A/N: Just a quick note to say thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter, they really meant a lot and seeing as love is the message we want to spread through this world and because the last few chapters have been incredibly angsty I thought I'd add a bit of fluff. Enjoy! :)
"Edoras, do not look for welcome here," Gandalf warns as they approach the city the following afternoon. Meduineth had been silent since her break down in the forest yesterday and Aragorn was worried, he had felt her lose hope and it scared him more than anything else to think of leaving her behind to suffer like that if he did not survive the next battle, or indeed the war.
He didn't say anything though, sensing that she needed to work things out in her own way and he could tell too, by her behaviour, that she was ashamed of the way she had acted and it made his heart ache. Still he took some heart in the way she had crawled beside him the previous night and fallen asleep with her head buried firmly against his neck, it had become somewhat of a habit and he worried briefly what they would do now they were approaching Edoras. She would not be allowed to share quarters with them and he tensed a little as he thought of leaving her in a room on her own, unprotected.
"What is it?" a tiny voice says from behind him and he shifts in his seat slightly to see her face, smiling as she gazes up with concern in her beautiful green eyes.
"It is nothing títhen-pen just… promise me that you will stay close by while we are here," he finishes and he feels her hands tighten around his waist slightly.
"Do not worry Aragorn, I would not leave your side, this place scares me," she whispers back and he quirks an eyebrow at her, "I have not been around so many men since you rescued me," she clarifies and then seeing the frown of concern descend upon his features she tries to cheer him up by adding, "of course the whole evil wizard controlling the place does not help either," her attempt at sarcastic wit works and she is rewarded by a chuckle which makes her giggle too.
"How I have missed your laugh Medui," he sighs after a moment and she buries her face against his shoulder as she feels herself flush.
"I am sorry to have been so… sullen," she mutters after a moment and his hand quickly finds hers where they are gripping the front of his tunic and squeezes them tightly.
"You have nothing to apologise for Medui, it is I that should be sorry," he replies and her head darts up in astonishment. Vaguely she is aware of them passing through the city limits and heading quickly for the stairs leading to the castle that overlooked the lands of Rohan but she is so caught up in what he has said that she doesn't really take it in.
"What could you possibly have to apologise for?" she asks in utter confusion and he sighs heavily at her question.
"I promised Lord Elrond and your brothers and sisters that I would protect you," he says after a long pause, leaving out the part he really wanted to say which was that the thought of her being hurt or killed and leaving him ripped him apart, and she tenses immediately. So he didn't love her then? He was just doing his duty and nothing more, keeping his promise. "What is wrong Medui?" he asks having felt her tense and her heart breaks a little at the concern in his voice. She needed to let him go, who was she kidding thinking that he would ever love someone like her? For a long moment she doesn't respond, she wants to shout and scream and cry and be angry at him but she can't. It's not his fault after all and whatever her feelings he had always been there for her and protected her and cared for her and if she was destined to only be his friend than that would have to do.
"Nothing… I am just tired," she murmurs after a while and he relaxes himself a little at hearing her words.
"Just a little longer and then we shall all be able to rest," he says looking at her with a smile and she forces a bright one of her own across her face.
It is only moments later when they are stopped at the great doors and told that they could not go before the king with their weapons. Meduineth does not like the idea of being without her weapons, she had been vulnerable far too often recently and it did not sit well with her but Aragorn is there as always, like a beacon of light through the darkness and no matter how much she wanted to hate him, forget him, move on and just be friends she found that she loved him too much. She grumbles to herself as she eventually hands over her bow and quiver and her long sword and it is only half about the situation they were in now. How could she be in this much emotional turmoil over a man that she had only just recently realised she was in love with. Everything had been so easy when they were friends, when she was certain that nothing would ever separate them, when she was a child she realises with a sigh.
By now they are standing before the king as Gandalf talks and it does not take long for things to take a turn for the worse.
