"I have seen Jairah and spoken to her," Gandalf said silently to Legolas. As soon as he had heard his thought, Legolas's head looked up and turned to his right, glancing across the campsite to where Gandalf was sitting, eyes closed and deep in thought.
"What does she say?" Legolas thought as he stroked her hair.
"The same she spoke to Gwen. She will not leave. Only you can save her now."
"I am too grieved to enter her mind now. I may never return and the both of us may be lost in shadow forever," Legolas thought and sighed to himself.
"And if you do not enter her mind and bring her back, you will die of grief. You have seen it happen, Legolas Greenleaf. And if you are to die, Jairah will follow soon after. Not only will the Fellowship be wounded and the quest be set back, but in the future, the throne of Mirkwood will be empty."
Legolas looked back up at Gandalf who had now come out of his deep mediation and was watching Legolas. He nodded slightly and Legolas nodded in return. He slowly closed his eyes and dove into his memories to find his home of Mirkwood, to find Jairah inside.
Instead of having to walk through the woods like Gandalf and Gwen, Legolas found himself inside his father's castle, holding one of the swords from the wall. Footsteps that were barely audible came from another room and Jairah entered holding one sword. She gripped the sword tightly when she saw Legolas and the other sword in his hand.
"Not even in my mind can I be left alone," she said quietly and sighed.
"Gandalf says that I am the only one who can help you now, and but I wonder if he is right. You are the only one who can open those doors and walk into the moonlight back to the land of the living," he said.
"I am not sure if I want to return. In this world, I am the Jairah you pledged yourself too, not the murderer I have become in the world of the living," she replied and walked out of the room, Legolas quickly following her. Something was out of place when he entered the bedroom they shared. He tried to place it and finally saw what it was. "Legolas? What's the matter?" she asked.
He walked over to the dresser with the mirror where Jairah's little jewelry was kept and saw a round glass ball sitting on top of it. It was black and still, and Legolas fell uneasy staring at it. "Jairah, what is this?" he asked and pointed to it. His heart became heavy and he dared not touch it for fear of what could be inside.
"I don't know. It... it feels like it has always been there. Not always but only recently," she replied.
"Have you looked into it?" he asked.
"No... but... I have felt it calling me. Whispering things. I dare not go near it... Legolas, what's wrong?" she asked. He had closed his eyes and suddenly once again Gandalf appeared in the room.
"Invite the entire company into our bedroom, Legolas Greenleaf, it's not as if it's private or anything," she said sarcastically and Gandalf looked at her cautiously. Without a word he looked at the surface of the glass ball which had began to churn. In his mind he saw a vision of the eye of Sauron, calling out "killer killer" in the tongue of the Silver Elves.
"I wield the flame of Anor and I say to your Sauron, leave this place, for it is uncorruptible by you or your servants!" Gandalf yelled out as he held his white staff about the orb. The glass ball suddenly turned itself a bright shade of fiery red and illuminated the room, then turned into dust and was quickly blown away by an unseen breeze. Legolas had witnessed it all with wide eyes and then turned to Jairah, who had fainted dead away on the bed in the room.
"Jairah," he said softly and became even more grieved than when he had been outside. She opened her eyes and their old flame and vigor had been revived in them.
"What good fortune that it was destroyed in time before she was driven into shadow, his whispers corrupting her mind from within," Gandalf said.
"How did it get there?" Legolas asked and Gandalf simply shrugged.
"The heart has reason which reason does not know. In other words... I haven't the slightest idea. But I think it was from the Orc wound. Evil seeped into her body and soul, but I think she is fully cured now. Come. Much time has passed here, we must all go back into the light. Come along," he said and walked out of the room to the doors of the castle. Legolas helped Jairah up and before she took another step she embraced him tightly and kissed his cheek.
"Jairah, you have returned to me," he said silently in his mind and she looked into his eyes and nodded without saying a word, audibly or mentally.
* * * * *
"Gandalf, Gandalf, Legolas has fallen into shadow as well!" Pippin said after he had tapped Legolas's shoulder and gotten no response. Gandalf had returned and shook his head at the young hobbit.
"They are returning, don't fret my boy, they will return. Jairah is well again," he replied. At that moment Jairah stirred for the first time in hours and stroked Legolas's cheek. Gandalf looked past Legolas's shoulder and met eyes with Jairah then silently said to her mind, "Welcome home, Rose above all other." She smiled and looked back to Legolas who was smiling in a way that the Fellowship had not seen him smile for days.
