An: sorry for the wait, the combination of loads to do and a heat wave have killed me the past few days. I'm Scottish and it's been scientifically proven that the melting point of Scottish people is 15 degrees, the average temp in Glasgow the past three days has been 30, you do the math :o) Sorry it's a little shorter than usual.
Let me know what you think.
***
Daniel and Vala where sitting on the couch in the common room in front of the fire later that night, still decked out in their finery from the evenings event. Vala was lying across the couch with her head on Daniels lap as he gently stroked her hair. The others had gone to bed a few hours ago and now they where taking some time to sit quietly together.
There time was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door and a servant entering.
"My Lord wishes you to have this, my Lady." He handed over an old, worn, leather bound book.
Vala took it with a confused look and waited until the servant had left before opening it to the bookmarked page. About half way down the page there was a highlighted passage.
"Can you translate it?" Daniel asked softly.
Vala turned from the fire to look him in the eye. A soft smile was on her face and she didn't once have to look down at the page when she spoke:
Long
was the way that fate them bore,
O'er stony mountains cold and
grey,
Through halls of iron and darkling door,
And woods of
nightshade morrowless.
The Sundering Seas between them lay,
And
yet at last they met once more,
And long ago they passed away
In
the forest singing sorrowless.
"It's beautiful." Daniel told her when she finished, "What's it from?"
"It's the end of my favourite story from when I was a child, about an immortal princess who gave her love to a mortal man."
"What happens to them?"
"She dies." Vala whispered softly, "She gives up her immortality to save his life, she would rather spend one life time with her love than endure all the ages of the worlds alone because there was no other she could ever love."
"Why would your brother send you this?" Daniel was slightly confused at the gesture.
"Because the princess gave up everything to be with the man she loved and, even though she dies, she got everything she ever wanted."
"So… it's an apology?"
"And a little more."
***
"What am I going to do with you?" Aranel spoke to Eldarin when she awoke in the middle of the night, her youngest son at her side. "I never had to worry about your brother and your sister has always had a mind of her own but you…" She sighed and motioned for him to sit on the bed beside her, "You, my darling boy, you live your life in your brother's shadow. Since the day you could walk you have followed him where ever he went, did what ever he commanded."
"I only wish to be the man he is, the man father was." Eldarin said as he took his mothers hand.
"You are a noble man in your own right Eldarin, you have done great things. You have nothing to prove, you never have."
"If I had been a better man I would have gone after her when they took her, I would never have allowed her to go in the first place. I failed her, she is my sister and I could not protect her." He told her, finally admitting what he had kept inside for almost 20 years.
"We all made mistakes Eldarin but they are in the past. Your sister would not be the woman she is now if these things had not happened. Do not let the events of the past taint the future."
"How can I ever make up for those mistakes? For all she had to endure."
Aranel cupped her sons face and looked him square in the eye, "Do you love your sister?"
"Yes, of course."
"And do you wish her to be happy?"
"If it was in my power to do so I would move the moon herself to make her smile."
"Then you are already half way there. Share in her happiness, be there for her in times of need and for all the time in between simply allow her to live her life." Aranel's eyes began to fall closed again as she spoke, "You are her brother and she loves you dearly, in the end that is all that truly matters."
"Rest mother, I will be here when you wake." Eldarin told her softly.
"My darling boy…" She trailed off as she once again fell asleep.
***
In the early morning light Teal'c stood on the balcony overlooking the common room watching his two friends sleep. Daniel was sat with his feet propped up on the table while Vala was sprawled along the couch, her head in his lap and an open book lying on her chest.
Absently he raised his hand to the streak of white in his hair as his mind travelled back to the many times on the Odyssey that he had witnessed this same scene. It lightened his heart to know his friends would have this second chance at a life together. It was one of the few regrets he carried with him from that time, that they would never know the happiness they had brought each other but he had known that one day they would work their way back to this point. It was one of the few things in life he knew was inevitable, just like suns would rise and the stars will shine, he knew that these two people where made for each other.
"You've got that look on your face." Sam told him as she silently reached the top of the stairs and came to stand beside him, "The one you get when you're thinking of the Odyssey."
