Disclaimer: Not mine. You'll all be the first to know if the LOTR rights change hands. Honest - you'll open Yahoo!, and poof, it'll be there as the main article of the day. :P
Author's notes: Sorry sorry - I've been busy working! Still am... working for my aunt, putting up decor and taking stockcheck of Christmas decor in a local hotel. I'm not at home, but thankfully my aunt has wireless... but I haven't had time to write or do more than check email every day..... sorry! Anyway, here's chapter 7, which took ages to get out... but FairOphelia said it was nice, so... haha, I don't know, I'll let you all judge! Do drop a review - it'll make my day after a hard day of work! Seriously, I work all afternoon and evening, have a short break for dinner, then work again until 12am.... I'm bushed! Have pity - let me know what you think!
Review responses:
Black Wolf-Dog - Thanks! I"m glad you liked it... but uh, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no spoilers! Haha.... Lady will face her rival when the time is right!
Rushingriver - Hehe... yeah... but I figure it isn't unrealistic for her to be so completely clueless about Aragorn and Estel even now - she's only half-human, eh? ;)
ShadowTraveler - I don't know if I PMed you about it, but I think you're the first and only person to actually come close to guessing what the Stone is. :) Well done! Cyber-cookies for you! Seriously, everyone else seems confused about it, but well done - empathy IS a part of what her newest Stone is. Read on and see! ;)
SaphirePhoenix - Hey, don't diss Pokemon songs! Pokemon is still a cool show that I love and enjoy even at 19+ years of age, and even if the show itself gets a bit repetitive and childish at times, there are still enough awesome moments in it for me to still love it - and the songs are all first rate! If you haven't already, go check them out! The Pokemon movie 2000 soundtrack is especially cool, and the instrumental tracks for the first movie soundtrack can bring tears to the eyes. :)
I hope you have caught up on your sleep... and thanks, I'm glad you like the story! :)
Kaisaan - No, Lady's rival (or antithesis as people are calling her) is not dangergurl's character. Uh, people do keep asking... but don't worry, I'll tell you when there's even a preview of a preview of dangergurl's character, okay? LOL...
(spoiler warning)She'll be in a later chapter, most likely after the Pelennor Fields. I can't fit her in sooner, and don't have time to write so I can't be more exact... you know me.
(end spoiler)
This whole thing is more like a PWP... I go with the flow and haven't really planned it out... it's how I do all my stories, but surprisingly, some parts really fit with others as though I really did write it all out and plan it! Only the first... I think 9 chapters were in my notebooks and pretty much unchanged, which is why Wolfheart started out pretty badly and only became nicer to read when they reached Lothlorien.... Anyway, do keep reading and stay in touch! :)
Inspired Butterfly - Hm, care to ask some of the questions you have? I might be able to answer them, if not through PM then in a later chapter?
New Year - was fun, thanks. Did what we did every year: went to Watch Night service in church, then had a photo session in church (what we call cam-whoring... which means we go crazy and take all kinds of pictures and everything. :) Hey, I didn't come up with the word!). All in all, a good start to a new year with friends.
KireKhana Faerring - Wow! Do you really like Keldric? Well, I don't know about him... I did think of putting him in a lot more... maybe in a later chapter? Haha, we shall see I guess... I'll definitely think more about that since you say you'd like to see a bit more of him... thanks! I'm happy that he's loved by SOMEONE besides me.... :) And for the anti-Lady idea, I figured that she needed a rival. It's what happens in life, not everyone will love you or be your friend - and we know I like my fics to be as realistic as possible! So I decided she needed a rival... thus the Dark Star was born, and we shall see her later.
sparkalie - Peace, grasshopper, all will be explained in a later chapter. For now, we shall continue with the fic, yes? :) And yes, I suppose the champion of the dark will be scary... but it won't be like 'i-gotta-hang-on-to-someone's-hand-while-i-read' scary, so no worries! ;) Happy New Year to you too, ages late... but what does Happy Three Kings mean? :?
