An update! Yay! No time to respond to all the reviews now - I don't think there were many questions, either, although if there were I will try and answer them next chapter.
annie, wait and see! :)
If this chapter seems rough, it is. I barely brushed over this one before posting it. The timeline will also wander a lot. There are also a lot of typos in this thing - I wasn't using any sort of spell-check programming in this chapter, so I apologize in advance.
Enjoy!
Aragorn opened his eyes, staring upwards into Arwen's face. "I am asleep. This is a dream."
Arwen smiled. "Then it is a good dream." She bent, pressing her lips to his. "Sleep."
He shook his head and rose, walking slowly to the arched window. "Minlû pedich nin i aur hen telitha."
"Ú i vethed na i onnad," she said. "Boe bedich go Frodo. Han bâd lîn."
Aragorn shook his head. "Dolen i vâd o nin."
Arwen merely smiled, looking at him with knowing eyes full of affection. "Si peliannen i vâd na dail lin. Si boe ú-dhannathach."
"Arwen -" he whispered.
She lifted a finger to his lips, silencing him. "Ae ú-esteliach nad, estelio han, estelio ammen..." She hesitated, then said, "Trust us."
"You are tired." Boromir looked at her across the fire, eyes half-shut.
Tauriel glanced upward at him and then returned her gaze to the sparking logs. "Aye. Though it was but a handful of moons ago, it feels like the journey has lasted a lifetime."
He shifted, wincing slightly. "You must want to go home."
"I have no home," she said flatly. "I gave it up years ago."
"But if you did? What would you do?"
"I do not know." Tauriel paused. "If I had one wish, it would be to go back and make things right. But I know I cannot - not now, not ever." Her eyes cut to his somber face for a brief moment. "And you?"
"My brother," Boromir said heavily.
She frowned. "Your brother?"
"Faramir. I would set things right with him. It has been many a day since we stood together as equals, in his eyes."
"How so?"
"My father. He cares little for Faramir and praises me for tasks completed by my brother." Her chuckled humorously. "Faramir will never be more than the second son in my father's eyes, weak and incompetent."
"Surely he is not so daft as that."
"He is half-mad, it seems. Faramir is a good, strong man, and would surely be respected by my father if he was not my father's son."
Tauriel shook her head. "If he is anything like you, your father is blind."
"He is that and more," he said bitterly.
Tauriel glanced at him, not entirely sure which person Boromir was referring to. He did not elaborate, however, and she lapsed into thoughtful silence.
Three camp-fires away, Legolas stared unseeing into the ever-changing firelight. In one hand a piece of parchment lay, the paper that had once been fresh and clean stained with mud and dabs of blood. He clenched his fist abruptly, jaw tensing, and after a long moment uncrumpled the abused piece of parchment.
He looked down at it, eyes tracing words that had become depressingly familiar throughout the past while.
I will have to tell her soon, he thought. And though he had long hoped for something similar to this, now that it was before him he found himself daunted by the prospect.
"Where is she?" Eowyn asked, gesturing towards Aragorn's neck. "The woman who gave you that jewel, I mean."
Our time here is ending.
Aragorn was silent for a long moment.
"My lord?" Eowyn asked, touching his elbow.
"She is sailing to the Undying lands with all that is left of her kin," he said quietly.
"Arwen's time is ending," Lord Elrond said. "Let her go. Let her take the ship into the west. Let her bear away her love for you to the Undying Lands. There it will be ever green."
"But never more than a memory." There was an echo of pain in Aragorn's voice.
Elrond's words cracked out like a whip. "I will not leave my daughter here to die."
"She stays because she still has hope."
He shook his head. "She stays for you. She belongs with her people."
Tauriel closed her eyes, unconsciously sinking into a world of memories.
"Nach gwannatha sin? Ma nathach? Hi gwannathach or minuial archened?" Arwen stared at Aragorn, lips parted slightly.
"Ú-ethelithon," Aragorn said heavily.
