(author : jennzah)
Jairah's keen eyes were surveying
the gate to Isengard, and the lands beyond it. She had
broken away from the group, away
from the happy tidings. She had stayed only long enough
to let Leila know she was alright,
that she had not died. She hoped that Legolas would
recount the tale of her healing.
Her heart felt uneasy, and as she looked upon the land of
Isengard, she knew why it felt
that way.
High up in a stray tree, she stood.
Her eyes did not believe what she saw. From what she
had heard, Isengard was a land
rich with trees and life. But that wasn't what she saw.
Instead, she saw that the land
had been torn apart, great roots of great trees unearthed and
ruined, and this made her heart
sad. Isengard truly was an evil place now. Even the land was
evil, barren, black.
The rest of the group was aflutter
with chatter, as they recounted their stories and talked of
the next day, and spoke of Frodo,
and Sam, and how they might be faring. Her ears pricked
up as she heard voices beneath
her, the voices of Leila and the small girl hobbit. She looked
down and saw Gandalf, Leila, and
Gwen standing below the tree.
"Tell Legolas i am sorry," Gwen
said, as she got on a horse and set off towards the east, at
a fast pace. Jairah knew she was
leaving, bound for Mordor, and closed her eyes and
whispered a small prayer for the
small hobbit.
Jairah leapt from the tree, landing
neatly next to Gandalf. "So she has decided to pursue
Frodo?" Jairah asked, looking
at Leila.
Gandalf nodded. "She has the heart
of a man, i tell you." he said. "Let us hope that her blind
bravery will not see her to her
end."
Jairah at him and smiled. "Love
makes people strong, Gandalf. I predict that it will be alright."
She looked towards the Gate of
Isengard again and her face lost the smile. "The land beyond
those gates is dead. I have seen
it."
Gandalf nodded. "It belongs to the Dark Lord now, of course it is dead."
"The Ent says that the Orcs that
were working in the mines, were all drowned when a flood
went through here," came the voice
of Legolas, as he walked up next to where Jairah stood.
"Where have you been, my love?
I could feel your uneasiness, but i could not see you."
Jairah pointed to the one scraggly
tree, then turned to Gandalf again. "We still must be
careful," she said. "When the
sun goes down, there could be scores of Orcs beyond that
gate yet. We cannot expect to
just walk into Isengard without a battle ensuing."
"I have not seen any living thing
come out of the Gate, nor inside the gate." Leila said. "But
you may be right."
"Then we will proceed with caution," Gandalf said. "We will be prepared."
Leila went back over to Boromir,
and settled herself in his arms again. Jairah smiled again,
despite her dark thoughts. It
was good to see the girl back in the arms of her lover, and
Jairah again felt some sort of
pride for Leila. She had proven herself in battle, proven herself
to everyone. Gone were the doubts
that Jairah had had about the girl. Watching the two of
them together, she felt it had
been worth it, to have her own life nearly taken from her.
Gandalf turned and walked back
over to the fire, where they were still talking. Jairah was lost
in her thoughts, as Legolas took
her arm and led her back, as well. Jairah shook herself as
she reached the fire, feeling
its warmth, feeling Legolas' arm on her back. He gently pulled
her down to sit next to him, and
she suddenly found herself quite tired. She leaned into her
lover and rested against his shoulder,
and he put one arm around her and stroked her long
hair, after depositing a kiss
on the top of her head.
Aragorn and Boromir were talking
over on the other side of the fire, and Leila looked over at
the girl-elf again, who sat nuzzled
next to Legolas, her eyes hazy and dreamy. She realized
that she had not heard the story
of how Jairah had come to be well again. She still felt guilt,
looking at her.
"Aragorn," she said, interrupting
the conversation between the two men. "How did Jairah
come to be well again?"
Aragorn looked at Leila, and shook
his head slightly. "None of us is quite sure, not even
Jairah herself, it seems. We know
that Gandalf did it, and at the very final moments. She
was going to die, she chose not
to go back to Lothlorien, no matter how Legolas pleaded
with her. At night she was half
dead, her mind taken. The next morning, we woke to find her
gone, we thought she'd died, passed
over to the shadow realm. But then she came riding up,
on Shadowfax, and she was perfectly
cured. She was the first to see Gandalf. He knew that
she was not supposed to die, apparently,
that she has some part to play in all of this. what it
is, i do not know. And that is
how we came to be here."
Leila looked over at Gandalf, who
was sitting with the hobbits, a smile on his face. She was
indeed glad to see him again,
and she felt a sort of peace inside now, for the fact that she
was sitting here with her beloved,
because Gandalf, the one who was their leader, had
returned, and because Jairah was
well. Optimisim ran through her.
She moved her hand to her side,
and felt the sword that Jairah had given her. Now that she
had the blade that Siendar had
given her, she felt that she should return the heirloom to the
elf. She broke away from Boromir
again, and went over quietly to where the elves sat.
Jairah's eyes looked glassy, and
she was staring off into space, her eyes fixed on nothing in
particular. "Jairah?" Leila said
timidly, for the way the elf looked scared her. She knelt down
on the other side of Jairah.
Legolas turned his head to look
at Leila, and smiled. "She is asleep," he said, looking down
at Jairah. "She may not be able
to hear you."
Leila's eyes were wide. "So elves
really do sleep with their eyes open," she whispered to
herself, mostly. Legolas heard
her though, and nodded slightly.
Leila looked at him, and then drew
the sword from her side. "I wanted to give this back to
her," she said, handing the shining
silver blade to Legolas, who took it in his free arm. "I was
given another blade, by the elf
Siendar, and i thought Jairah might want this back,
considering it belonged to her
father. I could not keep it."
Legolas stared at the blade for
a moment before putting it down. "She will be glad to have it
back, though she gave it to you
of her own free will. Thank you." he said.
Leila nodded, and rose to her feet
again, and turned to go back to Boromir, when she heard
Legolas speak again.
"Lady Leila?" he said. Leila turned around to look at him. He was smiling at her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I wanted to apologise, for any
guilt i might have placed on you, when Jairah got hurt. I know
it wasn't your intention for any
of what happen to happen, and i judged you far too harshly. So
i apologise. My love for her is
so strong that sometimes it takes over my reason. But you
know something of that, dont you?"
he motioned towards Boromir, who was still talking to
Aragorn.
Leila smiled and nodded. "Of course
i do. I do not blame you for your actions. I would have
done the same." she turned again
and went back to Boromir.
The conversation with the group
seemed to turn back to Frodo and Sam, and how they were
faring. "Yes, " thought Leila.
"I wonder how the hobbits are doing out there in Mordor..."