The child saw Ash and threw water at her as well. Ash covered her face from the splash but her dress was soaked down the front, the silky material of her people clinging to the fronts of her legs. "Aragorn!" The mother cried out. "That isn't kind!" She grabbed his hands as he went to throw more water. "Excuse him, he is but a child." The woman said shaking her head and reprimanding the young boy. "It will dry. But that gash on his hand needs tending to." Ash said kneeling before the boy. "I will heal him if you permit." She stated, it was really a question and the mother nodded. Ash was thankful for the magic Elrond had taught her at that moment. She whispered some words in elvish and the wound closed in on itself. "There, pain no more." She said looking at the child with his eyes full of wonder. She felt a snap then, just a small switch in her brain.
Hold things precious and watch them grow…
Could this child be what the Mother meant, surely this was a sign…
"Might I know your name?" Ash asked the mother. "Gilraen of the Dunedain." She said standing. "Might I know yours?" The mother asked with a kind smile. "Athelina Rose Mazerton of Kildare , a kingdom to the West." She said with a smile. "To the West? I have never heard of Kildare." The mother pondered confused. "It is far from this land." Ash told her quickly. "You must miss your home." Gilraen frowned at her. "Not so much, I have lived her many centuries now. But I will need to leave…eventually." She responded to the woman. This woman was obviously not an elf even though she was beautiful, she had no pointy ears nor the elven grace about her. It wasn't the first time Ash had seen a human though, they passed through Imladris often. "Your son, does he know much of the world yet?" Ash prodded, trying to find a place for herself in this child's life, for that was what she thought, what she needed desperately at that moment. "No, he is to be trained under Elrond and taught under his kin." His mother said looking at the boy affectionately as he motioned to be picked up. "If I may, it would aid me greatly to teach him the elvish language, I have become most fluent." She asked without asking. "I believe he would like that. He has taken a liking to you." She said as the subject of the conversation reached for Ash. Ash held him close. "Thank you. We start on the morrow!" Ash said excited for the first time in a long, long time. She had always like children.