Chapter Ten: The Silver Waters

By Ellwyn J

It seemed as though the Anduin were still leagues away, even after hours of slow riding, and Legolas could only see a faint line of silver from where he stood with Phaere and her unconscious passenger.

He had been frantically casting about in his mind for a destination, an answer to the problem he was faced with. Ellwyn was slowly slipping away in the world of spirits and losing her hold on reality. She was dying, and he knew it. Her eyes grew faint and faded to a paler shade with every passing moment; her breath was coming in ragged gasps.

Why did this have to happen to her? She did not have to go to meet her fate and she did not have to kill him. But he knew her feelings inwardly: Ellwyn would never feel complete if she did not avenge the deaths of so many innocent. She was the only one who could.

He knew now what she had seen in the mirror of Galadriel: she had seen images of her own death—she had seen what would happen if she were to fulfill her fate and kill the traitorous man who had brutally murdered her mother. And yet she had still gone forth to meet destiny, to stare it defiantly straight in the face although she knew what it had waiting for her. Now he understood the pain that had always lingered in her eyes, he knew the burden she had carried, all that she had felt and wanted to pour out to him but could not let herself, that night she lay in his arms by the water.

And he understood why she tried to leave without him. Oh Ellwyn, he thought, you would have gone to meet your death alone. You would have carried the pain alone. You would have let your life fade away knowing only cruelty and pain…

Legolas despaired. Where could he go, and what could he do to help her?

Finally, as a gentle but chilling breeze blew over his face, and, as if there was a whispering voice on the wind, he knew where he should take the ailing girl.

Lothlorien. The Lady of the golden forest would know how to heal Ellwyn. And, Legolas reassured himself, she would be able to. The elves of Lorien had, after all, been able to heal the girl's wounds once. They could surely do it again.

Legolas stepped nimbly and quickly alongside the horse, for Phaere was beginning to tire. He urged the horse to move quicker with a soft muttering, "Noro lim, mellonen." Go swifter, my friend.

As they were walking towards the silver line in the distance, he brought his gaze to rest on Ellwyn's pallid face. Her eyelids were fluttering restlessly although they were closed over her colorless eyes and he suddenly wished he could join her, wherever her mind was at, and offer her comfort.

"Ellwyn, tessa coia." Ellwyn, hold on to life. "Please," he begged. He saw her stir slightly and, to his amazement, she opened her eyes to look at him. They were a turbulent grey now—it seemed to him that in her eyes, there was a battle between light and darkness. He smiled with as much warmth as he could muster. "Can you hear me?" he asked softly.

She blinked and her lips formed a wavering smile. Legolas felt a lump rising in his throat and wanted so much just to break down and cry. But he had to remain strong for her. He reached up to caress her cheek. "Ú-boe angen awarthad. Im nedh baur o le."

Ellwyn's mouth opened as she struggled to form words. Then she managed to whisper in a thin wisp of a voice, "I…do not understand."

The elf smiled through his watering eyes. "You cannot leave me. I need you."

She smiled suddenly, and a bit of hue returned to her colorless cheeks. "Le…milin, Legolas," she whispered feebly, pausing in an effort to remember the words in his language.

Legolas felt as if his heart would melt. Tears were pouring silently down his face and he leaned over to gently kiss her. Then she gazed at him quietly for a moment more before lapsing into a fitful slumber once more. He drew in a few deep but trembling breaths and looked determinedly in the direction of the river. He would get to Galadriel's forest, he would bring Ellwyn back to life, and they would go back home to Mirkwood.

* * * * *

The day passed slowly as the sun waned in the grey skies. The Anduin was less than a mile away, and the elf, whose energy had been dwindling, much to his frustration, felt lighter now that his goal was so near. Legolas had not hesitated to think what he would do to get Ellwyn and the horse across, nor had he wondered how he would fare once he reached the opposite shore. He had bent his mind solely on getting to the great river, and now that he was approaching it quickly, he found himself despairing once more.

Phaere suddenly stumbled against an outcropping of jagged stone and Legolas' tired mind was forced awake as he simultaneously struggled to help the horse up and make sure Ellwyn did not fall from her back. It was then, when he had finally turned his attention upon the girl, that he noticed.

