Disclaimer: Only Rynna's mine.
"A lament for Gandalf," Legolas murmured, tilting his head to better hear the melodious song that floated though the wood.
"What do they say about him?" Merry asked.
"I have not the heart to tell you. For me the grief is still too near."
Legolas walked on to find Rynna. She was sitting on a fallen tree. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Manan elye etevanne/Nórie i melanelye?" came the song.
"'What drove you to leave/that which you loved?'" Rynna translated softly.
"Mithrandir, Mithrandir, A Randir Vithren/ú-reniathach i amar galen."
"'Mithrandir, Mithrandir, O Pilgrim Gray/no more will you wander the green fields of this earth.'"
"I reniad lín ne mór, nuithannen."
"'Your journey has ended in darkness.'"
"In gwidh ristennin, i fae narchannen."
"'The flame of Anor has left this world.'"
"Caled veleg, ethuiannen."
"'A great light, has gone out.'" Rynna's voice broke on the last syllable. Legolas sat next to her and put his arms around her. "I could have saved him, Legolas. If I'd just been a little bit fast, I could have saved him..."
Legolas cut her off. "There was nothing more you could have done. Perhaps it was his destiny to fall there, but there was nothing—nothing—more you could have done to save him. he wouldn't want you to blame yourself. Don't."
Rynna wiped her eyes in her wrist. "You're right. Crying about it won't bring him back. We'll just have to finish what he began."
Legolas kissed her. "You always recover so quickly."
"I don't have much of a choice."
* * *
(Note: Yes, an extra-big skip here, but do you really need me to recite the Boromir and Aragorn bit AND the Lurtz bit when the point of this story is so I can do the GOOD parts [i.e., anything with Rynna and/or Legolas]? I'm doing this part of the Galadriel's Mirror bit because it involves the character I'm interested in writing about.)
The Mirror...
Frodo sees Legolas turn his head and look at him. Rynna stands beside him, looking at something Frodo cannot see. The elf looks away, and the picture becomes Sam, who glances at Frodo and turns away, then Merry and Pippin, who do the same.
There is Hobbiton...
Now Hobbiton is in flames. Orcs ran through the streets, burning, looting, and killing. There is Merry—Merry is dead!
Sam walks in a slave line, chained to other hobbits. A whip cracks across his back.
Rynna guards Legolas' back as he shoots into a horde of orcs. There are too many for the shapeshifter to fight, and she falls dead to the ground. Legolas spins around and kneels beside her, crying out. The next instant he falls across her body, three crudely formed arrows sticking from his back.
Bad-End lies in ruins, the Shire in tatters...
The Eye appears...the Eye sees all...the Eye knows he is there...the Eye is ever watchful, as Boromir said...
"Farewell, Frodo Baggins. I give you the light of Eärendil—our most beloved star. Namárië." ("Farewell.")
So Galadriel had said when she gave him the Star-Glass, which Frodo now tucked into his pocket. From his place in the boat, he could see Galadriel lifting a hand in farewell. Yet again, he heard her voice speaking to him in his mind. ~May it be a light for you in dark places when all other lights go out.~
As they floated out on the Anduin, Aragorn told Rynna to scout out ahead of them. "I think I should look behind us," she replied. "I just have a feeling that there's something back there."
"We can outrun anything that's coming from that way. Go ahead."
With a sigh, Rynna shifted and flew away. Three times she reported back that day, three times she asked Aragorn to allow her to fly behind them, and three times she was refused. They past by the Argonath, and came to the falls of Rauros. There they beached the three boats and walked up onto the land. Rynna flew in to land on Legolas' wrist, still a hawk.
"We cross the lake at nightfall," Aragorn announced. "Hide the boats, and continue on foot."
"Oh yes?" Gimli asked. "Just a simple matter of finding our way through Emin Muil? An impossible labyrinth of razor-sharp rocks and after that, it gets even better! Festering stinking marshlands, far as the eye can see."
"That is our road," Aragorn replied coolly. "I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Master Dwarf."
"Recover my—grrrrrrr."
Rynna hopped back to the ground, a human once more. Legolas walked over to Aragorn. "We should leave now," he advised.
"No. Orcs patrol the Eastern Shore, we must wait for cover of darkness."
Legolas shook his head. "It is not the Eastern Shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near. I can feel it."
Rynna came up. "Aragorn—it's coming. I know it is. Something is out there."
Gimli was still annoyed with Aragorn for mocking him. "Have no need to recover strength! Pay no heed to that, young hobbit," he added to Merry.
Merry looked around. "Where's Frodo?"
Everyone looked around. Rynna eyed the packs. "And where is Boromir?"
* * *
(Note: Another skip...and I'm not going to do the parts about Merry, Pippin, and Boromir/Aragorn vs. Lurtz. Sorry, no Rynna in those parts. Don't be surprised when they come, or rather, don't come.)
"Go, Frodo." Aragorn stepped back and drew his sword.
Frodo glanced down at Sting. The blade was glowing blue.
"Run," Aragorn told him. "Run!"
Frodo ran, and the Uruk-hai came forth to meet the king. Aragorn ran to the top of the stone structure Frodo had just fallen from.
"Find the halflings!" shouted the leader. "Find the halflings!"