Teal'c smiled and put his arm round her in an unexpected hug, "I am simply enjoying the moment."
Sam leaned her head against his shoulder, "They deserve this, after everything they've been through. I just wish they had seen it earlier."
"They needed this time Samantha, time to grow towards each other."
"Am I interrupting something?" Cam asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Teal'c pointed down to the sleeping couple, still keeping his other around Sam's shoulders.
"Just enjoying the moment" Sam laughed as Cam stood on her other side.
Cam looked down at Vala and Daniel then back towards Teal'c and Sam, "Am I the only one not getting a little lovin' this morning?" he asked, putting on his best pout.
Sam smiled and turned, placing a small kiss to Cam's cheek. "Better?"
"Much."
"You three finished playing grab ass up there or you want us to give you a few more minuets?" Daniel called from down in the common room, his smile clear to hear in his voice.
"Funny, Jackson, really funny." Cam shouted as the three friends began to make their way down, "Anyone's been playing grab ass on this trip it's you and princess." He muttered not quite quietly enough to avoid being hit upside the head by Sam.
When they reached the common room Teal'c and Sam sat in the chairs.
"Comfy there Vala?" Cam asked, looking round at the lack of seating.
"Very." She responded, a lazy smile on her face.
Cam rolled his eyes when she showed no sign of moving and simply lifted her feet off the couch and sat down before placing them back on his lap.
***
Vala entered her mother's room that morning to find Eldarin asleep in a chair beside the bed.
"Eldarin?" She shook his shoulder gently to rouse him, "Eldain wake up."
Slowly his eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her, squinting slightly in the light.
"You should go get some proper sleep." She told him quietly.
"I promised I would be here when she woke up."
"I'll sit with her, she wont be alone."
"I promised." He repeated simply. He smiled up at his younger sister and gently took her hand, pulling her to sit on his lap. Habitually Vala curled her legs up and leaned back against his chest, just like she had done as a child when she was scared. It had never been her father or Anarion that she had gone to or comfort, it was always Eldarin who would draw her onto his lap and hold her until her fears went away.
"I am sorry Elena, for coming between you and Dr Jackson. He is an honourable man."
"You are both honourable men." She told him quietly.
He smiled and left it at that.
They where still in the same position when Anarion came into the room a few hours later. He stood behind the chair and placed his hands on Eldarin's shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze. None of them said a word as they watched their mother sleep, the events of the night before forgiven and forgotten.
Aranel smiled gently as she watched them with barley opened eyes.
Anarion standing tall and proud, a mirror of their father, protectively looking over his siblings.
Eldarin taking comfort from his brother behind him and his sister in front, uncertain of his path in life but knowing he would always have the other two beside him.
Vala curled up in her brothers lap, a strong confidant woman who had endured much but come out the other side still standing tall.
She smiled again before closing her eyes for the final time, her work was done and now she could finally rejoin her husbands side knowing their children would be ok.
***
The city grew silent as its flags and banners where lowered to half mast and a lone silver trumpet blew a clear and sorrowful note.
From somewhere off in the distance another note sounded and as it was heard even further away the note was repeated. To all towns and cities, way-points and guard towers the note was carried on the wind and sent out again, the whole of Eriador playing one message into the wind until at last it came to the sea and the answering call of the waves.
***
Daniel found Vala sitting in the window of an abandoned bedroom a few hours later. She was gently fingering the leaves of a tree that was growing beside the window, its small white blooms blowing in the breeze.
"Vala." He called softly.
"When I was young I used to climb out this window into the tree. My mother used to shout at me for it, tell me that princesses didn't climb trees, but after I fell out of it she had someone put in a small platform for me to sit on." Her voice sounded lost when she spoke to him and it was echoed in her eyes when she turned round to face him,
"Are you ok?" He asked, knowing the question was pointless but not knowing what else to say.
"My mother died." She told him, as if just realising it for the first time.
"I know." He sat beside her in the window and took hold of her hand.
"I thought I had more time." Vala shifted from her seat and settled herself in his lap, "Will you stay with me?" She asked quietly.
"Always." He whispered into her hair as he placed a kiss to the top of her head.
