Turn From The Twilight

To cleave to you...

The thought weighs heavily on my mind as I gaze out at the west horizon, sunk sinking below it, splashing this fair land with dusty, although somehow vibrant colour. Yet, it mourns and aches with me.

My heart, heavy with indecision, so much so that I feel the searing tears build up in my eyes, and blink them away hurriedly. The last thing you need now is to know of my grief, and how much this decision weighs on my soul.

To turn from my people...my Elves, to leave Rivendell forever and never see my Lorien again. To leave this Twilight, this laughter and light, sparkling over the treetops. The gentleness in the air and the warmth that surrounds me.

To leave my friends, my brothers, the ones with whom I had grown with, spreading my wings, ready to fly. I did wish to fly! To take to the air like the butterflies that fly through the Golden Wood in the endless summers and springs that flew by when I stayed. I remember how the sweet-scented breezes swept through my hair and kissed my face. I remember the nights, sparkling stars and the moon, heavy and full, shimmering down onto the earth from the velvet black sky. The days, golden sunlight...beauty that never failed to amaze me, even after so many years.

My father...so stern, commanding, and yet, beyond him and what I saw, a heart that beats like mine. A heart that grieved when my Mother left for Valinor. A single tear, meant to be hidden away from sight, still, I saw it. He who guided me, who held me close, who smiled upon me, no matter what I did. I love him dearly...

To go with you, Dunedan, is to face the doom of mortal men. It strikes fear into my heart, makes me tremble, makes my throat tighten and terror overtake me. For the first time I feel what a mortal must fear when thinking about the inevitable ending, their ultimate reality. This fear is blinding.

How can I leave my life and face this all? How can I leave them all...for a mere feeling? An emotion, the most foolish one of them all?

Then I look at your face. Aragorn. Ranger, wanderer. Many names, so many titles. Yet there is one name which no-one has bestowed upon you -- Theif. Theif of my heart, keeper of my soul. Your eyes, candid and searching, penetrate my spirit, which I once thought was guarded beyond simple glances. You make me feel naked underneath your gaze, as if my very mind is exposed, and all the questions and doubts are becoming your own. Your smile, gentle, hesitant...something that so few have seen...yet it moistens my dry throat and obliterates my worries. In your embrace, time stills and all is calm.

I love you...I cannot turn from you, lest risk losing a part of my very self. You, beside me, for as long as you live...a dream? A dream of love, within my grasp. It would be foolish to let it go. But the Twilight, my life, my father, sparkling before my eyes, even as the held-back tears blur my sight. I will never see them again.

Until I look in your eyes. In your eyes...there is my Twilight.

I turn to you, look at you, my heart breaking with pain, but filling with hope, and most of all, love. You have captured my soul, my Aragorn...and I will willingly give you my heart now. I step forward, and take your hands in mine, your warm fingers intertwining with my cold, pale ones. I stare out again to the west horizon, dusk now falling upon the land like a light, delicate veil.

"I will cleave to you, Dunedan, and turn from the Twilight. Yet there lies the land of my people, and the long home of all my kin."

[a.n.]

Arwen, Aragorn and all respective characters, places, so forth all belong to and are property of Professor Tolkien, et al, not me. I'm just a struggling author with an obsession with LotR which can't be considered healthy under any circumstances. Frodo...**starry eyes** Ahem. Oh, I was listening to "Lothlorien" by Enya the whole time I was writing this. Just thought you might want to know. If this piece sounds weird and "dreamlike", for the want of a better word...I dunno, smack me with a wet trout. It's almost midnight, I'm severely lacking in inspiration and I SHALL NOT sleep until I finish this x_x;