And so all hearts were heavy. Aragorn sat, sadly, with the body of Gwen,
and everyone drew back,
to give him time alone with his daughter. Nobody outside of Gandalf
had known that she had been
his daughter, but they had all been fond of her. Frodo was going to
be crushed.
Legolas had lowered his bow, and lowered his head, and returned to Jairah's
side, his heart now
even more saddened. She had not moved in all the commotion, her eyes
were still fixed steadily on
the fire before her, she was still asleep. He sat back down next to
her, and ran a hand through her
hair, his fingers stroking her face gently as he did.
"Jairah.." he whispered. "Where are you hiding in there?" he touched
her forehead gently, and in her
sleep she began to fall into him, her head falling into his lap, her
hair tumbling into his hands. He
stroked it gently and sighed. He couldn't bother Gandalf now, no matter
how he wanted to. He
looked down at her now, and noticed that her eyes had closed, which
was not how elves normally
slept, which he found strange. What was going on inside?
***
Jairah had heard the door open, and footsteps in her hallway. It startled
her, because there had
been no-one here before. Jairah wanted no-one here.
So now, as she pulled down the twin blades that belonged to Legolas,
from their keeping places on
the wall, the beautiful ones that his father had given him, the ones
he'd left behind here, and
silently crept towards magical doors of this castle, she heard the
words echo in her mind "killer,
hunter, killer.." and she struggled to push them away. Those words,
beating in her brain, were what
made her run here, to hide.
Down the stairs, she made not a sound, as she saw the figure wandering.
Jairah wished for her bow,
but it had been left behind. She supposed she could throw the blades,
but they belonged to
Legolas, she would not part with them. She must sneak up behind the
predator and attack.
She stole into the hall, hiding in the dusky shadows streaking in from
the sun. The figure stopped,
Jairah stopped. The figure turned, and Jairah braced herself to spring
forward, but then she focused
her eyes clearly on the figure…
"Gwen!" she said, lowering the blades to her sides, and coming forth
from the shadows. "What are
you doing here?"
The girl looked at Jairah in wonder. "Jairah? Where am I?" She glanced
at the blades in Jairah's
hands. "What are you doing?"
Jairah sighed. "This is my home in Mirkwood, this is King Thranduil's
castle." She said. Gwen
looked around in wonder, as she'd heard about Thranduil's castle, it
was magickal. "I think the
better question, here, Gwen, is : What are you doing here?"
Gwen stared at Jairah blankly. "I don't know!" she said. "The last I
knew I was stumbling through
the woods, and then I was here, and I came in through the door…"
"Gwen, you see, I have been the only one here. No-one else has been.
I am inside myself, I am
hiding here."
"Why are you hiding?" Gwen asked.
Jairah looked at her sadly. "Because," she said softly. "I do not like
who I am outside of this place.
Outside of here all I do is kill. Here I am safe."
"But you are alone," Gwen said. "Legolas is not here, don't you miss
him?" She looked at her
expectantly. Jairah's eyes shone with tears.
"yes." She said, and looked over to where a huge stone fireplace was,
and above it, a large painting
of the Elf-Prince was hanging over the mantelpiece. The tears slid
down her face, as she turned
back to Gwen.
"Where were you going, when you came upon the castle?" she asked, changing
the subject. The
words were still thrumming in her ears, and she wanted to know why
Gwen had come here.
"I don't even remember." Gwen said. "I was hurt, I remember, wounded,
trying to get to Frodo. I
remember his eyes, and then I remember walking through a large expanse
of woods, and then
reaching this castle. How is it that I came upon this castle?"
Jairah's eyes opened wide. "You have passed into shadow, Gwen." She
said, stepping back from the
girl slightly. She was not afraid, just stunned a little.
Tears filled Gwen's eyes. "What?"
Jairah nodded, sadly. "Your wound must have been fatal. The woods you
speak of, that was you
passing into the shadow realm. But I do not know why you have come
here, to my mind. I have not
passed into shadow."
Gwen began to shake. "No!" she cried, pitching herself forward towards
Jairah, and embracing her.
