bonniebeast- Yeah, sorry about that. I just don't know how long he's gonna leave the internet open, and since I just write and upload, I need to write a bit faster if I'm going to get any updates in on time. That, and I'm trying to write the last few chapters for Mein Kleiner Drache, and I've been stuck on it for about a month. I think I've got a few fans ready to kill me for constantly promising that I'll update the next day. I never do, and I'm starting to annoy myself with it. I'll try to be a bit more detailed with this one.
Holey crap, I responded to your message awhile ago. A month maybe? Never mind. My dad has long since turned the internet back on, and earned my forgiveness via a bag of deep fried cheese sticks. :D What can I say? I love my cheese sticks. : )
Hey, don't want to sound creepy, but are there ANY guys on this site? I've seen one, but out of the thousands of profiles I've read, it seems like only girls read this kinda stuff. Or maybe I'm just slow like that. Oh well. Just a curiosity.
On with the show!
…...
Rima opened her blurry eyes, and was welcomed by candlelight and the musty scent of horses mingled with old wood. Regaining a dizzy sort of awareness, she realized that she was resting upon a thickly thatched straw bed, and wrapped around with a heavy brown woolen blanket.
Where…? Too hot…
Through her muddled mind, she tried desperately to wiggle out from under the coverings, only to be stopped by an uncomfortable crawling under her skin. Her joints ached, and she lay still with a whimper.
"You are awake?"
She jumped slightly at the unexpected voice, and swept her eyes around the area in front of her until her weary gaze rested upon the kind face of a Dwarf.
Karuk?
Her heart rose with joy, soon to be silenced with a final recognition.
No, Gimli.
Rima berated herself for her disappointment, ashamed of her own emotions.
Her thought were cut short as the bearded one shifted in his seat.
"Aye, you had us worried, lass. Dippin' out like that! Don't you scare us again, eh?"
She frowned, unable to decipher his jumbled words.
"K'an'la… Im nikala sewin?" Dwarvish one… What are you saying?
Now it was Gimli's turn to frown, troubled by the state of his companion.
Turning to the door, he called for the woman who had previously been tending to her.
He spoke a few words, and the woman left, nodding.
He turned back.
"You can get some rest now, gulling. We be in horsemen territory now, been here an hour or two. They w'rnt pleased to see us, no indeed, 'till that grumpy old wizard did 'is work."
He sat back, sighing.
"C'ourse, you'bin complicatin' things a bit. Superstitious villagers, they don' know nothing' more'n they kin see with their own eyes. Seem to see yer' bein here a bit of a bad omen. Aragorn an' the pointy-ear be discussin' that now. But d'on you worry 'bout that, you best be getting' some rest now."
He stood up, grunting, and made his way to leave.
Rima stared vacantly at the weathered old seat he had been sitting in. Not a single word he'd said had sunken in.
Probably wasn't important…
Once again, lines blurred and colors blended until nothing was clear, and she drifted off into a troubled sleep.
The Avien was tangled in a mess of sheets and blankets when Legolas checked in on her.
In a crazed panic, the dreaming girl had twisted her limbs into knots under her coverings. She growled and hissed steadily through clenched teeth. A dribble of blood spilled from where her fangs had pierced her lips. A stream of murmurs rushed out, unintelligible to his foreign ears.
His brow creased in worry. It pained him to see her in such a state.
She is having a night-terror. What of, I wonder?
Reaching tentatively towards her shoulder, he shook her slightly.
"Rima?"
Gaining no response, he tried again.
"Rima? Rima, you are dreaming."
In a town… new town, new location, always changing. Wearing coat. Coat slips… humans. Humans see. Chase. Yell loudly… ears hurt. Turn and hiss. People stay. Throw rocks. Stones everywhere, stones on back, stones on legs. Pain. Run, run to forest. Hide. See torches, rusted swords. Orange light flickers off leaves, licks branches. People, many people. Stand and run, run fast. Smell smoke, climb tree. Nose burns. Face burns. Tree burns. Many people, people shouting, ears hurt, chest hurts. No wind, no clear, smoke. Nothing, everything, blurry, jumbled, confused. Want to run, want to hide, want to scream. Screaming, screaming, falling. People, many people. Fire, swords, running, crawl, scream,hide,…
Violet eyes flicked open, and the Elfin princeling had but a moments time before suddenly finding himself pinned to the floor with a girl on his torso and a knife at his throat. He looked up with wide eyes at Rima, her own eyes showing no signs of recognition. Instead, they burned with an intense ferocity that would have made a lesser being quake with fear.
"Rima…" he swallowed as the dagger pressed closer to his skin, scraping a thin red line into his flesh.
"Rima, I am a friend. You are safe."
Purple irises narrowed in confused suspicion.
"You were dreaming. You are safe."
Slowly, the pressure on his neck lightened and the woman's feral defensiveness gave way to disbelieving realization.
He closed his eyes, and relief flooded his mind as her knife clattered to the floor and she scrambled off his chest.
"Le-go-las! Kilra… Sor-ry. S-o-rry. D-ream…"
Her clipped words drifted off, and he was shocked to hear that she was beginning to cry.
Legolas sat up, and saw that Rima was now curled up on the back of the bed, her single wing pressing flat against the wall as her body was taken over by sobs.
He stood, and went to sit on the cot beside her quaking form.
On closer inspection the Elf could knew that she was still quite unwell. Now nearer, he could clearly see that not all her shivers were from her sharp gasps, and her sickly-pale skin shone with a layer of cold sweat.
She should be sleeping, not crying.
"I- I am sorry." he stated, somewhat awkwardly.
"I should not have intruded."
She moved towards him, and he tensed, ready for another attack.
Instead of striking as he expected, he was quickly wrapped in a shuddering embrace.
His arms remained held out as the girl latched onto him.
He was not sure what to do; the movement was entirely unexpected, although not unpleasant.
His fair skin burned with awkward embarrassment.
"Um, Rima? What is it that you doing?"
She held tighter, and continued to sob. His freshly bruised ribs flared in complaint, but he did not move to push her off.
"H-hurt. Sorry." came the halting reply.
Ah.
The blush fading from his face, he returned the embrace.
"It is alright," he whispered softly. "It was not your fault."
His long-fingered hands rubbed soothingly across her shoulders, and after a few minutes, the shaking subsided.
Awhile later, he looked down to see that she had fallen asleep once again. Looking at her small form in the candlelight, a small smile crept across his face. She looked to peaceful, laying still in his arms. Her brown tresses glinted copper in the light, and her thin arms looked so frail and delicate. Almost completely unlike her usual strong and powerful presence, she looked now to be almost like an ordinary young woman, abruptly awakened in the night by disturbing memories. It made him glad to know that he could help her find true rest.
Moving smoothly so as not to disturb her peace, he gently laid her back down onto the bed. He pulled a sheet back over her, and watched amusedly as she rolled over into her pillow.
His smile widened as she murmured once again in her sleep, this time sounding out a word he could almost have sworn to be his name.
Leaving the small room, he tried his hardest not to make a sound as he shut the door behind him.
Get well soon, seagull.
He set off to find Aragorn, pleased with his work.
…...So sorry that took forever! I was really stuck on how I'd write this, so please don't kill me! Don't even try to decipher Rima's earlier words online, she was speaking in Sphynix. (Avien language.) Yeah, Imma nerd. Thank you, reviewers! Reviews make my soul happy!
"Through thick and thin, through crappy plot, fanfic readers, thanks a lot!"
Poetry isn't my style, but hey, I tried. Anonymous reviewer without a name, I'm glad you're taking the time to read my other stories. It makes me happy to know that people appreciate what I do. :D