Arwen shook her head gently. "Estelio guru lîn ne dagor. Ethelithach."
"Ú-bedin o gurth ne dagor."
"O man pedich?" she whispered.
"Edra le men, men na guil edwen, haer o auth a nîr a naeth." The words were forced past his lips.
Arwen stared at him, eyes glistening with tears. "Why are you saying this?"
"I am mortal. You are elf-kind. It was a dream, Arwen. Nothing more."
She shook her head violently. "I don't believe you."
Aragorn took her head, uncurling her fingers so that he could drop the necklace into it. "This belongs to you."
She refused to take it. "It was a gift." She pushed it back into Aragorn's hand, wrapping his fingers around it. "Keep it."
Tauriel forced herself from the past, lurching dangerously close to the fire. Her heart was beating rapidly, pulse roaring in her temples. She lowered her head to her hands, world spinning as everything began to hurt all over again.
Her worry over Eowyn and her fascination with Aragorn tripled ten-fold.
Why? she thought. Why did Arwen not tell me when she saw me in Rivendell? Unless - she saw me before Aragorn. Yes, that must be it. It is the only reasonable explanation.
She spun, searching for Aragorn. He sat at a fire, laughing over something Eowyn said. Fire boiled in her blood for an instant, and suddenly the vague feeling of uneasiness and irritation she got around Eowyn was legitimized.
He will not let Arwen go, she told herself. I will make sure of it.
Tauriel watched in mild curiosity as Hama's horse flung itself backwards and away from the cliff. Beside her, Boromir eyed horse and rider with heavy-lidded eyes.
"What is it?" Gamling called. "Hama?"
"I'm not sure," Hama said, his voice periodically fading as the wind whipped his words away.
Tauriel watched the exchange for a moment longer, deeming it nothing to be worried about. She had heard nothing, nor seen anything out of the ordinary. Most of the horses were acting normally, and though the wind was distorting most sounds as they reached her ears, she was confident that someone would have seen something if an attack was imminent.
Hama spun his horse and began returning to the others even as a Warg lept from a pile of rocks nearby.
The horse squealed loudly, the sound cut off abruptly as the dog-like creature ripped its throat apart. Hama was flung to the ground, and Tauriel's eyes widened. In an instant, the Warg was on top of Hama, ripping at him for a moment before tossing him aside.
She swung Brego around, reaching for an arrow from her quiver. Acting purely on instinct, she nocked three arrows and released them all into the Warg's chest. The beast's coat was thick, but the combined injuries did it in. It howled briefly and then collapsed.
"Wargs!" Gamling bellowed, and a thin film of panic began to spread over the others.
Tauriel slid an arrow to her bowstring, waiting before loosing her quarrel. Gamling was fighting with the Warg's rider, now, and she did not want to risk hitting him.
Her mind was clear, her eyes and ears fine-tuned to her surroundings. Battle against the things she loathed deeply did not affect her in any way - indeed, she enjoyed it, loved to hear the gurgle of blood in a dying Orc's throat as it choked on the damage she had created.
There was another slight creaking of a bowstring being drawn, and she glanced to one side. Legolas had raised his bow towards the fight, frowning as he calculated movements and the force of the wind.
Gamling fell to one side. It was not much, but it was enough.
Legolas loosed his quarrel, Tauriel following suit a half-beat later. Both arrows shot towards the intended target, Tauriel's projectile catching up due to her bow's heavier draw weight. They struck at the same time, and the Orc crumpled to the ground, two arrow shafts protruding from its neck.
"A scout!" Boromir roared, and behind them Aragorn turned and ran back to the refugees.
"What is it?" Theoden demanded. "What do you see?"
"Wargs," Aragorn said sharply, and the women around him began to wail. "We're under attack. Get them out of here."
Tauriel joined him, grabbing the reins of his horse from Eowyn's hands and thrusting them into Aragorn's grasp. Aragorn mounted quickly, patting the horse's neck as he palmed the length of the reins.