The elf, startled, tried to console her. "I don't want to die, I don't
want to leave Frodo…"
"Shh.." Jairah soothed, but the girl was hysterical. It was hard for
Jairah to embrace the girl because
she still had Legolas' blades in her hands. She pushed Gwen away slightly,
and looked at her.
"Hush, Gwen." She said. "Hush now."
Gwen hiccuped, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Jairah
turned and bade her to follow
her up the stairs, and she did so. She couldn't believe that she had
died.
They entered a large room at the end of a large corridor. The doors
opened magickally when Jairah
reached them, and uttered a small Elvish word. Jairah moved into the
room and took the blades in
her hands, and placed them on two brackets on the wall. Gwen watched
her as she did this, and
Jairah turned and saw the question on Gwen's face.
"They are not mine," she said. "They belong to Legolas. He left them
here when we left for Rivendell
so long ago."
"But where is your bow, your sword?" Gwen asked. "Don't you have them here?"
Jairah shook her head. "Everything that I took with me I do not have
here. It is with my body. I am
just my mind here, my spirit. Just like you are just your spirit. Which
is why I believe that we might
be able to return you to your body."
Gwen's eyes lit up. "Really?" she said.
Jairah nodded. "We just have to get you back towards the light. You
see, when you pass over into
the shadow, your spirit loses its way, it gets lost. We just have to
find your way back."
"Well, then lets go!" Gwen said. "How do we do this?"
Jairah smiled slightly, and bade Gwen to follow her again. They descended
the stairs again, and
Gwen noticed that when they went down the stairs, they were in a different
room than before. There
was now a large cathedral style doorway in front of them. Jairah muttered
another word in her
language, and the doors opened.
"Now look out there," she said. "What do you see?"
Gwen looked. At first she saw nothing, but darkness. But then she saw
the moon rise, and the trees
become illuminated, and then it was so bright that it was all she could
see, the moon.
"I see the moon," she said. "it is so bright and so full.." Gwen said, stunned by its beauty.
Jairah nodded. "That is the light. If you walk towards it, you will
be returned to your body. Do not
look away from it, or else you will pass on into the shadowlands, and
you will not return here. I will
not be able to guide you back, once you leave my doorway."
Gwen looked at Jairah. "Are you going to come with me?" she asked.
Jairah looked into the light, then shook her head. "No."
Gwen frowned. "Why?"
Jairah looked at Gwen. "I cannot."
Gwen didn't understand. "Why? I know you said you don't like who you
are out there, but you are
not a killer, Jairah."
Jairah's eyes began to fill with tears again. "You must go, Gwen, if
you are to go. Think of Frodo,
while you walk towards the light, it will help to speed your way."
Gwen desperately didn't understand why Jairah couldn't go with her.
"Jairah, please. Come with me!
Legolas, I'm sure he misses you, and he is pained. How can you do this
to him? How can you not
go?"
Jairah turned away from Gwen painfully, stepping past the threshold
and into the castle, away from
the moonlight. Gwen looked at her, walking away.
"Jairah!" she called, and Jairah turned around again to face her.
"Namarie, Gwen." She said, and then the magick doors closed, blocking
Jairah from sight. Gwen
turned and faced the moonlight, and shook her head. She didn't understand.
She began to walk towards the light, and then she heard Jairah's voice
in her head. "Do not look
away from the light, Gwen. Stare at it always…" and she did. She stepped
closer and closer untill
she was surrounded in the light and then she became the light, and
then she opened her eyes, and
realized she was lying in her fathers arms. And he was crying.
"Father?" she asked, trying to move, but found her body was aching quite badly.
Aragorn stopped crying for a second, as he heard his daughter speak.
"Gwen!" he said, embracing
her fiercely, for he couldn't believe her eyes were open and she was
breathing. "You are alive!"
Gwen tried to nod, but found her head was pounding. "yes," she said.
Aragorn had lifted her up and
was carrying her over to Gandalf, and the group.
"She is alive!" he called. Everyone was startled awake, except for Jairah,
who laid, motionless still,
her head in Legolas' lap. Aragorn moved through them quickly, and Gwen's
eyes caught sight of
Jairah's body, and she felt saddened to know that Jairah wasn't there,
and sadder to know that
Legolas didn't know where Jairah hid. She must tell him where Jairah
was, as soon as she calmed
her father down.