(Celebrimbor)
He did not expect her to scream.
He did not even expect her to see him.
He watched as she dropped her burlap sack in shock, her face draining completely white. Her mouth gaped open and her eyes were wide with disbelief and terror. That one moment's pause gave him enough time to get a full observation of the girl: small, skinny, fair skin with freckles splashed across her nose, long brown hair looped in a braid with loose strands, red lips, and large eyes shiny and blue-green like the sea. She was looked to be a child between ten and twelve, maybe thirteen, barely entering the early stages of womanhood. And not bad-looking for one her age...for a human, he noted.
Then she let out a loud scream, catching him completely off-guard. He looked behind him, expecting a Uruk to be charging at her, but when he saw nothing there, he then realized with shock that she was screaming at the sight of him.
"You can see me?" he choked in disbelief, his voice cracking slightly, not quite comprehending this transition or noticing that the girl was regathering her bag in her fearful haste at the sight of him. He had been wandering within the worlds of darkness and the world of the living for so long his memories started to drift...alone, unnoticed by those who lived, and exiled from those who moved on...Talion could only see him because his body was possessed and preserved by the wraith's spirit...it was to be expected, as well as slightly relieving to have contact with someone, anyone, for who knows how long...but for another living being to see him, without the use of body possession...when it was least expected…..
When she was darting toward the only exit around him, that was when he snapped out of his shock. "I don't believe it...Wait! WAIT!" he shouted. "Not that way!"
He spirited in front of the doorway before she would reach it. At the sight of him, the girl halted with a shriek in fright. The wraith winced. He never had, nor will he expect to be able to see his reflection, for mirrors were meant for only the eyes of the living. But seeing the look in this little girl's eyes, he doubted his face looked very pleasant. He must look a nightmare to this child. Could he possibly have a worse visage than an orc?
Speaking of orcs, there was without doubt Uruks coming this way, having heard this foolish child's screaming throughout the whole fortress. Through his wraithlike vision, and even his elvish hearing, he could sense them coming fast.
Looking in both directions, as if trying to figure out another way to escape, the daughter of Talion yanked out her knife to defend herself. As if a mortal weapon would work on me, he thought skeptically. Without pausing to think, the elf wraith hastily reached forward until his arm passed through the girl's head, who shrieked as their souls connected...with his will, her memories and powerful emotions surging through him, her hand shot forward and out came a bright light.
Through her eyes, he saw the beating of Talion by the Hammer and the capture of his wife by the Tower, before she is passed over by a large Uruk. Talion, bleeding on the floor, was looking toward her and screamed desperately in a raspy voice, "Dirhael, Elanor…..go…..RUN!"
He saw her brother, the one she nicknamed "Rae," running through the fortress with her, pulling her by the hand as he cut down charging orcs…..he saw the young man knock her over the head, speak his farewells and love to her in a sorrowful voice, before forcing her senseless body down a tiny chute….he saw through the girl's eyes, heard her scream her brother's name as she slid down the chute, Dirhael's face the last thing she saw before briefly costumed by darkness, until falling out of the channel bellow and crashing heavily into a wagon full of flour, the force enough the tip it over and knock her out…..
Then he saw her wake up amongst a field full of dead bodies, wept her eyes out in her terror and grief, whimpering, "Mama….Papa…." Then she started climbing back the wall of Narchost, the very place where she was forced to escape, reaching the shattered window of her bedroom….seeing her crouched in the shadows, picking up a star pendant…..throwing kitchen knives at two Uruks, killing them instantly, her breathless expression shocked and sad….
Foolish child! he thought spitefully.
Through his control, the door slammed shut and lock bolted.
When he released her, the child, Elanor, shrieked again, "LET GO!", driving a knife uselessly through his airy body, and retreated in the opposite direction, getting as far away from the wraith as possible. Leaning against the wall, she held up her knife, which trembled visibly. "Keep back! Leave me alone! I swear I didn't rob any bodies! Please don't hurt me! Please don't eat my soul!" she cried and pleaded with him, or maybe with the world. "Please...Oh, sweet Valor, you're not real! Y-You're a...Who are you?!"
"I don't know," he answered calmly, wondering why this girl would think he would "eat her soul" and found the notion ridiculous. He then sent his thoughts to Talion outside the Wall, Find the window to the armory. She is in Narchost's armory.
I know that window! I cannot possibly fit through that! Talion's thoughts shouted back in frustration.
No, but she can. Barely. I had her locked in the armory. The Uruks are coming.
How did you…..YOU LOCKED MY CHILD IN THE ARMORY WITH URUKS HEADING HER WAY?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!
Perhaps I am, but if she had run out that door, the Uruks would have caught her before she would make it to the hall. I cannot do much else until you are here, he snapped.
If anything happens to her, elf...Talion's warning was low and menacing.
Then it will be her fault, not mine. Just hurry.
