It had been nearly two weeks since Empusa's attack on Aragorn. He'd remained comatose with little change good/bad. Arwen had taken better care of herself and remained at bedside and helped out faithfully. It pained to see them like this. Just weeks ago I'd been at his crowning...everything had been so happy then; hope had returned to middle earth and its inhabitants. But brother had turned that around for the worse as he always did.

The king groaned before coming awake one morning. "King Aragorn?" I said. "Do you know where you are?" "My bedchamber..." Arwen smiled broadly; she held his one hand while I the other. We were the only ones with him at the moment. I was surprised by his unexpected return to consciousness, but the curse was still operating in uncharted territory. Arwen was just glad to have him back; I was more skeptical for many reasons.

Arwen then stood and put a loving hand on his head. "It's me. I'm not going anywhere." He smiled at her before lunging out to take hold of her throat. "I'll kill you all!" The violence was sudden and speedy. He laughed while squeezing harder. I struck him in the face with a palm strike that was hard enough to knock him out. Arwen fell to the floor coughing. Servants entered at the distress. They assisted her while I stayed near to the king. "What happened?" they said in horror. "The king is not himself." It was the easiest way to explain it to them.

"Majesty, it would be best if you left us for the time being," I told her. She regained her breath and with her hand at her throat nodded slowly. Her eyes grew wet; but she held back any deeper emotions that sought to overwhelm her. Brother had put everyone here through so much already. Mind games/mental warfare was one of his favorites; especially where he could make cruelty flourish. This was why he typically didn't just overwhelm/destroy everything. Arda's dark lords would do the same; just not in the same way at the same time. The royal aides helped the queen out. Eowyn entered, disturbed at the sight. "What happened here?"

"Ares' handiwork." Eowyn gave a small slow nod and then stopped at the opposite bedside. "What can I do?" I could only shake my head. "I don't think there's anything we can do for now." "Wouldn't praying to your gods - your patron Athena - change all of that?" "I've been doing that as I always do; she's been silent." "Why?" "The gods, including Athena, have been silent many times during crises. It is always a juggle between providence and freewill. Zeus has a plan for everything and everyone. Only he can see that. This too, crazy as it is, plays into that plan somehow."

"How do you see it playing into things though?" I sighed and took a seat at the king's bedside. I looked at him. "Knowing brother as I do...he will turn Aragorn into a monster. Not a literal one; but he will never be the same again if we cannot remove the curse. I don't believe brother intends to kill the king with it unless he has to; as I'd originally thought." "Couldn't we just remove him from power until he should be cured?" "It's not that simple. Gondor's throne was vacant for so long due to Isildur's corruption; a longstanding mental curse in itself. Aragorn was the first king to restore that sense of hope again in the throne. If that hope is lost again...Gondor will destroy itself from the inside out. It won't need orc armies from the outside to do it as we tend to look for." Eowyn paled at the insidiousness of it. "That's hideous..."

I could only give a bent smile at the all too familiar irony of it all; I gazed at the king. "That's brother."