"All riders to the head of the column!" Theoden bellowed. Tauriel spun Brego, then eased back on the reins as Gimli struggled to mount his horse.
"Come on," the dwarf muttered. "Get me up here. I'm a rider. Come on." He finally succeeded, straightened proudly, and almost pitched himself off on side.
"You must lead the people to Helm's Deep," Theoden said to Eowyn, looking down at her. "Make haste, I beg you."
"I can fight," Eowyn said, her words iron-hard.
"No! You must do this, for me."
"Tauriel!" Boromir roared, and Tauriel turned Brego. A part of her wanted to hear the rest of the conversation, but blood-lust won.
She guided the horse with her knees, nocking multiple arrows on her bow as she moved Brego quickly towards the cliff. Legolas was releasing arrows in rapid succession, aiming in the space of a heartbeat.
"Follow me!" Theoden called somewhere behind them. His voice faded away as she focused.
Tauriel calculated the distance, aiming for a particularly large Warg and rider. She released three arrows, two for the Warg and one for its rider. As the arrows hissed away, she felt that they were both good shots and quickly nocked two more.
Emptying saddles as fast as she could, she saw that Legolas had picked up the slack. Wargs were once more tumbling to the ground.
There was no more time. They were almost upon them.
She swung Brego around. To her side, Legolas rushed towards the horse he often shared with Aragorn, swinging himself up easily.
Tauriel drew her sword. Though she would have preffered her daggers, the twin blades were too short for the task before her.
There was a moment of silence, broken only by the huff of horses and the whistling wind.
And then an order was called out, and everyone was flying towards what would be, for some, their deaths.
"Aren't you lovely?" Audriel murmured, tracing Aruelle's jaw with one finger. Her sister flinched, but held her ground.
"Leave me be."
Audriel clicked her tongue. "I am afraid you will not be that lucky." There was a rasp of steel against leather, and then there was a blade lowered to Aruelle's throat.
"I don't know where it is," Aruelle said calmly. Red hair spilled across one cheek, hiding a red splotch where Audriel had slapped her.
Audriel's eyes rolled upwards with exasperation. "Of course you know where it is. You've known for years. I've heard you calling out in your sleep, ranting on and on about how 'the stars are falling.' "
Aruelle ground her teeth for a moment, then straightened, gathering herself further. "You are lucky I am not like you, sister," she said softly. "If I was, you would be dead."
Audriel's hand snaked out, connecting with Aruelle's unmarked cheek with a loud crack. Her sister's head snapped to one side, pale skin turning mottled red.
Aruelle slowly raised a hand to her face, fingertips brushing against what would soon be a bruise.
"You mock me," Audriel spat.
"No," Aruelle whispered. "I have no need to do so. You have done a remarkably good job of that yourself."
Boromir stabbed at a passing Warg, his sword slicing through a layer of fur and into skin and muscles. The Warg roared, falling helplessly onto its side. He raised his sword, preparing to behead the creature as best he could, but stopped as an arrow hit the Warg in the middle of its forehead. He recognized the fletching as Tauriel's and turned his gaze to the direction in which the shaft had come from.
She met his gaze almost immediately, and for a moment he did not recognize her. A wild grin was pulling at her lips; she looked happier than he had seen her for a long time.
Her eyes widened suddenly, mouth opening as she screamed a warning. He spun, sword raised, the movement pulling painfully at the inflamed scar tissue on his torso.
A Warg barreled towards him, froth flying from its mouth. He braced himself and spewed curses, praying that Tauriel would bring the beast down, for he had no chance of stopping it by himself. He heard her cry out again, and in the corner of his eye her bow drew back in preparation of loosing an arrow.
She let the arrow fly.
She missed.
I know, I am evil. I did not originally intend to end it there, but, well... If it seems odd that Tauriel should miss just this one time, that will also be explained later on. I know there was a lot of elvish, too - if you want a translation feel free to ask me!
Reviews, as always, are love. ;) An update should be up within the next two weeks!