He could feel the Ranger's rage like a beacon. The elf wraith wondered if he should mention that the daughter can see him, but instead he left it to that, though he could feel the Ranger hurrying over as if it were his own body following, and focused on Elanor, who was hyperventilating against the wall when the shouts of the Uruks were heard on the other side of the door. He cursed inwardly, not having time for this pitiful display, and spirited more closely before the human girl.
Seeing him up close again, Elanor held up her arms as if to block him away, shrieking in panic, "GET AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!" She was wildly waving a knife at him, the blade merely passing through him without effect.
The wraith narrowed his white eyes. He had enough. If fear was the only thing controlling this girl, he would use it to her advantage. She will thank him later. His scarred face loomed inches from hers, who flinched back and shut her eyes, as he growled, "The window, you idiot child! Do not just sit there like a cornered rodent! Get up!"
"W-What-" she stammered, opening her teary eyes at him in shock and confusion.
"GET UP, YOU LITTLE FOOL! MOVE!" When the elf wraith swung his arm at her as if to strike, only to pass through her like water over stone, the girl gasped from the contact...
Startled by the second contact with her soul, bright and pure, the wraith lost his conetration and found himself seeing through the eyes of Talion, who was nearing Narchost on the far right.
(Elanor)
As he was insulting me repeatedly, the wraith's arm passing through me was like my insides were splashed with icy, cold water, shocking me to the core, but enough to make me jump to my feet in terror. His heated words confused me at first, but as soon as I processed them, I remembered that my escape route was the narrow window to my right. Staring at it now, my heart plummeted in distress when seeing how narrow the gap was. How on earth...
The door thumping behind me, the sounds of the Uruks being heard outside, shouting, "Who's in there? Let us in, ya dog!", I jerked into action, my heart pounding as I took off my bow and arrows, piling them with my sack of provisions, before placing them through the opening and pushing them straight out. After a moment's pause, I heard them crash below. After that, I unclasped my cloak and did the same, tears running down my face as my hands shook uncontrollably. Taking off my belt of knives, I tossed them through with my cloak, as well. If I was going to fit through this window, I had to wear as few things as possible.
Terrified that the wraith was back, I looked around to check if he was still gone, feeling slightly relieved and nervous. My mind still couldn't wrap around what I had just witnessed: a wraith! An avenging phantom of a tortured soul. But how...? I shivered.
Not having time to dwell more, I placed my arms through the window gap, which were raised far over my head and pressed together through the tight squeeze, and then launched myself further in with a powerful leap. My hip got stuck in between halfway, my skirts flattening, so I started shifting myself sideway and took a deep breath, my hands gripping the edge of the outside to pull myself forward. My head already on the other side, I felt my braid drop forward and I realized I was still fifteen feet from the hard ground, my stuff scattered in the center. I was terrified of falling forward and landing on my face if I pulled too hard, so as I inched outward, my breathing became more shallow as I struggled to grip the wrinkled ledges of the window. Just a little more...
The door on the other side burst open and I felt a Uruk grab my foot. I screamed as it started to pull me back, but I immediately started kicking back.
"C'mere, ya little-ACK!" My foot connected with its face somewhere, but in the process, I fell forward with a cry. For a moment, I thought about my body breaking when hitting the ground and closed my eyes to wait for the impact...but instead I felt strong arms catch me when I flipped over, causing my savior to crumple to the ground with me.
Thinking it was an Uruk, I then started struggling, kicking and screaming. Oh, Eru, I was dead! I was dead…My eyes remained shut. I didn't want the last thing I see in this world to be my ugly murderer.
"Elanor! Elanor, it's me! It's me! Your papa!"
A large hand stroked my face, but its cold touch shocked me. Gasping, my eyes flew open and found myself looking into my father Talion's face, his eyes wide and face pale with naked fear. "Elanor…." he whispered, as if not quite believing it was me. I felt the same.
"Papa?" I whimpered. The last time I saw him, he and Mother were trapped the clutches of two, tall monsters. Did he escape? Did Mother and Dirhael? Relief crashed over me and burst into tears.
Tears streamed down his face. Choking on a sob, he immediately crushed me to him, embracing me tightly, so tightly that I couldn't breathe and I found myself doing the same. We were both shaking so hard from either fear or relief that I wondered which of us would crumple first. I found myself sobbing while Father kept holding, rocking me slightly as he stroked and kissed my hair. "You're alive, you're alive...oh, my girl..." he kept whispering in a tearful voice that shook me to the core. "I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead..."
I hugged him tighter. Father never cried. I had never seen him cry until now. He must have been really scared, and he was never afraid of anything until last night. There was also something different about him, but my mind was too muddled with other thoughts to dwell on it. I felt his strength surround me and words could not describe how relieved I was to see him alive. I felt so small as I broke down and buried myself further into the safety of his lap.
"Father, everyone is dead," I sobbed in his shoulder. "Everyone...they're all gone...Dirhael...h-he knocked me out...and pushed me down a chute...I woke up all alone and I didn't know what to do...I was so scared..."
He kissed the side of my head again and held me tighter. "I know, I know. I'm here now. I'm here, little star."
"We have to go now, Talion! Save your reunion."