"Medui," Aragorn calls as they are rushed by the guards but she is quick to duck a blow and deliver a powerful one of her own, breaking the mans nose and effectively neutralising any threat her possessed. She turns round smiling at her victory, her smile freezing on her face as a woman, a beautiful woman, dressed in white flashes past only to be caught in Aragorn's arms. A sick anger washes through her so suddenly and so strongly that she takes a stumbling step backwards as she watches them. It was a feeling she was unused to and it takes a moment for her to fully understand it… jealousy! Oh Valar, what was she going to do? If this is how her body reacted, how she reacted seeing an act so simple she simply could not imagine being able to smile as he admitted to her that he loved another, that he was to marry another, spend his life with another. She could not do it, it would kill her! She pays no attention to what is happening in the room, her eyes fixed on Aragorn as she thinks about her sudden predicament. She would just have to die in this war, maybe she could sacrifice herself saving him or one of the other members of the fellowship then she could be remembered as a hero and would not have to fade away from a broken heart. But even as she thinks this she knows that she cannot willingly give herself to death because she knew that whether he loved her not he cared, he always had and he always will and the thought of causing him pain or grief made her insides ache.
"Títhen-pen," the voice whispers and she looks up startled to see the room emptying and Aragorn standing in front of her looking caught somewhere between concern and amusement.
"I'm fine… just tired… sorry," she chokes out barely able to look at him the hurt and jealousy and confusion still roiling around inside her so much that she felt sick.
"Oh Medui, of course, come let us get you to a room so you may rest a while, I shall wake you later for some food," he says and takes my arm pulling me towards the corridor and a maid who leads us to a small room. She doesn't say anything, doesn't complain, just follows silently behind them both feeling small and hurt and, actually she really was exhausted.
"Thank you," she manages once the servant has shown them into the room before she curtsies and hurries out again.
"Go to sleep títhen-pen, Gimli, Legolas and I are roomed just down the hall here," he murmurs pressing a kiss to her forehead that seems to burn her skin. As soon as he is gone she feels heavy tears begin to silently pour down her cheeks and collapsing onto the bed she weeps until she falls into an exhausted sleep.
"Where is the young woman you travel with?" King Theodon asks as soon as Aragorn enters the room where he is seated with Gandalf.
"Meduineth is asleep, in a room not far from ours," he replies, not entirely sure why he felt the need to point out that their rooms were close by and quickly avoiding the amused gaze of Gandalf only to be met by the smirking gaze of Legolas.
"Gandalf tells me she was raised by the elves," the king adds clearly interested in her and it strikes a little fear into his heart, Meduineth had always been his, his to protect, his to care for… his little mystery. Yet now it seemed the world wanted to know about her and it scared him for he did not want her to be taken away but worse still he could not stand the thought of her choosing to leave him.
"She was," he says carefully, glad when soon after the conversation drifts to more serious issues. To war.
For hours the group sit and talk strategies and plans and try to convince the king that moving his people to Helms Deep is not the way forward but he does not listen and the decision is made, in the morning they would empty the city and make for Helms Deep. Aragorn sighs as he walks heavily beside Legolas having seen off Gandalf only a few moments ago, so deep in thought that he nearly doesn't notice when Legolas freezes suddenly and holds out a hand.
"What is it?" he asks when he sees the worried crease in his friends brow,
"Meduin…" Legolas had not even finished speaking her name before Aragorn is sprinting down the corridors and he quickly takes off after him. Crashing through the door the man breathes heavily his sword already in his hand as he tries to ascertain the danger, frowning when he sees nothing. Then she whimpers and thrashes before screaming out and he steps forward sheathing his sword as he attempts to wake the woman. She is tangled in her bedsheets, sweat pooling on her forehead as the nightmare grips her, terror visible on her face and it makes his insides clench uncomfortably to see.
"Títhen-pen, Meduineth… Nin dilthen mysterui, come you must wake now," he says quietly grasping her shoulder and suddenly she sits up, crying out and gasping for breath as her eyes dart around wildly.
"Ara… Aragorn," she sobs and he pulls her to him immediately, holding her tightly as he tries to soothe her.
"Legolas, go prepare a bed in our room, I will not leave her here alone any longer," he says almost angrily and the elf just gives a small nod, a knowing smile on his face as he leaves the room, careful to shut the door behind him, not that either Aragorn or Meduineth notice.
"I'm so sorry," she hiccoughs some time later when she has calmed down and he just smiles wiping away her tears with the pad of his thumb and contiuning to murmur soothing words to her in elvish.