Legolas let out a startled cry and hastily but gently gathered her in his arms and laid her to rest on the ground. Ellwyn's eyes were fluttering open and, to his horror, appeared to be completely pale. There were beads of sweat on her skin and she was rasping as if she could not breathe. He knelt over her and grabbed her hand, cradling it in his. "O Eärendil," he prayed desperately, "give her the strength to fight! Whatever grace there is in me, I beg of you to give it to her. Anything, just let her live, please! Ellwyn, listen to me: fight this. Fight, Ellwyn…" He continued rambling like this for quite some time, heedless to his own words as he tried to rouse what little life there was left in her.

Then, when he almost felt there was no way for her to be revived, she drew in a sharp breath and shut her eyes tightly.

When they reopened, Legolas was shocked to see that Ellwyn had returned. Her eyes were dark once more, and she looked straight at him: not vaguely through him, but focused upon him. His heart began to pound with hope once more and his spirits soared. She was looking at him through half-dazed eyes, tired, but certainly conscious.

Legolas finally found his voice. "Ellwyn!" he said, "are you awake? Please, speak to me…we are so close. Just keep on fighting it back, and--"

He was interrupted when Ellwyn weakly squeezed his hand. Legolas looked into her eyes and saw only sadness there, but it made him glad to see that there was no turmoil, only a great calm. She drew in a few deep breaths as if to draw upon her remaining strength and whispered, "Legolas, promise me."

"What?" His eyes darted around her face, searching for an answer.

"Promise…that…" she struggled for a few moments, then continued, "you will remember," she finished. The light in her eyes was fading again. But this time it did not seem that she would have the strength to fight, nor was she willing to. Legolas saw the resignation in her face and his heart was felled.

"Remember what?" he asked desperately, as though he were trying to keep her in the world as long as he possibly could.

She shut her eyes and inhaled, her breath quivering. "Remember that I will always be waiting for you. And promise me…that you will live."

Legolas wanted to shut her words out, to shut the horrible world out of his mind. This could not be happening. She had only fought once more with the last reserves of her strength, to tell him to live? He grasped her hand to his heart and said angrily, "If you leave this world, then I do not want to be in it."

Ellwyn shook her head and he saw tears forming in her eyes. She said, sounding stronger now as though she had summed up all her strength for this final moment, "No, Legolas. There are things you are meant to do in your life…just as in mine." She paused. "I have met mine, and now a destiny awaits you…and you should go to meet it," she said, and his words directed back at him made Legolas chagrined. "Thank you, Legolas," and the tears now flowed freely down her face, "for not letting me die without knowing love."

Legolas shook his head quickly in defiance. "No, Ellwyn, we just have to get to Lorién, and…" The look on her face silenced him and he struggled in his mind, not wanting to accept what was happening yet knowing that he had to before it was too late.

"When you have gone to meet destiny and returned," she whispered, her voice growing fainter with every word, "and have done everything you needed to do…just remember that I wait for you."

And then her eyes closed and were covered over in darkness, never to open again.

Legolas cried. He cradled her in his arms and cried, his pain numbing every limb in his body, every thought in his mind.

* * * * *

He stood waist deep in the shallows of the Anduin and bent to gently kiss her for the last time, then released his grip and watched the makeshift vessel drift downstream. Ellwyn lay upon the raft he had constructed by combining their two cloaks and the limbs of several trees. Her face bore the expression of one in a restful slumber and, for the first time since he had know her, pain was completely uplifted from it. Her hands were folded across her midsection and around her he had laid silver and green leaves he had found on the branches of trees in a nearby alcove, entwined and mingled with each other.

She looked utterly peaceful, and as he watched the calm waters of the river envelope the raft lovingly, it seemed to him that she was encased in a glimmering silver light that reflected off the water's surface. Legolas looked on quietly, too grieved to let his tears fall and completely enthralled by the scene. So he stood watching until the waters of the Anduin carried her away and he could no longer see her.

The elf went to the horse whose head was hanging in mourning, and stroked her nose. "Namar, mellonen." Farewell my friend. He unhooked the harness and let it fall to the ground, then watched Phaere disappear over a hill.

Legolas turned back to the river and smiled then, and closed his eyes as he let the warm breeze waft over him. "Namar, mîlen. Farewell, my love. Farewell, Ellwyn. I will meet you again someday," he whispered to the flowing silver waters before he turned away and began once more on the journey up the path to his destiny.

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All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.