"Elendil!" Aragorn yelled in reply, leaping down to strike another Uruk-hai. He got his sword up just in time to impale another.
Legolas, Rynna, and Gimli came running in. Each dove into the fray with enthusiasm. "Aragorn, go!" the elf cried.
Gimli growled as he deflected a sword blade and slammed his axe into the creature's stomach.
* * *
Frodo hid behind a tree as the Uruk-hai ran past. "Frodo!" Pippin called. "Hide here quick!"
Frodo shook his head.
"What's he doing?"
Merry looked at Frodo, who turned his head away. "He's leavin'."
"No!" cried Pippin, leaping up.
"Pippin!"
Merry jumped out to follow him, but Pippin grabbed his arm. More Uruk-hai were running down the hill. "Run, Frodo," Merry told him. "Go." He turned back to the monsters. "Hey, you! Over here!"
"Hey!" Pippin added. "This way!"
Frodo ran.
* * *
Legolas had his knives out and was whirling them in deadly circles, ducking and stabbing.
Gimli blocked a thrust that would have skewered Aragorn and drove the Uruk-hai back towards the trees.
Rynna ducked a blow aimed to take her head off and thrust forward with her sword, impaling the creature.
Aragorn was fighting hand-to-hand with one of the creatures, and its superior size and strength were giving it the advantage.
* * *
"It's working!" Pippin cried cheerfully.
"I know it's working!" Merry replied. "Run!"
* * *
Gimli was separated from his friends, falling away to the right. He was doing well, though, barely even working up a sweat.
Legolas had sheathed his knives again and was whipping arrows out almost faster than the eye could follow.
But things were going badly for Aragorn. The Uruk-hai had him up against a tree and was slowly strangling him, paying no heed to the Ranger's fists.
Legolas turned and shot the creature in the back.
Rynna slew the beast in front of her and paused, waiting for the next attack. It came from above as the Uruk-hai jumped from the stone pillars much as Aragorn had earlier in the fight. Rynna went down under its weight, dropping her sword and sliding forward. Her arms were pinned at her sides. She shifted frantically, wolf-leopard-snake-human, but the creature maintained its hold, slowly crushing her. It bit her left shoulder hard. She snarled back and snapped her head into its, crying out when flesh came away with its teeth.
Legolas heard the cry and spun about, firing off another arrow. Rynna shrugged the dead beast off her back and raising herself up onto her knees. She looked past Legolas and made a flicking motion with her wrists. Twin blades fell out of their hidden sheaths in her sleeves into her hands. She threw both blades simultaneously. They whizzed past Legolas and took the two Uruk-hai behind him in their throats.
"Now we're even," she told him as she retrieved her sword.
Legolas opened his mouth to reply, but a horn call shattered the air. All heads turned. "The Horn of Gondor," the elf identified.
"Boromir!" Aragorn added worriedly. He ran past Legolas into the masses of Uruk-hai.
* * *
The fight was over. Legolas, Rynna, and Gimli ran to find Aragorn and Boromir, fearing the worst.
The elf reached them first. When he saw them, he knew what was happening. Three black arrows stuck out of Boromir's chest, and Aragorn knelt beside him.
Rynna ran up beside him and stopped. Gimli came next, as Aragorn stood with finality. Boromir son of Denethor of Gondor was dead.
Two down, eight to go! thought the sadistic evil voice in the author's head. She gave that voice a good hard mental kick since she didn't want anyone else to die. The voice left, and everyone mourned for Boromir.
* * *
They set Boromir in one of the boats and sent it off over the Falls of Rauros. Rynna noticed Aragorn buckling on Boromir's gauntlets, emblazoned with the crest of Gondor. She knew what it meant, in a deeper way than that her friend had found a nice pair of armguards.
"Hurry! Frodo and Sam have reached the Eastern Shore!" Legolas stopped, leaving the boat he'd been pushing off to lay there as he looked at Aragorn. "You mean not to follow them." It was a statement, not a question.
"Frodo's fate," he replied, "is no longer in our hands."
The other three walked back from the lake, casting forlorn glances over their shoulders. "Then it has all been in vain," Gimli growled. "The Fellowship has failed."
Aragorn faced them. "Not if we hold true to each other. We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death." They all stood a little taller. "Not while we have strength left." He turned away, picking up his knife where he'd left it. "Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light. Let's hunt some orc." He sheathed the blade with a snap.
Gimli, Legolas, and Rynna smiled at each other, exchanging looks. Gimli gave a roar and charged off. "What's this?" Rynna teased. "An elf and a dwarf, becoming friends?"
"Stranger things have happened," Legolas replied.
Rynna looked back across the river, where Frodo and Sam traveled closer and closer to Mordor, the fate of all Middle-Earth resting in their hands. "I suppose they have."
They raced off to join the hunt as the soundtrack played the author's favorite part.
* * *
"Mordor," Frodo murmured, looking across the unfriendly land. "I hope the others find a safer road."
"Strider'll look after them," Sam replied confidently.
"I don't suppose we'll ever see them again."
"We may yet, Mr. Frodo. We may."
Frodo smiled. "Sam...I'm glad you're with me."
Sam smiled back, and they began the journey downwards.