Well, thanks for all the reviews and I hope everyone's still here with me! Traffic on this seems to have slowed... oh dear. I only hope this chapter continues to live up to expectation... though yes, it took ages to work through due to writer's block. I don't think it's anything special - but hope you all like it anyway!
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Chapter 7
Morning found us gathered in the main hall with Théoden-King, though from my sleepless night I found that I was tired and shaky on my paws. I stayed close to Aragorn, feeling strangely drained, and pulling in deep breaths that somehow didn't seem able to fill my lungs with enough air. Too tired to care, I stretched out by the fire and tried hard not to doze off as my friends began discussing the events of the night, and what was to come. This was important, I reminded myself, and even if I couldn't contribute anything I should probably listen…
Gandalf was speaking; having started this meeting. Facing the King, he explained first about how Pippin had taken the palantír and gazed into its depths, and how he had seen in the Stone a glimpse of the Enemy's plan – so no harm was done in the end to Frodo and his Quest... in fact, it seemed we had actually gained from Pippin's little mishap, though it hadn't seemed like such a blessing at the time…
Théoden's face remained stern and unreadable, and when I looked to where Pippin was slumped in a chair beside his loyal cousin, I saw the hobbit look shamefacedly away and knew he felt sorry for what he had done. Poor Pippin – if nothing else, maybe this would help him to mature a little and think his actions through before doing something in the future. The youngest of the hobbits, he had quite some growing left to do, actually…
A sharp pain ripped through my chest and I gasped, opening my mouth and panting slightly. The fire's glow seemed to dim as I turned and shifted closer to it, shivering.
It was freezing in here, wasn't it? Funny how no one else seemed to notice…
A cloak draped itself over my back, and I looked gratefully up at Legolas, who had dropped it there. I was still cold, but oh well, it was the thought that counted. The Elf looked slightly concerned as he met my gaze, but both of us were distracted as Gandalf continued speaking.
"Sauron moves to strike the city of Minas Tirith. His defeat at Helm's Deep showed our enemy one thing. He knows the heir of Elendil has come forth. Men are not as weak as he supposed."
I glanced up. The words sounded familiar… hadn't Ethyliss used this very same description in the dreamscape when telling me of Aragorn and his bloodline? Gandalf met my gaze and went on, unconsciously repeating more of what the Nature Spirit had said,
"There is courage still, strength enough, perhaps to challenge him. Sauron fears this. He will not risk the peoples of Middle-earth uniting under one banner. He will raze Minas Tirith to the ground before he sees a king return to the throne of Men. If the beacons of Gondor are lit, Rohan must be ready for war." The Wizard looked to Théoden, and an eyebrow arched in surprise as the King looked steadily back at him, and questioned,
"Tell me. Why should we ride to the aid of those who did not come to ours? What do we owe Gondor?"
The aura of the room around me seemed to darken, but to my surprise the Stones did not glow. Even the wolf sensed it, the sudden tension that oozed steadily from the Rohan King, further marred by a slight tang of bitterness, because the Wizard seemed to expect him and his people to stand by, ready to help those who had not helped them when they'd been in need. I paused, watching for any threatening follow-up movements, but thankfully the danger seemed to pass, the darkness in the room lifting as the King looked away and Aragorn spoke out suddenly.
"I will go," the Ranger declared, his tone and expression more intense than even I had seen in him before. But before he could continue, the Wizard was already shaking his head.
"No," he negated.
"They must be warned!" my friend exclaimed, and Gandalf nodded.
"They will be," he soothed. Striding over to the Man with smooth, unhurried steps, the Wizard lowered his voice and went on, "You must come to Minas Tirith by another road. Follow the river. Look to the black ships."
I frowned at that, not really understanding the cryptic message, but at any rate it seemed to soothe Aragorn and I felt the Ranger relax slightly as Gandalf turned back to the room and raised his voice to normal volume once again.
"Understand this," Gandalf said, "Things are now in motion that cannot be undone. I ride for Minas Tirith." He paused, and slanted his keen gray gaze to Pippin, who shrank away with wide eyes. "And I won't be going alone." Nodding thoughtfully, he announced to the room: "Peregrin, you will be coming with me."