I gasped and looked around. That voice...Chills returned to me. The deep, haunting voice...the wraith. He was back. "Father! That voice!" I cried in fear.
Talion looked around urgently, tensing. He finally stood up and placed me on my feet, before picking back up his sword and instantly started regathering my bag and weapons. "We have to leave! The Uruks will no doubt come after us now! We can outrun them, but stay close to me, alright?" I nodded as he gave me back my bag, weapons, and cloak, and then pulled me at his side, clutching my arm with one firm hand and brandishing his sword with the other.
"What were you doing in the Wall?" Father started demanding, as we ran from the Gate. "If Dirhael pushed you down a chute, then why on this good earth would you go back in?!"
"I needed food and weapons," I tried to explain, trying to keep up with his longer strides. "You always taught me that I should always be prepared..."
"That was dangerous, Elanor!" he scolded me. "They would have caught you! You could have been killed!"
"But I wasn't!" More or less. "Anyway, I got what I wanted and you're here now. Are Mother and Dirhael with you? Where are they?"
He didn't answer me, or look at me. Hearing Uruks shouting behind us, the roots of my hair rose and I started to look behind me...
"Don't look back, Elanor! Keep going!" my father commanded, and I obeyed, trying my very best to resist the temptation.
Eventually, crossing the ruined field, we reached a clutter of abandoned walls and ancient monoliths of Cirith Gorgor. My father pulled me with him as we swerved around the structures, their white-gray stone containing a very stale odor about their surface. They were crumpled and half-built, being over thousands of years old, yet remaining untouched. They were seen by the Rangers as historical marks of Mordor, used well for seeing in higher points or as strategy bases.
We crouched near a wall, Talion pulling me behind him with one arm as he peaked over the side, tense and ready for something to pounce out. His sword gripped tightly in his hand at his side. I took the time to properly look at my father, peering up at him, and frowned slightly. There was definitely something different about him. I noticed that his clothes were torn, missing one sleeve on his right arm, and his blue cloak tattered and bloodstained, but it was how pale his skin seemed, giving his hair a more ebony tone than before. When he touched my face before, I was shocked to feel how cold he was. Almost as cold as ice.
Wait, was he not all bloody when I last came upon him? He had been lying on the ground in Narchost at the monster's feet, beaten bloody with the huge mace, having no strength to get up...and his hand had been stabbed! That I remembered. Was it the right one, or the left?
But what I noticed most of all, sheathed on his back, was a familiar looking bronze silver hilt...my breath caught when recognized Acharn, but the rest of the blade was gone, broken in half. And stained with orc blood. My blood went cold.
Talion nodded to himself and then sheathed his sword next to the broken sword holstered on his back. "Nothing. We're safe...for now." Looking back at me, he turned around and cupped my face, looking me over for injuries. "Are you hurt anywhere? Are you alright?" he asked me softly with concern, his blue eyes meeting mine. Blue? Weren't his eyes supposed to be hazel? Was I really losing my mind? Not speaking, I nodded, biting my lip to keep my composure. He sighed and then hugged me to his chest again. "Good," he murmured huskily, his body shivering with emotion. "I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
After some moments of silence, trying to catch our breath, Talion held me until I finally spoke in a small, shaky voice, "Father, why do you have Dirhael's sword?"
Talion stilled, his arms tightening around me as he took a shuddering breath. He slowly pulled away, still keeping hold of me, his face bowed with his hair strands rained over his face. When he looked up, his eyes were not only icy blue instead of hazel, but filled with pain that it twisted my heart to see my father so broken and defeated. The more I studied him, the more I started to get really scared.
"Where are Mother and Dirhael? Father?" I squeaked, though cold dread filled my entire body and started rip through my chest. I didn't want to know. I didn't want him to say the words. I didn't want to hear the words, that the feeling I had all along was not just mere worry...that I had no reason to give up hope that my whole family was...Please no! They can't be.
His fingers trailed my face gently, his eyes searching my face. It seemed like he wasn't going to speak, until he finally croaked out, "Elanor..." His lips trembled and strained as he tried to find the words to tell me. "Elanor...your mother...your brother...I couldn't..." I started shaking my head, hot tears escaping my eyes, but he finally managed to whisper gently, "They're gone, Elanor."
"NO!" I screamed in denial, trying to pull away, but Talion wouldn't let me go. I fought, but he was far stronger than me and pulled me close to him, holding me tightly as I screamed into his shoulder, "No, no, no, no, no, NO!" I was crying so hard in his chest, the pain so great, that I barely heard him shushing me, rocking me gently in his arms as though I were little again.
Father remained silent and stoic, cupping my head hard as it tucked under his chin, though I felt his tears drip in the crown of my head. He offered no words of comfort; probably because he couldn't find any of his own. Mother was the one who always had words of comfort….and she was gone! He just kissed my hair, and continued to rock me. I lost track of how long we were like that, but I hardly cared. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. All I could picture as I was bawling like a baby in Father's arms was the cold bodies of my mother and brother lying somewhere.
Nothing would ever be the same again.