Beyond the Stars Chapter 2

Rose G

A/N - I have done my best to give an impression of the Halls of Mandos, but Tolkien never described them clearly and I have added my own ideas, partly based on what I believe about an afterlife.

Aragorn shook his head uncomfortably, disliking the blackness around him. It was alive or so it seemed, faintly hostile, watchful and unwelcoming. It was a feeling he had once had while recovering from an almost fatal wound sustained in battle - a feeling of being lost in an endless wall of darkness that was possessed of awareness.

He spoke softly, reverting to his childhood belief that if he was still and silent, nothing harmful would see him and hurt him. 'Halbarad, what is this? How are you here?'

'This is death, Aragorn. We are in the Halls of Mandos. Soon your vision will return and you will see for yourself if you doubt my word. The darkness and the fear of it soon pass once you have left the World Made Round. You are beyond the stars now.'

'I can believe that, but how where you there on the Pelannor Fields when I heard your voice?'

'I was not there. You were afraid of the darkness, of dying, and you imagined that you heard me. I was not there because it is impossible. From here, there is no way back to Adara.'

Aragorn rose unsteadily to his feet, marvelling as his vision cleared; he saw a great city, greater than Minas Tirith, and the whole land seemed fair. The sky above was blue, although a light breeze caressed his hair and in the distance he heard a horse call. Beside him, Halbarad stood tall, his grim face pulled into a smile, and Aragorn realised that the other Ranger seemed younger than he had on that last day, and the scar on his cheek from a sword wound had gone. And he himself found that he could move without pain, that his hair blowing around his head was no longer grey, that he was young and fit again. 'Halbarad is this a vision or is this all real?'

'This is a land, Strider, a land as real as Valinor or Numenor or your beloved Shire. Everything is real, here. Life does not end but continues, without sickness or injury or tiredness. We do not know what will come at End of Days but until then we have a life like to that of the Firstborn.'

'All mortal beings or Man only?'

'All mortals, Aragorn. Man and Hobbits and Dwarves and the animals that belonged to them. When the Valar made the world, they did not intend for us to suffer. This is normal life unending for us - and I have waited long enough for you to arrive here.'

Aragorn looked around in wonder and was silent for a long while. 'Hobbits, you said?'

'Yes, and unless I am much mistaken, two of them are approaching. You may recognise them - at least I would hope so. I would have let you met them earlier, but I have waited for many years to see you again, and laugh at your efforts at running Gondor. Arwen had you wrapped round her little finger, didn't she? And I missed you.'

Aragorn nodded, for he had missed Halbarad desperately. Without speaking, he turned and embraced the man, remembering all the years they had spent together. And it was only when what sounded like a cavalry charge was bearing down on him that he moved and looked around, unable to stop himself from smiling.

'Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo...' His voice trailed away, sounding suprisingly weak while his smile grew larger. Emotions he could not begin to name welled up in his throat, and he brushed a hand over his stinging eyes.

'Strider!' The hobbits swarmed around him, cheerful and irrepressible as ever. He was glad to see them again, but he couldn't help cringing whenever Pippin called him 'Strider' remembering the last council in Gondor where Pippin had yelled that name out in front of the kings of all the surrounding countries.

It was only when he had stopped greeting them that he became aware of another presence, an almost brooding feeling, and he turned to see Boromir standing there. 'Hello, my king. It is good to see you.' Halbarad rolled his eyes, and Aragorn smiled. This was too special, too joyful to worry about Boromir.

And surrounded by hobbits, he walked into the Halls of Mandos.