Unnamed (21/?)
(Author: Kai)
Jairah felt a hand softly shake her. "Jairah, love. Wake up."
She moaned and swatted the offending hand away. She was exhausted. Why would any body wake her now?
"Jairah!" the hand returned even more insistently.
"Let me try." That was what Jairah heard right before a bucket full of ice cold water splashed over her body. Jolting out of her exhaustion, she leapt to her feet spluttering.
"Callisto!" Legolas glared at the Daywalker. "That was quite unnecessary."
She smiled thinly in response. "Yes, well. Hindsight is perfect, isn't it." She waved a careless hand and walked away, swinging the bucket.
Legolas quickly got something to dry Jairah with. Gently wiping water off, he apologized for the unexpected surprise.
Jairah waved him away. "Its alright. You can't expect a leopard to change his spots." She took the cloth from him. "Why did you need to wake me?"
Legolas looked troubled. "It's Rowan. It seems Sauron is back with vengeance on his mind."
Jairah looked sharply at him. "So soon?"
He shrugged. "It happened, didn't it?" he pointed out. She nodded thoughtfully and hurried to the Seer's side, still attempting to dry herself before she caught a cold.
She knelt by Rowan side, careful not to disturb her, although she didn't really think it really mattered. Quietly, she tied to reach into the Seer's mind again, but as soon as she tried, something snapped at her causing her to recoil, thoroughly disconnecting their link.
"What?" she gasped. Legolas knelt beside her, worried.
"What happened?"
She stared at the inert body, her chest moving slowly. "I can't get in…"
Suddenly, Rowan's eyes snapped open and she sprang up colliding into Legolas. He fell back with a slight `oomph' and clutched his jaw.
But the Seer didn't notice. Taking in her surroundings, she collapsed to her knees, clutching her head, and began to sob.
Alarmed, Jairah set a hand on one shuddering shoulder and it was as if she had hit a button. Rowan launched herself at her, sobbing into Jairah's shoulder. She gently patted the Seer's shoulder. "It's alright."
"I'm afraid." Rowan sobbed. Jairah smiled gently.
"Calm down and tell me what you saw."
Rowan nodded and took deep breaths. As she seemed to get her calmness back, she shuddered and began. "I was back there," she looked at Jairah, "the place where you found me. But it was as if I had never been freed. Beside me used to be an empty pair of manacles. Only this time it was occupied."
Rowan shook her head and wiped tears away. "Her form never stayed in place, as if she was never there. Like a ghost. Or a spirit." She looked beseechingly at Jairah. "You believe me, don't you?"
Jairah nodded reassuringly. "Go on."
Hesitantly, the Seer continued. "She was so beautiful. So…sad. I could tell her clothes used to be very fine, like a noblewoman's. But, now they were torn, and stained with blood. So much blood. I tried to talk to her, but she never answered."
Rowan stared at her hands. "It was then that it happened."
Legolas quietly prompted her. "What?"
Rowan stared at him sadly. "She finally seemed to notice that I was there. She looked at me. But," Rowan buried her face into her hands. "She had been blinded. All that blood. I had thought she was hurt. And she was! She was crying. Crying so much blood." Rowan couldn't stop shaking. "Her mouth was moving. She was trying to say something, I know it, but I couldn't hear anything. Before I could do anything, her body jerked, and she was dead. Then I was here."
Jairah was till for a few moment before she stood up. "I need to talk to Gandalf."