"Will anyone else fall into shadow now?" Pippin asked quite seriously, only to receive laughter from everyone, causing him to pout and sit next to Merry while they discussed the shadow world as they had heard it to be from Gwen.
* * * * *
Night fell and Jairah and Legolas walked by the waterfall where hours before Legolas had laid her lifeless body to rest. "Love... did you really believe what the whispers were telling you?" he asked after a while.
"Yes, for a while I did. At first I did not listen to them, because I knew what I was doing was in defense of the Fellowship, of Frodo. But it seemed that with every arrow I shot out of my quiver, every slash of my sword, the whispering turned into yelling, echoing into my very heart which believed it," she said and wiped a tear that had rolled down her cheek.
"Is that why you gave me your arrows at Isengard and at Amon Hen?" he asked.
"Yes... the yelling was too much for me... but now that I think of it,
it should have been quite obvious to you that I was ill. After all, no
one in all of Mirkwood is a better archer than I, to say you have a better
shot and should have my arrows, well, it's simply not right," she said
slyly and winked, and he grinned and rolled his eyes, putting his arm around
her.
Then she looked at him, her face solemn. "It is a long time yet, till
we can go home, to the peace we once knew, Legolas. I fear that it we might
never see Mirkwood again."
He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Do not think of such things
now. As long as we are together, that is peace enough for me."
They sat, quietly, by the waterfall, for the rest of the night.
* * * * *
By the fire in the clearing of the campsite, Leila reclined against Boromir who was sleeping silently. She wondered if it was worth it. She wondered where the elves were and just at the thought of them almost began to cry. She remembered the accusing look Legolas had shot at her and the feeling she had in her heart when he glanced at her. It was she who had caused Jairah to become wounded, for that poison, that evil to enter her pure soul and corrupt her, almost causing her to die. If it wasn't for Gandalf saving her those two times...
Aragorn was playing with the charm on the silver chain from Arwen and as he looked across the fire he saw Leila's troubled stare into nothingness, much like Jairah's eyes earlier that afternoon. "Child, is there something wrong with you?" he asked quietly. She shook her head, but after a moment she got out from Boromir's sleepy embrace and sat next to Aragorn.
"Aragorn... do you see the passion between the elves? Especially now that Jairah lives?" she asked.
"Indeed I do. It makes my heart ache for my own beloved, you mentioned her in Moria, Arwen Evenstar," he said and sighed, glancing down at the charm he held.
"Aragorn, I feel I cannot live with myself, I almost caused that love to die in both of them, because of my stupid meddling. Boromir should have died. The course of history is now changed because of my foolishness. Because I was so selfish and I did not see that his death would change things. Now everything is in jeapordy," she said quietly.
"Young one... little one, you know not what you say," he said and she shook her head and wiped her sleeve across her eyes.
"Everything is different Aragorn. I am not supposed to be here talking to you. Boromir is not supposed to be here, happily in love, and oh god, what have I done to everything?" she cried out.
"You are in this with us, child. You know as much as we do now. I will admit, your meddling has probably made things difficult now and the Fellowship has more challenging things to accomplish. But look at it this way; in the future, people will read of this tale and admire Lady Leila, the prophet," he said and she looked at him with an annoyed expression to which he added in jest, "the meddler."
"Have I ruined things terribly, Aragorn?" she asked.
"I do not know. I have not cheated fate and read of my journeys in a book, m'lady," he said and she laughed for the first time all day. He was always so serious when she read about him, he did not know that he could be charming, funny almost. "I am not sure if you have ruined things but certainly changed them. Try not to think of it in terms of ruining, only changing. Get through this quest and you will never worry about anything else in your entire life as much as you have worried in this quest."
"You will make a splendid king, I just know it," she said and smiled.
She walked back to Boromir as Aragorn laughed at what she said then perked up with a shocked expression. "I'm going to be king?" he asked.
"Now I'm not going to ruin the end for you, son of Arathorn," she said slyly and winked, then leaned against Boromir's sleeping body, his arm returning to her back where it had been before. Aragorn now thought about this new riddle she had given him. As she felt sleep overcome her, she smiled slightly at Aragorn and closed her eyes, fading into a deep slumber.