Rejoice! Here is chapter 5. Isn't this a sweet chapter? Don't worry, things get morbid again in chapter 6. Enjoy the contrast while you can! Let's see. I guess I better tell you none of these characters belong to me, they are Tolkien's. Except Narwen and my other leading lady who will appear in the next chapter, I promise! Apparently the caretaker and the nurse belong to me too, but they don't have names, so who cares?
Rubies and Fire
Elrond woke to hushed voices and vague black shapes hovering all around. Certain that he'd been in this exact same position not long ago, he blinked to clear his vision and sat up.
"My lord, you're awake!" the shocked nurse gave him a wide-eyed look of surprise. The head caretaker stepped into Elrond's sight with relief and worry both evident on her visage.
"Lord Elrond," she offered a small bow, "we thought you were surely bound for the halls of Mandos. Such a fast recovery is amazing! How do you feel?"
"What… what day is it? How long have I lain here?"
"We discovered you'd been stricken with the illness only yesterday morning. As I said, it's unbelievable that you're even able to sit up on your own so soon. The sickness was especially sudden and strong with you, my lord. We all feared the worst."
The master of Imladris sat quietly for a minute. Both the nurse and the caretaker were unsure what to think when he began to search his sheets for something that wasn't there, then leapt up from the bed and walked to the terrace door.
"Was I alone in this bed, in this room, this morning?" he asked abruptly. The two elf women exchanged curious glances with raised eyebrows. Carefully, the head caretaker approached her master.
"There was no one else, Master Elrond. Please lie down. You shouldn't exert yourself so soon. You may cause yourself damage," the caretaker said in a matronly tone as she attempted to guide him back to the bed.
Elrond whirled, dodging her and approaching the bewildered nurse.
"Were you awake in here all night, or did you fall asleep?" he asked. The flustered nurse looked from him to the caretaker and back again.
"I, um… I… I," she faltered and couldn't meet his gaze. "I fell asleep, lord Elrond. I'm sorry, I mean, I'm ashamed. I didn't mean too. It's never happened before. I… I … don't know what happened…" Elrond turned and caught the stern expression on the head caretaker's face.
"Don't be angry at her, please. There was no way she could have stopped it." That drew puzzled looks from both the women. "Now please tell me, I must know, is the girl alright? Narwen, is she alive?"
A dismayed "Oh" escaped the caretaker's lips. "I just found out this morning she… she suffered a severe relapse."
Elrond's entire posture slumped and he had to lean against the bedpost as he lowered his head and covered his face with his hands.
"Oh no. It wasn't a dream… I did it…"
"My lord, you are not well. Please, lie back down-" the caretaker did not get the chance to finish her sentence as he suddenly sprang back to life, threw on a robe, and was out the door quick as a nimble deer. "I have to see her!" he called to them as he disappeared into the hallway. The two elf women, now alone in the room, looked at each other.
"He's gone mad!" both of them exclaimed at the same moment.
Elrond's progress toward the Rooms of Healing was swift, but he felt the toll it took on him in his still slightly weak condition. He stopped for a moment outside the great doors to the Rooms, resting and examining the feeling. Being an elf, he'd never felt the fatigue that comes with sickness. He found it very disconcerting and wondered how mortals dealt with it. He also noticed that as he had passed the many tall windows along his way, the sunlight felt extremely repulsive. He'd never loathed or shunned the sun, but he did now. He hoped it would pass as he continued to heal. Ready at last, the lord and master of Imladris pushed open the heavy doors.
The atmosphere hadn't changed much since he came with Glorfindel. He noticed happily there were a few less convalescing elves. Perhaps the epidemic was declining.
No, idiot! What are you thinking? You know now it's not a disease. There's some creature at the bottom of this. You have to find it. But first….
Elrond headed to the back of the room with all the speed his fading strength would allow.
There she lay, exactly the same as when he'd first seen her. The fire-maiden. He reached out to touch her cheek. She was cold and pale as the moon. She breathed shallowly. Elrond knelt by her bed as the strength to stand finally left him. He dropped his head on the soft mattress as he gripped her cold hand.
"I'm sorry, little maid. I'm so sorry…." He whispered to Narwen's still form. Minutes passed in which the elf lord berated himself, cursed himself for being so easily tempted by the insane impulse that gripped him the night before. He shuddered and convulsed at the memory of blood on his lips with pleasure in his mind. His thoughts went round in circles trying to identify the cause of it all.
And then he remembered holding this girl. He remembered the tears Narwen had let him cry to her. He remembered his feelings as she ran her fingers through his hair.
Elrond lifted his face to look at the silent figure next to him. Drawn by a feeling he couldn't name, he reached out his hand to touch her cheek again. His thumb brushed Narwen's chin. At that instant, she opened her eyes. They no longer appeared black, but gray. Gray as last night's ashes.
Surprised and astonished, Elrond drew back. She looked straight at him, equal astonishment written in her features.
"It's you," the words came weakly. "I wasn't dreaming. Do you feel better? Did it work?" Elrond was taken off guard by her barrage of questions and even more so by her blunt acceptance of the night's strange occurrences.
"Y-yes. I feel much stronger. But, what about you?"
"Oh, I'm fine." Narwen gave him a small smile. "I'm just fine."
Her expression changed then. Cautiously, shyly, she rested her hand over the hand of the mighty elf lord next to her. Narwen simpered and took her hand away.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I just… I needed to make sure you were real. I needed to know I wasn't dreaming again, that you weren't going to leave me the next time I closed my eyes."
Wordlessly, Elrond recaptured her hand and pressed it with both his own. Her eyes grew wide as a child's seeing fireworks for the first time. He leaned in close to her and whispered, "I'll never leave you."
Narwen fell back on the pillow, her rapture conspiring with her weak condition to steal consciousness away. Elrond smiled. He stayed by the fire-maiden's side all the rest of that day.
He felt forgiven.