If I'd had the energy, I would have leapt to my paws and protested, but I was strangely apathetic about the prospect of losing my youngest friend. I lowered my head and sighed, but the cold had grown worse, and the ache inside of me had turned into an agonizing, dull throbbing that I could not bear. Pippin looked about as stunned as I felt, though he said nothing, but the others all seemed to understand… and even if they didn't, they trusted Gandalf's judgment. If the Wizard said that Pippin was better off with him, then surely it was so. I watched as Gandalf wrapped up his discussion with the King and had a few words with Aragorn, and I caught the whispers that told the Ranger that he was in charge in the Wizard's absence, and that he was to watch and wait for his signal, which would come when the time was right. Merry would remain here with us, as would I this time – a decision that normally would have filled me with great relief at the thought that I need not leave my friends once again. But this time, I was more concerned about the fact that I was near enough to the fire to have my fur singed and blood boiled, and yet I felt frozen right down to the very marrow. Legolas' cloak was an incredible weight on my fur, but somehow I got unsteadily to my paws and staggered after my friends as Gandalf prepared himself to leave. No one noticed when I fell behind, unable to keep up with their long, hurried strides, or indeed even with Merry and Pippin's shorter-stepped trot. It was more than just exhaustion now – every step was agony, and it was all I could do to keep remembering to put one paw in front of the other.
I think it was right about then that I started to figure out that something was wrong. My chest continued to ache, I felt as though I'd been buried in ice, and I barely had the strength to move. Was I ill? Greencough? But no, these weren't symptoms of any type of sickness I'd ever seen or heard of. Struggling with every dragging step, I was reduced to practically crawling over the floor to the landing, where I allowed myself to collapse, telling myself that maybe I just needed to catch my breath for a few minutes and then I would feel better.
The trouble was, by now I couldn't even breathe. Or rather, I could, but the air I drew in never seemed nearly enough, and soon I was choking and wheezing. Rolling on the floor, the cloak unintentionally providing some cushioning against the stone, I coughed out blood, sucking in a burning rush of air…
I don't think I would have made it if the guards at the door hadn't come to my aid. One fell to the ground beside me and called for the healers, and another raced a little way down the steps to catch up to Legolas and Gimli. The Elf at least had sensed that something was wrong, his Elven hearing managing to catch the sounds of my distress and pain, and now he came running swiftly back.
Knowing that my friends would take care of me, I ignored the quiet pleading of the Rohirrim guard for me to stay awake, and closed my eyes.
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I wandered in dark dreams, with no sense of purpose of direction of any kind, knowing only that I searched for a light that I felt would never shine, or at least, not in time. The fatigue and listlessness dogged me even here, and the never-ending darkness itself was suffocating. I was tempted to just sit down and stop searching, but something else told me that if I did, I would never get up again, and while I wasn't too sure how I felt about that, I did know that for now, I still had the will to keep looking for what I sought, and so giving up was out of the question.
And then it came. A sigh escaped, a relieved sound that echoed on the wind. Yellow and bright, it represented what I had lost - and so I rushed towards it and leapt right in with a desperate cry of need and pain…
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I awakened in Aragorn's arms, held securely against his bare chest, draped across his lap. My friend was singing softly to me in what sounded like Elvish, and I soaked in every word like a thirsty man would gulp down water. It didn't matter that his voice was rougher and deeper in song than I was used to hearing, and it didn't matter that I couldn't understand a word that he was singing. Finally, my frozen body had found something that gave me some small semblance of warmth, and so I glommed onto the source of it, burrowing deeper and closer and harder into my friend's embrace, breathing his scent in deeply and letting him be balm to my pain. Aragorn grunted a little as I bumped against his body, but he continued his song, his expression becoming more tender and gentle as he worked to soothe me and keep me calm.