"What did you dream?" he asks eventually after they have sat in silence for many minutes and for a long moment after he has spoken she just stares at her hands and then glancing up into his face she realises that she must tell him the truth because the idea of loosing him, or dying herself and not telling him how she felt was beyond her imagining.
"I dreamt that I lost you… that I never told you and that then I never could," she whispers feeling his fingers on her clim pulling her head up so she was forced to meet his gaze.
"Tell me what?" he asks his voice breathless with hope as he watched her steadily,
"That I love you," she replies, the heat in her face instant and she has to fight not to glance away from him as for a long moment he says nothing. Suddenly there are lips on hers, soft, determined lips that somehow send electric shocks throughout her entire body and as she gasps he deepens the kiss, his tongue hesitantly touching hers and dear Valar her whole body felt as if it was on fire now such was the heat and the pleasure it sent through her.
"I had hoped, oh how I have dreamed to hear you say those words," he murmurs breathlessly once they have pulled apart, his forehead still resting against hers.
"Really?" she gasps pulling away further but still staying within his arms, "I thought… I thought, when you said you had made a promise to my father, I thought it meant you could never see me in… that you could never…" she breaks off aware that she is making little to no sense and he is looking half amused half heart broken.
"Oh Nin dilthen mysterui, I am sorry," he whispers before leaning forward to capture her lips once more in a sweet loving kiss, into which he attempts to pour everything he feels for her.
"Why are you sorry?" she asks once again breathless, her head spinning with delirious ecstasy, when they break away and she is vaguely struck by the notion that their conversations often go in these little circles of apologising.
"I should have told you the moment I knew that you held my heart but I was afraid that you would not feel the same way, that you would not want to ruin the friendship we had," he says a slight blush tinting his cheeks and she smiles as her hands release their grip on the front of his tunic to caress his face slightly.
"But surely you knew when I gave you my necklace," she says softly as she finds the jewel with her fingers, playing with it where it lay against his chest.
"I hoped," he replies after watching me for a moment, "I prayed to the Valar but I convinced myself that it was an act of friendship, that you would be in to much danger if I was to try to pursue you," he breaks of quickly here, glancing down and breaking eye contact for the first time since they had begun talking and it is her turn to gently grasp his chin and force him to make eye contact once more.
"Why do you doubt yourself so? You will make a truly great king Aragorn," she whispers and he sighs pulling her closer to him and burying his head against her neck, causing goose pimples to raise across her skin and her heart to stutter.
"The ring… it spoke to me, it tempted me," he admits eventually and she smiles as she strokes her fingers through his hair.
"But you resisted it, you are stronger than your ancestors," she reminds him and he lets out a half laugh at this.
"You saved me Medui, it was only you that gave me the strength to resist it," he says quietly and she is struck dumb for a couple of moments, the depth of his trust in her to admit this astounding her.
"I wasn't there Aragorn, when you let Frodo go… that was all you," she says slowly, not wanting to relive those moments but forcing herself to for his sake.
"I nearly took it, I wanted so badly to take it and then as I reached for it I saw your face, you gave me the strength you always give me hope, you always give me strength," he murmurs and she feels her breath stutter this time at the heartfelt admission. For a long time they sit in silence, her fingers still slowly threading through his hair as he rests his head on her shoulder, his own fingers tracing patterns across the material of her tunic, heating her skin even through the layers of material.
"Then I shall always be by your side to give you the strength you need, to help show you what a great king you can become," Meduineth says at last and he tilts his head to kiss her neck, and then begins to trail open mouthed kisses across her jaw and back to her mouth which he captures with a fiery passion.
"I love you Nin dilthen mysterui," he says over and over again and she laughs even as tears of happiness begin to spill down her cheeks.
"And I love you, my brave and wonderful warrior king," she says back, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, sighing in contentment. "Do you think it is wrong to be so happy in the face of all this evil?" she asks after a while and he chuckles quietly pulling her away from him and holding her face in both his hands.
"I think that our love only represents all that is good and gives us something to fight for," he says seriously and she smiles, "come we should get some rest, you shall stay with us where you will be safe," he says standing up and holding her close to his side and despite the fact that she knows it is not proper she cannot find it in herself to be that worried about it such is her happiness.