Tears In Heaven
Chapter Five: Time After Time
(Author: Jennzah)
Jairah looked at the small mortal child. She had smiled because the child had spoke about the ears, but inside the pain was eating at her, though it had been considerably lessened since the first day.
Before the child and Boromir had come in, the group had just come together. This was the idea of Gandalf, meant to lift the spirits of Legolas and Jairah.
When he'd returned to Middle Earth, it had been daytime and Legolas had been looking for him. Gandalf told him not a word of what had been spoken of with Reign and Boromir, it was not the time. His compassion for the elves was strong. He'd gone to speak with Jairah, but she had not wanted to talk, just sitting on her bed, knees drawn up to her chin, staring out the window. So Gandalf had left her be, and then gone back down to tell Legolas that he was indeed leaving, and had set to work getting all of the Fellowship back to Rivendell. Aragorn and Arwen were already there, it was the Hobbits that he had to pull away from the Shire that was the problem. They were reluctant to leave, but at the persuasion of Frodo, they had all relented. Then Gandalf had to find Gimli, who was travelling far out by Fangorn. But he'd gotten them all to agree to the trip to Rivendell, and then had gone back to Mirkwood to persuade Legolas to bring Jairah.
And now they were all here, reunited. and Jairah tried to be happy to see her friends. They all knew of the hardship that had befallen her and Legolas, and they all gave words of encouragement. And so her pain was lessened. But still her heart ached. She looked at her husband, and she loved him. And that should have been enough, because he loved her too, and they were one.
But there was a hole inside of her, a slowly shrinking hole, but a hole nonetheless. She wanted it to go away, she wanted to be happy again.
She sought council with Elrond. And she would meet with him soon, he would perform a ritual to make the pain go away quicker.
And now Boromir, come back from the future, had arrived, bringing with him his daughter, Reighns daughter. And the child sat in her lap, and poked at her ears.
"All elves have ears like this," she'd said.
"Mommy says they dont live in San Francisco!" the little girl said.
"No," Jairah said, looking at Legolas. "We do not. We live in the trees, all over the place. I live in a place called Mirkwood." She looked up at Boromir. "You have a lovely daughter, my friend."
Boromir smiled kindly at Jairah, for he knew what pain was behind those words. "Thank you, Lady Jairah." he said. "I was sorry to hear of your misfortune."
Legolas took Jairah's hand. "Thank you for your condolences," he said. "What has brought you here?"
Boromir looked at Gandalf again, whose eyes darkened, and he shook his head slightly.
"It is not the time now to speak of these things." Boromir said. "Let us just rejoice that we are all back together, friends, after so long."
"Where is Reighn?" Jairah asked, as Rhia jumped from her lap and went to inspect the hobbits.
"She did not come this time." Boromir brushed the question away. "She sends her love."
Jairah looked at him curiously, untill Elrond came up to greet Boromir. "Hello, friend from another time." They shook hands and then Elrond looked at Jairah. "Lady Jairah, are you ready?"
Jairah nodded, and looked at Legolas, who squeezed her hand and kissed her forehead. "It will be alright, you'll see," he whispered to her. "We will be happy again." She nodded and then went with Elrond, to some unbeknownst place.
Legolas watched her go, his face a little sad, and Boromir put his hand on his shoulder. "Where is she going?" he asked.
Legolas looked at him, after a moment. "Elrond is going to perform a ritual on her, to make the pain go away faster. She is afraid she might die of grief, and she only wants to be happy again."
Boromir looked at Legolas. "It pained me to hear what happened, my friend. " he said quietly.
"Thank you." Legolas said. "But i think she will be alright, in time. It is harder for her. Before we knew, she carried the child for six months. She so wanted to be a mother, and not a warrior anymore. I will not deny that i had been looking forward to being a father, but if it is not to be, it is not. We cannot change these things. Now i wish only for her to be happy again, so that we may live our days long and fruitful, before the time we wish to go over the sea."
Boromir looked at Gandalf, who was watching Rhia play with Merry and Pippin, leapfrogging, and took Legolas aside.
"The warrior in her will never die, my friend. She still has power yet in her veins." he whispered.
Legolas looked at him with wide eyes. "Of what do you speak?" he asked.
"I speak of the power that flows through you both. You know what power, it is in your blood. You may have forgotten you two wield it, for you have no use of it now. But back in my time, we are in dire need of the power to fight the Shadows." Boromir kept glancing hastily at Gandalf, who was still watching the hobbits and Rhia play.
Legolas looked at him, quiet, but Boromir could feel the tension in him. "You are right. We have had no need to use it. I am afraid it has been forgotten, by her. I never really learned how to use it, and i possess so little of it anyway."
Boromir shook his head. "That is where you are wrong, my friend. She is strong yet, and you are stronger than you know. Your power grows everyday. Together you make a force strong enough to take down the Dark Lord in Mordor, in his day. She is strong enough alone to make South Gondor a fruitful place again, along with Mordor. Can you imagine how strong you two are together?"
"What are you asking, Boromir?" Legolas asked. "For me to convince her to go to your time and fight off the Shadows? She is not a warrior anymore. I cannot ask her to do that. My mind would help you, but my heart says that i need to be cautious for my wife, because of the state her heart and mind are in."
"I am sorry, again, for the tragic events that have burdened her heart, and yours. But people are dying, Legolas, cities are falling, much like it once was here during the time of the Ring. The power of you and Jairah combined is enough to wipe out these Shadows, forever. I am telling you I need your help." Boromir looked intensly at Legolas, who glared at him.
"And I am telling you, that i will not let you burden my wife with this! Perhaps, in time, she will be ready to help you. But not right now. It is too soon, Boromir." He shook his head. "You are not to ask her. Do you understand? Or you will feel the sting of my arrows." He backed away from Boromir.
"You and your daughter are welcome to stay here as long as you wish. But you are not to say one word to her, about the Shadows in your time. Do you understand?" he repeated.
Boromir closed his eyes, and nodded, as Legolas turned on his heel and went out of the room.
What was he to do now, he thought. He had seen Jairah, and through the words of Legolas he knew it was not the right time to ask her. But what of the Shadows back at home? What were they to do, without the power of the Elven-lovers? He had no idea.