As I slowly grew used to my surroundings, I became aware of Legolas, Gimli, Merry and Éowyn all standing around us, and Aragorn and I were both on a soft white bed in the middle of one of the healing rooms, a place in Edoras I had not exactly been eager to visit again so soon. They smiled concernedly at me as I met each of their gazes, and then Legolas moved a little closer to rub behind my ears as he explained what had happened to me.
"You collapsed outside the entrance to the hall," he reminded me, and I nodded seriously back. Yes, I remembered that. Then what had happened?
"We wanted to bring you to the healers," Éowyn took up the explanation. "I came running as soon as I heard the guards calling for help, but by then you were unconscious – and we could not touch you, Lady. Every time we tried, you cried out as if in pain, and you…" she paused, swallowed slightly, and continued, "It was as if your color faded a little wherever we tried to touch you, like we were somehow draining the very spirit from your body as we tried to help…. It wasn't until a little later when Lord Aragorn returned from seeing Gandalf and Pippin off that we finally found someone who was able to carry you without hurting you further, and so we brought you here. But the healers still cannot tell us what is wrong with you, and that was when Aragorn decided that the problem was likely nothing to do with any illness known to Man, Elf, Dwarf or Hobbit – and that probably your predicament came instead from… those." She gestured towards my collar, and I realized that she was referring to the Stones.
It actually made sense. Reaching out with a shaky paw towards the cold Stone of Courage, I saw that although it glowed in response, its reaction was very slight, and the orange light was dim and muted when it should have been bold and bright. It was the same for the Stones of Friendship and Kindness, and for Knowledge and Hope as well – in fact, the Stone of Hope stayed cool and did not glow at all; not even a glimmer was reflected in the small yellow orb. My heart sank as I saw it – what had happened to them, and why was this happening to me? Had I done something wrong?
I huddled closer to Aragorn, whose quiet song had ended by now, and he in turn held me close and gently stroked my back and head. Maintaining these actions, he looked up and began to speak. "I rather wish Gandalf had not left," he sighed wearily to the room. "This is beyond even my skills as a healer; I do not know how to help her. It was instinct alone that told me that though you all could not touch her, I would be able to without further harming her, and it was instinct again that told me that I would be able to call her back before we lost her completely. Now… I do not know what to do. Still, Gandalf was in a hurry to be on the road. He seemed to think it imperative that he reached Gondor to help, and as it is, it is a three-day ride as the Nazgul flies."
"Maybe we could ride after him and call him back?" Merry asked uncertainly, but here I shook my head. No! Bad enough that I was causing all this trouble, but now I couldn't let them distract Gandalf from his mission to Gondor when he was sorely needed there. No. I'd be fine. Stones or otherwise, whatever this problem was, I'd rather solve it without having to fetch the Wizard back again. I didn't want to give him yet another burden to bear without necessity… he already carried enough as it was.
My friends all turned puzzled glances in my direction, but even as I pondered how to explain myself to them, a deep pain hit me right in the gut and I gasped because it hurt. Aragorn's grip tightened on me, sending bolts of pure love and warmth through me, but even that didn't help, and he was hard pressed to keep holding onto me when I began writhing in pain… My friends all surged forward as one united group, and touched by their concern and anxiety, I felt something impossible happen.
A single tear welled up and fell from my right eye, trickling wetly down my furry muzzle and onto my leather collar of Stones…
And a flash of brilliant green exploded throughout the entire room in an exceedingly bright nimbus that blinded us all for a long moment before suddenly disappearing and revealing – Kelda.
I gaped at her, then glanced quickly and furtively around at my friends and was relieved to see that they were all staring at her too. It meant that they saw her, then, that she was currently visible to them all. I'd thought she'd gone to her final rest, but if she was here…
"Hi, everyone," the little ghost-child said shyly, one hand going up to play uncertainly with one of her long blonde curls. "My name's Kelda, and I'm here to help Lady."
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Kelda's reception was pretty much a mixture of disbelief, incredulity, and open-mouthed shock, but there was no fear in either me or my friends at all, despite the fact that we were all being introduced to one of the "formerly alive". Éowyn recognized her, of course, for she had known the little girl when she'd been alive, but before she could do more than exclaim aloud, Kelda took charge of the situation with a calm maturity that I hadn't known one so young could possess. It was like her entire demeanor changed from that of an innocent, helpless, young child to that of a world-wise adult stuck in a child's body, far more grown-up than she'd been even the last time I'd seen her, just last night. Somehow, she pulled it off well, and with a few words and gestures she had everyone gathered around Aragorn and I on the bed once again.
"Yes, I'm a ghost," she stated, matter-of-factly. "I know I haven't been alive since my brother was a child, Lady Éowyn, but the fact is that my spirit still remained here in Middle-Earth even after my body was laid to rest, both because I felt that I needed to watch over my family, and because I was a Stonebearer. Like Lady. As the protector of the seventh Stone, I could not rest until I had passed it on – something I did not know until they sent me back. As I said, my name is Kelda, sister to Keldric son of Cerdic, and I am here now because Lady is in serious trouble."
"Well, tell us something we don't know," Gimli rumbled with his rolling Dwarven accent, slightly testy and looking as though he still wasn't completely convinced that Kelda could be trusted. The Dwarf made that rather obvious, too, from the way he was holding his axe up in a ready-to-attack position and standing pointedly between me and the little girl's spirit. Young as she was, Kelda seemed to understand, and she grinned as she addressed him with a respectful little nod of her head.
"Lord Gimli, I can assure you that I truly mean none of you any harm. Lady truly is in danger, as you can see. In fact," she sobered up again, "To put it simply, she is dying. She has -"
There was a silent eruption in the room as all my friends jerked their heads around to look at her. She sighed, and looked at me, but I wasn't sure how to respond myself. Maybe because not too long ago, I myself had begun to suspect that very same thing… somewhere between my collapsing before the doors to the hall and waking up in Aragorn's arms, I'd just known. I guess all I had been waiting for was for someone to voice it aloud…
With a wave of her hand, Kelda once again got all my friends to quieten and listen to her. "She is dying," she repeated firmly, raising her voice a little so that the tumbling outbursts of my friends were cut off mid-flow. "I'm sure that you all know very well that there is no cure for death, no miracle remedy that can prevent the leeching of a person's life force from their bodies when the time comes. Well, Lady has lost something, something that she needs to find again. And because of that, her life force is slowly draining out of her like water through a sieve. And while I cannot replace what she has lost – because she must find it for herself – I can help by giving her something else that might help her instead…"
And suddenly, I knew what was coming. Sitting up straight, I looked straight at her with an unwavering gaze, leaning slightly forward – though I dared not leave the safety of Aragorn's arms. It was as though putting even a little distance between the Ranger and myself would cause me to lose the warmth I had found, and the pain would start all over again. I knew, I knew, that this arrangement couldn't last forever – eventually he would have to separate from me, he would have to go to places where I couldn't follow – but for now, I needed him, and he did not deny me. Both a gentleman and a friend, he took care of me even now, as Kelda ghost-walked over to me and silently removed the green Stone from around her neck, gravely setting it in its place on my collar. There wasn't much drama, or aplomb, or fanfare – but now I had the seventh Stone.
And how it blazed! Green as a field of new grass in spring, and with a pure and sweet and refreshing scent that I recognized from the first time I'd scented it, I almost literally felt new life flowing into me as I felt the Stone begin to work its magic on my soul. Passed from one Bearer to another, it nonetheless didn't miss a beat, glowing unashamedly and willingly sharing its strength with me without even a need for pause. Touching a paw to it, I saw the glistening green outline of a single shining teardrop turning slowly in my mind, and a sound of pure happiness bubbled up from my throat, as the Stone gifted me with renewed energy and rejuvenated my spirit. Deep inside of me, I felt the pain recede, and that dreadful pulling on my soul seemed to stop, as though a hole had been plugged somewhere within…. or as though everything that had been flowing out was now being yanked back in from the opposite direction. Finally able to pull away from Aragorn, I managed a weak, yet still joy-filled smile.
I could feel again. And better yet, I could see myself, clear as day, deep within my suffering soul – and I knew what it was that I had lost somewhere along the way. Somewhere between Ethyliss' warnings to me in the dreamscape and after Pippin's encounter with the Seeing Stone, I had lost sight of the light inside, which was, simply: hope. That was what I'd lost - I'd lost hope. I'd let my fears and worries take away my natural optimism and dim the light that was usually so strong within me, and as a result, I'd lost my direction and purpose and reason for going on… along with a bunch of other important things as well.
Kelda gave me a knowing smile as I turned to her with gratefulness in my eyes and a new light in my gaze. Still, that wisdom and maturity that guided her as surely as my instincts guided me led her to nod formally to me, saying: "That is one of the rarer gifts of Sincerity, my Lady Wolf, the gift of allowing you to see yourself as you truly are, the good and bad, thus giving you the ability to right all your wrongs and correct what needs to be corrected. You know now that you lost your hope, and for some reason only Aragorn could give it back to you…"
"She lost hope?" Éowyn looked surprised. "But… is that all? I mean, do people die from losing their hope?"
"Begging your pardon, but you're not thinking, my Lady Éowyn," Kelda answered her calmly, turning to the lady of Rohan. "For some of us, hope is all that keeps us going when there are no other reasons for living in our lives. For Lady, as a Stonebearer, it becomes even more important, because for her, hope is life. Don't you know the saying: 'A man can live for a few days without food, a few hours without water – but a man cannot live for even a moment without hope?' Connected to the Stones as she is, the instant Lady lost her hope, she began to lose her life-force… and that was why she was in such pain. Dying that way hurts. And if Lord Aragorn had not come to her in time, you would all have lost her completely."
Aragorn's hands tightened in my fur.
"But we didn't," Legolas pointed out quietly, and the fierce grip on my pelt loosened, but only slightly. The Elf was looking at me with a strangely intense expression on his face, as were they all… and I was just starting to feel rather uncomfortable at their scrutiny when Kelda smiled and agreed.
"No, you didn't," she echoed the Elf's words. "Thank the Valar you didn't. And now, I must take my leave. My work here is done; no further ties connect me to this world. I can rest now in peace. Lady, to you I say only: good luck. There are hard times ahead, but I believe you have the strength to overcome whatever Sauron or the world throws at you. You may not have found all of your light again, but you will, and until you do… take care. The Stone of Sincerity will shine for you now, and the light of honesty, purity and empathy will remain with you for as long as it does. Fare well."
And in a tiny nimbus of shimmering rainbow colors, Kelda daughter of Cerdic promptly disappeared, leaving me with my overjoyed and relieved friends, who, regardless of whether they believed in or understood all that had happened here today, were simply glad that I was no longer dying, but still alive. The light of Friendship slowly began growing again, building up from its Stone, and it joined with the green light of Sincerity and the pale glow of my newly restored Hope to surround me and my friends in the unity that came from Friendship and love. And like happy, playful river otters, we fell together and hugged each other, while a smiling Éowyn watched from the bedside.
And yet somehow, in my relief and joy, all I could think of was… that Aragorn really, really needed to wear his shirt again, because he looked better with than without it…
Yep. Hope restored, my special brand of humor back in place - I was back.
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Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate parts, and you will see something quite new. You must go on trying to be sincere. Each day you put on a mask, and you must take it off little by little.
- G.I. Gurdjieff, Views From the Real World
"Hope is the biggest lie there is, and it is the best. We have to keep going as if it all mattered, or else we wouldn't keep going at all."
- Allison "Allie" Keys, Taken (portrayed by Dakota Fanning)
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Yes, two quotes for this chappie. I haven't been adding them recently, now I have an overabundance of quotes! LOL... do drop a review! Concrit, liked it, hated it... tell me! I'm so tired from work and now I'm homesick but can't go home till Tuesday morning... ahhh! Please review and feed the author! Even if it's just concrit - she wants feedback, positive, negative and otherwise!
Happy Chinese New Year, which is just around the corner, to all who celebrate it!
RK9.
Ps - expect slow updates due to a busy work schedule! Sorry...